Please Chance: Weak but Passionate about EC's

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>My dream school is Princeton but I love Duke and Columbia as well. My school is a feeder for Cornell (at least 7-8 Students are accepted every year) so I am looking into that as well. Please chance me for these schools and any other Ivies/Top50 that you think may be a good fit for me. I will chance back if you want me to.</p>

<p>SAT: 2270 (V:730 M:760 W:780)
SAT II: Math II:800 *will take bio in Oct.
Major: Biology or Biochemistry</p>

<p>GPA:3.98 WGPA:4.84 *highest in history of school
Rank: 1/700
Race: Asian-American
Gender: Female
School: Public; Nation's Top 100; fairly competitive and very well-known in state
Location: DC-area</p>

<p>Awards
AP Scholar
National AP Scholar
National Merit Commended</p>

<p>*First in my family to attend school in the US
Family Background:
Father has a PhD and MD from Beijing University (on par with HPY)
Mother has a 2-year degree from a regular college in China
Both my parents came from rural China; extended family lives in poverty, work as farmers
*Descendent of famous Chinese poet, thus instilling in me a sense of pride and a love for Chinese language and culture</p>

<p>I don't have really outstanding EC's like other applicants who are working to cure cancer or write the next #1 Best Selling book. However, all of my extracurriculars are very personal to me and I am truly passionate about them. Generally, they focus on academics, charity work, and Chinese language and culture.</p>

<p>IN-SCHOOL
Future Doctors of America Club Member
Science National Honor Society Advisory Board Member
National Honor Society
National English Honor Society
*was told as a child by a teacher right to my face that I was too stupid to ever mount up to much; I was devastated and shattered but I fought back and became very dedicated to my studies; I like to think that my teacher would have a very different opinion of me if she could see my transcript not</p>

<p>National Chinese Honor Society President
Annual International Night Student Chair and Representative for China; oversaw all decoration, food prep and research; booth was the largest at the event
*want to demonstrate that China is more than Communism, Mao Zedong, and cheap labor; I wish to remove current labels of "communist" of anyone who looks remotely Chinese</p>

<p>Make-A-Wish Foundation Founding Member
Committee Member and Organizer of a charity dance marathon
Chairwoman and Head Organizer of countywide fundraiser to benefit a local hospital
*interested in becoming a doctor; have always enjoyed visiting patients in the hospital and keeping them company when they are lonely; I was a very sickly child and received wonderful care at my local hospital and hope to contribute to it to repay some of the love and care I was given</p>

<p>OUT-OF-SCHOOL
Community College English Tutor: $50/hour
Community College History/Government Tutor: $40/hour
Community College Psychology Tutor: $35/hour
Volunteer Tutor for High School Students in county-wide tutoring program: all subjects
Volunteer English Tutor for Adult Chinese immigrants
Help a PhD international student of Psychology edit his thesis
*being an immigrant myself, I an empathize with students who have newly arrived to a foreign country; I want to be able to help them become adjust to the English language and American education system; I am very involved in my students' classes and help them in any way possible, from translating history texts to helping with psychology paper outlines</p>

<p>Youngest Exhibitor at Annual Art Shows for Foundation for Ichthyosis & Related Skin Types and Clinic For Special Children: raised hundreds of dollars selling Chinese paper sculptures
Annual visits to a nursing home for Asian elderlies to celebrate the Lunar New Year with them
*I want to portray the elegance of Chinese culture, far away from the corrupt politics and heavily polluted cities; I pursue Chinese art in hopes of demonstrating the elegant side of the country's culture</p>

<p>Make hot meals for countywide homeless shelter every week
Bake cupcakes for nursing homes every week
Annual donor and fundraiser for Locks of Love
*I once lived under the poverty line for 3-4 years so I can sympathize with those who currently live in shelters; I love cooking for them and watching their smiling faces as they scarf down something as simple as soup and sandwiches; I lost my grandfather to cancer when I was 3 and only vaguely remember him; however, when talking with the elderly at nursing homes, I am reminded of the warmth and love he possessed and I truly enjoy chatting with them; because I was very sickly, medication and surgery reduced me to near baldness; now that I am older and stronger, my hair has become incredibly healthy and I make a point to donate to and fundraise for Locks of Love because I know the pain of being teased for not having hair</p>

<p>I know that these EC's are not very strong in comparison to those of others. However, I am truly passionate about them. I could pursue an internship in research and such, but they don't say much about me as a person. Hopefully, my sincerity will show through in my essays and colleges will see that, although I may not be the next Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, I will try and make a difference in the world in some small way.</p>

<p>Thank you for taking the time to read this.</p>

2

<p>sorry to do this: bump!</p>

3

<p>I would really appreciate it if anyone could offer a little advice or opinion.
Thank you!</p>

4

<p>Weak? Be any more obnoxious…</p>

5

<p>Like I said in my original post: my extracurriculars are weak compare to the EC’s of other people. There are many students at my school with amazing internships at NASA, NIH, and the US Senate. There are even more who work at NIH.
Obviously, those EC’s look amazing on paper, much more so than my own.
I wasn’t trying to be obnoxious and I’m disappointed that I came off as such and you felt that way. However, given that you do not appear to have read my entire post before making judgments, I do not believe you deserve an apology.</p>

<p>In spite of your condescending tone, thank you anyways.</p>

6

<p>Apart from the implicit haughtiness in this particular chance thread, you are in the running, which is the best one could be for the ivies.</p>

7

<p>Also, you can’t expect anyone to read a chance thread that’s the size of a high school essay. FYI: in the future, try to make more succinct chance threads, and you’ll probably get better and more responses.</p>

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<p>@bilnythesciguy
Thanks for the response, even though I honestly was not trying to be haughty or pretentious. No matter how good my credentials may appear, there is a constant bit of doubt floating in my mind, telling me that I’m not good enough. </p>

<p>Sorry if I came off as stuck-up but thanks for offering an actual opinion.</p>

9

<p>Look. We all know you are a very intelligent, motivated student. Unfortunately, when the fourth line in the thread says “Highest GPA in history of school”, it’s hard to think of anything but pretentiousness. You are going to face the best competition in the world at the ivies, regardless of whether you are talking about HYP or Cornell. Everyone applying has phenomenal scores and GPAs. Your passion, however, does pour through nicely in your ECs. Like you said, the ECs themselves don’t stand out, yet your motivation does. I reiterate: make sure you highlight this.</p>

10

<p>Honestly if you didn’t have those little tidbits that explained each and every minor EC then your passion would barely be evident. Most of the “passion” you have seems to be future goals that haven’t really been shown in the past few years in high school. Overall, your future goal of becoming a doctor doesn’t really come out through your ECs/awards. I also agree with bilnythesciguy’s statement about your high GPA comment (unless your transcript says that it won’t really matter bc most schools recalculate anyway).</p>

<p>Nevertheless, you still might be able to pull something through in your essays. You should try to highlight your passion on your app, but I would make sure you have a number of safeties and matches that you also apply to. Like everyone says, it is a crapshoot but you might just get into one. Good luck in the fall!</p>

11

<p>Thanks for the replies. I appreciate how you guys didn’t try to sugarcoat.
At my school, it’s all about GPA and competing to have the highest. I got too carried away with it. I’m really sorry. I know it won’t carry because colleges recalculate to standardize them for comparison. My counselor wrote about it in her rec so hopefully, it will help just a little.
I’ll take note of what everybody has said and will definitely try and apply it to applications this fall.</p>

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<p>This is frank, sorry. They will like your gpa and rank. Work on how you present the rest of the story. It is very “me” centered and that can suggest some issue with perspective. I know you don’t want to hear that.
Where you parents studied, being related to a poet, highest gpa ever, that someone once said you were dumb, your incredibly healthy hair, your sympathy and how they smile back at you, all this self-satisfaction-? Not what matters to adcoms. And remember that adcoms are also looking for how you moved ahead in your field of interest. Whether you “get” that. No sci related activities at that top 100 school? The gpa suggests you have rigor but you haven’t shared anything about that or AP scores. So we have no idea how you actually stretched. Maybe you can think about this and rework. You will have strong competition from top schools in your highly competitive area. Again, sorry, but you have to gain some perspective on what elite adcoms look for. Also, those colleges will not recalculate.</p>

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<p>I agree that my extracurriculars are very me-oriented, but that is because they reflect my personal interests and passions. I will absolutely do my best to present them in a better light because coming off as self-centered is not my intention.
As far as science-related activities, I hold an officer position in science honor society, organize fundraisers for both local and national hospitals, and volunteer at various hospitals.
I took all honors/AP’s freshman and sophomore year and took all AP’s junior year. I do not wish to share all of my AP classes and scores, but just to offer some context, I am a National AP Scholar, which requires at least 8 AP scores that are 4 or higher.</p>

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<p>These types of posts are the reason for the stereotypes of CC.</p>

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<p>"No matter how good my credentials may appear, there is a constant bit of doubt floating in my mind, telling me that I’m not good enough. "</p>

<p>You are good enough, but the problem is that there are more applicants that are “good enough” than there are spots at the top tier school. There is always going to be doubts. The doubts should be based on the numbers, not your own abilities.</p>

<p>You will get in somewhere wonderful, just don’t get your heart set on any one school.</p>

<p>Congratulations on building such a fine record. Best of luck.</p>

16

<p>youre fine and you know it ahahah</p>