Chances at HPS/Penn/UVA/MIT

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello everyone, this is my first post on College Confidential, although I have been sporadically browsing the forums for a small period of time.</p>

<p>I was wondering about my chances at being admitted to Harvard/Princeton/Stanford(considering)/University of Pennsylvania/University of Virginia/Massachusetts Institute of Technology.</p>

<p>I have just taken the SATs (December) and I would like to see if I'm somewhat on track for these schools, or if there is anything glaring that I should do my best to fix. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions/constructive criticisms on how to improve my resume and increase my chances of attending the above schools. Thanks!</p>

<p>To start off, I am a 16 year old Chinese Junior living in Virginia. My school is a fairly selective public school with an admissions process and drawing from multiple counties (so like a magnet school). My school does not publish class rank or have a valedictorian. I'll try to refrain from listing everything in paragraph form now :)</p>

<p>Fresh+Soph Gpa - 4.0 unweighted (4.0 scale)
4.40 weighted (4.5 scale)
4.59 weighted (5.5 scale - (All AP's and Dual Enrollments are +1)
Current GPA - 5.13 weighted (5 AP classes, Multivariable Calc, 2 honors languages)</p>

<p>My goal is to bring my overall weighted GPA to a 4.8 by the end of Junior year (top in class)</p>

<p>SAT: 800 Math/800CR/740 Writing Total:2340
I think I am planning on taking the SAT again in March to improve my writing score (is this worth it? I'm fairly sure I can do better)</p>

<p>SAT II's: MathII 800/ I plan on taking USHistory/Chemistry/Physics after this year</p>

<p>APs: 5 on Calc BC
Statistics
European History
I am taking AP Chemistry, Macro+Micro Economics, Physics, Government, and US History this year and plan on taking AP Psych/Comparative Gov/Spanish Language/English Lit/Environmental Science next year</p>

<p>Community Service: 206 total hours (over 50 above school requirement) - including working at the library, museums, chess tournaments, Chinese fairs, tutoring</p>

<p>EC's - President of Math Club (work on Math problem solving/meet to discuss fun problems - I also helped found this club)
Co-Treasurer of Asia Club (promote Asian culture within the school and hold a schoolwide assembly with Asian performances)
Co-Treasurer of Spanish Club (promote learning of Spanish and Hispanic Culture throughout the school)
Treasurer and Secretary of Global Citizens Corps (School branch, promotes hunger, AIDS, clean water, and education awareness)
Co-President of Investment Club (mock stock market game, learn about investing)</p>

<pre><code> MUN - 3 years, several minor awards, hope to be officer next year
Youth group - active member, many CS opportunities, hope to be officer next year
Quizbowl - very good school team, won several local tournaments
Member of National Honor Society, Science/Math/History/English/Spanish Honor Societies - only seniors can be officers
Tennis team - 3 years
Volleyball team - 1 year
</code></pre>

<p>Awards:
Perfect Score on AMC 8/10, qualified for USAMO two years in a row
Gold medal on National Spanish Exam two years in a row
Numerous Chess trophies and awards</p>

<p>Recommendations - I have focused on two teachers who are reputed to give very good recommendations. I will have them for two out of my four years in high school. Should I be so narrowminded or open my options to other teachers as well?</p>

<p>Thanks for taking the time to read this! I apologize for all the questions throughout the post, but as its my first time here, I figure I might as well post my lingering questions :)
Again, thank you very much for the feedback, and I would love any ways to improve my chances!
Happy New Year!</p>

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<p>While I appreciate your reply SteelRealDeal, I would prefer if future posts could be more substantive and constructive rather than spammy.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

3

<p>You have a VERY good shot at all of these schools,
Harvard, Princeton and MIT will be the hardest, but with stats like this you should be a very competitive applicant</p>

<p>your most likely in at Penn, UVA and Stanford</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>Chance Back?</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/840661-chance-senior-who-got-off-rough-start.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/840661-chance-senior-who-got-off-rough-start.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>^What a useless post.</p>

<p>THough you may fit into the “typical asian mold,” you do a fantastic job at it. You’re academic qualifications are through the roof. I would no longer focus on your SAT at all and focus on your SATII’s, as there is absolutely NO WAY they are going to hold that writing score against you. Colleges care about the SAT only to a certain extent. Raising your 740 in writing to a 770 or even a 800 will only do limited boost to your application. Your AMC success is completely mind-blowing. I managed to only get a 94.5 as a junior :frowning: planning to get AIME this year though!</p>

<p>I think the one thing you lack is a national award or national participation in something. Well AMC is, but some other form would be awesome as well. As it stands, you have fantastic chances at your schools, especially MIT because of your math accomplishments.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

5

<p>Thank you very much for the replies NKBaseballbum and NWdivisionChamps</p>

<ul>
<li><p>NK I will try to give chancing you a shot, but too be honest I don’t have any experience at it and I’m unfamiliar with the schools you are applying to so I’m not sure how much my weight my chances would hold :P</p></li>
<li><p>NW I’m glad you shared with me this view on the SAT. I have always heard rumors about the specific weighting of SATs in the admissions process and how Cr+M is considered more than the writing. Thank you for the constructive criticism. It gives me more incentive to start working towards my schools Quizbowl/We The People teams (but it requires so much effort ><) :D</p></li>
</ul>

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<p>Your scores and grades are obviously top notch. But to improve your chances at all of those schools you really need to portray yourself as a well rounded applicant. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you need to separate yourself from all of those other Asian students with great grades and great scores. </p>

<p>Write unique essays, and try and get involved with things outside the academic world. I see you are doing sports, any chance for any leadership positions in sports? It couldn’t hurt to do some volunteer work.</p>

<p>But really, you don’t have much, if anything to worry about.</p>

<p>Chance me?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/840709-start-new-year-right-chance-me-ill-chance-back-i-swear.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/840709-start-new-year-right-chance-me-ill-chance-back-i-swear.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thanks for the reply cgb!
I’ll keep your advice in mind, essays are going to be a make it or break it thing for me :)</p>

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<p>Any more replies would be greatly appreciated!</p>