<p>I’m not familiar with Oberlin or Bard, but I think at least Cornell and Dartmouth are reasonable reaches. Your SATI scores are certainly within range for all of the schools you listed, though your SATII scores are slightly low. (Why not try another subject test to see how you do?) In addition, having international level recognition in piano is also a very impressive accomplishment.</p>
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<p>Since your main extracurricular interest is piano, definitely indicate that you would like to minor or double major in music. Any other reason why you want to major in economics besides that you’ve heard it to be interesting? Economics is actually a very popular major for Asians with an interest in the humanities. Even though indicated choice of major plays a minor role in college admissions, why not look into English as a possible major? I see that you’ve written for the local newspaper, and from the fact that you took literature as one of your SAT subject tests, you seem to have an interest for literature as well, whereas you haven’t shown any explicit interest for economics through your profile. Just a random thought that came into my mind as I was reading your post.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why others are so pessimistic; it is true that piano is a very popular EC, but being good at it or having your level of achievement is still rather rare. The fact that you’re from a small rural town or a potentially less represented area may also help slightly. For what it’s worth, I’m a violin-playing (though I’m pretty horrible at it) Asian who wanted to major in science, but I was accepted at almost all the schools I applied to anyway, including several of the ones you’ve listed. Had I made a chance thread before I applied I probably would have received the same negative responses from other CCers as you have. Sometimes, you’ll have to trust your judgment and take the advice of random posters on an anonymous forum with a health dose of skepticism. Apply to a wide range of schools and do your best to express your love for music in your essays and through the interview, and I’ sure that you will be accepted to a wonderful school in the end. </p>
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<p>Diversity in extracurricular interests makes the incoming freshman class a more interesting assembly of people, exactly as Redroses said. And no, I can assure you that she is not an admission officer at HYP.</p>
<p>Anyway, I love the advice given by an admission officer from MIT on the topic chance threads: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/939227-reminder-no-one-not-even-me-can-give-you-accurate-chance-mit.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/939227-reminder-no-one-not-even-me-can-give-you-accurate-chance-mit.html</a>.</p>
<p>Good luck!!</p>