<p>You didn’t check off Pacific Islander on your apps, did you?</p>
<p>@schmohawk why? am I not supposed to?</p>
<p>ROTFL. Cut it out. You’re killing me.</p>
<p>First of all, I would like to echo the replies of others. Your post comes across as very arrogant and rude. No one, and I repeat no one, is a lock, sure bet, match or whatever you’d like to call it at a school in the Ivy League Athletic Conference. Saying that you are a match or “have a good shot” at acceptance is arrogant. Also, Please remember that the Ivy League is an athletic conference in the NCAA. There are other schools not in the conference that are of equal or close strength and tier. </p>
<p>Secondly: If you truly want to study international relations - join the military. Seriously. Many of my friends and family members have studied international affairs. The only ones that end up with, what they describe as being, exciting jobs actually making a daily difference in peoples lives are in the military. Those not in the military make a difference, but not as visibly as those in the armed forces. Whatever you decide to do or wherever you are accepted to (which is up to admissions boards, not you), get rid of the arrogance. It will only aid in your pursuits. </p>
<p>Yes your school is good. I go to a prep school in New England, too. Many, many Ivy applicants do. </p>
<p>Also, as 30% Cherokee Native American, I find it amusing that you decided to label yourself as a Pacific Islander, when you are Cambodian. The Hawaiian Natives are Pacific Islander, bro.</p>
<p>Hi Army2016, thank you for the suggestion about the military. That’s something I never considered but hmm maybe I should. </p>
<p>I am generally a straightforward, brusque person, so in my writing here yes I do come off as arrogant. But I hardly walk around day to day in my real life telling people my extra curricular and academic qualifications and why I think that makes me a competitive candidate for the top schools. </p>
<p>Last time - not Cambodian. Cambodia is where I did my volunteer work. I am not Asian, I am Pacific Islander - look up the definition, look up the regions in which the term covers, and you will find where I came from. I do find myself a kin to Asians but I am a Pacific Islander. </p>
<p>What exactly would I have to do to join the military? I know there is the option of ROTC but what exactly does that entail? When I graduate do I have to serve in the ranks or can I go straight to grad school, possible law or even doctoral, before serving? I am admittedly wary of serving in combat zones. </p>
<p>I guess I never considered the military before because I’ve always had a pretty regional oriented focus and you don’t get to choose where you are placed in the military and I really want to go to the poorer countries in the Asian-Pacific hemisphere as soon as I graduate (after a couple years of NGO experience, I’d like to go to grad school and focus on that region and post conflict state building and community empowerment). But it’s a pretty interesting line of thought and it is more boot on the ground level working with people. I will look into the possibility. Also, what do you know of Officer Candidate School? Is it much more grueling than ROTC?</p>
<p>I only know of one human being on earth that I would call a shoo-in for HYPSM (all of them) and he received gold medals in international math olympiad, international olympiad in infoormatics, and was a team member on the US IPhO team. What seriously helps your chances is a type of hook. A hook can be a variety of things, not just being a URM etc. If you are a member of an international olympiad, or are a winner of Intel/Siemens (though a Siemens winner this year was waitlisted at Stanford despite a much more impressive resume than your own.) Going to TASP, MITES, or RSI is big too. There are other huge things, but I feel that your trips to Asia come off as another overprivileged kid working to bulk up his/her resume.</p>
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<p>THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A “SHOO IN HYPSM CANDIDATE”. PERIOD. END OF STORY. And even if there was, you wouldn’t be one of them. I honestly don’t intend for that to come across as harsh or mean, just as the truth. You’re certainly not wasting your money by applying to HYP, but you’re absolutely not a shoo-in at any of those schools (although you have a pretty good shot at UVA), nor is anyone else. I don’t care who an applicant is, what they’ve done, what scores/GPA they have, there is no such thing as a “shoo-in” at HYP; no one is guaranteed admission, and I would venture to say that no one should consider HYP to be anything less than “High Reach” (not just directed at you, but at anyone who applies).</p>
<p>Also, Cambodians are definitely <em>not</em> “Pacific Islanders”. Pacific Islanders are people from places like Micronesia, Polynesia, Hawai’i, and the like. Cambodia is in Southeast Asia; here’s a map of where the term “Pacific Islander” is applicable: [Pacific</a> Islander - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Islander]Pacific”>Pacific Islander - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>EDIT: Thanks for clarifying that you’re not ethnically Cambodian (not sure how you would be adopted from there if you weren’t, but that’s your business whether or not you would like to share). I hadn’t seen your recent post before I had submitted this, but I’m leaving it anyway.</p>
<p>@tjkid2011 oh no! I hope my volunteer work doesn’t come off that way to the actual people reading the apps =. Hopefully they will read my essay before simply jumping to conclusions based on the list of extracurriculars. I wrote my essay on why I did go there for 6 months and it had nothing to do with resume building - its honestly the kind of work I want to be doing for the rest of my life (on a more broad community building IR level hopefully since as a 15-16 yr old I was just helping out at an orphanage for sick kids, distributing what meds they had and cheering up and teaching english in a fun way).</p>
<p>Wow. That is a really impressive kid. Alright so definitely not a shoo-in haha, but am I still a competitive candidate?</p>
<p>@f0ssil Wow I guess the way it was worded made people think I’m Cambodian but I’m not. I just volunteered there. I am 100% Pacific Islander, yes according to your map. I said region as in Asia because Asian-Pacific usually get grouped into Asian studies which is the so called region of studies I want to get into. But I wasn’t adopted from Cambodia. </p>
<p>I agree it was arrogant to have said I was a shoo-in, it was definitely an exaggeration, I’ve been desensitized to the actual caliber of students at those schools I guess by seeing many of my friends who have similar stats to mine get in in previous years from my school, but I still don’t see how I am not at least a competitive candidate as some people have been assuming. </p>
<p>In your opinion, based on what I’ve posted, what school do I have the most chance with and which one the least?</p>
<p>You are definitely competitive. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for the futures of the US) there are over ten, if not twenty, thousand competitive candidates. The thing about admissions though, is that it is random. You can increase your probability all you want, but nowhere are you really guaranteed, at least at top tier schools. If you are pacific islander (native samoan, native hawaiian, etc) then you should have an ok shot.</p>
<p>I think you definitely have a competitive shot everywhere. I doubt any of those schools will laugh at your application as they toss it in the paper shredder, but I don’t think any of the admissions officers will be struggling to keep their jaws off the floor either. I would say that you definitely have your best chance at UVA of course, but you also have reasonably good chances at Georgetown and Penn - less than 50%, probably, (which still beats the 20% and 18% average acceptance rate, respectively) but those seem like schools that are matches or low reaches for you in my opinion.</p>
<p>OCS is different than ROTC, not more or less challenging. OCS and ROTC get you to the same places, but OCS does it in a shorter period of time, generally because enlistees are put in OCS after a certain period of time.<br>
It was just a suggestion, though. Its most certainly not for everyone. But I encourage everyone to look into it.</p>
<p>This thread is interesting. OP, please update us in 75 days so everyone who’s posted here can see what becomes of this.</p>
<p>Lily, I interview for One of the HYP Schools where all interviews are conducted by alumni volunteers. Everyone is offered an interview who lives in an area where alum are available. I’m interviewing 2 kids tomorrow. Neither I nor Harvard admissions knows if they are viable candidates. As I tell those I interview, it’s mostly a chance for them to ask questions.</p>
<p>This is the same way it works at all three. Getting an interview means nothing more than your application is complete.</p>
<p>As far as your chances, I truly have no idea. Your stats won’t keep you out but your application and circumstances will have to get you in. At HYP this year under 6% will get in. They will be from 50 states and dozens of countries. Half have a big advantage because they have a hook. They are recruited athletes,black, Hispanic, Native American, legacies and staff kids.</p>
<p>The other half will be truly exceptional at something beyond their stats. Your stats are average at best at these 3 where the 75 th percentile, where an unhooked candidates want to be, is 790 for each SAT section. Below 700 on either reading or math is a serious weakness.</p>
<p>Sounds like you attend a top private school. Your classmates there will be your first line of competition. Usually counselors at these schools will encourage you
to apply where you have a hook as the competition is especially brutal from top privates.</p>
<p>Have you applied to Dartmouth where you do have a hook? They have a fine IR minor and strong IR related classes throughout the disciplines. My own son got in ED and plans to do this minor. They will take about 10% this year so that hook will really help. Hope you dont mind my being blunt. Good luck!</p>
<p>Hi @2college2college,</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your candid opinion! </p>
<p>Wow I didn’t realize my math score would hurt me that much :(. Does it help any that it was the first and only time I took the SAT and without any extra prep help? I figured since I mentioned wanting to do IR (but not econ based IR, more a regional focus with a history overview in guiding future policy) and 5s and 780 and 800 SATII languages would have made that make more sense. If I had taken the SAT again and gotten above 700 on math and similar but probably not perfect Verbal and Writing, would that have been better? Or no because it would have possible dropped my Verbal and Writing scores?</p>
<p>I did not apply to Dartmouth as I know very little about it and the only people I know who are applying have legacy status. I guess I should check them out though. Why would my application be a hook there and not at HYP? Does that mean my extra curric/personal qualifications are a hook but my academics are not up to HYP standards? Or the other way around? </p>
<p>I did apply to Brown and Columbia though, do I have a better shot at those schools?</p>
<p>You would have a hook at Dartmouth because you have legacy from your dad who went there for undergraduate.</p>
<p>I don’t see why you didn’t take the SAT I a second time; most of your schools will superscore, and even if you brought the math up but the others fell a little, getting a 760 on each section is, in my opinion, better than getting an 800/800/680, especially if superscoring would yield an 800/800/730-760. It doesn’t matter if those two perfect sections would have fallen slightly, since admissions officers understand that there’s a range of scores, and that if you took two SAT Is consecutively you would have a small variation in scores anyway.</p>
<p>Please update this thread when you do get decisions back from these schools though.</p>
<p>@f0ssil Oooh that’s my hook. Well my dad doesn’t talk much about his time there… I don’t think he liked it very much. He was a middle class, gay kid on financial aid at an Ivy yaknow. So I don’t know how he’d even feel about me applying. But it’s too late anyways. </p>
<p>I didn’t take it because I didn’t have time for extra prep courses and I was afraid that my math score could possible go down instead of up. I guess I should have scaled back on the extra currics and taken extra math prep and retaken the SAT though. </p>
<p>What do you think my chances would be at Columbia and Brown?</p>
<p>you’re an *******. with an attitude like yours, don’t be surprised to see lots of rejection letters coming your way</p>
<p>Dartmouth is accepting applications until the 21st. It is common app only, no supplement. I’d thrown in that application today.</p>
<p>@2college2college thanks for the info! </p>
<p>@hahaheywhatsup and you’re an even bigger ******* for making the comment in the first place :). But I will be sure to personally message you and let you know when I DO get accepted.</p>