<p>Hey guys. Now that my application isn't going to change much and I've narrowed down my list of schools, I'd like to know where you think I stand.</p>
<p>A few quick things:
- I'm 16 and will be 16 until I graduate HS (due to skipping 7th grade); would writing an essay about how I feel it may have stunted my growth socially and in terms of getting involved from 8-10th grade (before overcoming it by Junior year) be worth it?
- I was born in a small, relatively unknown (to the average person) European country, but moved here with my parents as a young child
- I was raised with a different culture, a different language, and parents that were often too busy to provide guidance about life in the US since they were obviously trying to figure it out themselves</p>
<p>I'll use the format of the college acceptance/waitlist/reject threads to list my stats:</p>
<p>Objective:</p>
<p>• SAT I (breakdown): 690CR 800M 800W; 1490/2280 (680 CR in single-sitting)
• PSAT: 218 (Semi-Finalist likely, I think)
• ACT: 31 (33 Reading, 33 English, 30 Math, 27 Science, 30 Eng/Writ); Will only submit if my retakes lead to 33+, so I can show proficiency in reading despite my SAT score
• SAT II: 760 Math II, 730 Bio M, 710 USH, 680 Chem (retaking Math and Bio, aiming 800s and I think I'll get them since I have a decent amount of time to study versus practically none my first times)
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98 (one A- sophomore year)
• School: Small, prestigious private prep
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10% (distinguished by Cum Laude award, otherwise DNR)
• AP (place score in parenthesis): (AP/IB not offered; got rid of it a few years ago in favor of equally challenging and less restrictive "Honors" level ones) "Honors" - 9 courses (2 A+, 6 A, 1 A-); 4 more Senior year
• IB (place score in parenthesis): None
• Senior Year Course Load: Most demanding offered (as has been all 4 years)
• Awards: Physics award (9th grade), History award (11th grade), Yale Book Award (11th grade) - no idea how much these mean, probably nothing, right?</p>
<p>Subjective:</p>
<p>• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): </p>
<p>[Including Sr. Year, more or less in order of importance to me]
School Newspaper (3 yrs + 1 yr Co-Editor in Chief)
Robotics (3 yrs + 1 yr Co-Captain)
Mock Trial (2 yrs, maybe 1 yr Co-Captain)
Tour Guide (2 yrs)
DECA (1 yr)
Sports (never found a passion there, like 5 different ones over 4 years)
Diplomacy Society (3 yrs, 2 yr Co-President; Diplomacy is basically an extravagant form of chess)</p>
<p>--- Obviously pretty weak, though they do fill up practically every minute of my time nowadays when I'm not doing schoolwork, and I'm passionate about all of them. Sort of lacking a theme I guess...If I had to summarize it: competition in subjects that interest me and services to the community.</p>
<p>• Job/Work Experience: None
• Volunteer/Community service: Hospital Volunteering (~150 hours)
• Summer Activities: Science Research in a University lab, Tennis (last couple years), vacation travel (to Europe), educational travel (i.e. once with Spanish class to Costa Rica), online courses with JHU's CTY program
• Essays: Have written most of one about the values instilled in me by my parents and grandparents (who have lived extraordinary lives) coupled with good examples of how these values have led me in life. Thinking of submitting that as CommonApp. Other than that haven't worked on anything, but I'm generally a pretty good writer so it should be solid.
• Teacher Recommendation: Should be very good. I have a few in mind, both of which should be glowing (one is an English teacher and the other is a Math/Econ teacher known for his amazing recs)
• Counselor Rec: Should be great (he only has about 30 kids, and we have numerous one on one sessions where we talk about everything so he'll know me well enough)
• Additional Rec: Probably from the research lab I'm working at now; probably won't be anything special so might opt not to submit it
• Interview: Probably average, not a strong point</p>
<p>Other</p>
<p>• State (if domestic applicant): PA
• Ethnicity: Caucasian
• Gender: Male
• Income Bracket: Upper (parents came to the US with practically nothing but now, by the time high school rolled around, they'd changed that)
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Would what I mentioned as the result of being foreign-born paint me as interesting to some top colleges? NB: I highly doubt there will be a single international applicant from this country and similarly doubt there being a single qualified immigrant from this country applying
• Intended Major: Computer Science (with Pre-Med) [not set in stone]</p>
<p>List:</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard (SCEA)</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>UChicago</li>
<li>WashU</li>
<li>U. of Rochester</li>
<li>PSU (Honors)</li>
<li>Pitt (Honors)</li>
</ol>
<p>My parents have told me that they'll pay for me to go to a prestigious university, but they'd rather I went to Pitt or PSU (my state schools) if I don't get into any so as to save money for grad school + my younger siblings. Thus, overall my plan is to apply to those, if any of the first 7 or so accept me, attend it, but if not, weigh my options and probably attend PSU or Pitt (hopefully honors). </p>
<p>Thanks. Link me for chance backs.</p>