Junior Aiming for HYPSMC - Unsure about EC'S

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Student:</p>

<p>User Name: siegfried24
Gender: M
Ethinicity: Asian
Location: California
College Class Year: 2011
High School: Public
High School Type: Not too competitive, 2 national merit semifinalists out of senior class (a bit over 500)
Will apply for financial aid: no</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 4.00
GPA - Weighted: 4.83
Class Rank: Somewhere in top 5%</p>

<p>Note: My school has the IB program but I did not join to focus more on EC's. Will this hurt my chances?</p>

<p>Sophomore Year (all A's)</p>

<p>English 2H
Bio AP
World History H
Chem H
Pre-Calc H
Spanish 3
Varsity Tennis</p>

<p>Junior year (all solid A's so far)</p>

<p>English 3H
AP Chem
APUSH
AP Calc BC
Spanish 4H
AP Psych
Varsity Tennis</p>

<p>Scores: </p>

<p>SAT I:
CR: 800
MA: 800
WR: 780 (11 essay)
Probably not going to re-take</p>

<p>SAT II:
-Math II: 800
-Bio(M): 770
^ will take Chem and USH next year</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Significant Extracurriculars:
-Tennis: The EC that I dedicate the most time and effort to by far. I love the sport and I'm pretty good. I finished #1 in Southern California in my age group as a sophomore as well as top 10 in nation. This year I achieved the #1 ranking in Southern California in my age group as well. </p>

<p>Tennis Community Serivce: I spent 4 hours a week last summer teaching tennis to underprivileged kids in the South LA/Compton area. It was quite an experience and caused me to reconsider my goals concerning tennis - more on that later.</p>

<p>Science Research: Last summer I did a biomedical engineering internship at UCI. I really enjoyed it and I am going to apply to several summer research programs on the East Coast for next summer.
- I may do some sport science tennis-related research as well just for fun.</p>

<p>Leadership positions:
(Not including volunteer/service work leadership positions mentioned below)
Asian Cultures Club President - We raise money for Asian tragedy victims, teach students about the different Asian cultures, etc. nothing too significant</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work:
Key Club Treasurer - I'm pretty involved in this - around 80 hours a year since freshman year so over 300 by the time I graduate
Volunteer at a hospital - around 125 hrs
California Scholarship Federation (largest club at our school with several hundred members) - Technology Commissioner, I keep a database on member participation/records.</p>

<p>Honors and Awards:
Plenty of school ones such as Departmental Awards in Science/Math
Tennis awards - MVP, sportsmanship, captain beginning sophomore year
Piano - Certificate of Merit Advanced, placed at a festival or two. Nothing special.</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure I'll qualify for AIME this year.
I hope that with my research next summer I can do well in Intel/Siemens.</p>

<p>Uncertainties: I don't plan on playing college tennis, except possibly at MIT/Caltech where the athletic atmosphere is much more relaxed and I feel I can concentrate a lot more on academic activities. So I'm not sure if being ranked so high will be helpful or not...</p>

<p>What are your opinions on my chances at HYPSMC? Any advice is welcome as well.</p>

<p>Thanks for your time and thoughtful input. I appreciate it.</p>

2

<p>You look like you have a fantastic chance (well, as “fantastic” as Ivy League chances get) at HYPSMC … Cornell would certainly be a lower-match for you. I am jealous.</p>

3

<p>bump bump bump</p>

4

<p>bump once again…opinions anyone?</p>

5

<p>err…im too flabbergasted to speak…
well any cali schools even berkely will be a low match or safety for you…
as far as hypms goes…you have as much chance as anyone…(we all noe its a crapshoot) ofc with exception of cornell ED being much easier…
i think you should get into a couple at least
and seeing that your ec is focused which is always nice to see</p>

<p>btw any chance of being recruited? that will increase your chance by a million
goodl uck :D</p>

<p>fellow tennis player here :P</p>

6

<p>hi fightingirish2!</p>

<p>I skipped a grade so even though I have had a top 10 national ranking in my age group, I’m only around #60 for the Class of 2011 which is good enough for M and C but not HYPS. </p>

<p>I just hope HYPS recognize the years of dedication, hard work and love for tennis which resulted in high regional/national rankings as an excellent EC even though I’m not recruited for it.</p>

7

<p>yea ofc…tennis is amazing :smiley: hope you keep on enjoying it
btw love stanford tennis courts :stuck_out_tongue:
so random -.-;; sorry anyhoo good luck and keep on working!</p>

8

<p>stanford tennis courts are awesome! especially center court</p>

<p>any other opinions out there? particularly about my EC’s? thanks in advance!</p>

9

<p>bump bump bump</p>

10

<p>pretty good, id say you have a good shot at all UCs. As for the Ivy Leauge, its the Ivy leauge-its pretty hard to guage if you get in even when a person has all the stats necessary. I’d say apply and hope for the best and plus youre a junior. Plenty of time to still work on that app. </p>

<p>Chance me back? Just click on my profile name and find my post. Its called “Chance me for the Ucs please”. Thanks.</p>

11

<p>Congrats on a stellar resume my fellow Class of '11 member :D</p>

<p>The tennis thing is a HUGE advantage because you have excelled on a national level, solid academics, and a great amount of volunteer work. I say you have just about as good a chance as one can get when applying to such prestigious schools. My question is this: which biomedical engineering summer internships are you applying to? And what are the requirements for acceptance (do you have links?). Thanks! I’m thinking about going into BME as well :)</p>

12

<p>Your academics are superior…damn, 2380 SAT as a junior? Anyways, you definitely have a decent shot but I wouldn’t say you’re guaranteed in anywhere, although I’d be really surprised if didn’t get into to at least 2-3 of those.</p>

<p>I know you said you’re very dedicated to tennis and I certainly believe you. It’s the passiona nd continuity that matter. However, a lot of your ECs don’t really stick out. Don;t get me wrong, it definitely looks like you’re doing something with your time, just make sure in your activities essays you really convey that passion for tennis and whatever else you’re going to writing about, especially because they’re not exactly unique (not that that hurts you, just doesn’t help drastically)</p>

13

<p>i took the SAT as a sophomore actually, if that counts for anything haha</p>

<p>I understand what you mean about my EC’s not sticking out too much besides tennis…I have to practice a LOT to maintain my level of play so I don’t have as much time as I would like to devote to other activities. But I hope to make research another strong part of my app since it’s another activity I really enjoy.</p>

<p>Any other opinions?</p>

14

<p>bump again!</p>

15

<p>Anyone else?</p>

16

<p>You’re ranked in the Top 10 nationally and were not recruited?</p>

17

<p>I skipped a grade so I’m competing with people a year older than me, and a year makes a huge difference in terms of strength and experience. </p>

<p>I’m ranked around #60 nationally for the Class of 2011 which probably is not good enough for a recruitment to HYPS…</p>

<p>Any other opinions?</p>

18

<p>Harvard-still somewhat of a reach(because it’s Harvard)
Yale-I’d say your probably in
Princeton-match
stanford-match
mit-eh, match
california institute of technology- not sure =/</p>

19

<p>You wrote:
“Tennis Community Serivce: I spent 4 hours a week last summer teaching tennis to underprivileged kids in the South LA/Compton area. It was quite an experience and caused me to reconsider my goals concerning tennis - more on that later.”</p>

<p>How did teaching tennis to underprivileged kids change your goals re: tennis?</p>

20

<p>If you really are ranked 60th in the nation, that’s well within the level which any school would recruit.</p>