<p>Hi! I'm going to be a senior this coming fall, and I'm wondering what my chances would be at the colleges that I am planning on applying to, as well as chances for financial aid at the private colleges, since that is (sadly) going to be the major factor in determining my future college. It'd be great to have your feedback on this - thanks!</p>
<p>BASIC INFO:
-Asian female, class of '09
-California Non-Resident, legal alien; immigrated from Korea at age of 9
[thus ineligible for most major scholarships, as well as FAFSA, CalGrant, etc.]
-From a middle-income family (60,000~70,000)
-Fairly competitive public high school (ranked approx. 350 on Newsweek), located in suburban Los Angeles
-Older sister is now a freshman at UCLA </p>
<p>ACADEMICS:
-GPA: 3.8 UW, 4.1 W
-Rank: ~60 out of 750, about top 8%
-Five AP classes taken so far - European History, Biology, Calculus AB, English Lang, Chemistry
-5's on European History and Biology
-Taking AP Stats, English Literature, Spanish, and Economics in senior year
-Freshman year grades: all As
Sophomore year grades: mostly As, couple Bs
Junior year grades: mostly As, couple Bs, a C on calculus during 1st semester
[this will hurt my chances, wouldn't it? :( ]
-SAT I: composite 2170
CR: 710
math: 750
writing: 710
[re-taking in November]
-SAT II:
Math IIC: 800
Korean w/Listening: 800
Biology: 680
Literature: 640
[HAHA, will re-take this]
-National Merit Commended and/or Semifinalist (results come out in September)
PSAT was 218</p>
<p>AWARDS:
-Reflections Essay Contest:
3rd place in 1st District of California (11th)
3rd place in school district (10th)
-Rotary Club Essay Contest:
1st place with 100$ cash prize (9th)
-*****.com 20K Scholarship Semi-finalist
-JROTC awards:
American Legion Scholastic Excellence Award - Bronze medal (9th)
Military Officers of America Association (MOAA) medal (10th)
American Legion Military Excellence Award - Silver medal (11th)
Freshman Cadet of the Year (9th)
[...Plus a whole bunch of miscellaneous ribbons and certification badges.]
-Distinguished Student of AFJROTC department (9th)</p>
<p>EXTRACURRIULARS:
-Air Force Junior ROTC: (9th~11th)
Flight commander, Logistics Officer, Secretary, 1st Sergeant, etc...
[4-5 different commander/staff positions]
Enrolled/Involved in organizations within ROTC as well
-Journalism: (11th~12th)
Staff writer
-Symphony Orchestra: (9th~12th)
A-level orchestra, placed 1st at Disneyworld/Disneyland/San Francisco/Las Vegas music festivals.
Class secretary (11th,12th)
Principal chair cellist + Section leader (12th)
-Key Club: (9th~12th)
Bulletin Editor (9th~10th)
Publicist (11th)
Vice President (12th)
-National Honor Society: (10th~12th)
Secretary (12th)
-California Scholarship Federation (9th~12th)
-Operation Smile Student Association: (11th~12th)
[Co-Founder; this was our 1st year and we raised 2,400, funding for about 10 surgeries for children]
Publicist (11th)
-Falcon Christian Fellowship: (10th~12th)
Publicist (11th)
-Falcon Award Committee (10th~11th) a student-run committee that fundraises/awards scholarships to seniors each year</p>
<p>COMMUNITY SERVICE:
-Joy Saturday School for mentally/physically disabled adults: (10th~12th)
Teacher's Aide / Pianist
6 hours per week the entire year
-Teacher's Aide (12th)
During summer school... 8 hours per week for 6 weeks
-Public library (9th)
20 hours during one summer
-Key Club (9th~12th)
6 hours per month
-Scattered service hours from ROTC.
[Service hours for high school total up to ~400 hours]</p>
<p>MISCELLANEOUS:
-Piano for 13 years
-Cello for 8 years</p>
<p>WORK EXPERIENCE:
-E-Nopi Math Tutor (11th~12th)
Paid work
3 hours per week the entire year
-Private Cello Instruction (12th)
Paid work
2 hours per week
-Internship at town newspaper, in collaboration with Los Angeles Times (12th)
Unpaid
[...however many hours I want to do per week haha]</p>
<p>Applying to:
reach- Columbia (ED), Williams College
match- UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego
safety- California State University Northridge (CSUN), UC Irvine, UC Riverside
[I really don't like UCs because they're so HUGE, but my mom's forcing me to apply]</p>
<p>Planning on majoring in either English, Secondary Education/Counseling, or Comm Studies... Or two of those three.</p>
<p>My essays... I want to write about some (or all) of the following:
-being a Logistics Officer in Junior ROTC at my school and having to be responsible for $20,000 worth of uniforms
-serving the disabled adults at Joy Saturday School, my comm service place
-founding Operation Smile Student Association at my school
-dealing with family, parent's alcoholism, etc.
-(maybe) awakening as a Christian and its impact in my life
-(maybe) experience of being publicist for three different clubs my junior year</p>
<hr>
<p>Can you also suggest me more schools based on what I am planning on majoring in, as well as schools with good financial aid?... I don't know much about what colleges are strong in what majors, unfortunately.</p>
<p>I would really like to go to a medium-sized school (3000~7000 is in the ballpark), good English or Education program, maybe liberal arts, with financial aid packages offered to legal aliens.</p>
<p>Also, would it hurt my chances if I dropped ROTC my senior year? (due to some scheduling problems - I have 8 classes to take next year, and only space for 7)</p>
<p>Thank you again!</p>
<p>-Monica</p>