<p>Very impressive–your only competition seems to be the fact that you are competing against other Asian and Australian super-students</p>
<p>Yale-reach (because everyone is)
Harvard-reach (because everyone is)
MIT high match, because of the first places in the science competitions
Penn match, but Huntsman is a low reach
Columbia low reach
Brown match
Georgetown low match/ in
Dartmouth low reach
Duke low match
UC Berkeley match
USC safety
UCLA safety (hate to say safety, since this is my alma mater (MBA program))
Stanford–low reach (they will love your swimming skills as well as your academics, but they get thousands of applications from Northern California Asian students–and accept very few)</p>
<p>Where should you go?–This really depends upon what you want to major in–and your future career plans. How/where should you apply ea/ed?–Personally if you want to get into one of the big 5 (I notice you only list 4 of the 5 for chances–leaving out Princeton) (Harvard/Yale/Stanford/MIT), I’d apply either EA to Yale or SCEA to Stanford. I think your best chance of those four schools is at MIT #1, then Stanford #2, then Yale #3, then Harvard #4. </p>
<p>If you want to major in business apply to Penn or USC, for Engineering–Yale/Dartmouth/Brown; political science/international relations–Columbia/Harvard/Georgetown, science–MIT/Stanford/UC Berkeley/Duke/UCLA, cinema studies–USC/Duke/NYU, Mathematics–UCLA/Brown, Economics–Stanford/Yale/Harvard. </p>
<p>Harvard and Yale and Stanford and MIT have the “name” prestige–but if you want to be sure of getting in, I’d apply ED to Columbia. Another question–how would you feel about living at home (which is probably what you would do if you go to Stanford or UC Berkeley)? If you want to get out away from your parents and really be on your own, you might want to get away from home–but the question is, would you still focus on your studies in this case. Also, how important is the beauty and location of the campus. I find Penn is a fantastic school–but I hate the area outside of the school. Same for USC. Dartmouth is pretty–but miles from anywhere. Columbia is right on Manhattan–but a ways from the heart of the action–and NYC can be overwhelming. Brown in Providence is very pretty–and was my first choice for undergraduate school (I was accepted, but didn’t attend for financial reasons)-but it is a lesser-known location. Georgetown is in the beautiful part of Washington, D.C.–which is a very up-and-coming town right now–particularly for young career movers–but remember Georgetown is a catholic school. UCLA sits right between Beverly Hills and Santa Monica beach–but traffic can be a bit of a pain. Harvard is in a great location and great architectural shape–while MIT just down the way still looks like it was built in the 1930s. Yale has the most interesting architecture–but is in a run-down town in the middle of nowhere. Duke is in another up-and-coming research area–but NC isn’t for everyone–and it seems to thrive on its basketball program over everything else but its medical center. </p>
<p>Final choices (my view):
Based upon your interest in ethnic studies and politics–I’d choose Columbia or Georgetown or Harvard (all in larger metro areas–NYC, Washington DC and Boston, respectively). If I’m reading you wrong and you decide to major in science, then go to either Stanford, MIT or Duke–and definitely consider applying to Princeton also. Good luck.</p>