Please take the time to read it all and chance me honestly.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>BACKGROUND:
Male, live in NY, born in South Asia, moved to U.S. when almost three yrs old, English was my third language, household income is around 85,000 so about 55,000 net, I have two older siblings, both of whom went to college. Father is a pharmacist. Mother is a housekeeper.</p>

<p>STATS:
GPA: 103 weighted, 95 unweighted (weighting system: honors = +10, AP = +12)
Class Rank: 6/300
SAT Reasoning Test: M: 710 Cr: 670 W: 670 Total: 2050/2400 and 1380/1600
AP: Last year I took 3 APs, and got two 4s and one 3. This year I am taking 5 AP classes (6 if you count economics as macro and micro as separate since tests are separate) + engineering research class + phys ed + a graduation requirement class.
SAT II: Phys: 800 MathIIC: 800 Literature: 700
Essays: Good, meaning not super because I am not an extremely creative writer and I rarely use SAT words, but good in the sense that I feel I successfully expressed my personality
Letters of Recommendation: One of them was really good, and the other two were average good.</p>

<p>AWARDS/EXTRACURRICULARS/WORK EXPERIENCE:
--AP Scholar
--Varsity Tennis Team: 3yrs (I made counties once)
--Varsity Excellence Award (received twice)
--Two-time scholar athlete
--Distinguished High Honor Roll student
--Mathletes: 4yrs (county champion last year, captain this year)
--Science Olympiads: 2yrs, ever since it was offered (I entered all the physics and chemistry competitions)
--SWEEP (an environmental club): 2yrs
--Key Club: 20 hrs community service
--School Radio: 2yrs (journalist)
--Have been working hard at a convenient store 30hrs/week for 3yrs. I have been sales manager for 1.5 years. This is big for me since it took up a lot of my time on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
--Even though I am an atheist, I have been helping every year, for five years, to help set up the food and dining preparations during the four weekend community feasts in the month of Ramadan. My counselor told me this is community service. So it took at least 3hrs/day<em>2days</em>4weekends<em>4yrs(high school yrs)=96 hours.
--I volunteered to tutor two students, on math and chemistry during junior year, after school every day, 1 hr each session, for 32 weeks. So 1</em>5<em>32 = 160 hours.
--I gave tennis lessons to a couple of persons at my tennis club during sophomore year, once a week, three hours a week, for six months. So 3</em>4*6= 72 hours. Afterwards, she became my girlfriend, which indeed was the ultimate payoff!</p>

<p>RESEARCH EXPERIENCE:
--I have completed original research on two projects, one involving chemistry at a state university, the other involving a bit of physics, environmental science, and biology—mixed—at a prominent national lab. I will be sending my abstracts for both research projects. Neither project was published, but I am entering the second one into ISEF. All this research stuff is perhaps my biggest “hook.”</p>

<p>MISCALLENOUS:
--I have been privately tutored for Arabic twice a week, for about 2 years now.
--I speak four languages fluently: Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, English; I know there are some conflicts about whether Urdu and/or Punjabi are languages or dialects, it’s acknowledged.
--I have taken part in civil protests against the war in Iraq as well as against the Patriot Act for twice a month, for two years.
--I trained at an international tennis academy in Texas for 1 month. (But please note, I do NOT wish to play college tennis)
--I regularly play tennis at a local club
--I love to play chess with my friends; I tried to create an official club, but my school’s board failed to pass it in time to make it official this year.
--My favorite album is War by U2
--As subtly mentioned above, I am taking an engineering research class. This year is the first year ever that my school is offering it, and it is very unique. I doubt many other schools have it, so this may catch a second glimpse.</p>

<p>PERSONAL QUALITIES:
--Mathematically and scientifically inclined
--Extremely politically active (I’m somewhere between liberal and libertarian)
--Very outgoing, I love my closest friends with all my heart, and I like most everyone else (except for the cocky jocks, for they are so annoying).
--Theologically open-minded
--I like to get personal with small groups of people, rather than lead a huge pack, as evident in my tutoring and tennis-lessons providing.</p>

<p>ACADEMIC INTERESTS:
--Economics
--Philosophy
--Mathematics
--Physics</p>

<p>SCHOOLS:
1. Princeton University (Princeton, New Jersey)
2. Brown University (Providence, Rhode Island)
3. Cornell University (Ithaca, New York)
4. Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire)
5. University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
6. Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland)
7. Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
8. Brandeis University (Waltham, Massachusetts)
9. Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut)
10. Boston University (Boston, Massachusetts)
11. Northeastern University (Boston, Massachusetts)
12. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, New York) Free app
13. Fordham University (Bronx, New York) Free app</p>

2

<p>You remind me of myself, although I'm just a senior in high school it seems that your scores your GPA and your ECs along with the other personal qualities you have would make you a great candidate for all the schools you've listed. The Ivies may be a bit of a reach, but if your able to reiterate everything here on to your essays or allow them to see then in some way, I'm sure your chances would be significantly higher. Best of luck.</p>

3

<ol>
<li>Princeton University (Princeton, New Jersey) ->Far Reach</li>
<li>Brown University (Providence, Rhode Island) -> Reach</li>
<li>Cornell University (Ithaca, New York) -> slight reach / match</li>
<li>Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire) -> slight reach</li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) -> reach</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland) -> high match</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) -> slight reach / match</li>
<li>Brandeis University (Waltham, Massachusetts) -> match</li>
<li>Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut) -> match/ slight reach</li>
<li>Boston University (Boston, Massachusetts) -> match</li>
<li>Northeastern University (Boston, Massachusetts) -> safety</li>
<li>Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, New York) Free app -> safety</li>
<li>Fordham University (Bronx, New York) Free app -> safety</li>
</ol>

<ul>
<li>Your SATI is a bit too weak. Maybe you should retake it, unless you're an 08'er</li>
</ul>

4

<p>War is by far the best album U2 ever made.</p>

<p>"Sunday Bloody Sunday", "New Years Day", "Two Hearts Beat As One" and "Seconds" FTW.</p>

5

<p>^Oh definitely! I'm glad there is another true U2 fan on CC.</p>

6

<p>Bump (this forum moves fast)</p>

7

<p>I found a website that gives computed chances, so I was wondering if the following was accurate:</p>

<p>Boston University
Probability: 80.4%</p>

<p>Brandeis University
Probability: 65.7%</p>

<p>Brown University
Probability: 43.6%</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon University
Probability: 80.9%</p>

<p>Columbia University
Probability: 40.3%</p>

<p>Cornell University
Probability: 47.4%</p>

<p>Dartmouth College
Probability: 74.9%</p>

<p>Fordham University
Probability: 73%</p>

<p>Johns Hopkins University
Probability: 48.7%</p>

<p>Northeastern University
Probability: 74.8%</p>

<p>Northwestern University
Probability: 69.7%</p>

<p>Princeton University
Probability: 41.8%</p>

<p>Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Probability: 73.2%</p>

<p>University of Pennsylvania
Probability: 26.5%</p>

<p>Wesleyan University
Probability: 69.2%</p>

8

<p>I wouldn't trust those ^^ computed chances. For example, Johns Hopkins, Wesleyan and Northwestern are fairly close in selectivity, while Dartmouth is even more selective than those three. Yet your computed chances show Dartmouth as the easiest of that bunch and Hopkins the hardest. No way.</p>

9

<p>Yeah, I thought it was too good to be true as well. If anyone is interested in knowing what website it was, just PM me.</p>

<p>Also, more chances opinions welcomed.</p>

10

<p>that website is definitely way off.</p>

<p>The ivies on your list are high reaches</p>

<p>JH, Northwestern, and CM are reaches or high matches at best</p>

<p>SAT's need to improve</p>

11

<p>honestly, I would crop a few Ivies from the list; your SAT I, as everyone else has said, needs to improve. SAT IIs are awesome, though.</p>

12

<p>Okey Dokey. I guess Princeton's off then, huh?</p>

13

<p>Also, is it wise to mention the political activism stuff?</p>

14

<p>I would feel free to mention it on the Ivy League applications. What with them being in the media spotlight, they like to encourage free speech. Especially HYP.</p>

<p>With the others I would be careful. You may get an admissions tutor who doesn't like a person with foolish, lefty, liberal, appeasing, dangerously naive views.</p>

<p>You may be able to guess at my political views here...</p>

<p>But good luck to you, I say that none are completely out of your range. Definitely don't give up on Princeton - you never know.</p>