Decent stats, but EC's strong enough? + Need advice

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>New York/Asian/Male</p>

<p>SATS: 2300 - 700 CR 800 Math 800 Writing (11 essay)
PSATS: (218 last year) only 210 this year, unfortunately
SAT2’s:
770 Bio
750 Chem
740 World History
740 Math 1C
800 Math 2C
740 Physics</p>

<p>ACT: 35 with 10 essay</p>

<p>AP’s:
5 on World History
5 on European History
5 on Phys B
5 on Lang
4 on US :S</p>

<p>Taking Micro, US gov, Psych, Lit, Spanish, Phys C, and Calc BC next year</p>

<p>GPA is 99.5/100. We don’t have class rankings… but we have around 500 people. All honor/AP classes. Our school’s grading system has A+ as highest, then A, then B+. Gotten A+ all except for maybe 5 A’s (we have 9 periods a day) All my core courses were the toughest possible (honors/APs)</p>

<p>My school is very competitive, public, on Long Island.</p>

<p>Extra Curricular Stuffs:</p>

<p>Science Olympiads for 2 years - ehh, didn’t have time to continue</p>

<p>Math Olympiads/ Mathletes 3 years, very possible officer position next year

  • First in county as 9th grader, got some type of gold medal this year, part of a group that placed in some small math competitions, but nothing special.</p>

<p>Worked several weeks for three summers at a pension company, doing accounting stuff</p>

<p>Volunteered at a hospital, doing some research stuff</p>

<p>National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, National Merit Commendation, etc. </p>

<p>Published some stuff in school’s literary magazine… interested in getting some stuff published maybe in a newspaper</p>

<p>Cross Country, Winter Track, and Spring track for 3 years
Unfortunately I’m not too naturally athletic, but I have a shot (it’s possible if I train very hard) of getting All county in Cross Country (though that’s going to be after I apply early), as well as a captain position on the team. I’ve improved greatly; my coach has called me his most improved runner ever in his 15 or so years of coaching. I’m going to write an essay about my running for sure.
Got awards for “most improved” and “MVP” for JV XC</p>

<p>I went to Chinese school for many years. It was my first language… 3+ hours every weekend basically.</p>

<p>Every summer I train for Cross Country. This summer I’m still working at that place, taking Driver’s Ed, and doing college stuff/research on my own.</p>

<p>Research:
Won a Silver medal at a county math fair for a math research project
Did some social science research at school relating to interracial marriage
Likely entering a new social science project for siemens/intel, whatnot</p>

<p>Hobbies (If you care)
I founded a forum for gaming/social stuff. It’s not that active as of now, but we’ve had it for around 4 years with 150,000+ posts and probably over 500 people have joined throughout the years.
I have played the cello for 8 years or so, unfortunately I’m not that great
I know a bit of guitar, and I’ve been doing that for fun</p>

<p>Volunteer work:
5k Races, school’s track club for little kids, tutoring, hospital, chinese school… let’s say 200+ hours.</p>

<p>Some Questions:</p>

<p>1.Retake SAT’s? I only took it once, and I can PROBABLY do better on the CR, but I don’t know if I should bother, as it’s no guarantee.</p>

<p>2.Show all SAT 2 tests? I honestly didn’t prepare for half of them… but I did fairly well anyway.</p>

<p>3.PSAT- well I feel bad that I did worse this year than last year; last year I might have qualified as a semifinalist, but should I bother mentioning that I was commended?</p>

<p>4.Should I mention I went to CTY? I qualified every time I took their test, but only went as a rising freshman.</p>

<p>5.I recently entered a short entry into a book with a collection of artwork, articles, poems etc. They’re getting it published, but considering I only wrote one poem, should I even bother mentioning this? Same question for my contributions to the literary art magazine; I’m not IN the club, my teacher just wanted me to send some stuff.</p>

<p>6.The boys JV and Varsity XC/track teams are all coached by the same guy… We don’t really make a distinction between JV/V; if you run fast enough to race, you race as a scorer. Now, I’ve scored for XC and track, but I’m not sure if I should technically call myself Varsity yet. I know I’ve gotten at least one Varsity letter last year, don’t remember for which :S.</p>

<p>7.Some stuff, like Science Olympiads, cello, guitar… I’m not sure if I should bother listing them. My XC team has been very successful over the years, so I’ve basically devoted most of my free time to running. I mean, I also have a life and I play sports a lot, especially basketball. These won’t be hard to mention when I apply to Stanford, because of their supplement, but I’m not sure about other schools.
As for my forum, I had spent a lot of time on it in the past, and even though it’s for gaming, I’ve learned a lot and plan on writing about it as one of my activities. If anything, it’s a lot like running a business.</p>

<p>8.I was born in China with Chinese as my first language. I’ve moved like three times in my childhood. Mention any of this?</p>

<li><p>Friends and I were thinking about making a tutoring group - worth mentioning?</p></li>
<li><p>Do I mention the AP scholar awards and whatnot?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>11.Finally, how strong are my EC’s for those top schools? I don’t have many huge awards, and I’ll probably end up as a captain for XC, maybe an officer for math and my orchestra.</p>

<p>Schools:
Top choice is Yale SCEA
I’m interested in Stanford, Dartmouth, Uchicago as well.<br>
But still, I need some other choices. I’m probably going to apply to a lot of ivy league schools, but I don’t NEED to go to them. I don’t think I’m too interested in an LAC. Probably applying to SUNY Binghampton as a safety- good idea?</p>

<p>I want to do some political stuff, or international relations (I guess my Chinese helps here… and I’m decent at Spanish) Whatever the case, I’m not interested in Math/science.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading this massively long thread.</p>

2

<p>Essays/ rec's should be good.</p>

3

<p>Stats are excellent. I don't think you have to retake your SAT, but whatever you want. SAT IIs are great too, as are grades and AP scores. ECs are a little lackluster, to be honest, and you're bordering on making the quantity over quality blunder, though the XC thing is pretty cool. Try to differentiate yourself - don't let colleges think you're just another Asian male does what they're "supposed to do." I'd really dive into one of my ECs and demonstrate an intense passion. Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Hey, thanks a lot.</p>

<p>To be honest, I joined math/science because I figure I'd be good at them, but I always try to avoid the asian stereotype whenever possible so I'm been straying away from math/science areas, especially since I don't have all that much interest.
Problem is that I started that early and never really found anything else I'm super passionate about other than running. That's why I'm questioning whether I should mention all those little clubs and awards, since they don't define me too well, but I'm pretty good at math overall.</p>

<p>I guess one way to be different is with essays, because I really enjoy writing... but I'm not so sure that I can do much as of now, other than focusing on what I have already. Any suggestions?</p>

5

<p>Good shots at all. Nothing guaranteed though.</p>

<ol>
<li>No.</li>
<li>Why not? None of your score can hurt you as they are all 740+</li>
<li>Why not?</li>
<li>Unfamiliar with this </li>
<li>Yes</li>
<li>If you've won a letter then I would think you are varsity...</li>
<li>Mention it all. Mention the forum. It's cool to see another forum admin/staff ! I'm going to be mentioning mine as well.</li>
<li>Yes</li>
<li>Only if you go through with it.</li>
<li>Yes</li>
<li>They are strong, but not outstanding. There will plenty of other candidates with similar levels of ECs, and many with better. Nothing you can do about it, but try to pick 1-2 and really show passions in them in your app.</li>
</ol>

<p>All your schools are reaches, you need to think of some matches/safeties :)</p>

6

<p>I'm just kind of hesitant to make a "laundry list" of my activities. I know what I'll focus on on my essays, which is my running, which takes an unbelievable amount of my time and effort.</p>

<p>As for safeties/matches, I'm still looking around. Honestly I'm just hoping I can get into Yale early, but I know that's not exactly the best philosophy.</p>

<p>Not really sure what I should do from here. I think I have a chance of making a nice research project and getting some leadership positions, but as for major awards, I'm kinda lost.</p>

7

<p>Wow, your record is incredibly impressive. Like, amazing. And you seem so humble and down-to-earth and stuff... major kudos. </p>

<ol>
<li> Don't retake! IMO, 2300 in one try looks better than [anything higher] in two tries. And colleges will think you're a loser. ;] OH, and 35 ACT? I missed that at first. 2300 and 35 = win.</li>
<li> YES, show them all. God, I'm so jealous -- you have so many great subject test scores! And without prep... >:[</li>
<li> Lol, my PSAT went down, too. Grr. Yeah, definitely mention commended. The CommonApp only gives you five spaces for awards, so it's up to you whether or not it's worth mentioning in those five spaces compared to the other things you could list, but if you have more than five and plan on listing the rest in a separate, resume-like document with all your ECs and awards (that's what I'm doing!), mention your commended status.</li>
<li> Yeah, mention it. I think that summer activities that aren't for-credit count as ECs. CommonApp gives you seven spaces, so same rule applies -- if it's important enough to be top seven, talk about it there; otherwise, mention it in a resume. Maybe say in parentheses "(qualified all x years)" if you want.</li>
<li> Same thing. Put it on your resume. "Featured in y literary magazine [or whatever]."</li>
<li> I'd list the sport for which you got a letter as Varsity and the other as JV, probably.<br></li>
<li> Rank your stuff according to importance; top seven go on CommonApp and the rest in an additional document (you don't HAVE to do it this way, but it's the best way to be clear about all you've done.)</li>
<li> Definitely, at least mention that you're fluent in Chinese. :]</li>
<li> Yep!</li>
<li> Mmhmm, in your five spaces on CommonApp/additional document.</li>
<li> By CC standards, they're good. In my opinion, they're great.</li>
</ol>

<p>Additional questions/comments:
-- Are you going to mention the forum you started on your app? I think it would be a cool EC to talk about.
-- Your interracial marriage project sounds cool! Can you go into a little more detail about it? I'm really curious. (If you don't want to post it publicly for whatever reason, you can PM me about it.)</p>

<p>Chances:
-- No one can predict Yale or Stanford, but your scores and ECs definitely put you in the running.
-- I hear that Dartmouth is very numbers-driven, and your numbers are amazing, so I think you've got a good chance. If Dartmouth is a "low reach" for anyone, it's you. :]
-- With strong essays, you're in at UChicago. They care a lottt about the essays.</p>

<p>Recommendations:
-- Georgetown is great for political stuff.
-- Johns Hopkins has an amazing Political Science program (they invented the term!) and the #1 International Relations program. The school may or may not be a fit for you, personality-wise -- when I visited, they made it clear that they were NOT just a math/science school, but a girl that I met on the visit said that despite their protests to the contrary, it just felt science-y there. I agree with her but absolutely love the school and everything about it (its campus is sooo pretty <3); then again, I'm going into science. Soo it's a matter of what kind of environment you're compatible with.
-- Look into Brown! They're very into the "holistic candidate" and if you come across in your application as anywhere near as super-talented-yet-really-down-to-earth as you do on here, it'd be their loss to reject you. They have no core curriculum (oh, neither does JHU) so you could focus your energy on whatever concentration you decide on.</p>

8

<p>Jesus, thanks for that very informative post.</p>

<p>I honestly didn't know JHU was that good for that kinda thing; I actually went there for CTY, and it was fine, but I"m not sure if that's the place for me, but I'll look into it; thanks for the suggestions. George and Brown are school's I've been considering as well, so I'll definitely try to learn some more about them.</p>

<p>I think I'm going to mention my forum as an EC and write the short answer thingy on it. As for my interracial marriage project, well it was interesting and all, but I decided not to continue it due to the fact that after handing out a ton of surveys, it was too difficult to find a large sample of biracial people :X</p>

9

<p>psshhh. </p>

<p>don't worry dude. A lot of people would LOVe to have a resume like that</p>

10

<p>Hi hiyo_bye, </p>

<p>I'm happy to chance you ... but can you return the favor? <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/538677-please-chance-me-i-d-really-really-appreciate.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/538677-please-chance-me-i-d-really-really-appreciate.html&lt;/a>. </p>

<p>Your GPA of 99.5 out of 100 is very good -- you have an equivalent of a 4.0 UW on the 4.00 scale. What makes this fact even better is that your courseload was extremely challenging, as you took all Honors/AP classes. Your SAT of 2300 is excellent; however, it will do little to "correct" your PSAT scores of 210 -- yes 210 is pretty low -- your chances of qualifying as a Semifinalist are quite questionable. Your ACT score of 35 is also excellent. Your ECs are few in number; however, they demonstrate focus and dedication even though you lack leadership, so far. Just make sure that you tell admission officers about what these activities mean to you --- do you actually enjoy doing them or are you in them for the sake of just putting them on your app? (Leadership is overrated.) </p>

<p>Overall, you're an outstanding student, and the research will no doubt help your app. What will help more is if you achieve an award in the Siemens/Intel competitions; however keep in mind that these competitions are highly prestigious, and usually prestige = highly competitive because that's what all high-powered high school students will aim for. </p>

<p>And answers to your questions:
1. No ... please don't retake the SAT. Your score places you in the Top .5% in the US, if that makes you feel better. Retaking it won't boost your chances of qualifying for semis.
2. Again, no, because those scores are excellent (Mostly above 750+)
3. Yes ... something is better than nothing.
4. NO ... you went before high school started.
5. No
6. No
7. Maybe ... depends on how much you treasure those Ecs.
8. Maybe ... depends on when you moved (if you moved as a 2 year old that wouldn't really matter, but if you moved as a teenager that would matter)
9. No
10. Yes
11. Well, it's too late to worry about that now, right? </p>

<p>Chances:
Yale: Reach (For anyone, it's a reach, because it's a top Ivy)
Stanford: Reach (ditto)
Dartmouth: Slight reach
UChicago: Your stats are way above average; however, it all comes down to your essays ... because they care so much about essays. I've heard of test-taking machines with 4.0s and 36s on the ACT getting rejected from Chicago. </p>

<p>Your college list features very prestigious schools in the US ... so they're all pretty competitive admissions-wise. You may want to add on a few safeties (public/state schools) just in case; it's always wiser to play the game safe. Also, consider why you want to go to these schools. Does the teaching philosophy match your learning style? Because if you're compatible with the school, no matter how smart you are, you won't succeed if the environment is no good. Do some research in that --- visit campus if you have to. You may find things that are surprising. </p>

<p>Good luck, and remember to chance me too!
-ab2013</p>

11

<p>Thanks ab.</p>

<p>Does qualifying as a National Merit Semifinalist mean all that much? I had the feeling that since a lot of people at those top schools get it, it's nothing super-special, though of course I regret not being able to be a semifinalist.</p>

<p>Right now I'm getting a lot of mixed responses on all of my ideas... not sure what to do still.</p>

12

<p>I don't think it would hurt to mention it, although I wouldn't put it at the top of your awards or anything. I was also wondering about the AP scholar awards, since that's just based of the AP grades that colleges will see anyway, right?</p>

13

<p>Well I'm probably not getting semifinalist for NMS, I'm just wondering if that's going to kill me or, the commendation's not too far off.</p>

14

<p>1.Retake SAT's? I only took it once, and I can PROBABLY do better on the CR, but I don't know if I should bother, as it's no guarantee.
----DON'T retake them.</p>

<p>2.Show all SAT 2 tests? I honestly didn't prepare for half of them... but I did fairly well anyway.
---All of them will be on the score report and that's good for you. Most schools for ranking purposes will count your highest two or three only.</p>

<p>3.PSAT- well I feel bad that I did worse this year than last year; last year I might have qualified as a semifinalist, but should I bother mentioning that I was commended?
-----Yes. It is better to be commended than not at all and this might be something that gets you the nod over another applicant.</p>

<p>4.Should I mention I went to CTY? I qualified every time I took their test, but only went as a rising freshman.
------I don't know about this.</p>

<p>5.I recently entered a short entry into a book with a collection of artwork, articles, poems etc. They're getting it published, but considering I only wrote one poem, should I even bother mentioning this? Same question for my contributions to the literary art magazine; I'm not IN the club, my teacher just wanted me to send some stuff.
------Be honest and mention how you contributed without unreasonable embellishment.</p>

<p>6.The boys JV and Varsity XC/track teams are all coached by the same guy... We don't really make a distinction between JV/V; if you run fast enough to race, you race as a scorer. Now, I've scored for XC and track, but I'm not sure if I should technically call myself Varsity yet. I know I've gotten at least one Varsity letter last year, don't remember for which :S.
---------Mention that you were in X-country and that you lettered.</p>

<p>7.Some stuff, like Science Olympiads, cello, guitar... I'm not sure if I should bother listing them. My XC team has been very successful over the years, so I've basically devoted most of my free time to running. I mean, I also have a life and I play sports a lot, especially basketball. These won't be hard to mention when I apply to Stanford, because of their supplement, but I'm not sure about other schools.
As for my forum, I had spent a lot of time on it in the past, and even though it's for gaming, I've learned a lot and plan on writing about it as one of my activities. If anything, it's a lot like running a business.
-------Always highlight competitions like INTEL and any of the Olympiads. You should also mention your musical endeavors because the AdComs are acutely aware that music is a HUGE commitment.</p>

<p>8.I was born in China with Chinese as my first language. I've moved like three times in my childhood. Mention any of this?
------Yes, but don't make a big deal of it.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Friends and I were thinking about making a tutoring group - worth mentioning?
-------If you haven't tutored before now, do the tutoring (it's a really nice service to the school community) but DO NOT mention it on your application. You'll look desperate.</p></li>
<li><p>Do I mention the AP scholar awards and whatnot?
--------Absolutely, even if you are not a national award winner.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>11.Finally, how strong are my EC's for those top schools? I don't have many huge awards, and I'll probably end up as a captain for XC, maybe an officer for math and my orchestra.
-------List your ECs accurately and devote your critical other preparation necessarily to the interviews, where applicable, and your essays, the latter of which allows you to paint a beautiful portrait that demonstrates your personality and drive.</p>

<p>Finally, take some time to smell the flowers at least a few minutes each day, whether it involves computer games, girlfriends, buddies, reading, or going to the movies. You are highly accomplished and need to guard against burn out!</p>

<p>Good luck and keep us posted!</p>

15

<p>Haha, thanks barristerdad. In all honesty I'm actually very lazy and not just working/studying all the time :X</p>

<p>As for the tutoring group, we'd planned to make a little club or business. I suppose if I end up spending a lot of time on it, I'll mention it.</p>

<p>I think I'm getting the general message though. I'll probably mention the little details when asked, but really show focus on some of the more important stuff.</p>

16

<p>ajajajajaaaaahhh</p>

<p>noooo u cant apply to yale early..thats where i want to go
and plus, how many kids does yale take from syosset anyways?</p>