Objective
SAT I (breakdown): 620 CR 680 M 650 W (Comp: 1950)
ACT (breakdown): n/a
SAT II: World History (630), APUSH (tba), APBIO(tba)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.74
Weighted GPA (if available): 4.42
Rank/percentile (if available): Top 7.5%
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (3), U.S History (n/a), Biology (n/a)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, Chinese 3, AP Calc AB, AP Gov/Econ, AP Psychology, Wind Ensemble, AP Physics C
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Principle Honor Roll (4 years), EXPLO At Yale Completion (2013)
Subjective
Extracurriculars:
-Future Business Leaders of America (3 yrs, V.P)
-Hwarang Leo Club Branch of Lion’s Club
-Korean Club (4 yrs, Junior Rep.)
-Amateur Astronomy Association (3 yrs, Secretary/Grade Rep)
-Competitive Archery [2 state competitions: ranked 34th in California 2014]
Job/Work Experience:
-Internship at Guangzhou, China for ADS (Audio Science Technology Co.) Winter 2014
Volunteer/Community service:
-Hwarang Leo Club (20+ hrs)
-Discovery Science Center Orange County DCOC
-Church Orchestra (100+hrs)
Essays: Didn’t write yet but hoping 9.5/10
Teacher Recommendation: none yet but 9/10
Counselor Rec: n/a
Additional Rec: n/a
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: International Business/Relations
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant): n/a
School Type: Public School
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Hello TalkTheTalk,
You’re stats (mainly UW/W GPA and awards) are on par with many of the undergraduate schools and programs. If you tailored your application to your commitment to your EC’s and also took the SAT’s again this Spring/Summer before the common app opens to boost that 1950 score (or took the ACT instead, you might do better?), I believe you’d fair well as a candidate for admissions to NYU CAS, Steinhardt, Lib studies, or maybe Gallatin. However, if you are looking to apply directly to Stern for your int’l business/relations major, you will have more of a challenge. Are you planning to apply to Stern? RD? EDI/II? If so, I’d absolutely take the SAT/ACT again (and again if you can) to get that score at a bare minimum, above a 2000 or 2100. Plus, get 4’s and 5’s on your AP’s/IB’s. These are important to admissions officers, as these are baselines. Having spent almost 4 years at NYU, and now working on a Master’s, AP/IB courses/exams are said to represent college courses/exams-- they don’t. The amount of work and studying that goes into college courses surpasses AP/IB courses by a long shot, so having good grades on those courses and especially the exams, shows admissions that you are prepped for college coursework. Lastly, and probably most importantly, if you wish to get financial aid in the form of grants/scholarships from NYU, the better your application/grades/SAT, IB, AP, ACT scores, the higher likelihood you’ll get more $$. You could get accepted with similar stats as your current ones, but your fin aid package might leave you at $150,000+ in debt. And that’s not worth it in any universe. Spending the time to get your scores up now could save you $100,000 in the end, as NYU scholarships are based on both need and merit together. Message me or post on this thread if you have any questions, etc.
Thanks; hope this helps. 
@bodhicitta Thank you so much for the long and in-depth response! I’ve been greatly conflicted this past week reflecting on the worst case scenario in which I wouldn’t be able to surpass my 1950 SAT score right now and I wouldn’t be matched or on-par with the other students applying for Stern. Do you think that IF it came to be that my SAT score had not surpassed my current 1950, that I should apply to CAS for international relations instead and try to change my major from there? I’m also not sure I understand how getting/applying to Stern works if you could please explain that to me(: Also, as for the FA, my single mom has an annual of $25~50,000 so I was wondering what the rough estimate would be in terms of how much I would receive.
Hi @TalkTheTalk, a 1950 SAT is probably just at or just below the average for the full university’s undergraduates. Super-scored, if you got a 2000+, that would look pretty good for your chances at CAS. However, for Stern, the average (although not explicitly or officially published for the public’s eye) is assumed to be higher than the rest of the university for undergraduate admissions. I’d assume you’d be below the average for application directly to Stern, though your ECs/job experience seem to be on par to help your application.
I have 2 recommendations/things to think about as you apply:
1- You can apply to CAS under any major (as International Relations is a very popular and slightly more competitive major that you can only apply for after you have finished your 1st year at the college), get accepted and do an internal transfer later on to Stern if you get good grades in your college level courses and submit the internal transfer app.
2- NYU is notorious for giving out unglamorous financial aid packages. The nicer your application/grades/test scores/recommendations/etc–> the more $$ you get from the university, however much the fin aid office wants to say the majority of fin aid is need-based… it is not. Esp if you are apply to Stern and you are not a strong applicant, they will offer you less money ($20,000/year in scholarships plus loans is usually the starting for on-par applicants… that is a LOT of loans for you and your mother). The university as a whole is getting way better with fin aid since I began studying here, but there is still room for improvement, to say the least.
Hope this helps.