Chances and lacking "extra thing?"

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Stats:
I tried to remember things from scratch so some things may be slightly off or there may be typos.</p>

<p>Objective:</p>

<p>• SAT 2300 800M/780W/720CR
taking ACT next week
No SAT II yet
• UW GPA: 3.96
• W GPA: 6.73/7
• Rank: 10% (highest percentile they calculate)
• AP:
o Bio: 4
o Calc BC (self-study): 4
 I had to take Calc AB because my schedule could not fit BC but I studied for the BC test myself (there isn't much difference though).
o US Gov.: 4
o Chemistry: 4
o Statistics: 4</p>

<p>• DC:
o Contemporary Math (Local Uni): A+</p>

<p>• Independent Studies:
o Research Methodology: A+
o University Physics: A+
o Organic Chemistry 1: A+
o Human Physiology and Microbiology: A+
o Calculus of Several Variables: A+
o Linear Algebra: A+
o Organic Chemistry 2: A+
o Ordinary Differential Equations: A+
o Biostatistics: A+</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>• EC
o Debate Team (highest recognition: 3rd place in state)
o Math Team-never competed so it's pretty much useless
o Science Team (Captain of Bowl Team)
o Human Relations Club-community service club basically
o House Leadership Committee-helped organize breast cancer walk and raised over $10,000 over 3 years</p>

<p>• Sports
o 2 years Table Tennis (Captain 2 years and founder)
o 4 years Badminton (Captain 3 year)*
o 4 years Tennis (Captain 3 year)*
*my youth group competes with other same-race youth groups in the state and I am the captain of the badminton and tennis teams of my town. There are 6 players per team and there are singles and doubles. </p>

<p>• Volunteer Work
o 150+ hrs. Yale New Haven Hospital and Saint Raphael's Hospital
o 312+ hrs. Tutoring Math at youth group to younger children
 Every Sunday for 2 hrs.</p>

<p>• Shadowing
o 300+ hrs. with a surgeon, physician, radiologist, radiation therapist, cardiologist, cardiac surgeon, neuro surgeon, physiatrist </p>

<p>• Work History:
o Paid Musician and Teacher
 Weddings, parties (nothing like concerts though)
 Taught guitar introductory lessons at youth group (for ABSOLUTE beginners. they wanted to learn electric but I play classical)
o Private Business: ****'s Guitars (I won't reveal my name)
 I built electric guitars from scratch and sold them locally and over seas. The business made at least $800 per year starting in 2011 and does some really cool custom work such as paint jobs, shape of guitar, etc.
o Intern/Group Project at Pickard Chilton (architecture firm)</p>

<p>• Research:
o Independent Research
 Rheumatoid Arthritis Project
o Yale Medical School
 Ongoing research in cell biology. Have two publications in really good journals. I participated in the work heavily.</p>

<p>• Several awards at local science fair for independent research</p>

<p>• Awards
o AP Scholar w/ Distinction
o National Hispanic Recognition Program Finalist
o Fuel Cell Trophy (3rd place in state)
o Science Olympiad Epidemiology Medal (3rd)
o Alexion Biotechnology Award (scisef)
o Traveler's Insurance Patent Award (scisef)
o Science Fair Biotechnology Award (scisef)</p>

<p>State: CT
Race: Mexican
Gender: M
Income Bracket: Parents don't tell me</p>

<p>My guidance counselor told me that I wasn't able to distinguish myself from the other candidates. I have a strong academic profile but that's it. Does anyone else want to opine? Pls give your reason supporting her or me. and chance me for Harvard SCEA</p>

2

<p>Ivy league schools are reaches for everyone…IMO, she’s right. All those ECS/academic stats are common among Harvard applicants.</p>

3

<p>You got to go the extra mile and good luck with application.</p>

4

<p>You are a very good candidate, but HYP really need people to “stand out” or jump off out of the paper for a more likely admission. You could probably get into almost certainly get into anywhere short of Ivy. You have a good chance, though.</p>

5

<p>At this point really just work on writing a fantastic essay. You are extremely qualified and you definitely have a shot.</p>

6

<p>What would help me stick out then? Any example?</p>

7

<p>Obviously you have a great resume, but your counselor is right. It is hard to make yourself stick out from other applicants who apply to Ivy leagues.
Unless you are either planning on lying or have this HUGE, secret EC that no one knows about, then I think you should stick with what you have.
The shadowing a surgeon is really cool though! I’ve always wanted to do that.</p>

<p>Mine please?: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1567285-chance-transfer.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1567285-chance-transfer.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

8

<p>Then what would be an example? Like playing violin concerts or dancing on TV? What is it?</p>

9

<p>t23Q2e:
Agree with previous posters. A stand out-definition for the Ivies: olympic athlete, software developer of multi-million dollar company, international musician (like Itzak Perlman), Wimbledon or USTA finalist, commercial app developer, etc. </p>

<p>We’ve had several classmates of my children get into Harvard and the ivies: </p>

<p>One classmate wrote and self-published a novel. </p>

<p>Another classmate, whose mother developed breast cancer in his junior year, did fundraising and built a school at a Russian orphanage near his mother’s hometown and named the school after his mother; he also started a middle school tutoring program (for at-risk youth) in the local school district that serves several hundred kids a day and that program continues today. </p>

<p>One of my daughter’s did make the first cut for Harvard, and participated in the personal interviews-she conducted research at UCSD for her HS biotechnology class alongside a very well-established researcher on diabetes. She ran tests, took samples, and monitored medications in diabetic mice before they discovered she wasn’t a grad student and under age but they asked her to train incoming international grad students. </p>

<p>And although we are hispanic, she is a natural polyglot and translated during meetings for the Mandarin-speaking visiting profs and grad students. She originally didn’t speak Mandarin or Cantonese but picked it up really fast in the labs 24/7. So, she got killer LOR’s. </p>

<p>BTW: Your SAT scores don’t appear to match your AP scores. Also, you’ve only taken 5 AP’s?? National Hispanic Recognition? or Scholar?<br>
NOTE: you can’t find a last-minute EC to get your way into Harvard. Either you’re an olympic athlete or you’re not.</p>

10

<p>I’m starting junior year now and maxed out of AP classes that I wanted to take so I continued with Independent Studies at Yale and Quinnipiac University.</p>

<p>I think those count for more than an AP</p>

<p>I just took the PSAT this month</p>

<p>SAT match AP score? What do you mean?</p>