chance me!!! thanks

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p><b>Strengths<b>: Essay, Math Competitions, Recs (esp. from Math teacher, Physics teacher = on the 'meh' side), maybe SAT scores are better than I think, IB predicted, GCSE scores
<b>Weaknesses<b>: SAT Scores, too "Asian"</b></b></b></b></p><b><b><b>

<p><b>GENERAL<b></b></b></p><b><b>

<p>Graduation date: June 2011 (coll. class of 2015)
Demographics: Male, American-born Chinese
High School: Private
Residence: Hong Kong
Will apply for financial aid: No</p>

<p><b>ACADEMICS<b></b></b></p><b><b>

<p>Class Rank:
From teacher's recs = At least top 5%
Our school doesn't rank our class though.</p>

<p>GPA:
None</p>

<p><b>IGCSEs<b>: 5A* 4A 1B (with relatively hard courses incl. Additional Math and Chinese 1st Language)</b></b></p><b><b>

<p>English Language: A*
English Literature: A*
Science double-award: A<em>/A</em>
Math: A*
Additional Math: A
History: A
Music: A
Spanish: A
Chinese (1st Language): B</p>

<p><b>Testing/Scores<b>:</b></b></p><b><b>

<p>-<b>SAT I<b>:
05/2010 (CR-M-W) 690-800-740 (2230 total)
Maybe retake in October/November</b></b></p><b><b>

<p>-<b>SAT Subject Tests<b>:
Math 2 800
Physics 760 (planning to retake in October/Nov)</b></b></p><b><b>

<p><b>IB Courses<b> (Official predicted not out yet but I estimate it to be 40+)
English HL
Chinese B HL
Math HL
Physics HL
Chemistry SL
History SL
(yes I take 4 HLs, should shine a bit)</b></b></p><b><b>

<p><b>EXTRACURRICULARS<b>
in no order whatsoever
<b>Top 6 "Principal" ECs<b>
1. Head of school math team
- Purple Comet International Competition 2010 – ranked 25th out of 1620 teams worldwide, Honorable Mention
- South East Asian Math Competition 2009 - team ranked 2nd out of 70 teams and individually ranked 8th in 210 competitors.
2. Hong Kong Mathematics Olympiad (Best in School - ranked 16/978, Gold medal)
3. American Scholastic Math Competition – Highest Scoring Student in 2009 and 2010
4. 2009/10 AMC 12 – Distinction (qualified for AIME), Best in School (Score: 108 points) and American Invitational Mathematics Exam – Best in School (Score: 8 points)<br>
5. Member of Ninjahood, a basketball team in the Hong Kong RSA Basketball League. Our team won the championship in June 2010.<br>
6. 2008 Piano – Licentiate (Level 6 NQF) Diploma Trinity College London<br>
2010 Nov Piano – Fellowship (Level 7 NQF) Dipoma Trinity College London Pending</b></b></b></b></p><b><b><b>

<p><b>Other ECs, will put on attached resume.<b>
<a href="http://nathan-hsu.webs.com/achievementsandawards.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://nathan-hsu.webs.com/achievementsandawards.html&lt;/a>
incl. 2009 qualified for UKMT British Maths Olympiad – achieved a Distinction (1 year below age range) </b></b></p><b><b>

<p><b>-Leadership positions:<b>
Student Council Class Representative 8-12
Shadow Prefect 11
Leader of Math Team (incl. South East Asian Math Comp. ranked 2nd/60+ teams and Purple Comet ranked 25/1600 teams)
Student tutor 11-12
Leader of Planning team in 2010 South East Asian Math Competition (Hong Kong)</b></b></p><b><b>

<p><b>-Volunteering & Community Service:<b>
2009-10 Volunteered to tutor and mentor a Grade 11 student on iGCSE Mathematics, Science and English once a week.
2008 Volunteered to be the Counselor of School "The Great Race" challenge (1 week)
2009 Volunteered to teach underprivileged primary school children in Dongguan (1 week)<br>
2010 Volunteered to help plan and host the 2010 Southeast Asia Mathematics Competition events.
2010 Undergo a 2-week summer internship program at a solicitor’s office (pending) </b></b></p><b><b>

<p><b>-Honors and Awards:<b>
Maths:
2006/7/8 School Commendation<br>
2009 School Book Prize (for Outstanding Achievement)</b></b></p><b><b>

<p>2006, 08, 09 School Music Competition – 1st Prize (did not participate in 07) </p>

<p><b>MISC (other things on college app.)<b></b></b></p><b><b>

<p>Intended major: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Intended minor: Engineering Management?</p>

<p>Other countries: Born in San Francisco, CA and stayed for a year, lived in Shanghai as a child for several years, lived in Hong Kong for 10 years. </p>

<p>Languages I speak (S) read (R) write (W) besides English
Chinese (Mandarin) SRW incl. dialects: Cantonese and Shanghainese
Spanish SRW</p>

<p><b>Chance me for:<b>
Berkeley</b></b></p><b><b>
</b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b>

2

<p>I think you have a good chance.</p>

<p>While your app is generally very strong, you’re somewhat lacking in meaningful extracurriculars and activities.</p>

3

<p>Overall: Very good chance (expect an admit, but don’t be too shocked at a deny, thanks to unpredictability. Check your school’s Berkeley admit stats).</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Ethnicity - I suppose Asian males are over-represented in CoE but that shouldn’t affect your chances too badly considering your achievements.</p></li>
<li><p>Academics
Your SATs are fine. I got in with SAT scores lower than yours (I applied College of Chemistry).
4 IBHLs will certainly shine as you mentioned. Though I’m curious; why did you take Chinese HL instead of Chemistry HL considering your lower Chinese IGCSE score?</p></li>
<li><p>ECs
Very good math olympiad achievements, plus most of them are at international level so that helps.
Piano FTCL - my eyes are popping out. Wow. I don’t know if Cal takes music tapes but you should certainly send them in if they do. Mention and highlight this - an FTCL at 18 is no mean feat.
Basketball is more of a side notation than anything but at least it shows you play sports and keep fit.
Leadership, try to highlight the math competition planning and student council positions. You can really “milk” those two.
As for volunteering, here’s where you have a slight disadvantage: you haven’t really done any volunteering over an extended period. You can try starting now.</p></li>
<li><p>Honors & Awards
Math awards + music awards + overall school award = very good.</p></li>
<li><p>Languages - not sure where these go on a UC app but like the basketball it’s more of a side notation. Three languages isn’t really that unusual for applicants living in SEA. If you could speak five or seven languages, maybe.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Cheers.</p>

4

<p>thanks for the very detailed reply!
im 16 btw :stuck_out_tongue:
and yeah i agree with most of what you said.
is it possible for me to link them a website? wiht my personal portfolio i mean.
im planning to write my PS on piano :stuck_out_tongue: so hop[efully im putting fair game.
thanks again for the very detailed reply :)</p>

<p>btw.i took chinese HL cos i can get a 7 (or at least ill be predicted a 7) and first language chinese is an extremely tough GCSE considering the curves are very high. most people who take the exam are from local chinese schools and are very good.</p>

5

<p>for class of 2010 in my school, 5 students got admitted into UC Berkeley. 2-3 are gonna attend</p>

6

<p>No, I don’t think you can link them - the admissions committee have far too many applications to read; they don’t have time to browse through external websites. The UC app has space for work experience and such, and “brief explanation” spaces for all your ECs and awards, so you should be fine. Otherwise, dump it in the “other relevant info” section after the two essays.</p>

<p>What are the stats of those 5 who got admitted? Same as yours? Higher/lower? If so, by how much? What about those who were rejected? You can judge your chances there.</p>

7

<p>By the way, good luck with your UK applications :slight_smile: LSE and Cambridge law are both very impressive. Don’t forget to mail in your COAF and submit your UCAS form by 15 September unless you’re thinking of flying to the UK in December.</p>