I guess I'll make one of these too... Stanford EA, Columbia, Harvard, ... UCs, etc.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Majoring in psychology, and then planning on going into psychiatry.</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Resident: Southern California
Race: Korean
School: Offers 15-20 AP's, pretty decent. Sends a couple to Ivy every year, but usually no HYPS.
Rank: 3 out of 750</p>

<p>GPA w/ Freshmen:
3.92 UW
4.50 W</p>

<p>GPA w/o Freshmen:
3.92 UW
4.75 W</p>

<p>APs
Soph: Biology, European History
Junior: Calculus BC, English Lang, Computer Science AB, Spanish Lang, Physics B, US History
Senior: English Lit, Physics C, Chemistry, Economics, Psychology</p>

<p>SAT:
2280 CR:710 M:780 WR:790
Planning on retaking and getting 2350+</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:
800 Math level 2
800 Physics
780 Literature</p>

<p>ECs
- Jisan Research Institute - Computational Research for 3 years. Average of 11 hours a week
- City of Hope - Volunteer for 3 years about 4 hours a week
- FIRST Robotics for 3 years
- Key Club 4 years, treasurer 10th grade
- Mu Alpha Theta 3 years
- Speech and Debate 3 years
- Work experience as a math instructor for Jisan's math program
- Several tutoring jobs
- Planning to get a job as a waiter</p>

<p>Hook/Why I'm Unique:
Low family income (25k~), plus parents are going through a divorce. Will explain why I had to get jobs and etc.</p>

<p>I doubt it helps much, but my sister went to Stanford.</p>

<p>Essay/Recs:
I'm a pretty good writer, so my essays will be fine.
Recs 1 teacher rec and 1 additional rec are guaranteed to be excellent, but 1 of the teacher recs will be only above average.</p>

<p>Applying to:
Upper schools:
1. Stanford (ca)
2. Columbia (ia!)
3. Harvard (ca)
4. Princeton (ca)
5. Northwestern (ca)
6. UPenn (ca)
7. Cornell (ca)
8. UChicago (ia!)
9. Brown (ia!)</p>

<p>Middle:
1. UC Berkeley
2. Pomona (ca)</p>

<p>Lower:
1. UCLA
2. USC (ia!)
3. UC San Diego</p>

<p>ca = common app
ia! = individual app</p>

2

<p>Your ranking is great, especially for a califrornia school with a graduating class of 750.</p>

<p>Your GPA and test scores seem to be up to par with the ivies, the only thing I would work on is improving your critical reading score 50-70 points.</p>

<p>With an improved SAT 1, and your very impressive subject tests, I see you getting into most of those schools, </p>

<p>Your EC's could use a lot of improving, but you did specify your need for a job, and it is a good one. I say toss up at Harvard, Princeton and Stanford (Stanford being a more likely accept than the other two, especially with the EA) and a great chance everywhere else. Penn is a tricky one too, but you'll do fine. It will be up to YOU to decide no matter what whether or not to go to school in the Northeast after you get your acceptance letters, it's just a matter of which ones you'll have to choose from.</p>

3

<p>As an asian male from a competitive state, your application, though it may be great, will be read, to a certain extent, in comparison to other asian applicants. And as your interests are engineering/computer science/math you may come off as the dreaded 'asian math grind'. It doesn't mean you won't get in, but if you don't, that's going to be part of it.</p>

<p>Great test scores are just one part of a pretty big picture. So work your butt off on your essays.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>You have a shot at all those schools, but do understand you don't have any great EC's. You need more leadership and awards. I'd say you get into at least one of the HYPS columbia.</p>

5

<p>Pomona belongs in the top schools as it is even more selective as some of them. You got great shot at some of the best. Best of luck!</p>

6

<p>So did you do anything with the research? e.g. enter contests, publish papers?</p>

7

<p>Berkeley: match
UCLA: match
USC: match
UCSD: safe match
Pomona: good shot
Stanford: reach
Columbia: good shot
Harvard: reach
Princeton: reach
Northwestern: match
UPenn: match
Cornell: match
UChicago: match
Brown: good shot</p>

<p>The app is very strong, but the only weak part is the ECs. While the research is very good, there's nothing to complement it (the rest is miscellaneous things), except perhaps the robotics EC. While this shows a lack of focus, the research very well may get you into Stanford, etc. Good luck. =]</p>

8

<ol>
<li>Stanford (ca)/you have a chance </li>
<li>Columbia (ia!)/ditto</li>
<li>Harvard (ca)/ditto</li>
<li>Princeton (ca)/ditto</li>
<li>Northwestern (ca)/good chance</li>
<li>UPenn (ca)/good chance</li>
<li>Cornell (ca)/good chance</li>
<li>UChicago (ia!)/good chance</li>
<li><p>Brown (ia!)/good chance</p></li>
<li><p>UC Berkeley/in</p></li>
<li><p>Pomona (ca)/low reach</p></li>
<li><p>UCLA/in</p></li>
<li><p>USC (ia!)/in</p></li>
<li><p>UC San Diego/in</p></li>
</ol>

9

<p>Yeah, I realize my lack of ECs. V_V</p>

<p>I was group head of my research project at JRI though.</p>

<p>I was expecting to publish something by now, but I'm still working on it. And one of the letters of recs will be from the president of Jisan, who'll explain the research and that we're close to publishing and etc.</p>

<p>Well, as long as I get into 1 of those 10 upper schools (counting Pomona as an upper), I'll be happy.</p>

<p>BTW, I'm definitely going to improve my SAT CR. In fact, I'm pretty confident about 800 CR after getting that Lit score recently (my SAT I was from January, so I had some time to improve my reading skills).</p>

10

<p>Since you are upping your SAT score a bit I think you have a really good shot at all your schools with HYPS being attainable reaches. Your ECs are actually pretty good inlight of low income circumstances. I would not be surprised if you are accepted by all of HYPS, nor would I be too surprised if you are rejected by all of HYPS. The UCs are safeties for you.</p>

11

<p>great rank, good gpa, great test scores, decent ecs. You may want to think about taking the ACT, some kids find it much easier. Better chance at Stanford with the EA. HYPS will always be a reach for any applicant.</p>

<p>Stanford - Reach
Columbia - High Match
Harvard - Reach
Princeton - Reach
Northwestern - Match/High Match
UPenn - High Match
Cornell - High Match
UChicago - High Match
Brown - High Match
UC Berkeley - Match
Pomona - Match
UCLA - Match
USC - Safety/Match
UC San Diego - Safety</p>

<p>gl in college =]</p>

12

<p>The UCs easily and you should get into several others if you have those stats and worked many hours. The CR score hurts.</p>

13

<p>I'm only going to bump this once...</p>