Hi everyone! I am a rising high school senior who’s just starting his college applications. I’ll be applying to the following universities in the fall, so I wanted to gauge my general chances! The universities include Princeton, Caltech, Duke, Cornell, Harvard, Yale, UPenn, Stanford, CMU, and UCs.
Demographics: Asian Male living outside of the US
Desired major: Engineering (probably ee)
SAT scores
SAT: 1470 (790 Math) Essay: 8/8/8 (Single Sitting) (i know its pretty pathetic)
-SAT II scores: Math II (?), Physics (?), Chem (?)
GPA: i’m not really sure how this works since i’m in IB and my coordinator says that there isn’t a gpa for us ib students…
AP scores: it’s pretty embarrassing but i only took one ap
AP English Language and Composition: 5
IB scores: our school’s scaling system corresponds to the following system (7=96-100, 6=90-95, 5=89-86, 4=85-80, let’s not talk about the rest)
IB Physics HL: 7 (predicted)
IB Chemistry HL: 7 (predicted)
IB Mathematics HL: 7 (predicted)
IB Geography SL: 6 (predicted)(trying to pull this up to a 7 next year)
IB French SL: 6 (confirmed)
IB English SL: 4 (predicted)(this is incredibly sad i know (highest mark in class was an 86))
TOK and EE: 3 (predicted)
-Awards:
Piano
achieved diploma for particular program
notable distinction in local festivals
Double Bass
National Honours Orchestra Gold Medal
Distinction award at community music school
several awards with orchestra
jazz band award 9th grade
Math/Science:
national math contest distinction awards (top 25%)(university of waterloo)
Varsity Volleyball Team (also played club)
-one national title
-several provincial awards
ECs:
Orchestra:
Principal Double Bassist (2016-present) for community orchestra
Assistant Principal Double Bassist for National Youth Orchestra (2016)
Principal Double Bassist for school orchestra (2016)
Bassist for School Jazz Band
Varsity Volleyball Team (also played club)
-started in middle school (sixth grade)
-started varsity in 9th grade (starting rightside attacker)
Others:
Volunteer Club Executive
Work/Volunteer:
Non-profit, youth-run organization helping children with disabilities
-10th grade: Manager for District
-11th grade: CRO for Country
-Now: COO for Country
YWAM
-homes for hope volunteer
-helped with orphanages in tijuana, mexico during 10th grade spring break
Head Cashier at local Sushi Restaurant
-started as dishwasher, became waiter then cashier
-10th grade - present
Street volunteering
-10th grade - present (giving food and clothing to street friends in local community)
Essays:
Essays will be about either my commitment to volleyball/my passion for the Double Bass/my involvement with helping children with disabilities. I’ll be sure to revise it MANY times and make it amazing.
Recs:
From IB Physics teacher; he’s taught for many years, led our school to place in several Physics olympiads, and is an IB examinar. He remembers me very well in my academic record and passion.
From IB French Teacher; ib examinar as well, understands my academic stature and my passion for the language
Languages: Fluent and Proficient in English, Chinese, and French
Summer Activities:
9th grade: Selected for district summer math program
10th grade: 6 week university math program (24 high school students selected)
11th grade: Organizing a disability activism workshop for disability justice organization
Hook: probably my involvement with children with disabilities. I’ve invested most of time into the organization that i worked for and continued to help these children in several missions trip that i went on. This is something that I definitely something that I want to continue with in university.
(idk if this counts but i have sibiling legacy through Duke)
Any advice given is greatly appreciated as well!