Chances at penn, nu, uchicago, cornell, umich....

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>alrite. this is kind of my third time posting, but as im closer to the application deadline, i noe more of where i wanna apply.. so please evaluate my chance...</p>

<p>Heres my stats.
International Student: Asian/Chinese( Born in malaysia, moved to Hong Kong at 4) Speaks Mandarin at home, but is fluet in Cantonese(you can call it a dialect or something) and my English is alright, Ill probably be able to get good toefl grades. I also know two other chinese dialects, but not fluently.</p>

<p>Private School, Full IB diploma (we send some to ivies each year)</p>

<p>Rank: No rank, but i believe im around 10-25th, really hard to determine tho (we have like 98 studetns i think)</p>

<p>SAT1: 800m 580 CR 600 WR, Total:1980 (will retake in oct, think i can get a 2100)</p>

<p>SAT2: Chinese 800, Math 2c 730 Physics 680 (will retake math n phy in nov, think i can get 750+)</p>

<p>Transcript: Fresh and soph yr is IGCSE Jr and Senior is full IB diploma
7=A*
6=A
5=B
4=C....</p>

<p>Freshman
Eng 5 (its actualyl two components, literature and language, but they just give u a single grade)
Chinese First language 7
Additional Math (the harder one) 6
Geography 5
History 7
IT 7
Co-ordinated science (phy bio chem) 7
PE 4 er.. dont think it matters</p>

<p>2nd semester
Major dip in grade for some unkown reason
Eng 4
Chinese 6
Add math 5
GEO 6
His 6
IT 6
Sci 6
PE 6</p>

<p>Sophomore
Eng 5
Chinese 7
Add math 6
Geo 7
HIs 5
IT 7
PE -6 </p>

<p>Eng 5
Chinese 7
Add math 6
Geo 7
history 6
IT 7
Sci 7
PE-6</p>

<p>For the real exam. I got B for english Lit, A* for extended math, additional math and history, and the rest A.</p>

<p>Junior IB: i take chinese A1 Stand, English A2 stand, ITGS stand, HL math, HL phy, HL econ</p>

<p>Chinese 6
Eng 6
ITGS 6
Phy 7
Econ 6
Math 5
Tok Good</p>

<p>2nd term
Eng 6
chinese 6
Math 6
ITGS 7
Phy 7
Econ 7
Tok C</p>

<p>Got the subject award for ITGS and English, but theres only 8 ppl in each class</p>

<p>EC (weak)</p>

<p>Chinese writer, co-editor, editor for student led School magazine. founding member (10,11, 12)</p>

<p>Co-ordiantor of elementary tutoring (in school) (11, unlikely 12)</p>

<p>TREATS (interatcing/teaching handicapped teenagers) (11)</p>

<p>Interact Finance member(9, 10) charity fundraising year long activity</p>

<p>and theres a whole bunch of small community service of different kind over the years. walkathons.. food drive.. helper at fashion show for charity.. helper at charity fair for children... helper for unicef.. book drive for philipines school... swiming gala participant, school fair helper... community service for natural habitat... all of these are pretty short activities tho... longest are like a few weeks, but most are like 1 week, or one day.. but it seems tht most of them are 'community service' ish activities... </p>

<p>Summer :Columbia summer school (11) a business non graded/non-credit course
work at a law firm in malaysia for a month (11)</p>

<p>Awards (nth impressive)
Honour roll (10,11, 12)
head of year commendation (10,11,12)(just getting a certain no. of pts, theres a higher one, which means im not tht good since i didnt get it.)
Ill possibly get the higher one in my mid year report)
Academic acheivment award for ITGS and Eng (11) </p>

<p>Hobbies/interest
Reading (financial related books, novels)
Writing (poetry, expressive/creative writing, articles, mostly chinese)
Computers?? (surfing net, research, read, chat, proficient in Flash, GIF, powerpt, excel, dreamweaver, is this even worth mentioning?)</p>

<p>Recs should be great and essays should be fine-good</p>

<p>First generation, Plans to major in econ/business(in the schools that have them)
Heres the schools i have an interest (in order of interest)</p>

<p>Upenn (either college or wharton ed)
Northwestern Uni
U of Chicago
Cornell
Umich</p>

<p>Considering
UC berkely
UCLA
CMU(bro studying CS there)
UIUC(Sis recently graduated there)
Tufts</p>

<p>Thx in advance, any input will be appreciated.</p>

2

<p>you're on the right track, you definitely need safteies though, you're on the low end, and tooooons of asians apply to these places, try thinking where you belong as opposed to brand name ,your scores don't indicate anything special or a hook, and your ECs are....decent. how about penn state or illinois?</p>

3

<p>I'd have to say that with your SAT score, I would doubt you get into any of the schools you have an interest in. The schools you're considering are also kind of a reach. You definetly should have a couple of safetys. I also recommend you cut outt all that mumbo jumbo about minor community service projects. I doubt it would be of any help getting in. Do your understand Shanghainese? Just curious since I'm Shanghainese :).</p>

4

<p>im going to expand again on monkey, you're not really qualified for what you want, which doesn't mean you can't get it , it just means is not likely. i would concentrate on places that i COULD go and then worry abouteverything else. you sound like you try hard but to go to penn mich and cornell u have to be a smart kid who also tries. you just try hard. i would definitely revamp my list and get involved, don't follow the crowd, you'll get left behind!</p>

5

<p>Middle 50% of UIUC</p>

<p>SAT Reasoning Verbal: 560 - 670 SAT Reasoning Math: 620 - 730 </p>

<p>um. i think my sat score is at least in range for tht... and im pretty sure its in range for some of the schools above. (my bro got in cmu with 1300 sth, and sis into uiuc wit 1200 sth, their grades and ecs pretty similar wit mine, so i dont think all the colleges will reject my simply cuz my SAT verbal isnt tht good) I noe my SAT isnt tht good, but i never tot it would keep me out from schools. (at least if u discount the writing, like georgetown, i still get 1380, not rlly tht LOW to keep me out from schools is it?) and im gonna retake in october, aiming for 2100+. i guess i havta talk to my guidance counsellor when school starts about it (its funny cuz my SAT scores are on the high end amoungst my friends..) o. i aint shanghainese. My dad is from Chao zhou, and mom from Fu jian. altho they are mumbo jumbo minor community projects (well we do raise significant amount of money in most of them), they actualyl add up to many hrs, and it does take up my time. is tht not worth mentioning, or is there a way to sum it up?? (actually, theres 2 of them which took up 20 weeks or so..)
thx for the honest opinions tho. i guess ill havta work hard for the SAT. o, is 7302c considered low for all the schools above?? i guess for penn etc yes.. but like uiuc, tufts, umich? (i think these are the 3 easiest amougnst the list?) ill retake sat2 in nov, probaly gonna be able to get 750+ for them.
anyways thx again</p>

6

<p>hahaha. totally sweet posted wen i posted as well.. but wat kinda stats do i actually needa hav to be a 'smart kid' who also tries??? if i calculate the umich gpa, i get a 3.85, isnt tht pretty alrite?? do i really look 'not smart' with my grades? i always get A/A* though.. except for english.. :/
o well : ) ill look at some other schools as well i guess</p>

7

<p>Yeah... You seem like a smart guy, but you definitely have a lack of extracurriculars, and in te end, that may get you rejected from penn university, and Cornell. You seriouslly need to consider if you are applying to these "top tier" schools because of their name, or because of your desire to go there. If you sincerly want to go to Cornell, or Columbia, you need to work on your verbal. Besides EC's and Verbal scores, I'd say you have a good chance.</p>

8

<p>"Cornell, or Columbia" o.o where did columbia come from haha. anyways. its desire and not just the name (or else id have tried brown as well). i actually visited northwestern, uchicago, upenn, and cornell during the summer. and i do love penn for a lot of stuff, espacially the wharton curriculum and its campus. Well, i noe theres a big chance i will get rejected, but im just puting them as my biggest reach schools.</p>

9

<p>I don't understand your classes. What is GEO - Geometry, Geography? What is IT? What is ITGO? TOK?</p>

10

<p>Geo=geograpy, IT=information technology(computers), ITGS-information technology in a global society(computers+ethics), TOK-theory of knowledge (compulsory class to get IB diploma). i guess u havta noe a bit about the IB to understand the classes.</p>

11

<p>After overlooking your classes and GPA, it's really 3.75. You don't count PE, you don't count IT, ITGS, or TOK. Also, you don't count Geography. The only classes you count are your Math, Science, History, Foreign Language, and English (or for you, Chinese). </p>

<p>Why isn't there a Science class sophomore year? Why isn't there a History class junior year? </p>

<p>Your CR score on the SAT is also VERY low, which will hurt you, especially with your lackluster grades in English. </p>

<p>But, your GPA is high enough to get you into most schools, of course, you're looking at some very selective schools. </p>

<p>I think Michigan may be a match for you. You will probably get in there, as they have numerous students from overseas there.</p>

12

<p>oh. i think i jsut accidentalyl left ou thte sci in sophomore year. i got a 7 as well. i can only take 6 subjects in IB for my school. n i choose itgs over history. our curriculum is pretty 'set', not flexible at all. its funny how if u dont count geography and IT or art or music, some ppl only hav math science foreign languag and english to count in most of their schools years in my school. (theres students tht dont take history since frosh, n takes art,music, geo, IT ones)
basically, during my frosh n junior year, we were doing the igcse course, which is a 2 year course. and the IB is also 2 year course as well. during igcse. we needed to choose subjects in few different areas like 'humanities' etc. n i ended up taking geo, history, IT, which was a more 'nerdy' one compared to Art, geo, Design and technology.
and during IB, we need to choose 3 standard level n 3 higher level subject. basically, we need to choose either eng or chinese as A1, and the other being w/e level we want. my chinese is beter so i choose chinese A1 and english A2 (i couldve chosen B, but i 'challenge' for the harder one) and then we needed to choose a math. i choose the higher level (hardest one). and then we need to choose a science subject. i chooose physics HL. n then theres humanities. i choose economics HL. and then theres a last group which was artsy subject, or some computer course or chemistry. so i choose ITGS.</p>