Friends, CCers, Chancers, lend me your ears!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Firstly, thank you in advance for taking the time to help out!<br>
I’m just another Asian, going for just another try. Sort of. I’m a bit lacking in comparison; nothing miraculous going on here, so please bear with me if you will. I’ll do my best to be brief, which isn’t saying much.</p>

<p>Here we are:
Moi: Asian, Male, Senior, quite stereotypical
Ohio Public High School, mediocre competition (around #700 in nation)
UW GPA: ~3.9 to 4.0 (unofficial), W GPA: 4.48 (valedictorian is 4.75)
Rank: 7/423 (in my humble opinion, quite the deadweight)</p>

<p>SAT: 2340 Composite (740 English, 800 Math, 800 Writing: 12 Essay)
ACT: 36 Composite (35 English: 9 Essay, 36 Math, 35 Reading, 36 Science)—barely scraped by here
SAT II: 800 Math II, 770 US History, 770 Chemistry
APs: Eight total, seven 5s, one 4 </p>

<p>Academic Awards:
-National Merit Semi-Finalist
-National AP Scholar</p>

<p>Current Schedule:
AP Biology, AP Psychology, AP Environmental Science, AP US History, AP Literature and Composition</p>

<p>Extra-Curriculars:
Academic Challenge/Decathlon/Quizbowl/Jeopardy/yougetthepoint: (9-12)
-Junior Team Captain (10-11), Senior Team (11-12)
-Won $6000 at competition</p>

<p>Asian Awareness Club: (9-12)
-Secretarial Officer (11-12)
-Organized yearly school event, all proceeds donated to Asian orphanages, over $2000 each year</p>

<p>Violin: (6-12)
-School orchestra (9-10), Concertmaster (10)
-Elaborated on this leadership position in Common App
-OMTA Buckeye State Youth Violinist Runner-Up</p>

<p>Piano: (Kindergarten-12)
-11 Years Consecutive National Guild of Pianists Superior Ratings, various other Superior Ratings attained at competition, assortment of awards and medals</p>

<p>Volunteering:
-Weekly at local Chinese school for advanced math class
-Summer ’10 at children’s hospital
-Summer ’09 at youth camp
-Many times a year at soup kitchens
-Around 300-400 hours total</p>

<p>Other:
-Internship over summer ’09 in China, worked with graduate students on yeast research
-Internship over summer ’10 locally, worked with doctors on research, results pending, likely by the end of this year, study to be published shortly thereafter
-Locally popular self-run computer business, also work with 2 small regional businesses</p>

<p>Essays and Recs: For the sake of convenience, consider them between good and excellent, likely closer to the former rather than latter.</p>

<p>Hooks:<br>
None, father was graduate student at Yale, but that does not qualify as legacy from what I’m aware. So much the fairer; I’ll have to rely on my own achievements (or lack thereof).</p>

<p>Well then, just to cap it all off, here are the colleges I’m applying to, and what I am chancing myself/them as:</p>

<p>Yale: reach, and a big reach at that
University of Pennsylvania: between reach and high reach
Cornell: reach
University of Chicago: reach
Northwestern: reach, low reach
Johns Hopkins: reach
Washington University (WUSTL): reach, low reach
Carnegie Mellon: low reach, high match
Tufts: low reach, high match
Case Western, OSU: safeties</p>

<p>Simply put, I’m wondering if this list seems like a fair target or a bit far off. I’ve chanced enough to get a general idea, but I am incorrect or misinformed often enough to desire other opinion.
The Class of 2011 at my school is relatively competitive; so the students in the top 10-15 are applying to similar colleges. It is my understanding that this factor will be of some effect, though I am unsure of how much; after all, we certainly aren't a magnet school. </p>

<p>Thanks again for the help! Best of luck to you all!</p>

2

<p>Wow, that’s lengthy. Depending on your feedback, I’ll do my best to shorten it; I probably should anyways.</p>

3

<p>Yale: Reach, though you are a very, VERY competition applicant (I swear your a legacy) - with a good essay, you have a really good chance
University of Pennsylvania: depends on what school your applying to. For CAS I would say Mid/Low Reach
Cornell: High-Match/Match
University of Chicago: Match
Northwestern: Match
Johns Hopkins: Match
Washington University (WUSTL): Match
Carnegie Mellon: In
Tufts: High-Match
Case Western, OSU: In & In</p>

<p>Your being a little hard on yourself I think, you are a very competitive applicant.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Most schools don’t have “quotas” or limits on how many students that take from certain secondary schools, so this really won’t have much effect if any effect at all. Best of luck!</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the vote of confidence; I hope things go well for you too!<br>
Anyone else?</p>

5

<p>Here it goes…bump.</p>

6

<p>Two bumps down, one bump to go…</p>

7

<p>Your stats are great. Im pretty new to this, but i would have to say that I really dont see any of these schools being High Reach for you. I think the only schools you should have any worry about are Penn and Yale. My only question is how are you not a legacy?</p>

8

<p>^ I agree with everything idontjoke posted, particularly the part about being too hard on yourself. I’d say you’re a solid match at Tufts. You’re going to have lots of acceptances. Your research involvement will make you stand out.</p>