<p>i know you are sick of these threads but i have no clue if i have a chance at ED or RD (probably RD) or not. helpful comments will be greatly appreciated :-)</p>
<p>interest: pre-med/biochemistry</p>
<p>School: public school (i think it's pretty average- there is a wide spectrum of students)
GPA (UW): 4.0</p>
<p>SAT : 760 M/ 650 V/ 650 W (retaking on Oct 14)
ACT: 35
SAT 2: 800 MathII/ 800 Chem/ 750 BioE/ 740 Physics</p>
<p>AP: Bio 5 / Chem 5 / Gov 5 / Calc BC 5 / Psychology 4 / Physics 4</p>
<p>Senior year: AP stat, AP econ, AP English, Spanish, Orchestra, 2 university classes (Human anatomy, Introduction to brain and behavior)</p>
<p>Honors:
All-State Orchestra (3, possibly 4 years)
AIME Qualifier
State Math Competition Qualifier
National merit (?) (psat: 219)</p>
<p>EC and others (the year numbers are not including including next year. also, i moved after my freshmen year so some of the EC are 2-year rather than 3):
- Cross Country (3 years)
- Violin/Orchestra (3 years, possibly sending in a tape?)
- Volunteer at community library (3 years)
- Volunteer at hospital (2 summers)
- Tutoring (1 year)
- 1440 Interact (a community service club) (2 years)
- math club (3 years)
- Hostess at a restaurant (started a couple months ago)
- Summer internship at a chemical engineering lab (1 summer)</p>
<p>i think that is pretty much it... again, helpful comments will be very very appreciated!</p>
<p>
[quote]
I still don't know why people post their AP scores....it isnt requested in the application
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It's not requested on the application to have parents who donate a few hundred thousand to Columbia every year. That doesn't mean it doesn't affect your chances. Now you know why. Got it?</p>
<p>In my application, AP scores were a key indicator that I did, in fact, learn something from the classes in which I got Bs in high school. Having 5s across the board in 11 different tests probably helped make my case that I was bored, not overmatched.</p>
<p>iowan, the only glaring problems I see with your app are the SAT 1s. Read the NY Times every day from now until your test, and your vocabulary and maturity in sentence structure will go way up. Same would go for the wall street journal, but it probably covers less of interest to you. (this isn't some sort of liberal bias I have - it's a fact that's been measured statistically by the grade level of the writing). You can read the paper online every day if you choose, might go faster.</p>
<p>Other than that, just understand that depth, rather than breadth, of ECs is the most important thing. Demonstrate a passion in a few things rather than trying to spread yourself too thin, and that will make you a much better applicant. cross country, the library, and math team sound like your major commitments - push to excel in those in your senior year. You mention 3 years of music experience - most people who send in a tape that gets noticed have been playing since age 5 or so. If you consider yourself brilliant at the violin, go for it, but you're up against pretty much every asian in america =) If not, mention it but be humble. The point of sending in a tape is only if a music professor might get it sent to him by admissions, hear it, and start absolutely raving about you that you're the next Isaac Stern and that you must be admitted at once. If you're not in that league, it might come off as arrogant.</p>
<p>Best of luck, your basic stats look like a good fit.</p>
<p>Your ACT is really great. If you submit that instead of the SATI, the main weakness that most people cited disappears. Don't bother retaking the SAT and just use the ACT.</p>