It might be a toughy, but what are my chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brandeis University
1

<p>BACKGROUND:
Male, live in NY, born in South Asia, moved to U.S. when almost three yrs old, English was my third language, household income is around 85,000 so about 55,000 net, I have two older siblings, both of whom went to college. Father is a pharmacist. Mother is a housekeeper.</p>

<p>STATS:
GPA: 103 weighted, 95 unweighted (weighting system: honors = +10, AP = +12)
Class Rank: 6/300
SAT Reasoning Test: M: 710 Cr: 670 W: 670 Total: 2050/2400 and 1380/1600
AP: Last year I took 3 APs, and got two 4s and one 3. This year I am taking 5 AP classes (6 if you count economics as macro and micro as separate since tests are separate) + engineering research class + phys ed + a graduation requirement class.
SAT II: Phys: 800 MathIIC: 800 Literature: 700
Essays: Good, meaning not super because I am not an extremely creative writer and I rarely use SAT words, but good in the sense that I feel I successfully expressed my personality
Letters of Recommendation: One of them was really good, and the other two were average good.</p>

<p>AWARDS/EXTRACURRICULARS/WORK EXPERIENCE:
–AP Scholar
–Varsity Tennis Team: 3yrs (I made counties once)
–Varsity Excellence Award (received twice)
–Two-time scholar athlete
–Distinguished High Honor Roll student
–Mathletes: 4yrs (county champion last year, captain this year)
–Science Olympiads: 2yrs, ever since it was offered (I entered all the physics and chemistry competitions)
–SWEEP (an environmental club): 2yrs
–Key Club: 20 hrs community service
–School Radio: 2yrs (journalist)
–Have been working hard at a convenient store 30hrs/week for 3yrs. I have been sales manager for 1.5 years. This is big for me since it took up a lot of my time on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
–Even though I am an atheist, I have been helping every year, for five years, to help set up the food and dining preparations during the four weekend community feasts in the month of Ramadan. My counselor told me this is community service. So it took at least 3hrs/day<em>2days</em>4weekends<em>4yrs(high school yrs)=96 hours.
–I volunteered to tutor two students, on math and chemistry during junior year, after school every day, 1 hr each session, for 32 weeks. So 1</em>5<em>32 = 160 hours.
–I gave tennis lessons to a couple of persons at my tennis club during sophomore year, once a week, three hours a week, for six months. So 3</em>4*6= 72 hours. Afterwards, she became my girlfriend, which indeed was the ultimate payoff!</p>

<p>RESEARCH EXPERIENCE:
–I have completed original research on two projects, one involving chemistry at a state university, the other involving a bit of physics, environmental science, and biology—mixed—at a prominent national lab. I will be sending my abstracts for both research projects. Neither project was published, but I am entering the second one into ISEF. All this research stuff is perhaps my biggest “hook.”</p>

<p>MISCALLENOUS:
–I have been privately tutored for Arabic twice a week, for about 2 years now.
–I speak four languages fluently: Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, English; I know there are some conflicts about whether Urdu and/or Punjabi are languages or dialects, it’s acknowledged.
–I have taken part in civil protests against the war in Iraq as well as against the Patriot Act for twice a month, for two years.
–I trained at an international tennis academy in Texas for 1 month. (But please note, I do NOT wish to play college tennis)
–I regularly play tennis at a local club
–I love to play chess with my friends; I tried to create an official club, but my school’s board failed to pass it in time to make it official this year.
–My favorite album is War by U2
–As subtly mentioned above, I am taking an engineering research class. This year is the first year ever that my school is offering it, and it is very unique. I doubt many other schools have it, so this may catch a second glimpse.</p>

<p>PERSONAL QUALITIES:
–Mathematically and scientifically inclined
–Extremely politically active (I’m somewhere between liberal and libertarian)
–Very outgoing, I love my closest friends with all my heart, and I like most everyone else (except for the cocky jocks, for they are so annoying).
–Theologically open-minded
–I like to get personal with small groups of people, rather than lead a huge pack, as evident in my tutoring and tennis-lessons providing.</p>

<p>ACADEMIC INTERESTS:
–Economics
–Philosophy
–Mathematics
–Physics</p>

2

<p>Did you apply ED or are you applying RD</p>

3

<p>Scores are in the ballpark, but SATII's are MUCH better than needed. GPA rank is fine. If you stress your language(s) fluency I'd say you should get in no problem.</p>

4

<p>I'm applying RD.</p>

5

<p>Also, would Brandeis mind if I include the protest stuff, or is it risky? I mean I know Brandeis is fairly liberal, but still...</p>

<p>And please, more chances opinions wanted.</p>

6

<p>I say include it, it will only make you stand out. You have a chance of getting in than me and I applied ED. Is this your first choice?</p>

7

<p>Out of the relative "match" department, it is my first choice. Though I'm not even sure how much of a match this school even is anymore. I'm applying to quite a few reaches as well though, such as Northwestern.</p>

<p>I hope you do well, New York represent!</p>

8

<p>thanks I know you will get in though. Good luck!!!!</p>

9

<p>I don't think I would add the protest bit. It's not really a standout factor as I would assume that the majority of Brandeisians near population centers have been to protests. If you were an organizer, then I would add that. But just attending? It makes you look like you're trying too hard and it's not particularly significant. </p>

<p>You could work it into an essay though.</p>

10

<p>Yes, I'll definitely mention it in an essay. I live in a very small, tight-knit town, and for us, protesting is a huge deal. I do it twice a month on main street, around the time when everyone is either having lunch, or dinner, coming home from work, etc. It's kind of tough for me, since sometimes I'm the only "brown" (South Asian) one in the pack, and people pay special attention to me, thinking I'm some radical islamic kid who just hates the troops or something, so I guess I'll write about that.</p>

<p>Also, I'll include a short letter from the organizer (a man near his 50s), so that Brandeis knows it was legit. Perhaps I should also have a photo or two taken of me with the group protesting in town.</p>

11

<p>That's better then. Like, I wrote about my protest experience in an essay (strangely about the mural Guernica and how it has influenced my linguistic and social justice interests) and then included a newspaper article with a picture of me at a walkout on the 1 year anniversary in the war in Iraq when all of us were suspended for 3 days (from the Deep South in a county where 85% of people voted for Bush and the rest were probably Constitutionalists :P). The letter would probably be better in like a recommendation form, if possible. But yeah, definitely work it into an essay.</p>