Please chance: I think my EC's are my only savior for HYPS

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Do I really have a shot at these schools? Or am I pursuing a lost cause?</p>

<p>Intended Major: Economics/International Studies
Schools Applying to:
UPenn Huntsman ED
Stanford
Harvard
Princeton
Yale
Columbia
USC
UCB
UCLA
UCSD
UCI</p>

<p>Demographics:
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Chinese
Location: CA
School Type: Public ~ 4000 students - competitive
Income: low - $60,000/year supporting 4</p>

<p>GPA:
Un-weighted: 3.92
Weighted: 4.32
Rank: Top 1%</p>

<p>SAT I:
2190: 760M, 760 W (12 essay), 670 CR
SAT II:
790: Math 2C
760: W History
770: Chemistry
800: Chinese (Projected) - required for Huntsman</p>

<p>**Class Rigorousness:<a href="most%20rigorous%20possible">/B</a>
11 AP's by graduation
6 Community College Courses
8 Honors</p>

<p>*Class Schedule: *
**9th:<a href="B/A">/B</a> - H Alg2/Trig
(A/A) - Life Skills/Health
(B/A) - H Biology
(A/A) - Chinese 1
(B/A) - H English 9
(A/A) - PE
(A/A) - Spanish 1
(A) - Pre-Calc -Summer </p>

<p>10th<a href="A/A">/B</a> - **5 - AP Calc AB
(A/A) - Journalism 1
(A/A) - H Chem.
(A/A) - Chinese 2
(A/A) - H English 10
(A/A) - 5 - AP W History
(A/A) - 5 - AP Music Theory
(A) - US History 13 - summer </p>

<p>**11th<a href="A/A">/B</a> - AP Chem.
(A/A) - AP Calc BC
(A/A) - H English 11
(A/A) - AP Psychology
(A/A) - H Physics
(A/A) - Chinese 3
(A/B) - Adv. Chem. Lab
(A/A) - Journalism 2
(A) - US History 12 - Spring
( ) - Political Science 1 - summer </p>

<p>**12th (planned)<a href="">/B</a> - AP Eng. Lit.
( ) - AP Chinese
( ) - AP Statistics
( ) - AP Physics B
( ) - AP Micro-econ - spring
( ) - Journalism 2
( ) - Peer College Counselor
( ) - Macro-econ 2 - fall </p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
*Chinese American Citizens Alliance Youth Council (10 - 12) *
Description: The Chinese American Citizens Alliance youth council is supported by the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, Los Angeles Lodge. The Chinese American Citizens Alliance is a social, cultural, and leadership organization formed in 1895. Its mission is to seek equal economic and political empowerment for Chinese Americans, to improve the community's general welfare, to practice fully American patriotism and citizenship, and to promote friendship among its members and all people.</p>

<p>Duties
- Member in 10th, VP of Public Relations (11th), President of branch (12th)
- Co-organizer of the 2007 National Youth Leadership Conference at UCLA
- Organizer of the 2007 Youth Talent Show
- conducted brochure, website, press conferences and national outreach campaigns</p>

<p>"Women behind the Camera" Documentary Project (9 - 11)
Description: **"Women behind the Camera" presents challenging issues at work in the lives of camerawomen from around the world.
Duties:
- Acted as representative of Chinese affairs. Maintained connection between Beijing and LA.
- Conducted live interview in Beijing, China with Chinese Camerawomen in Chinese Central Television Station. (summer 2006)
- Conducted research in multiple fields of Chinese culture including music; specific concentration in feminist studies from post-Chinese Civil War (1949) era.
- Composed various scores for the documentary
- Performed multiple duties of translation and transcription including transcription of 150 min+ video footage from Chinese to English.
- Conducted annual meeting at CCTV6 Beijing (Summer 2007)
**Awards:
Accepted into Globians World and Culture Film Festival for 2007 int'l screening in Potsdam, Germany
Insight Award 2006 from the National Association of Film and Digital Media Artists:
"Award for Excellence" in film and digital media arts: Category: "Documentary: Editing."
"Award of Excellence: Contemporary Issues/Awareness Raising" from the Accolade Competition
"Honorable Mention: Editing" from the Accolade Competition.</p>

<p>Piano Performance/Composition
Description: I have played the piano since the age of 3.
Awards/Achievements:
-Completed all Certificate of Merit piano examinations by age 14 with Theory exemption (pass with over 90%)
- Selected to play at the 2005 Sacramento MTAC Convention (Music Teachers Association of California)
- "Honorable Mention" from 2006 Bach Festival.
- Solo Concert Performance at Shanghai Normal University School of Music (Summer 2006)
- Composition of music score was incorporated into the WBC Documentary (see above)
- Founded school club (Young Composer's Group)
- Winner of 2006 Annual Contemporary Festival
- Played for the 2007 Chinese Lantern Festival at local church
- Master Class winner at MTAC Panel Statewide Competition (top 10 in state)
- World Journal article about me for award above ^
- 1.5 hr AM1370 KWRM interview with me for award above ^</p>

<p>School Newspaper
Duties:
10th grade: Writer/reporter
11th grade: Editor
12th grade: Editor in Chief
Summer journalism workshop at Stanford</p>

<p>School Math Team: (11 - 12)
Description: The Math Team, founded fall of 2006, will join Mu Alpha Theta mathematical society fall of 2007.
- Founder of school's first math competition team
- 6th place in Los Angeles City College Math Competition (beating UCLA)
- Team Captain</p>

<p>Scholar Exchange Tutor Program (9 - 12)
Description: **The Scholar Exchange Tutor Program was founded in 2003 by the CSUN China Institute to allow high school and college students in the local area train visiting scholars from China.
**Duties:
Train Foreign Exchange Scholars (Professors, Deans, etc.) to prepare basic conversational/writing/reading skills in English</p>

<p>Work Experience
- Teach piano ($75/week)
- Summer 2007 internship at Genesis Capital in Central Business District Beijing (an investment firm). My work consists of market analysis.
- Summer 2007 internship for USC China-US Institute on "Economic and Social Development on Beijing/Shanghai Subway Transit Systems"</p>

<p>Athletics:
Active Member of YMCA - 10 Hours/Week
West Valley Tai Chi Performance Team
Member Ping Pong Club
Nike Tennis Camp (Summer 2005)</p>

<p>sorry for the long long long stats... but i wanted to give a very comprehensive review of myself.... please any help/chance is appreciated...</p>

<p>Thank you so much!!!!</p>

2

<p>You're in good shape, CR is the only negative I see.</p>

3

<p>Haha, I'm in a similar situation as you are.</p>

4

<p>Well, even CR isn't too, too bad. Is it something you could improve? If you can get it above 700, that would be nice. </p>

<p>But God, your ECs are... impressive. Maybe they're the best thing about your profile, but the rest is very, very strong. Who told you to worry about it??? You go and smack them on the back of the head. Unless it's your parents. In which case, just take what they say with a grain of salt. ;)</p>

<p>You probably won't get into all of HYPS (who does?), but you are definitely not pursuing a lost cause. :)</p>

5

<p>thank you all for your comments.</p>

<p>CR needs improvement i know.. it's so hard to get over 700... it's really my weakest point.</p>

<p>Haha anniushka... i smacked myself in the back of the head.. it's me who am worried about it... actually... i still am... i've seen too many people with perfect scores and still get rejected... even with my EC's... i still dont think theres a good chance... which leads into this question:</p>

<p>What can I do at this point to improve myself? What can I highlight on my essays for the common app? Should I really apply to all these schools? Which ones do i absolutely have no shot at?</p>

<p>THANK YOU sooo much for all your help! I really appreciate it =D</p>

6

<p>oh one more VERY impt question.... my current SAT II scores... are they good enough? im especially concerned how i do not have ANY perfects at all... the 760 in W history... especially if im doing global economics concerns me... will this be a big issue?</p>

7

<p>srry i forgot to include something else that is also of my concern.. that is my 3 B's in freshman first semester and my B in my lab class in 11th grade ... even though the lab class is equivalent to one semester of credits.. it shows a sudden dip in my grades... will this have a significant effect? will it question my GPA?</p>

<p>also... my mother has a disability... and i often have to take her to the hospital and have to take care of her (e.g. cooking, cleaning.. doing everything that "a mother" should do)... i dont know if that helps?</p>

8

<p>Since you're the top 1% of your class, AND you grades went up after Freshman year, it should not have a significant effect.</p>

<p>I'm sorry to hear about your mom's disability. Yes, it will help your application, considering you have to juggle academics, EC's, and personal stuff, AND you boast such amazing stats.</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure HYPS can be considered a match and the rest safeties. Good job.</p>

9

<p>wow are you sure?? HYPS a match??? I think that may be too too positive? Does anyone else second that??? If so... wow I think I'm going to jump over the moon! =D</p>

10

<p>bump? 10char</p>

11

<p>I'd say you're in at everything. If I had that I wouldn't expect a rejection letter.</p>

12

<p>reach at hypsc-think you'll get into one or two of them.
good shot at penn ed
in at the UC's</p>

13

<p>Yeah, you're in pretty good shape.</p>

<p>But remember that "demographics" is a description of a population. =p
<a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=demographics%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=demographics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

14

<p>you aren't getting into huntsman. huntsman kinda needs an obscure language... with chinese, your competition is fierce and you aren't THAT amazing in comparison to some crazy folks applying there</p>

<p>like you said (or rather, implied), amazing ECs, mediocre test scores. decent GPA. over all i say you are into at least two of HYPS and everywhere else you apply</p>

15

<p>Strong chance at all, retake your SAT for higher and you can have a better chance.</p>

16

<p>Your stuff's great, but you're Asian. There are TONS of Asian applicants with 2400/4.0/amazing math/science/piano ec's. Let's see...you play piano, you're on the math team, you tutor, you're in the CHINESE-American Youth Council...</p>

<p>^Above posters should evaluate on the fact that he's an ORM who is similar to most other Asian applicants, with the exception of the "Women Behind the Camera" documentary.</p>

17

<p>Huntsman strongly advises that students not apply using their native language.</p>

18

<p>Very impressive EC's. Very. Except your athletics.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Active Member of YMCA - 10 Hours/Week

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I don't think admissions is going to care if you work out every day or not. I understand you're going for the well-rounded student thing, but you don't need to. Your other ECs are EXTREMELY impressive that such aformentioned "EC" might make admissions stop and be like, "Wait. What?"</p>

<p>I don't think anyone's a match for HYPS, but I'm sure you'll be accepted at many great schools, some of which may be HYPS.</p>

19

<p>Athletics:
Active Member of YMCA - 10 Hours/Week</p>

<p>Yah this shouldn't be listed on your application. You have impressive stats, but you're just so ... Asian. This is coming from another asian so don't get too offended :)</p>

20

<p>IN. I think the movie things will get you in.</p>