My First Chances Thread

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey guys. I'm a junior and I would like to know if I'm on the right track (if so that's great) and if not what I can do to align myself.</p>

<p>SAT: 780M/760CR/780W(11 Essay) - 2320 Total</p>

<p>SATIIs: 800 MathIIC, 790 Biology (M), planning on taking US History and Chem in May and June</p>

<p>Class Rank: My school doesn't rank, but probably top 5% out of ~500 people in a highly competitive NJ high school</p>

<p>GPA: 3.91 unweighted (our weighted system's really weird...)</p>

<p>Courseload: toughest available
APs: currently taking Calc AB, US History, Langcomp, planning to take those APs this May</p>

<p>Some of my ecs:</p>

<p>Piano for 9 years</p>

<ul>
<li>ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) Level 8
with Merit.</li>
<li>NJ Music Teachers Association (NJMTA) 5 Year Honors award</li>
<li>Golden Key Festival Winner, performed at Carnegie Hall</li>
<li>Participated in the 2004 International Children's Cultural Arts
Festival, selected to play in Shanghai Grande Theatre.</li>
</ul>

<p>Table Tennis</p>

<ul>
<li>Nationally Ranked for under 18 juniors.</li>
<li>2005 AAU Junior Olympic Singles silver medalist, doubles silver
medalist, and teams gold medalist</li>
<li>Teaches a class at the local community center (volunteer work).</li>
</ul>

<p>I've won many other small awards from tournaments and such.</p>

<p>Other Things</p>

<ul>
<li>News editor of school newspaper, hopefully editor in chief next year.</li>
<li>Staff writer English section of local Chinese Newspaper</li>
<li>Columbia Science Honors Program</li>
<li>Member of the 2006 NJ Physics Olympics Champion Team</li>
<li>Worked at Kumon for 8 hours a week over the summer.</li>
<li>I'm in a few other clubs but they're not really worth mentioning because I'm not an officer.</li>
<li>I'm a Chinese male from a midupper class family (I guess this hurts me)</li>
</ul>

<p>That's about it. I did cross country and spring track for a year, but I don't really think I should mention it because I quit. You could see that piano and table tennis are my "passions", and I'm looking for advice on how to show colleges this. I will definitely mention it in my essays. I don't really have much time for many clubs in school because table tennis and piano take up a lot of my time.</p>

<p>I'm looking at the Ivies and Stanford. Please rate my chances and give me recommendations as to what I should do to improve my chances. If you can, rate me on a scale of 1-10 or give me percentages. Please be honest.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Nice stats! Im taking the same APs this year :). I would say, with no early plans...</p>

<p>Harvard- 20%
Yale- 20%
Princeton- 20%
Columbia- 30%
Dartmouth- 40%
Brown- 40%
Penn- 45%
Cornell- 65%
Stanford- 20%</p>

<p>The table tennis bit is nice, as is the piano. Are you URM?</p>

3

<p>I see Asian written all over these ECs. Cornell and Penn probably, no leadership and cliche ECs make me think the other ivies and S are not likely.</p>

4

<p>Darkruler: No, I'm Chinese. If I were URM, my chances would increase substantially. I am a bit curious as to where you are getting these percentages from lol.</p>

<p>suze: Again, I don't have much time for many clubs, or many leadership positions for that matter. I'm hoping to become editor of my school's newspaper next year, but that's about it. I hope colleges will realize that table tennis is a big part of my life (possibly a "hook?") Nonetheless, I am trying to start a table tennis club at my school :)</p>

5

<p>I kinda made them up, based on what I saw on the admissions results from last year.</p>

6

<p>The address below links to the UPenn "Incoming Student Profile: Class of 2009" page.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/profile.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/profile.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>It will give you an idea of what you're up against.</p>

7

<p>wow! junior olympics silver medalist! THAT alone is pretty cool. Write great essays, take a risk in them, show yourself from a true angle, and I really think you can get in anywhere. Stats, grades, everything seems "aligned". The essays alone will make or break you, IMO. G'luck!</p>

8

<p>bumpp......</p>

9

<p>"I see Asian written all over these ECs. Cornell and Penn probably, no leadership and cliche ECs make me think the other ivies and S are not likely."</p>

<p>Do you now? And do you also happen to know how many Asians excel enough in their instrument(be it piano, violin, cello, or some wind instrument) to play at Carnegie Hall level? You clearly have this erroneous idea that quantity>quality. </p>

<p>Seriously gxing, I think your stats are very impressive. The fact that you performed at Carnegie Hall and the fact that you're nationally ranked in pingpong clearly indicates strong dedication and passion in those two fields. As a violinist myself, I can fully understand and admire the amount of time and effort you've put into your piano to play at the level you do. I really think it's far more important to excel in few things that become noteworthy later on than it is to be borderline good at many things. Anyway, I don't think I need to say any more. Good luck. (not that you'll need it.)</p>

10

<p>I don't iknow where yu're from Seth Blue, but since I was in second grade in NYC, mot of my Asian friends played Carnegie Hall. Their music teachers arrange these events on a regualar basis and friends and family pile in for what amounts to just another recital in a rented Carnegie Hall. Doesn't mean some of these guys aren't really good.....</p>

11

<p>Bumpity bump bump.....</p>

12

<p>Bump some more....</p>