<p>hey, here are my creds</p>
<p>American Citizen residing in pakistan
Go to a Very Very selective school(i.e. it doesnt take in people with less than 9 As in their O levels)</p>
<p>Good counsellor recs
Good teacher recs
A spectacular rec from one of my employers at a research lab i did an internship in(the guys a renowned phD)</p>
<p>Sat score</p>
<p>cr - 710
maths - 800
writing -750</p>
<p>sat2 score - haven't given them yet, but i'm expecting an 800 each in maths 2c chem and physics</p>
<p>I had 9 As in my o levels(all 95 above)</p>
<p>KArachi highest in chemistry in o levels</p>
<p>Part of the school scrabble team</p>
<p>One of 50 people all round pakistan selected for an intense chemistry camp at the International Center of Chemical Sciences.</p>
<p>Attended the GYLC</p>
<p>I play the guitar A LOT, but i have nothing concrete to show for it</p>
<p>I've won random school competitions throughout the year, but they arent really anything worth mentioning</p>
<p>97.2 average in o levels</p>
<p>250+ hours working in a research lab, experimenting with genetics, PCR's, working with some of the most expensive machinery in the country.</p>
<p>spend two hours every week teaching english at a local school</p>
<p>You're going to have to identify a passion in your essays because there are no hooks in your EC's; other than that, you have a very good shot.</p>
<p>I don't know, vu_preuss, I think that the 250+ hours research sounds pretty passionate. And the guitar - not only a passion, but also a possible answer to the "What do you do in your leisure time?" question that comes up every year.</p>
<p>To the OP: Your stats are very good, I'd expect you to be a competitive applicant - just try to get a good sense of yourself across in the app along with those excellent numbers!</p>
<p>haha thanks. Anyone else?</p>
<p>250+ lab hours is absolutely impressive. The application process, however, is all about how you portray this 250 hours. If you just listed it as an EC, and put 250 hours, admissions officers might not fully grasp your passion. If the OP instead showed that he/she was constantly in the lab to learn more or to try to get breakthrough results for their project, then it could be used as a definite hook. Good Luck to the OP during the application process.</p>
<p>er there wasn't actually anything of a 'breakthrough' at all. Just conventional PCR tests for stuff like cancer and TB. But the stuff i learnt there was just amazing. I mean from what i heard its graduate level work, so its cool but nothing extraordinary</p>