not a stereotypical asian genius; chances @ JHU or UChicago among others?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hey everyone. So right now I'm a junior at a relatively large public school in Ohio and I was wondering if some people could do some chancin' for me. I'm looking into applying at: UChicago, Johns Hopkins, William and Mary, Pomona, Middlebury, maybe Columbia or UPenn? and just some upper tier colleges that have good international relations/political science programs. I'd like to say that I don't play the name game but a MUST for the colleges I apply to are relevant majors. If you have any suggestions please, do speak!</p>

<p>Ok here goes:
-Well my parents immigrated here from Taiwan in the 1980s to study...so I don't know what that would make me but thats just a little tidbit of info.</p>

<p>-Rank: 1/524</p>

<p>-Weighted GPA: 4.5</p>

<p>-Unweighted GPA: 4.0</p>

<p>-ACT: 31 composite; 29 english, 31 math, 33 reading, 30 science</p>

<p>-SATII: 710 literature (low i know but i dont have to send it); planning on taking 1 or 2 more</p>

<p>-PSAT: 206..not much, guessing commended</p>

<p>-Awards: well i've been getting departmental awards for all my subjects since freshman year but they aren't significant so yeah; honor roll (9-11), academic letter (9-11)</p>

<p>-Volunteer/ Community Service: Hospital Volunteer four hours a month (11), teen court (11); yeah kinda lacking in this department</p>

<p>-Extra Curriculars:
--Marching band (9-11): Section leader and squad leader
--Private cello lessons (5-11)
--Class Executive Committee (10,11): secretary
--JV soccer (9,10)
--Cross Country (11)
--Speech and Debate (11)
--and i will probably make it into national honor society</p>

<p>-Junior Schedule
--AP Econ
--AP Stats
--Pre-AP English
--Honors Chemistry
--Band
--Physics
--Calculus with Precalculus I and II (at a local university)
--Elementary Spanish 1 (at said university, spring semester)</p>

<p>-Work Experience
--just got a job at panera. woot woot lol</p>

<p>any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated; i know these threads are boring so thanks for readin!</p>

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<p>Hah!.. It just so happens that I’m a Taiwanese who is also from a relatively large public school in Ohio. We have a lot in common =)… but I doubt our nationality will help us into colleges because Asians are overrepresented. Your rank looks awesome, therefore GPA is awesome as well. Your ACT is decent but not competitive. SAT II is looking decent.</p>

<p>Volunteering probably need a boost but its not required. Your extracurriculars are fine, but nothing especially attractive about them. Your math looks like its pretty good, but again, nothing strikes me as a major hook yet.</p>

<p>I think your application is a well rounded one. It doesn’t have anything terribly exciting going on there, but there aren’t any huge weaknesses in it. (Except maybe a lack of volunteering experience)</p>

<p>UChicago- Low Reach/Reach
Johns Hopkins- Low Reach
Pomona- Low reach or high Match
Middlebury- Low reach or high Match
Columbia- High Reach
UPenn- High Reach</p>

<p>The colleges you suggested are mostly fine. Columbia and UPenn is a bit too much to hope for though. Good luck!</p>

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<p>yeah those i would just apply to for kicks…but thanks for the input</p>

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<p>anyone else please?</p>

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<p>NYU would fit your major perfectly and id say ud def. get in, maybe Wake Forest also</p>

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<p>Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll definitely look into them. :-)</p>

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<p>Lol. Coming from a senior Asian chick who just got accepted EA to a top university without outstanding test scores, I’d say it’s good that you’re not the stereotypic “Asian Genius.” From your record, I can see you’ve got a strong music/athletic track, which will definitely help you.</p>

<p>U Chicago - Low reach (if you have an outstanding essay)
John Hopkins - reach
Pomona - match
Middlebury - match
Columbia - high reach
U Penn - high reach</p>

<p>And just saying, I’m sure your scores will improve, so don’t stress out about them</p>

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<p>Thanks for the encouragement :-). So it would be worth it to retake the ACT? And I think my top choices are either UChicago or Johns Hopkins for any future chancers ;-). </p>

<p>i’ll definitely chance anyone back as well, so keep em coming!</p>

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<p>I’m pretty sure it’s worth retaking. Btw…U Chicago is the school I got in early to! A piece of advice: U Chicago puts a lot of weight on its essay questions.</p>

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<p>Ah yes, the fabled UChicago essays. I think I’m pretty good at writing, so hopefully that would help make up for my average test scorez.</p>

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<p>bump. can anyone else give me some advice?</p>

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<p>sorry guys im gonna bump this again. i recently applied for a study abroad scholarship for my senior year and im applying for another one. If i happen to actually receive the scholarship and do go on exchange, could this help? I hear that adcoms value such experiences; if I could adequately incorporate this into my essays would that help my app a little? thanks</p>