I'm finally making a chances thread... Here we go (Stanford SCEA)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Background: First generation & low income (0k - parents recently divorced, mom has no income, but dad's reported income is 24k). South Korean, living in Southern Cali.</p>

<p>GPA:
3.93 UW
4.5 W
4.81 W (UC uncapped 10-11th)
Rank 2 out of 720.</p>

<p>SAT's
SAT Reasoning: 2300 superscore (2260 from one sitting)
SAT Physics: 800
SAT Math L2: 800
SAT Literature : 780
SAT Biology: 740</p>

<p>13 AP classes taken (6 of them junior year), Self-studied Calc BC, 4 community college courses taken</p>

<p>Awards:
2007 Caltech Signature Award
2nd Place AMC 12 School Wide & invited to AIME 10th grade
AP Scholar with Distinciton
Nat. Merit Semi-Finalist
Some more insignificant ones</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Jisan Research Institute
My main extracurricular. Conducted scientific research on swarm based construction (computational research), was group head of my team. Got a great letter of rec from my mentor.</p>

<p>FIRST Robotics<br>
Involved for 3 years, didn't really mention much.</p>

<p>Volunteered for Beckman Research Institute at City of Hope
Helped out MD's doing research; I explain that I was motivated to start because my sister got thyroid cancer my sophomore year.</p>

<p>TA'd for some teachers during summer school.</p>

<p>Key Club
Treasurer 11th, was a member for 4 years</p>

<p>Bunch of other insignificant clubs</p>

<p>Work Experience:
Banana Republic sales support<br>
Sep 2007 - Sep 2008
Helping costumers, helping with stock checks and go-backs, helping with floor recovery (keeping clothes nicely folded).</p>

<p>Laundry Zone Employee<br>
Jun 2007 - Sep 2007<br>
Keeping the coin laundry clean, helping costumers, counting money, filling vending machines.</p>

<p>Math Instructor<br>
May 2007 - Sep 2008<br>
I teach a class of about 5 students. I help them learn a level of math that is one year ahead of their current school course so that they can skip a year.</p>

<p>Physics Tutor - small class<br>
Oct 2006 - May 2007
I tutored a small class of about 5 students. I helped them understand AP Physics concepts.</p>

<p>SAT Tutor and Chemistry Tutor<br>
May 2007 - Sep 2008<br>
I am an SAT tutor and a chemistry tutor (self-employed).</p>

<p>Weak EC's/leadership, I'm hoping gets made up with my circumstances...</p>

<p>My college list:</p>

<p>Target schools:
1. Stanford (ca)
2. Harvard (ca),
Yale (ca),
Columbia (ia!)
5. UPenn (ca),
Princeton (ca)
7. MIT (ia!)
8. Duke (ca),
Northwestern (ca)
10. Pomona (ca)
11. Washington U St. Louis (ca)</p>

<p>Match:
1. UC Berkeley
2. UCLA</p>

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

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

2

<p>Berkeley: match
UCLA: match - safe match
USC: safe match - safety
UC San Diego: safety</p>

<p>You have a very good shot at the others. I expect you'll a few of your reaches. WUStL might be a problem, though, since it isn't need-blind.</p>

3

<p>I forgot to mention that my sister went to grad school at Stanford.</p>

4

<p>That doesn't really make a difference.</p>

5

<p>Oh... :(</p>

<p>Bump</p>

6

<p>Only 1 response so far...</p>

<p>Please CC! After contributing so much to you?</p>

7

<ol>
<li>Stanford (ca): Slight Reach (as are all HYPMS), but good shot</li>
<li>Harvard (ca), Slight Reach (as are all HYPMS), but good shot
Yale (ca), Slight Reach (as are all HYPMS), but good shot
Columbia (ia!)Slight Reach (as are all HYPMS), but good shot</li>
<li>UPenn (ca), Match I'd say.
Princeton (ca)Slight Reach (as are all HYPMS), but good shot</li>
<li>MIT (ia!)Slight Reach (as are all HYPMS), but good shot</li>
<li>Duke (ca), Match.
Northwestern (ca) Match.</li>
<li>Pomona (ca) Match.</li>
<li>Washington U St. Louis (ca) Match.</li>
</ol>

<p>Match:
1. UC Berkeley: Match
2. UCLA: Match</p>

<p>Lower/safeties:
1. USC (ia!) : Safety!
2. UC San Diego: Shoe-in Safety</p>

8

<p>Thank you protege!</p>

9

<p>i'd disagree with protege only on UPenn; even though you are very qualified, Penn is still a reach (as is for most everyone). I believe starting with Duke on your list and down, you're looking good.</p>

10

<p>Acceptance rates give a fair assessment of selectivity, less accurate for specialty schools (MIT) or less well-known schools (Northwestern). I've listed the acceptance rates for your schools below, according to USNWR.</p>

<p>You have good stats but even if you're considered twice as qualified as the average applicant (just a guess on my part), this is how it would break down:</p>

<p>Reach (chance of acceptance 18% - 26%)</p>

<p>Harvard 9%
Yale 9%
Princeton 10%
Stanford 11%
Columbia 12%
MIT 13%</p>

<p>Slight Reach (chance of acceptance 36%-42%)</p>

<p>Pomona 18%
UPenn 18%
Washington U St. Louis 21%</p>

<p>Match (chance of acceptance 46%-60%)</p>

<p>Duke 23%
UC Berkeley 24%
USC 25%
UCLA 26%
Northwestern 30%</p>

<p>Safety (chance of acceptance >75%)</p>

<p>UC San Diego 49%</p>

<p>(I know the statistics aren't accurate but you get the idea...)</p>

11

<p>You can't really assess that way...</p>

<p>I mean, is a 3.8 GPA student with a 2100 5 times as qualified than a 3.6 student with a 1900, both with great EC's?</p>

<p>The difference is the 3.8/2100 student will get in (95% chance), but the other student probably won't (20% chance).</p>

<p>Also, what if I applied to Johns Hopkins early (about 49% admit rate)? You saying I have 98% chance of admission (super safety)?</p>

<p>And if I am twice as qualified as a Harvard applicant, would I be way more qualified than an average USC applicant or average UCSD applicant?</p>

12

<p>Bumping up... I should have made a more appealing title.</p>

13

<p>Last bump.. :'(</p>

14

<p>looking good!
Makes me proud as another han-kook saram.</p>