Chances???Please reply T.T

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>I’m kind of lost at how and where to apply. I’m hoping UT Austin, UC Berkley, University of Washington, JHU, …maybe…Stanford? Cornell? Brown?….REAL big maybe: Yale
First my stats:</p>

<p>SAT Reasoning:
CR: 750
M: 800
W 780 (I only took it once and might take it again, but honestly I really don’t want to go through another 2 killer weeks of SAT prep hell.)</p>

<p>SAT II: Haven’t taken them yet, expected scores=
Biology-750~800, Math II-750~800, Chemistry =750~800</p>

<p>GPA: n/a (we don’t use gpa’s in S. Korea)
Class rank: Freshman- 1st in all subjects.
Sophomore- Over all 2/700 (top 1~10% in all subjects)
Junior- top 10 % (so far…not done with junior year yet)
(A’s in all subjects except Korean Literature-B+)</p>

<p>E/C’s:
-Newspaper: editor-in-chief
-founder of J. Pierian Springs: an educational program where our club prints educational documents in English
-Choir: 10TH-head soprano/soloist, 11TH-vice president/soloist (our choir is pretty prominent: first in district(several consecutive years), first in regionals(several consecutive years, third in nationals),12TH- most likely president
-School’s official Music Director (I oversee all musical (?) events)
-Student government: 10TH- manager of general affairs 11TH- chief executive of academic affairs 12TH- hopefully VP or president
-Church: youth leader(President), piano accompanist
-I’m also tutoring children in English for free</p>

<p>Awards:
-Singing Contests (First prize in district, Grand prize in district, hopefully first prize in nationals), Scholar of the month, Reflections Historic Art Best of Show, English Honors, Advanced Music Honors, two Independence Recognitions awards (my school gives this award to one person in each class every year, I received them for two consecutive years), Chemistry Olympiad</p>

<p>Don’t need financial aid</p>

<p>Nationality: South Korean</p>

<p>Now my kind of unique situation…(bear with me please even though it’s kind of long…I apologize)</p>

<p>I live in S. Korea (currently) and attend a competitive Korean high school. My parents are separated: my mom lives in the U.S; my dad lives in Korea, so I stay with each for short, temporary periods, but I somehow managed to persuade them to let me stay in one country for high school. I told them I really did not care where as long as it was in a single country, so I’m in S. Korea currently. I went to school in the U.S. for 9TH~10TH(half semester), though. </p>

<p>Anyway, so my main question is: should I apply international or domestic? I have a green card…but I go to a Korean high school where they speak ONLY Korean except for the (mediocre) English classes. </p>

<p>Another question: Will I be at a disadvantage because I haven’t taken AP classes or humanities related subjects like Euro. History, U.S. History etc?
There are no AP classes (since everything is advanced anyway), and we can’t choose our subjects here. We’re assigned 9 subjects according to the field we choose: either humanities or science/math (I’m in the science/math field where<supposedly> most of the “more competitive” students are) </supposedly></p>

<p>Also, about EC’s Korean schools don’t have any sports except for one or two official high school team (in either soccer, baseball, basketball, archery, etc…) Those teams accept only students who will become professional athletes and they’re all usually male.</p>

<p>I also have another problem: my school grades… The thing is S. Korea has adapted a new education policy, which emphasizes rank over grades so all the tests, and grading scales in high schools have become unbelievably harsh. By law, the class average of every single subject MUST be below a 60. Any school that fails to meet such standards will receive some kind of disadvantage or consequences. Anyway, what makes this new education policy so horrible is that tests are now so hard that the highest scores are often below 85…so that’s a B…and B’s don’t look so good on college applications do they?? Or do competitive universities only consider percentage and rank?</p>

<p>I’m really sorry that I have so many questions, but I’d REALLY appreciate it if I got some replies.
THANKS</p>

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<p>Can someone please at least tell me which colleges are reaches/matches/safes?</p>

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<p>if you really wanna go to Yale, apply ED.. you have a shot</p>

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<p>jh12000:</p>

<p>UCB: Match (out of state)</p>

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<p>Thanks you guys,
but senior07 do you really think applying to Yale ED will be better than a regular application?</p>

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<p>Yale has Single Choice Early Action, not early decision. And yes, it will be a lot better.</p>

<p>Really, it's up to you where you would prefer to go to college. I know many US schools are highly regarded in the East, especially UC Berkeley, the Ivies, Stanford, etc. So going to college in the US would definitely be a strong option to consider. Generally, on the world scheme, US schools are looked upon with higher regard than schools in other nations, besides Britain's elite schools. It will be easier for you than other international students too, since you already have your green card.</p>

<p>Anyways, here is how I'd rank them, assuming your SATII estimates are correct:</p>

<p>UT Austin: Safety. You should get in there if you put time into the application and such.</p>

<p>UC Berkley: Match, but possibly a safety...UCB likes international students, you have great SATs and a good class rank/GPA.</p>

<p>University of Washington: Safety. You're above the GPA standards, above the SAT standards, and ARE definitely at the top of your class.</p>

<p>JHU: Match, kind of the same as UCB though...you'd have a very strong chance of getting in.</p>

<p>Stanford: I'd call this a slight reach...your SAT scores are in the competitive area, and it is always a challenge to get into Stanford. Admissions are a bit random. But, you have a very good chance. Apply Single Choice Early Action if you like the school the most, and you'll probably get in.</p>

<p>Cornell: Rarely can somebody call any of the Ivies a match, but I actually think it is in your case...you'd likely get in.</p>

<p>Brown: Slight reach. Admissions are pretty random, but you have great stats still.</p>

<p>Yale: Reach, but you'd have great chances if you apply SCEA. They like international students and want variety, and you meet all the requirements...</p>

<p>I think you are a very competitive applicant. However, you might want to mention the whole South Korean law thing somewhere in your application. Your grades sound like they are fine, but it might cause them to become even more impressed with your record, seeing that despite the law you still succeeded in all your classes.</p>

<p>So yes, you have great chances! I'd reccommend checking some of these schools out, if possible visitting them, and seeing which ones you like best. You shouldn't need more than 1 safety, 2 matches, and 2 slight reaches/reaches. But if you WANT to apply to more, that is always fine!</p>

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<p>Hey!
I'm Sounth Korean, too.
My parents are seperated as well...
Well athough I live in the U.S. and go to school here, I quite don't understand what you're saying. I'm aware that Korea has diff. kind of grading system and has certain %age of students who can get As, Bs, and so on, but I've never heard of a school where the highest grade is often lower than a B. Because certain %age MUST have As, there has to be some As. Sounds like you're going to Korea's Special High School (more like Thomas Jefferson HS for Sci and Tech in VA) where all the courses are very challenging. I don't think not taking APs will hurt you, but why didn't you take APs when you were in US in 10th grade?</p>

<p>Also you can calc. GPA in Korea, too. That's what I did when I came to the US 4 years ago. You have letter grades so five 4 to As and 3.5 to B+ (I thought they didn't have +s in Korea..) then divide it by the number of courses. </p>

<p>On a second thought, adcoms know that Korea's HS offers AP courses (maybe your HS doesn't) so not taking AP courses might hurt you if your HS offers AP because your HS's advanced courses are like honors courses in US. </p>

<p>I'm just giving you an honest opinion as same Korean ^.^</p>

<p>You have great chance at all those colleges other guys mentioned above. Of couse, HYPS are reaches for everyone. </p>

<p>But Korean students who apply to those tops schools also are like sci and math field so you have to have a big hook. You know the Min Jok Sa Kwan School, right? those kids are crazy! international sci fair, awards in everything, ECs like US kids and so on...</p>

<p>I think your chorus can be a hook! Shows that you're interested in other things as well!</p>

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<p>Actually we don't HAVE to have a certain percentage with A's we HAVE to have a think called "first rank" our ranking scale is divided into 9 divisions and the top division="the first rank" is about top1~4% depending on how many students have the same score. In my school for example, the highest score for Korean Literature was an 80 something....it's kind of complicated and everyone hates it!
The worst part about Korea's weird education system is that the students of my class, namely the class of 2007 is the "guinea pig" class.
The S. Korean gov. will probably test the new law on us, fail, then revise the law after ruining college chances for several hundreds of thousands of highschoolers.</p>

<p>Anyway, thanks confused_student and wowser147 for your replies.</p>

<p>Oh...and my school doesn't offer AP's. I took all pre-AP's in 9th(9yh graders weren't allowed to take AP's) and AP's in 10th, but I moved before AP tests were held so....</p>

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<p>About the gpa</p>

<p>the schools will understand your situation. they do research on high schools in other countries</p>

<p>and APs, you should inform them that your school does not provide APs</p>

<p>Good Luck</p>

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<p>use this formular if you're asian american,
total sat-100=..........</p>

<p>use this formular if you're an international student from an asian country,
total sat- 200=......</p>

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<p>oh wow thanx I feel much better now!</p>

<p>sigh.... sometimes I don't like being an asian...</p>

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<p>Just where do you get your information collegeprep11?</p>