Chancess (Very nervous) please help!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>GPA: 4.033
UW GPA: 3.98
Class Rank: Top 1%</p>

<p>Test Scores:</p>

<p>ACT: 32 Composite (35E, 33M, 28R, 32S)
SAT II: Chemistry 770, Math 2: 740
AP US History: 4, Chemistry: 5, Macroecon: 5, US Gov: 5</p>

<p>AP Courses: AP US History, AP Chemistry, AP Macroeconomics, AP Chemistry - Junior yr.
Senior yr: AP English, AP Biology, AP Physics C, AP Calculus AB, AP Psychology</p>

<p>Worked Blood Pressure and Blood glucose checks at Community health faires (Red Cross)
Volunteering at Hospital (100-150 hrs)
Summer Research Program, very prestigious (about 300 hours)
Shadowed IM doctor, Anesthesiologist (>25 hrs)
Taught Sunday School Classes (150-200 hrs)</p>

<p>Paid Work at hospice, office assistant (800-1000 hrs) (22 hrs/week) (junior year)
Paid Work in Hospital Lab Senior Year (20 hrs/ week) (senior year)
Worked at a mall (40 hrs/week for 3 months) (summer before junior year)</p>

<p>Founder and President of Chess Club
Vice President of National Honor Society
Big Brothers and Sisters program (set up programs with little kids to get them interested in science)
Student Council Representative (9th,10th)
Yearbook Editor (9th)</p>

<p>Very low income (20K-25K)
Asian American</p>

<p>please chance me...how should i improve etc?</p>

2

<p>Rank: Excellent
Test Scores: Average - Excellent (Don’t stress about this, you pretty much passed any imaginary threshold there might be. I suggest taking another SAT II and the SAT I incase you don’t want to submit your ACT score. Some colleges require 3 SAT IIs but Yale requires only 2.)
APs: It looks like you’re taking a rigorous schedule junior and senior year, but it really depends on how many APs you’re school offers. Great AP scores.</p>

<p>Your volunteer work seems very focused, which is generally a good thing. I like how you were able to maintain a stellar GPA and hold a job, so that shows extreme commitment and hard work! Props! </p>

<p>Your other activities are very average and similar to the majority of Yale applicants. </p>

<p>Patricia Wei, of Yale University, explains: “In committee, we say, ‘This is a good student. Now what is special?’ A lot of times we call an applicant ‘solid.’ It translates into ‘fine, but nothing distinctive.’ At other colleges where I’ve worked, ‘solid’ meant admissible, but here it’s the kiss of death.” </p>

<p>Your one disadvantage would be your ethnicity and you may be looked as another Asian stereotype with hospital/science activities. (Also, you didn’t say what state you’re from, so I can not comment.) All I would be concerned about is polishing your application and most importantly your essays to make you really stand out of the applicant pool. Really work on explaining yourself and your goals and where you’re coming from. You’re a competitive applicant (especially coming from a low income household.) This is just my take. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>any way i can improve?? (my activities or ACT scores) or should i jsut work on essays and the apps?</p>

4

<p>I don’t think it is worth it to retake a 32, but its really all up to you. Do you think you can do better? If you can, then study and retake. From what I know a 34 is a pretty mean score and I believe anywhere between a 31-33 is about the average grade that Yale acceptees get. (I’m sure the statistics are somewhere, so double check the numbers I gave you because I’m ballparking it.) </p>

<p>But what you can do right now is how you write about yourself. </p>

<p>For one, let colleges know that you had a REAL impact on any organization you were a part of. Colleges want to know NOT that you were a part of an organization or even (as shocking as it may sound) that you were president of it, because that is just a title. They want to know what EFFECT you, and only you, had on the organization. Did you change the way the club was run because you saw that it could be run better or more efficiently? Did the number or member and member involvement drastically increase when you took office? Did you do something in the club that helped the club reach one of its goals more effectively? For example, I was part of my Korean Culture Club in school and at church (I’m half Korean). In the small town that I live in, I helped ask the city council to great an Annual Korean Parade Day in which a major street would be closed down one day every year to allow students to march and show their Korean pride. With my involvement in the club, not only did the membership go up but the membership involvement went up 500%. I formed a kind of city-wide culture club, joining a force with other Korean culture clubs at local high schools, two community colleges and a Korean Christian church with a similar fund raising goal. We hold weekly-monthly meetings about the culture, history and cuisine and, one of our major themes, assimilating into American culture. Around 50-75 members from the community not to mention the 10+ members that help plan and run the seminars come to every seminar. We invite book authors, psychologists and even spokespersons from other organizations to talk about cultural assimilation and hate crimes that are committed everyday due to racial or cultural differences. </p>

<p>So, one of our original goals in the club was to have more than a school-wide cultural enrichment program but to get more of the community outside of school involved. And I believe without my leadership (because believe me, I alone started out going door to door just to get more members and plead with local organizations to advertise our charity events and seminars before the club even hit 10 members) the club wouldn’t have as much impact on the community as it does now. </p>

<p>You’re going to be a senior in a few weeks and it is not like you can join a club and rack up more leadership positions in a month or two. But you can expand your club goals and involvement or even start planning a fundraiser or increase membership (There is an incomin class in your school, so try to persuade those freshmen to carry out your Chess club when you’re not going to be in the school to run it.) Or just talk about what you did. Questions to think about when describing your club involvement:</p>

<p>As a chess club founder, how many members did you rack up? What did you do? Do you watch hours of chess competitions? Analyze old games that top ranked chess players made? Did you take your team to any city/state/national competitions, whether it be to analyze the game or actually to attend these games? Did your team rank city-wide, state-wide, etc? </p>

<p>As the VP of the Honor Society, did you help to start an event to raise money for the organization or give tutorial seasons on how to be a leader for students in your school? Did you improve the Honor Society in any way? Did you change the way students get admitted into the program? (Um, what kind of honor society is it?)</p>

<p>You are right in the range of what Yale, or any top schools, expect. So what if you score 20 points higher on the Chem SAT III or get a 34 rather than a 32 on your ACT? If it will make your more confident to retake the ACT, go ahead. But I highly doubt getting, lets say, a 34 or even a 35/36 rather than a 32 will have them saying, “Yes! We NEED to take this person!” Work on your application and how you want to present yourself and your accomplishments. Don’t just write words on an application, really make yourself three dimensional on paper. </p>

<p>These are just suggestions, of course, but really be proud to talk about what YOU contributed to the organization or club you were a part of. Brag a little, but don’t be full of yourself. State facts but try to highlight your accomplishments. Anything you write on your application (and if you talk about it in a passionate way and really show that being founder of a chess club was more than making one meeting per month in which you had to bargain people with potato chips and soft drinks to come) should speak more about your character, determination or future civil service than any standardized test you slave to get an 800 on will ever have. </p>

<p>I believe this is why some kids get the big envelope in my mail (is this just a myth?) or get rejected with 2300s and hours of community service. That’s how two of my sisters got into Ivy Leagues. But hey, I’m in the same boat as you are - a nervous senior to-be.</p>

5

<p>Thank you so much plinz. You are very helpful. any other tips?</p>

6

<p>I disagree on some level with plinz. Yes Yale wants to know what effect you had on your EC’s, but far more inportant is what effect your EC’s had on you. It’s a tall order to explain that your club woul dhave never ever ever done this if it wasn’t for your superb leadership, but being able to draw meaningful gorwth from your activities is far more important. Your clubs aren’t important for what you can brin gto them, they’re important for what you gain through them. SO rather than talking about that big fundraiser you made or how you optimized that income flow, talk about what having your nespaper sanctioned by the principal taught you, and why working in a hospital has affected you in some way other than making you want to be a doctor (because it’s not working in a hospital that futhers the typical asian stereotype, its having nothing to say but I want to be a doctor an dhelp people that makes you blend in the crowd)</p>

7

<p>how else should i convey i want to be a doctor? i dont want to come off as trying to mold myself into something. i want to be sincere in my essays.</p>

<p>My plan is to write sincerely about my dream to become a doctor and try change the world through my own little ways.</p>

<p>I just want to convey my motivation and ambition and potential. I feel I did not make most of my high school years. I started trying to use my full potential my junior year. I feel that in the upcoming 4 years I can make a big difference and I will try as hard as I can anywhere I go, of course with a bit of fun.</p>

8

<p>bumpppppppp</p>

9

<p>I dont know you enough to tell you what to write but I can tell you that your essay idea itself is very cliched, and unless yuou approach the essay in a very interesting or engrossing way, it’ll be very boring. Here’s a question you should ask yourself: why does your essay need to be about being a doctor. Is there nothing else you’re interested in? or something specific about medecine that interets you? If the only topic you can write about is being a doctor an dhelping people that’s not going to be very eye-catching.</p>

<p>Also, the last paragraph you wrote about what to convey is not good essay material. You want to work hard and have fun should be assumed, there’s no need to spell it out (same thing for being a doctor, unless youhave something unique to say about why you want to be a doctor, there’s no need to mention it, I can tell you want to be a doctor just from looking at your stats.)</p>

<p>The doctor essay can be written well, but if there’s something else you like I’d strongly consider those things.</p>

10

<p>danjinc - thanks for the great advice. It is just that I have picked a career path - medicine. I know for sure I want to be a doctor and I have done many activities relating to science and medicine. My interest lies in sciences and math. Originally, I was thinking if I write a compelling essay on why I want to be a doctor my entire application will fit together. I am well-rounded, to an extent, but this is my main interest. </p>

<p>How about if I write about my science cancer research and working with patients dying of cancer and how that makes me want to become a doctor?</p>

<p>OR</p>

<p>I come from a poor family and the struggles I face - working 40 hours a week etc., helping to pay for mortgage?</p>

<p>OR </p>

<p>My interest in chess and how i incorporate it into everyday life?</p>