<p>I’ve posted one in the general section but havent got a single reply. Since I’m the most interested in applying to Penn(wharton), I posted again here. Hope you guys don’t mind, and please help me this time T_T;</p>
<p>Here are my STATS:</p>
<p>German born Korean male immigrant from an extremely low income family residing in California</p>
<p>SAT I: 2100 (planning to retake and get around 2200 in October)
SAT II: 740(Math IC), 790(Korean), planning to take Math IIC and world history in november and get 750+</p>
<p>Sophomore year GPA: 3.3
Junior year GPA: 4.8
Senior year: expecting 5.0 with 4 AP classes (no elective)
(I took the hardest classes available from 10th to 12th grade. In 11th grade, I transfered to another school of 680 API score which is pretty competitive in this region)</p>
<p>E.C.:</p>
<p>Volunteered as a teacher at an institute for mentally/physically disabled kids for 500 hours (president of the teachers’ comittee leading all teachers throughout Southern California, Northern California, Seattle in meetings and camps) </p>
<p>Founder of an organization tutoring the kids with economically poor kids </p>
<p>Founder and concertmaster of a quartet performing for the disabled kids </p>
<p>Winner of the Southern Youth Music Festival (sorta like a state competition… also called SYMF) for violin twice (highest qualified, and open category)</p>
<p>First Violinist in school orchestra (my school is a music school so you have to go through an audition to get into orchestra) </p>
<p>Certificate of Merit level 9 for violin with highest score 5+ and admitted into honor branch</p>
<p>Solo Violinist at the Nixon Library museum concert</p>
<p>Pacific Orchestra with the violin (its one of the most recognized one in California for high school students)</p>
<p>Clarinet Principal in the school Concert Band and the Wind Ensemble </p>
<p>Section leader in Marching band</p>
<p>Principal clarinet in the District Honor band</p>
<p>All-Southern Band with the clarinet</p>
<p>A Paid clarinet player in a professional Jazz band for two years </p>
<p>The Most Improved Player Award(9th grade) and The Most Outstanding Player Award(10th grade) for School band</p>
<p>CSF for three years</p>
<p>JV Tennis team in 9th grade (most improved player award)</p>
<p>Varsity Tennis undefeated single player in 10th grade (Our school was League No.1 that year)</p>
<p>Tae Kwon Do Black Belt</p>
<p>Winner of the Korean essay writing contest for my state (back in korea though… dunno if it counts. and I’m more than fluent in Korean)</p>
<p>…thats about it for the E.C.s… and im expecting to get good teacher recommendations and an excellent counselor recommendation.</p>
<p>First question here… Besides the stats, I have a unique circumstance. I am an immigrant from South Korea who came in 9th grade with no knowledge of English. The counselor put me in the IB program in 10th grade after seeing my desperate efforts to learn english and fast improvements. In tenth grade, my mother collapsed from excessive physical labor and I had to work 40 hours a week to support my family (my dad of sixty years old without high school education couldnt earn much money), leaving me too exhausted to handle the toughest classes with poor language skills (But I dramatically improved and excelled in 11th grade when I moved to another school and didnt have to work anymore). I am planning to incorporate this naturally into my essay. I know Koreans are not minority. But how much would the fact that I had severe linguistic and economical disadvantages help, if it helps at all?</p>
<p>Secondly, I am especially interested in applying to UPenn (I know it may sound ridiculous for me to apply to penn but i wanna give a shot at least). And I’m thinking of applying as Early Decisioner. I would like to hear your opinion on my chance as a EDer to Wharton.</p>
<p>Lastly, here is the list of schools im thinking of applying to. I’m only applying to high reach schools and few safe UCs(like Irvine and Riverside) which i didnt include here.</p>
<ul>
<li>UPenn, Columbia, Yale, Cornell, Brown, U Chicago, Emory, Carnegie Mellon, UC Berkely, UCLA, USC </li>
</ul>
<p>…if you could, i would like to know my chances for these schools as well.</p>
<p>…I never had many chances to interact with experienced people, so i would appreciate very much if you share your knowledge concerning my questions or any other helpful advices. Thank you!</p>