Chance me for University of Cambridge! (And some top US Unis)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So I'm about to begin my senior year, and have mostly finalized the list of colleges to which I will be applying. However, one thing that I'm still uneasy about is the fact that there seems to be very little written about a US student's chances at UK universities. For me, I will be applying to Cambridge (not too sure about college yet).</p>

<p>Applying to: Cambridge Uni, UC Berkeley, UCLA, MIT (EA), Dartmouth, Stanford, UPENN, Columbia
(not listing my matches or backups)
(applying to all schools as major in a field of Engineering or undeclared)</p>

<p>Demographics:
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Southeast Asian/Pacific Islander
Location: California
First language: Mandarin
Other: Deaf/hearing impaired student musician, and living without parents most of the time.
School: Public, Middle-to-high ranking,
School size: ~400 per class
AP: about 16 offered</p>

<p>Stats:
GPA: 3.804uw, 4.089w
GPA for UCs: 3.97 (max 8 honors), 4.24 (18 honors)
Rank: Not ranked
PSAT: 210
SAT Reasoning: 2180 (CR-690, M-790, W-700) (first time; retaking)
SATII: Math II-800, Physics-800, Eng. Literature-750, US History-740
ACT: 32 (E-27, M-34, R-35, S-31) (first time, writing not yet released; retaking)
IB: Not offered
AP: Soph: Euro-3, Calc AB-5
Jr: Stats, Calc BC, Eng. Lang, US History, Enviro. Sci, Physics B
Sr: Eng. Lit, US Gov, Macroecon, Bio, Chem, (Depending on time: Physics C: M and EM)</p>

<p>*Extracurriculars:<a href="trying%20to%20keep%20it%20short%20but%20I'm%20a%20heavy%20EC%20person;%20all%20of%20the%20following%20have%20at%20least%202.5%20years%20active">/b</a>
*Performing Arts: Marching band percussion section leader and drum major, school musical theatre actor/crew/pit orchestra, Peninsula Youth Orchestra
Clubs: Head of drum major club, Founder/president environmental club, President Asian/Chinese club, Founder/captain winter percussion/drumline
Sports: Varsity Swimming and Waterpolo (3 and 2 years, possibility of captaincy), 13 years Martial Arts and club Wushu team (3000+ hours)
Leadership: District board of trustees student representative, Executive council of district united student body, School site council, Class and student body council
Work: Volunteer museum guide/docent at local natural history/science museum (4 years, 4 hours/month), Volunteer assistant Coach at martial arts school (3 years, 6 hours/week), Paid intern as production floor staff at shoe factory (China, 3 months, 50 hours/week plus overtime), Unpaid intern in microbiology lab (Stanford U dept. of Civ and Enviro Engineering, 9 weeks, 50 hours/week)</p>

<p>Awards/Recognition:
National Merit Scholarship: Commended Scholar
Northern Calif. Band Association: Drum Major sweepstakes (first of 63)
American Legion: One of two delegates selected to attend California Boys State 2009
Swimming and Waterpolo Team: Recipient of "Most Dedicated" award</p>

<p>What I'm really afraid of is the fact that Cambridge U as well as many other UK colleges place very little weight on extracurriculars, but I have found ways to include this as much as possible in my application, personal statement, and interview.
Meanwhile, please rate me for Cambridge and the other US colleges that I will be applying to. I would rate you back, but I personally don't trust me own judgment skills.
Thank you!</p>

2

<p>Could you post your AP scores once you get them, if you feel comfortable doing that? I’m going to be applying to Cambridge this year, too, for Arch and Anth. :D</p>

<p>And yeah, Camb honestly couldn’t care less about your extracurriculars if they don’t pertain to your declared subject. They want someone who, for lack of a better non-clich</p>

3

<p>well, to tell you the truth, my brother applied for MIT and wanted to major in engineering too. he got waitlisted. he got perfect scores on his SATS, SATIIs and PSATs and he was state math champion and even competed at the national level representing texas in his middle and high school years. he had a lot of academic and athletic awards in tennis, math, science, physics, etc. and most of his AP tests were 4’s and 5’s. also, he got accepted into a private math and science institution for his junior and senior years of high school. so maybe not MIT and i know for a fact that Cambridge doesn’t care for EC’s. they don’t care for sports either. All they look at is your academic merit, so raise your SAT’s, write a really good essay, your SATIIs are pretty good, and hope that you’ll be valedictorian. :]</p>

<p>oh, and asians always have a harder time getting into top universities because we’re all so smart. ;)</p>

<p>so don’t get your hopes up terribly for Cambridge and MIT, but i think you’ll have a pretty good chance in all the other colleges. maybe you can get recruited, and your EC’s definitely stand out.</p>