Chance me please?

<p>I'm an international student (Chinese citizen), who has applied for permanent residency earlier in the year (the application of which is still pending) and who has been living in Virginia for 3 years. I am applying for financial aid.</p>

<p>GPA: Weighted-4.29; Unweighted-somewhere between 3.9 and 4.0
Rank: 1/249 at a pretty competitive high school. I also attend a Governor's School specialized in math and science in the morning in addition to my regular school; so my classes are half-half at the two schools.</p>

<p>SAT I: 650 CR (this would make the highest combined; the highest at one setting would be 640); 800 Math; 760 Writing-----retaken SATI score unknown yet
ACT: 32 (34,35,35,25)--don't know if I'll put this on my app; the science portion really doesn't reflect my ability at all.</p>

<p>SAT II: Chinese with Listening 800; Math IIC 790; Chemistry 760; US History 720 (already retaken; new score unknown)</p>

<p>I lived in China and Canada and skipped 4 grades when I was in China (which made me the youngest in my provinces history to attend middle school, at age 8). I already started Calculus at the age of 10. However, when I went to Canada I was held back 2 grades due to overly young age (they were afraid my classmates would bully me since I was a foreigner and so much younger). I did keep studying Chinese textbooks, and eventually got into interesting challenging math classes here in the U.S. I speak three Chinese dialects (including Mandarin), French, and English (obviously) fluently, and some Japanese and German. I guess those could be my highlights...</p>

<p>EC's: National Merit Commended Student (should I even bother to put this on my app? so many people appear to be semifinalists...); AP Scholar with Distinction; awards in national writing contests, Honorable Mention in the USA Mathematical Talent Search; Awards at up to State Science Fair; various awards from Canadian national math contests. There are more, but these are the important ones I guess.</p>

<p>Extra-curriculars: Pres. of Writer's Club, Founder and Pres. of Chinese Connections Club, Captain of Math Academic Bowl, Co-Captain of NHS, Co-Captain of Debate, Co-Captain of NHS. These are just senior year clubs in which I held leadership positions; leaderships from past years weren't on here. I used to volunteer at the adult day services at VT starting summer after 10th grade, but then at the start of 11th grade felt that the position was too boring and I didn't feel like I was helping others very much, so I changed to volunteering at the local hospital, where I still volunteer now. Due to my citizenship status I cannot work paid jobs, but I did have an internship in a law office in junior year and an internship in the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute now (both unpaid), and I tutored a college student for free for her GRE Math Exam.</p>

<p>Essay-I don't know what to say...but I guess for the safe, you can assume mediocre, even though I personally hope it was better than that =P</p>

<p>I know my SATs probably weren't good enough and my citizenship status could probably affect my chances a lot...what do you all think about it? And please be honest; I won't take anything personally. Thank you all so, so much!</p>

<p>And when I said EC's I really meant "Awards". Sorry for the mistake...</p>

<p>You'll do fine.</p>

<p>Thanks! I was mainly worried about my SAT's and my international status...I have no idea how much that will affect me in admissions...</p>

<p>I don't chance since i'm just an applicant myself, but I'm curious, how old are you? Will you be at least 17 when you start college, or 16? haha imagine if you weren't held back 2 years after skipping 4 and you started college at 14...strange. anyway you seem really smart so best of luck</p>

<p>Welcome to Cornell! :D</p>

<p>You seem to be competitive if not overly competitive.
You REALLY can get in. But the admissions people have unpredictable selection methods.
Anything unique that you can bring to Cornell that we should know about, anything to offer or even any in terms of prospects?</p>

<p>If you were ED, I would probably say something like 90% in, but RD is much more difficult, so I am thinking around 75%. Good luck.</p>

<p>I would say that you have a very good chance of getting in. The only thing I might be hesitant about is Finaid.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for your replies!
stargazerlilies: yep I'll be 16 when I enter college =P Talking about the age difference, you should've seen the picture I took in sixth grade with my classmates--7-year-old vs. 12-year-olds--it was quite awkward because I'm pretty short for my age anyway and so I was only up to their waists...
playhacker: umm...besides the languages that I know and the multinational experiences, I danced (Chinese classical dance) for nine years (I think...) and I also do Chinese calligraphy in my spare time just for the fun of it, I learned it for for two years and then just kept practicing because I really liked it. So I guess that was the "cultural" side of it. And then on the scientific side, I do work (w/o pay) at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute as an intern but I don't know if that will help any because all the Cornell applicants seem to be super-smart and they all seem to have experiences like, if not better than, this =P
chronicfuture12: yeah I couldn't apply early anywhere because I'm international :(
ThePhilosopher: that was what I was worrying about too; apparently Cornell says on its website that it's really hard for international students to get in with a big finaid...I'm being real nervous about that...cross my fingers...</p>