new member...disheartened of the late..help!

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>hi, i'm just really nervous because everyone seems to have gotten in somewhere and i haven't heard from ANYWHERE. do i stand a chance at any of these schools?
princeton ed: deferred
rd: harvard, yale, princeton, williams, northwestern, u of chicago, nyu, bu, fordham</p>

<p>SAT: 800V, 780M
SAT 2: 800, 720, 710
AP: chemistry 4, eng lang 5
GPA: 3.988/4.0, uw only (pretty rigorous catholic prep school)
rank not provided, but top 10%
courses: 4 AP courses this year, 2 last year, all solid academic except computer and religion i have to take to graduate
recs: one good, one excellent
interview: princeton bad (was the first interview i did, so i didn't know what to do) harvard ok, yale great! (the interviewer said he's done this many years but i'm definitely in the top in terms of self awareness and reasons for wanting yale)</p>

<p>ecs: 4-year member of a regional level orchestra
several school and local level music awards
varsity dance team (20 hours a week )10th-11th, lettered in 11th
ballet 5 hours a week
tutoring 3 hours a week
nhs member
i've played the cello since 6th grade and ballet since 5th grade. i read a lot but that's about as far as my major ecs go. oh and before sophomore year i also attended a summer school at a pro ballet company</p>

<p>ethnicity: korean american, ugh, so cliche i know. (i love my cello but god, these days i wish i went for something less expected of a korean kid) i'm also an international, which reduces my chances to about half, i'm guessing</p>

<p>essay: i didn't show it to many people because it's pretty personal, but i wrote about the relationship between my father and me, and how i've changed because of it. i thought it was good.</p>

<p>hooks: my principal also called williams and hyp on my behalf, cuz he knows that i won't be able to afford decent college if i don't get into the aforementioned four. in 2004 my father made $12000.</p>

<p>please reply! thanks</p>

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<p>oh and i'm national scholar for american mathematics contest, meaning i'm in like the top 5% or something</p>

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<p>i dont think you have anything to worry about. Fordham should be Paying YOU to go to there school. Ivies are always tough, but you have a better shot than most, and with so many apps, your bound to get into one. Dont go to fordham though. Most realistically, you should be looking at NU, NYU and BU. All are great schools, and if they dont let you in, theyve really lost it.
btw, what school at NU did you apply to.. I applied to Medill with much lower SATs than you.. wish me luck</p>

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<p>Don't worry about not having gotten in anywhere yet. You haven't applied to any rolling admissions schools, so it's normal that you haven't heard. I'm sure that wait is tough though.</p>

<p>Yeh I think your EC's are common to a Korean kid, so I wouldn't call anything a hook, but you have spent a lot of time on them which is a good thing. HYP impossible to predict, at least you were deferred from P so there's a chance there. You could get into all or none of them. W is also too tough to predict, no one can. I can't imagine you not getting into NU, UC and esp NYU. You should get money at BU or Fordham. so...try not to worry. The wait will be over in less than 3 weeks. Good luck.</p>

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<p>i'm surprised by what is considered "common" these days...i mean, some of these kids join every club known to man, start-up their own local NASA chapter and cure cancer, and all people have to say is, "eh, that's pretty average." i think it's truly admirable when kids find a healthy balance of school and related activities and fun. i mean, this IS high school...</p>

<p>looking back, i wish i had done more, not necessarily EC's, but just learned more advanced things on my own that the school didn't provide...but i wouldn't do it simply to put it on a transcript so i could say to a college "look at how awesome of a human being i am!!"...i dunno, i guess it saddens me that so many people are getting away from the actual pleasure of learning for the sake of learning and becoming obsessed with test scores and prestige and all that stuff...not to say that this is you, just a general trend i've noticed.</p>

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<p>What I meant by common: for example there's a cc poster who is an interviewer for Harvard. She has mentioned in threads that it is very common for Asian parents to push their kids into high-brow activities like violin at a young age; similarly I'd say cello, piano, ballet. The problem is when so many do it it isn't unique. Hopefully these kids continue for so long because they end up liking what they do, not because they feel they have to. Jemesensdonsjesuis alluded to this under her "ethnicity" in her post.</p>

<p>goalie1258, you have the right idea about learning vs. what will look good on a transcript.</p>

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<p>thanks u guys! my mom wanted me to play the cello, to tell the truth, but i continued only because i wanted to continue. and no body wanted me to do ballet, and my family hated me doing dance team. i only did it because i love to dance, and now i work to pay for all my ballet expenses. also, until last year i really didn't think i was going to apply to ivy league...definitely not hyp, but i found out i'll get so much money at those schools than not. :)</p>

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<p>"my family hated me doing dance team. i only did it because i love to dance, and now i work to pay for all my ballet expenses."</p>

<p>Your doing dance team over your parents' objections, and your working to pay for your ballet expenses are excellent illustrations of "strong, demonstrated passion," something that all competitive colleges seek in their students.</p>

<p>Make sure you highlight those things in your essays and during your interview.</p>

<p>What ECs that students do aren't as important as why they do the ECs, what they accomplish with the ECs (awards, honors, personal growth, having an impact on the organization, etc.) and how hard the student devotes themself to the organization, including doing things like overcoming parental pressure or working a job to participate in it.</p>