<p>So I visited Brown today, and I have a couple of questions. I enjoyed my visit A LOT and it has been the best college I’ve visited so far on my tour of New England and the Ivies. Of course, I have my doubts about chances and getting in and such. So I have a couple of questions…</p>
<ol>
<li>The obligatory “What are my chances?”</li>
<li>Should I go with only my 2 800s for SAT II, or should I just submit all 3?</li>
<li>What can I do to increase my chances of admission?</li>
<li>Should I go ACT or SAT? I had a bad testing morning for the SAT and my retake will probably increase. Also, my ACT essay kind of sucks. However, the composite for the ACT is clearly higher. </li>
</ol>
<p>I’m a 16 year old Indian male from Illinois (skipped a grade). I go to a completely new school that opened my freshman year. I’m currently a senior</p>
<p>I can speak English, Telugu, a tiny bit of Hindi, and i’m getting closer to becoming fluent in Chinese. </p>
<p>The majors that i’m most intrested in are Astrophysics, Physics, and Chemistry. Also, I would like to minor in Chinese. </p>
<p>These are my stats.
ACT: 35 Composite, 35 English, 36 Math, 33 Reading, 35 Science, 33 English w/ Writing (got a 10 on writing).
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Chemistry, 780 Physics
PSAT: 221 (80 CR, 72 M, 69 W) (probably national merit in our state)
SAT I: 2240 combined, 700 CR, 750 M, 790 W (E: 10). (I will probably be retaking in October of senior year, just for kicks)</p>
<p>Classwork:
Freshman Year:
AP Computer Science: A/A (4)
Honors Algebra 2/Trig: A/A
Honors Biology: B/B
Chinese I: A/B
Honors English I: A/B
AP Human Geography: A/A (5)
Gym: A/A</p>
<p>Sophomore Year:
Gym/Health: A/A
Honors Chemistry: A/A
Honors Precalculus: A/A
Chinese II: A/A
AP Euro: A/A (5)
Honors English II: B/A
Honors Physics: A/A</p>
<p>Junior Year (all AP scores pending…can’t wait for July):
AP Calculus BC: A/A
AP Physics C: A/A
Gym: A/A
AP US History: A/A
AP Chemistry: A/A
AP Language and Composition: A/A
Chinese III: A/A</p>
<p>Senior Courseload:
AP Biology, Calculus III (Multivariable Calc, in conjunction with the University of Illinois), AP Literature and Composition, AP Government, Honors Chinese IV, Gym, TA to AP Physics C</p>
<p>GPA: 4.571 (w), 3.857 (uw).
However, i’ve heard that some schools do not factor in freshman year GPA. In that case, 4.679 (w), 3.964 (uw)</p>
<p>Class Rank: My school does not provide class rank anymore, but I’m in at least the top 5% of a 650+ student body. </p>
<p>APs: Freshie year: Computer Science, 4. Human Geography, 5.
Sohpomore year: AP Euro, 5. </p>
<p>Junior year: Physics C: Mechanics, Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, Chemistry, Language and Composition, US History, Calculus BC. </p>
<p>Senior Year: US Government and Politics, Comparitive Government and Politics, Literature and Composition, Biology, and probably Art History (self taught) and Psych (self taught). </p>
<p>Volunteering: Volunteered with an FEA tutoring station at my school, along with feed my starving children…probably 40 hours or less in total. I don’t exactly record hours I volunteer for, I just kind of do it for fun?</p>
<p>JOB: So I recently got a job writing quizbowl/academic competition questions for National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC. Incidentally, Ken Jennings writes some questions here too. It has been really great so far. It’s awesome to know that the questions I’m writing are played on by people of all ages all across the nation, and are helping me improve at the same time :)</p>
<p>ECs:
Peer Mentoring: I help incoming freshman trying to adjust to high school by providing assistance and advice. I’m starting this next year.</p>
<p>Fermilab Science Scholar: I was awarded this jointly by our school’s Science department and Fermilab in Junior year.</p>
<p>Chinese Honors Society: Junior and Senior year, I tutored lower-level Chinese students and made videos to encourage kids to take high school Chinese.</p>
<p>US National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO) Finalist: I made nationals for USNCO in Junior Year. Over 10,000 took regionals, and I was one of the 900 who made Nationals. </p>
<p>QuarkNet: We work with Fermilab on experiments that utilize Cosmic Ray detectors in different scenarios. We built the detectors ourselves. We also occasionally go to Quarknet Masterclasses at Fermi.</p>
<p>Asian American Club: We do lots of different projects and generally embrace Asian culture, with heavy focus on Chinese culture. </p>
<p>Woldwide Youth in Science and Engineering: I’m on the WYSE Team for Physics and Chemistry.</p>
<p>Math Team - Leader for 2 years. I have a lot of scattered achievements for this, but the biggest one so far has been helping to lead the ENTIRE team to qualify for state in junior year (for the first time in our school’s short history).</p>
<p>Science Olympiad - Leader for 2 years. Main event is Astronomy. I also partake in technical problem solving, protein modeling, optics, fermi questions, and much more to come next year! As a new captain last year, I brought our team from an abysmal 15th place finish to 6th at regionals (WE WON A PLAQUE!!) to clinch a spot at state over our crosstown rivals. We went on to finish 5th at State. </p>
<p>Scholastic/Quiz bowl - Varsity player 3 years. Captaincy next year. Started off as a reserve JV player, worked my way up with lots of studying and the like. I have attended a couple of camps for the purpose of increasing my quizbowl knowledge; I have improved a lot. I have a ton of awards for quizbowl, ranging from 1-10th place finishes at tournaments to being the reigning conference champions with an undefeated last season.</p>
<p>Tennis - JV player for 1, probably 3 years. Made the team freshman year. I pretty much view tennis as a fun sport, and i’m definitly not extremely serious about it. I have gone to a lot of clinics and coaches to improve my skills, though. I have 1 JV letter. </p>
<p>Religious Group - I am Hindu, and have helped form a group from the ground up. Since then, we’ve had 3 public concerts, with attendance ranging from 50-400 people. We have performed at the Chicago Telugu Association, in front of famous actors from India. At that same performance, we earned a cameo on an international television channel (TV9 in India) that was broadcasting the CTA performances. </p>
<p>Chinese - By far, one of my biggest ECs. I’m coming closer and closer to being able to speak the language fluently. My speech and tones are both superb; my writing, while extremely sloppy, is pretty good as well. My teacher sent me to a Chinese speech competition in freshman year, because she thought I was pretty good at speaking the language. I ended with a gold medal. I did the same in sophomore and junior year I have also done lots of translating for Chinese ambassadors from Beijing that visited our school. I helped them learn about the American education system and culture, and in the process, I got to know about theirs. </p>
<p>Random stuff: I’m learning how to play piano and chess and how to do magic tricks. Also, I enjoy long walks on the beach.</p>