<p>I'm currently an asian male junior who's on winter break preparing for my college admission process. I know I should talk to my counselor, and I plan on meeting her the week I get back to school. Until then, I just want to get a general feel from my peers(or the college bound) of what my chances are if I wanted to attend Harvard, Princeton, or Yale.</p>
<p>My schedule(gifted):
9th Grade:
Orchestra
Online PE/Health
Accel Geo Math 2, Pre-Cal
LA
AP Human Geo
Physics
Chemistry
Engineering
Spanish 1</p>
<p>10th Grade:
Orchestra
AP Biology
AP World
Intermediate Programming
AP Calc BC
Engineering Application
World Lit
Spanish 2</p>
<p>11th Grade:
Orchestra
AP Chem
AP U.S.
AP Computer Science
AP Lang
Spanish 3
GA Tech Calculus 2/3</p>
<p>4.0 GPA within my school (we get 10 points added to our AP classes, I'd assume around a 3.8 unweighted?)
Beta, NHS, MAT, Vice President of SGA
Minor clubs such as Math Team, Science Olympiad, National Spanish HS, etc.
PSAT 219, SAT 2120</p>
<p>Is there anything I can do to increase my chances at all? I know I lack leadership positions and such, but as a junior going into his second semester, what are some suggestions? I mean, realistically speaking, going to Harvard, Princeton, and Yale isn't my dream or anything. Just curious since since I'm getting ready for college apps and such :).</p>
<p>You are on the right track. Keep up your GPA, and continue to take challenging courses next year. It also wouldn’t hurt to try retaking the SAT’s, or taking the ACT’s. As for your extracurricular activities, try to show more commitment to them. Enter into competitions. How about Intel? Scholastic Awards? Just some suggestions.</p>
<p>Yeah the first thing I’m doing is focusing on my SAT since I’ll be retaking it next month. I attended a summer program called Governor’s Honor’s Program;I’m not sure if its a competition or not. I missed the RSI app deadline, but it was never really on my mind to begin with. </p>
<p>I did a science fair during sophmore year, but it didn’t even make it into county(I suspect due to inadequate sample size). </p>
<p>@Waverly, what is an EC? and yes, my goal is 2300+.</p>
<p>If you’re a junior, don’t hurry to retake. Many schools don’t accept score choice and the number of times you take the test is scrutinized. Two is optimal. 3 is pushing it and you will need to raise the score more than the 60 points each time that a retake should automatically add.</p>
<p>Well I’ve had a good chunk of time to study this winter break, and I think getting it out of the way is best for me since I will have internship later on this semester and during senior year.</p>
<p>It is my third and last try.
My first was 2080, and my second was 2120. I really should have gotten my second score canceled. It was a 2120 and a small improvement, but on the score sheet it said I omitted 4 questions, which is beyond me since I never skip questions. I also vividly remember GOING BACK to make sure all the bubbles were filled in. Also, the proctor had us take a “break” in the MIDDLE of a 35 minute critical reading section.(I was freaking out when he called out “time” after only 17.5 minutes. Are they allowed to do this?) I never bothered to cancel the scores since it was an improvement and I was naive enough to believe the proctor.</p>
<p>Hm, and extra curricular activities like volunteering and such? Or more awards and competition?</p>
<p>I considered taking the ACT, but I think I’m much better off with the SAT in terms of resources and practice.</p>
<p>Yes, these aren’t my schools of choice, just curious if I could make them.
I would like to attend an Ivy Leauge college, and I have a bevy of backups:Georgia Tech(since I’m already dual enrolled), Emory (my brother goes there), and UGA.
My intended major would be something STEM oriented? I’m not sure, but I have always been interested in business.(Accounting doesn’t sound all that bad haha).</p>
<p>If your career goal is something like investment banking, going to a high prestige Ivy League school or MIT helps, because such companies tend to be school-prestige-conscious.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you are interested working in the E in STEM (engineering), then plenty of schools (including Georgia Tech) have better reputations in engineering than the Ivy League schools (the best of which for engineering are probably Cornell and Princeton).</p>
<p>Cornell is ranked above Princeton as is Columbia. Princeton is on par with Harvard. If you want to do engineering, Ivy may not be the best place to go as ucbalumnus said.</p>
<p>I’m not an expert on this, or an adcom (nor are most people here, they’re just throwing out random advice, hahaha), but if I had to suggest something it would trying to find a specialty. There’s no doubt your academics are awesome and took a lot of work, but at the tippity-top colleges there’ll be a lot of similar folks applying. Try and find/do something that shows a lot of passion and is unique. You’re still a junior, so you have time to find that “special something” - good luck!</p>
<p>Math is definatly my specialty. I went to a summer camp for math, won some minor competitions, but alas nothing national. I am taking GA Tech Calc through distance learning, which means I’ll be getting actual college credit for Calculus 2/3. </p>
<p>And just as aside note, my school is a charter school based on Math, Science, and Technology. I’m pretty sure im in the top 10%(I was second freshmen year, but our school got rid of the rank system), and our school is quite known for its difficulty(not saying any other students in their top 5% are less apt).</p>
<p>Yeah my focus right now is to get up my EC and win some competition(hopefully next semester haha)
Thanks guys! Obviously my goals are HYP, but I’m just trying to get my college apps as healthy as possible for the next year.</p>