Need advice/Opinion

Applying to College
1

<p>Well, my situation goes like this:</p>

<p>Right now I am finishing my junior year in high school,
I took the SATs in April and got 730 on reading, 740 on math, and 690 on writing (forgot about the time limit on the essay...) but I am taking them again in June
I have gotten straight As all through high school so far, I took 3 AP classes this year (U.S. History, English, and Spanish), I am taking 6 next year (Calc BC, Stats, English Lit., Micro-Macro Economics, Euro. History, and Psychology).
Freshman year I got the "Outstanding Geomertry Student" and "Outstanding 9th Grade English Student" (one awarded each year in every important discipline)
Sophomore year I got the same for Algebra II and 10th Grade Science (Chemistry class)
This year I am not sure what I am getting but it should be at least one math, Trig or Analyt</p>

<p>My 'official' ECs is where I really fall short. I was a member of Mu Alpha Theta (math nhs) since freshman year (I am pretty sure that my Math Pride Award in 8th grade or the fact that I won 3rd place at the county math competition that same year doesn't count). This year I joined the newly established computer club. Next year I will be a member of NHS, model UN, and the academic team, as well as debate team if I have time.</p>

<p>Every summer since the post-freshman year summer I have volunteered as a tutor/teacher at a local GED program, mostly tutoring ESOL students and math.</p>

<p>My "passion" is figure skating and webdesign. However, there are 2 problems with those.
I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but I am not from the U.S. I was born in Ukraine and I moved to the U.S. at the age of 11, right after finishing 5th grade there (there is quite an interesting story with that which I am planning to use in my college essay, because I do believe it's quite unique and unusual to say the least). I came with no knowledge of english whatsoever, so I completely missed out on the gifted/megas programs.
This is where the hobbies come in. Back in Ukraine I skated since I was 5 years old, but non-competitively. I did performances with a children's "ballet on ice" organization. Here my family could not afford for me to skate until this year. Now I am training for competitive ice skating, but I have to start at the very bottom, and the 5 year break didn't do much for my skills. I don't have any awards and probably won't have any until... well, next year most likely. I am not, however, going to stop ice skating in college or even after college.
While I am at the subject, I also don't have any "job experience" etc. because I won't get my green card & the right to work until the end of this year if I am lucky.
My other hobby - webdesign, I have never taken any classes in school or joined any clubs or organizations. I just do it... well... for me. I am proficient at graphics design with photoshop & image ready; well-versed in flash and actionscripting w/ Flash MX; and html/css is a given. I am learning java-script more in-depth & php over this summer. I don't do it for money, I just design sites or pagest or graphics or flashfiles for anyone who asks "just because I like to do it." For example my project next month is a site for a 3D virtual chat community complete with a MySQL database & a php script that collects and interprets the data.
Once again, nothing "official" so to say.</p>

<p>Misc. Info:
I speak/read/write Russian fluently in addition to English. I am intermediately proficient in Spanish (5 years of study, just 1 less than english, but then I <em>live</em> in the U.S.).
I frequently translated documents (such as college diplomas) and letters from Russian into English for my parents and their Russian friends.
My parents, by the way, each have a master's, one in radiophysics and one in mathematics; and I intend to keep on par.
What I want to do is:
1. Finance/Business: MBA
2. Programming
3. Law
I want a college degree in each of those areas eventually.</p>

<p>Now, my question is, what are my chances of getting into the top colleges? Is there anything I can do now that it's the summer before my senior year to improve my chances? I have a feeling that my lack of ECs is going to kill my app. but I honestly don't know what to do. I would like to get into U. Penn. Wharton School (preferrably the huntsman program, though the chances of that happening are probably 0 to nothing). I am also seriously considering MIT (because of my other strong interest) but I am not sure whether they would consider me.</p>

<p>So yeah, there's my dilemma. To apply or not to apply, or how to apply?</p>

<p>In your opinion, what school could I get into?</p>

2

<p>I'm no expert, but you appear to have an extremely strong profile. I think you have a solid shot at Penn, but MIT might want to see your SATs go up a bit. Good luck.</p>

3

<p>I personally think you have a very strong app. You have great numbers and EC's and an amazing story to tell. If you write an incredible essay about your experiences in moving to the US I see no problem with you getting into some great schools. Also, I wouldn't worry too much about your SAT scores, sure they could go up a little, but they really are great scores that are fine for the colleges you are applying to, espicially if you have a strong GPA.</p>

4

<p>
[quote]

What I want to do is:
1. Finance/Business: MBA
2. Programming
3. Law
I want a college degree in each of those areas eventually.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>wow, very ambitious. You'll be in school till you're like 40.</p>

5

<p>you guys did make me feel a lot better about my future app :)</p>

<p>as for me being in school till 40, I don't plan on actually being a full time student for all of that, evening classes, internet courses, whatever it takes, lol, just to get the actual knowledge (and title, lol)</p>

<p>you know what they say, never stop learning ;) what else would I do with my spare time, hehe</p>

6

<p>as an addendum to the above:</p>

<p>however, I would like to draw your attention to the "problem" with my ECs, i.e. lack of consistency for one, and no 'official documenting' of the other; as well as the lack of 'leadership roles' - I would appreciate your opinion on how that would affect my app. and whether there is anything I could do about it at this point in the game, finishing junior year...</p>

7

<p>If you can submit your web design work to schools as supplementary material, that could definitely help your case. </p>

<p>As for the lack of leadership positions, perhaps you could find an experience in your life ("documented" or no) in which you had to show leadership and incorporate that into one of the essays? </p>

<p>In general, colleges will be pretty understanding about limited opportunities. Just milk the essay for all it's worth and let that personality shine through!</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
wow, very ambitious. You'll be in school till you're like 40.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Not necessarily. He can go for an undergraduate degree in computer science, then apply to a combined JD/MBA program, which several grad schools offer.</p>

9

<p>Speaking personally, don't worry about your SAT's the much if your specifically concerned about MIT, I got in with a considerably less score (yea like more than 100 less), so go for it, btw, your profile is pretty spectacular to any college, just may I recommend a job during school, even if it's like 8 hrs or something like that a week. I know personally that a lot of my schools appreciated the fact that I could balance 5 AP's and working 15/20 hrs/wk and all the clubs that I was doing. Nonetheless, you seem to be in a considerably great position, just one more thing, are you going to take the SAT II's or did you just forget to post them b/c those a considerably important as well.</p>

10

<p>Yes, I took 3 SATII's yesterday (spanish, US history and math lvl II) and I am taking physics (and retaking math, I know I could do better than I did) in October</p>

<p>No, I can't work because as I mentioned in my first post I don't have a greencard and won't till the end of this year at the earliest, therefore I cannot work in the U.S. I have ice-skating 4 times a week for 2 hours after school though.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Not necessarily. He can go for an undergraduate degree in computer science, then apply to a combined JD/MBA program, which several grad schools offer.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>that's what I was thinking of doing actually, though I am not a 'he' I am a 'she' :)</p>