CHANCE ME please

<p>I am a US citizen abroad (israel) and I just wanted a preliminary opinion.</p>

<p>I am half caucasian half asian (I know, strange for israel)</p>

<p>Intended major: Biology or English (eventually want to go to med school)</p>

<p>GPA: 94 out of 100 (UW)</p>

<p>Ranking: school doesn't rank. I would say top 10% for sure.</p>

<p>SAT: expected 2200 +-</p>

<p>SAT subjects: Hebrew: 800 Bio: 720 (expected) Math 2: 700 (expected)</p>

<p>courseload: works very differently here; most rigorous in a national school of the arts (I'm a cinema major) highest possible difficulty in math (calc) and english. </p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
I am an intern for the head of pediatric neurosurgery in a hospital here+ hospital volunteer
volunteer in a center for children with development problems</p>

<p>my school does NOT offer any extracurricular activities such as clubs etc., no school here does. APs are not offered in this country either.</p>

<p>An SAT II in Hebrew isn't a particularly valuable credential for a native speaker. Like the Chinese SATII that any native speaker can blow away, it isn't designed for native speakers. If <em>I</em> were an adcom, I'd throw it out. If you are in a school of the arts, why not take a humanities SAT II, such as English?</p>

<p>Do you pursue any interests on your own besides medicine? (Not to denigrate that one, in which is sounds as if you do some interesting things.) ECs don't have to be school-based.</p>

<p>umm yeah I play tennis, but not competitively,does that count?
I can't really take literature (is that what you meant by english?) on the SAT II because my literature studies up until now have been only in hebrew about israeli literature; I think it would be a little too difficult for me to start working on english literature on a high enough level. I agree with you about the SAT II in hebrew, I just don't see what could be my 3rd subject test besides that one, any other suggestions?</p>

<p>Hmmm, I see your problem. World History would seem to be your only other option in the Humanities.</p>

<p>Right, but I would have to self study that, as it doesn't overlap with the material in history at school at all.</p>

<p>^
It doesn't matter if it doesn't overlap with your school work, self studying is not that hard. You just need discipline, which if you lack, i doubt you should be looking at Dartmouth and all. And well, if you really want to get in Dartmouth, why not just spent a couple more hours studying world history instead? You don't really have that much ECs on your shoulders right now, do you?</p>

<p>Yeah, definitely not. But because of my school I have extra 20 hours a week of arts (cinema)...not including making the movies themselves, that's on our own time..I definitely need to find a place to mention all that on my application.</p>

<p>Well, I suppose you could take another science SATII, as well as Math II and Bio.</p>

<p>You don't, of course, need three for schools other than Harvard & Princeton...and maybe Georgetown? (I can't recall if it's Gtown, but I think there's another.) If you plan to apply to one of those, I suppose you might as well take Hebrew, since it will require little or no studying.</p>

<p>You need to make sure that your work on films and related arts is well-described on your app, as well as your medical activities. I would suggest that you consider including a resume, in addition to filling out the little slots on the common app.</p>

<p>Why isn't an SAT II in a native language a valid credential? The SATII is there to assess a particular subject area that you are good at. And if you're awesome at hebrew why not show it? Just because you're a native speaker? That just means that English is less of a native language for a person (if at all), because one has maybe learnt Hebrew first.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Why isn't an SAT II in a native language a valid credential? The SATII is there to assess a particular subject area that you are good at. And if you're awesome at hebrew why not show it? Just because you're a native speaker? That just means that English is less of a native language for a person (if at all), because one has maybe learnt Hebrew first.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>The reason is that the SAT II in Chinese, for example, is designed to test someone who has been studying Chinese for a couple of years, and who can use simple sentences and so forth. Someone once said that it would be the equivalent of testing a native English speaker's ability to read sentences such as "The cat sat on the mat." That's probably an exaggeration, but you get the idea. To put it in perspective for you, a score of 800 on the Chinese SAT II is the ** 56th percentile! ** A score of 800 is the 65th percentile in Korean, and the 81st percentile in Hebrew. (Probably because there are many American Jewish kids who study some Hebrew and are not actually native speakers.) The English Literature SAT II is difficult for native English speakers: an 800 is the 99th percentile, and you have to go all the way down to 610 to hit the 56th percentile. So when California, for example, allowed the Chinese SAT II to be substituted for the Literature SAT II in their very numbers-driven application process, it gave a major stats boost to Chinese-speaking applicants.</p>

<p>It even states on the FAQ for the language Subject Tests that ad coms will probably discount results for native speakers. </p>

<p>If you want to compare the percentiles for SAT IIs, go to </p>

<p><a href="http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/sat_subject_tests_percentile_ranks_2008.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/sat_subject_tests_percentile_ranks_2008.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The subject tests for the more common European languages assume a higher level of knowledge of the language.</p>

<p>consolation-
a resume is ok for film work even though it's school related? because that would be a great way for me to show them my tremendous hour input (do you even put hours on resumes?), because it really does seem like i'm very weak on EC's..</p>

<p>I think that it would be fine, especially because your film work sounds as if much of it isn't in "regular" classes. You should also consider whether you want to send a DVD of a short film. I think you'd have to limit yourself to no more than 10 minutes, just like CDs of instrumentalists. But programs other than film schools--which I assume expect it--may not accept DVDs. You'll have to look into it. Don't hesitate to email admissions departments, or call if you can do so economically.</p>

<p>you've convinced me consolation. Then I guess the collegeboard should start looking into more advanced language subject tests for native speakers. Who wants to start a campaign? haha!</p>

<p>thank consolation! I'll look into it..</p>