Chances...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am a 12th grade(1st semester) Korean student with No citizenship, permanent residence, alumni relation. Here's my stat(some are expected ones, not actual)</p>

<p>Major: Biology (possibly with minor in one of social studies)</p>

<p>School: Korea's top Science high school, but not well known in the U.S for it is established in 2003.(I will be one of the first graduates, except for early graduates) Previos year, two students, early-graduating my school, admissioned for the U.S colleges. Both of them got acceptance from caltech.(Though both of them didn't enrolled for Caltech; one for MIT, another for Columbia) </p>

<p>GPA: it quite rigorous with college-level math and science courses
10th grade
1st semester: 4.15/4.3 (Mostly A+ but B+ in Math)
* college course: General Biology I
2nd semester: 4.15/4.3 (All A+ except for B0 in Math T.T)
* college course: General Biology II
11th grade
1st semester: 4.19/4.3
* college courses: Genetics, Human Physiology, Calculus I
2nd semester: 4.21/4.3
* college courses: Molecular biology, Plant physiology, Cell biology,
Organic chemistry
12th grade
1st semester: 4.15~4.2/4.3(expected)
* college courses: Calculus II with multivariables
2nd semester: Will not be sent before in admission
(for I am attending Korean school)</p>

<p>AP Exam:
Biology, Chemistry, Calculus BC: 4~5(expected)</p>

<p>SAT 1: 2200 or a little bit higher(expected)
SAT 2: Math IIC 800, Biology E 800, World history 750~800(expected)</p>

<p>Work experience/Leadership/Volunteering/Sports: Virtually NONE
(totally far away from so-called "Well-rounded person", right?)</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities / Honor
10 th grade
- Research Group on Neural physiology in Seoul University
(team representative)
- GERI summer camp in Purdue University
- Online Biology Studying Club
- school Biology Club
- preparatory APEC Leadership camp
- Biology Olympiad Winter camp
* Korean biology olympiad - Broze medal
* Environmental book review contest - Honorable mention</p>

<p>11 th grade
- Research Group on Developmental Genetics in Seoul University(Team leader)
- Founder and leader of of Biology Olympiad preparation club
- member of School Press
- APEC Leadership camp
- Biology Olympiad Winter camp
* Best Research group award
* Korean biology olympiad - Gold medal and semi-finalist of Korean representative for internional biology olympiad</p>

<p>12th grade
- Tutor of of Biology Olympiad preparation club
- member of School Press
- Preparing for Publshing a paper on Developmental Genetics of Drosophila BXC genes.
- preparing for debate contest on Enviromental issues
- Working on editing an integrative biology text book(not an official puplication)
- Working for Voluntary Agency Network of Korea: committed as an official Ambassador and expected to be soon committed to as the best Agency soon(This is an Web organization to ppublicize Korean culture and foster communication between Korean netizens aand foreigners)
* Busan city superintendent of Education's Award for best student in science</p>

<p>Essay: I would write about my passion for biology since I was 7. Since then, I spent great amount of time reading books on biology watching documentary program on biology, and currently mad an eclectic book on college biology, covering various fields of biology with 1st to 3rd grade college level. If I succed in publish my research result on Korean Journal of Genetics(SCI-Expanded level), I would also write about my research experience; staying up all night working with drosophila embryos, almost forgot eating while searching for references and developing hypothesis by myself... I would also mention about days of frustration due to ankylosing spondylitis(a diseases similar to rheumatism but a little bit more severe), overcoming that with the passion for study. I think we have long been neglecting pure science, so I am preparing to devout whole my life reviving world-wide veneration of science, especially in the field of biology. That's the reason why I am preparing to go to the U.S, the world's center of biology.</p>

<p>Desiring Schools(according to preference and hardness)</p>

<h1>1: Caltech, Stanford, Havard, MIT, Princeton</h1>

<h1>2: Duke, Brown, JHU, Rice, Chicago</h1>

<h1>3: UC berkeley, UCLA</h1>

<p>What would be dream, level and safety school among these? None is so safe?</p>

2

<p>Most are reaches except for JHU, rice and chicago
Take berkeley and UCLA off, because you are out-of-state(not to mention international), and because UCLA hates Asians</p>

3

<p>If you are asking for financial aid..........chicago doesn't offer need-based to internationals, only merit scholarships</p>

4

<p>biocrat:</p>

<p>Stanford: Reach
Caltech: Reach
UCB: Slight Reach (out of state)
UCLA: Slight Reach (out of state)</p>

<p>Disregard iwantfood's advice about taking Berkeley and UCLA off your list; they don't consider race in their applications and being Asian doesn't hurt you. I got into UCLA's Engineering school from out-of-state as an Asian with lower stats then yours, so it'll work for you as well...</p>

5

<p>Well, in Korea, we do not use the term for possibility for admission. Can you explain the meaning(about what possibility does that mean)</p>

6

<p>
[quote]
they don't consider race in their applications and being Asian doesn't hurt you

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Tell that to the rest of CC :eek:</p>

7

<p>Being Asian doesn't hurt or help you, and race is considered only if your are Hispanic, African American, etc. </p>

<p>I'm sure you can guess what reach means even if you don't use the term in Korea...It basically means you have a shot, but don't count on it.</p>

<p>Reconsider applying to Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, or MIT (what happened to Yale?) if your SAT is only around 2200.</p>

8

<p>"Reaches" means there's chance but not high enough..?
And "slightly reaches" means even more harder..?</p>

<p>Anyways.. If I miraculously got SAT score around 2300, would there be a possibility to get into Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton even though I lacks volunteering, leadership, sports, etc...?
And you didn't mentioned Caltech. You mean it is relatively easier to get into there with the score around 2200.(Or is it just your mistake?) Well, but, Caltech has the highest average SAT score among them all.</p>

<p>And the reason why didn't mentioned Yale is that they put too much emphasis on humanity and I heard that they do REALLY HATE Asian international applicants.</p>

9

<p>There's no chances to get into Chicago, JHU, Rice..?
And is it true that UCLA hates Asians? But majority of UCLA student body is composed of Asian, isn't it?</p>

10

<p>Yale doesn't care, they might even like you because of the lack of applicants for their humanities (not trying to be stereotypical, but alot of asians are powerhouses in sciences/math)...
Berkeley are actually really nice to Asians, their population is 44% asian and only 33% white...but dont count on it because you are out of state</p>

<p>Slight reach means you have more of a chance than a reach
If someone says BIG reach, it means you have almost no chance</p>

11

<p>Wait can someone please explain to me why you consider schools like Cal reaches? Sure, they are out of state but cmon, only like 2 B's in his high school career, obvious biology interest, and good test scores. Why would they be reaches?</p>

12

<p>How do those of you who believe that race doesn't matter explain how colleges end up with the exact same percentage of whites, Asians, blacks, hispanics and native Americans each year?</p>

<p>Biocrat, reach means not a good chance. Average or below for a school which means 10% or less chance at Harvard, 20% for a lower ivy. For internationals, especially Asians, it is extremely competitive. You are in MUCH better shape at most schools if you need no financial aid. But the competition for internationals is fierce, schools keep the numbers steady and more and more apply each year. Many apply to all of the same schools:HYPSM. Your chances are greatly increased if you apply to schools othr than those.</p>

<p>If you really want to go to college in the States, apply to the schools you mention, but add some that are less competitive.</p>

13

<p>if you have the research and the drive i think MIT would be a good match, because they do like research and publishing stuff, although their international pool of candidates is very very competitive i think you might hav ea chance. any of the top ivys are going to be hard to get into, and you just have to trust your luck, no matter what. i think that your second rank of schools would work well, but as far as the UC's. You might want to reconsider, just because you are probably more likely to get accepted at a private of the same caliber, because the UC's like to take in state California residents, then out of state students, and then finally internationals. I know many people who have gone and are going to UC's and there are few internationals who are there, compared to the private schools where there is a higher percentage of international students. Now i'm not saying don't apply to the UC"s cause htye are great schools, just i won't count them as back ups or anything like that because they might be as hard or harder for you to get into because of your location, than the ivys.</p>

14

<p>MIT and Caltech do not offer Early Action for international students...</p>

15

<p>You mentioned only about universities in California. How about other schools...?</p>

16

<p>Sorry, I prefer sticking to following California universities only, particularly the UCs, because it's too time-consuming for me to stay accurate with of all the nation's admission practices, as I once attempted to do back in 2003.</p>

17

<p>you were interested in biology since you were 7!! wow</p>

18

<p>Actually, I became interested in biology some time earlier than 7. It is 7 when I conclusively decided to be a biologist, after reading a book. It was basically an educational comic book, but it was supervised by renowned professor and contained a lot of biological knowledge such as the funcion of each organelles, the concept of phototrophism, nuclear substitution and cell fusion.(Though it lacked detailed mechanisms)
Though my major interest in biology changed a little bit(from biotechnology to molecular physiology) since then, I never thought of giving up my passion for biology</p>

19

<p>I think you have an excellent shot and Rice and JHU, and a good chance at Duke and Chicago. I would place these as matches or slight reaches. The Ivies are reaches or extreme reaches for almost anyone. The terms are extreme reach, reach, slight reach, match, safety (in order of difficulty for admission). Some use other terms and none of these are precise measures, just opinions.</p>

20

<p>Excellent shot = Match
Good chance = Slight Reach</p>