<p>Right. So, as I'm living in Ireland (a US citizen, though), I haven't a clue about how the applications process works in the US: in Ireland all admissions are done based on a single, two-week exam, so things like "ECs" and admissions essays are pretty foreign to me. I don't really expect to get in anywhere; the US was always kind of a pipe dream for me. That said, I think my scores are pretty good, and I've been diligently researching colleges and the like, so I'd really appreciate some realistic feedback about how I measure up to other people actually applying. Oh, and I'm a white middle-class male (saying that on a college application sounds unimaginably weird to a European, by the way. But I suppose it's completely normal for all of you).</p>
<p>Colleges:
Harvard
Princeton
Stanford
UC Berkeley
MIT</p>
<p>Standardised Tests:
SAT: 2400
SAT Bio E: 780
SAT Physics: 800
SAT Maths II: 800</p>
<p>School Subjects:
Maths
Applied Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Latin
English
Accounting</p>
<p>Grades:
Again, this is different. My "predicted grades" are all A1s (A+ is the equivalent, I think), as only one exam counts in Ireland, but things like my summer exams are not quite as good. A1s in Physics, English, Applied Maths, Biology, and Accounting, and A2s in everything else.</p>
<p>ECs:
Crew (or rowing, as we call it) for four years. I was on the school team, and I have won a few competitions.
200+ hours spent working in an orginisation called SHARE, which houses the elderly. I was on the executive committee, and as part of my work I visited residents every week, and collected for about twelve hours a day for ten days over Christmas.
Two weeks working in COPE, a school for children with mild learning disabilities.
I have a scholarship for double bass to the Cork School of Music, and I've played piano to grade six.
I'm on the schools applied maths team.
I've been selected as a member of the Irish International delegation to the European Youth Parliament, from about six hundred delegates. I've been to Portugal, the Netherlands, and Belgium for the Erasmiaan European Youth Parliament, and I won the best delegate award in Antwerp, after which I progressed on and I now take part in an organistation capacity. (I hope to be chosen as praesidium this May)
I've won my school's gold medal debating competition twice, and lots of debating competitions around Ireland. A couple of weeks ago, I won the biggest mace (type of debate) competition in Ireland.</p>
<p>School Rank:
First? I honestly don't know. I got tied highest points in my summer exams, so I assume that's kind of the same thing.</p>
<p>Recommendations:
My applied maths teacher, head of maths at my school. I'm top of both maths classes, by a fair margin if we're being cocky about it, so I think that one will be pretty strong.
My english teacher. This one is a bit more tricky: I hate the subject with a passion (the course is awful), but he's the teacher in charge of debating at my school, and I've been on several debating trips with him. He knows me pretty well, and I think he's been impressed by the Youth Parliaments, etc., but I don't think I ever wrote a decent essay for him.</p>
<p>Intended Major:
In Ireland, I'm applying for medicine (you can do it straight away, as an undergraduate degree, and you get your license in five years), but I think it'll be maths if I go to the US.</p>
<p>If you have bothered to read through all of this, thank you very much for struggling through my cripplingly boring life. If you can give any advice at all, I'd be very grateful (although I can't really chance back, because, as mentioned, I'm clueless). And, most importantly, don't be afraid of insulting me! A load of compliments would be kind of useless.</p>