<p>stats , Asian male
GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.67 W
Class rank: 3/61 (small competitive private school)
SAT: 720 CR 780 M 800 W
Most rigorous courseload taken
SAT II: 800 korean 760 USH 760 Math IIC 730 Bio
5s on AP Bio and USH (the only two we're allowed to take junior year)</p>
<p>ECs
AMC 2nd place (in school)
PSAT commended probably (219)
Math League (3 years so far)
Varsity Soccer 3 years so far
2 time school scholarship award recipient for character and academic excellence
AP USH Student of the year
Community Service Club (3 years so far; on the board, organized all of this year's club activities such as habitat for humanity, locks for love, knitting hats for afghani kids etc; also the monthly newsletter editor/publisher) time commitment varies but at least 5-7 hrs/ wk and with big projects, a LOT more time is dedicated
Co-started this year's big service project, raised ~$7000, published in a nationwide christian conference newsletter
although hours don't show a lot, i've dedicated more than 400 hrs to comm service
Regularly tutor 2 kids in math, chemistry (3 hrs a week maybe?)
Tutored 3 kids sophomore year summer in english/math
Tutoring 2 kids junior year summer in english/math (grammar and alg II)
Student leader in church since freshman year (mentoring kids, tutoring kids)
Church's YG Newspaper founder and editor in chief (monthly production) (3-5 hrs/wk)
Local newspaper internship since beginning of april 07 (5 hrs/ wk during the school year; 24 hrs/ wk during the summer)
Month long theology camp
NHS president next year, with lots of comm service projects coming up
Attendee of a 10,000 member plus christian leadership conference
Band (4 years)
i am also planning on creating an interfaith community service project this coming year</p>
<p>so basically im really into reading philosophy/theology and writing and volunteering.. these three aspects all connect and basically run my life and i absolutely love doing it. my understanding of ethics moves me to volunteer and my love for reading these somewhat dry books lead me to read more and write more!</p>
<p>I will get excellent recommendations from both my teachers and my guidance counselor
I'm a good essay writer so I don't think I'll have problems with my essay</p>
<p>i live in NJ so I don't want to go to school too far from my house..
(Chicago, Michigan, Virginia is probably the limit)
Strong english and philosophy department would be very appealing.</p>
<p>my list so far is this:
* Amherst C
* Boston C EA
* Colby C
* Columbia U
* Cornell U
* Dartmouth C
* Emory U
* Georgetown U EA
* Harvard C
* Middlebury C
* Northwestern U IL
* U Chicago EA
* U Michigan
* U Virginia
* Wheaton C (IL) EA
* Williams C
i've started by only looking at lacs but i realized that i sorta like the big univ feeling too.. so i'm planning on using BC's EA or Wheaton's EA as a safety and then the rest are up for grabs.. i know i am kind of reach-heavy but how does this look? how will i fare? thanks</p>
<p>Well the school awards sure won't do much when there are only 61 people in the class (speaking about the AMC and AP USH awards). But your GPA and standardized test scores are good enough so that you're not at a disadvantage even at your biggest reaches. Of course, being an Asian male, you will need amazing recs and essays to have a shot at Harvard, Dartmouth, Amherst, or Williams. All of the other places, though, you have a very solid chance at. Middlebury is a nice match for you, and Cornell and Northwestern are good as very slight reaches.</p>
<p>You might want to think more about small LACs vs. big universities though, as the 13,000 undergrads at Cornell is quite a contrast from those LACs.</p>
<p>a friend of mine, with similar stats and into philosophy is going to upenn, but, generally, lacs are better for philosophy majors. You shoudl get into most of your schools,but harvard and amherst will certainly be a stretch</p>
<p>Your passion is religion yet none of the listed schools except harvard have decent divinity schools, or undergrad comparitive religon ones. Look into princeton and notre dame.</p>
<p>A mom here...you might want to narrow the list down, so that you will have the time to devote to write REALLY strong essays....if you don't, you may find you have nothing to choose from--a very hard lesson learned by some this last year...even with your stats...learn from others.</p>
<p>Ya, your list is a big waste of money. You'll get into a lot of those schools that I know you really don't want to go to. For example: boston c, UMICH, and UVA are basically the exact same thing. If you get into one, you'll get into them all. Same with the scattered LACs, except Amherst. Take out columbia, I have similar religious convictions and after finding out how liberal they are and what it is all about i took them off of my list.</p>
<p>The fact that you're Asian and not interested in math/science is a big plus point. I think you're in at most of them save the Ivies/Amherst/U Chicago which are reaches no matter how qualified an applicant is. Since your strong-suit is writing, you should submit some powerful, moving essays (about your volunteer work especially) and they will get you into most of those. Good luck!</p>
<p>thanks guys. yeah to be honest after i visited columbia i didn't like it at all but after reading lauren winner's girl meets god (she was an episcopalian who went to columbia) i sorta wanted to go there but maybe i'm day dreaming ..
could you guys help classify the safeties/matches/reaches in that list? like i know the ivies/chicago/amherst are reaches but Northwestern, Georgetown, middlebury, williams, colby etc are kinda harder for me to classify. thanks</p>
<ul>
<li>Amherst C: Reach</li>
<li>Boston C EA: High match</li>
<li>Colby C: Not sure </li>
<li>Columbia U: Reach</li>
<li>Cornell U: Low Reach</li>
<li>Dartmouth C: Reach</li>
<li>Emory U: High Match</li>
<li>Georgetown U EA: Low Reach</li>
<li>Harvard C: High Reach</li>
<li>Middlebury C: Match</li>
<li>Northwestern U IL: Low Reach</li>
<li>U Chicago EA: Low Reach</li>
<li>U Michigan: depends on where you are from</li>
<li>U Virginia: Depends on where you are from</li>
<li>Wheaton C (IL) EA: Safety</li>
<li>Williams C: Reach</li>
</ul>
<p>yeah i actually looked up their website.. by restrictive they mean i can't apply to an early decision school.. but they do allow me to apply to other early action schools thank God =)</p>