Rising Junior, but still very curious at chances

<p>Hi, as specified in the topic title, I am a rising junior, but nonetheless very anxious about what colleges I want/can get into with what I have so far. I need a critical and honest reply so I can adjust my next year accordingly. Here are some stuff about me... :</p>

<p>I'm Korean, so I guess that counts as a minority, but I'm not so sure if this will benefit me that much.</p>

<p>I haven't taken the SAT yet, but I am confident that I can get at least 2200. My goal is 2300<= , though I don't guarantee that I will achieve this. </p>

<p>My Sophmore PSAT score (which doesn't count) was 204, which is pretty bad (68 in all 3 categories :( ) My goal is to get at least 225 so that I can get become a National Merit Scholar...</p>

<p>GPA is something around 3.9 / 4.0 . My school also does this weird GPA thing too out of a 6.0 scale because to the +10 points from AP classes (which I am taking all of) and for that I have around a 5.5/6.0 or something like that.</p>

<p>Class rank is 9/711 the last time I checked, but that was after Winter Break, so I'm hoping that it has improved and I plan to improve it this year, since a lot of people are dropping out of the "tougher" AP-classes.</p>

<p>I think my biggest dilemma is my Extracurricular. I'll ask my questions after my list.
Up until now:
-About 4 years of experience in guitar / bass guitar.
-Playing in my church band.
-Playing in a separate band [ We won first place in a big talent show contest thing at a different school, and also played at a huge place called LA ZONA ROSA. Big bands have played there. Also plan on playing in SXSW (South by Southwest) next year, which is probably THE biggest live concert festival in the United States. Also hoping for an EP for fun.
-3~4 Years of playing tennis. Joining Varsity next year.
-Middle School Representative at church.
-A bunch of mini-es : got 5th place in UIL pre-calculus (which is bad), bunch of stupid honor rolls from school, won consolation in a tennis tournament, volunteered at Korean School at church, Won 1st place, 3rd place, 3rd place for Writing, Reading and Math SAT competition at an SAT "school" I attended, volunteered at Senior Banquet at church... blah blah blah</p>

<p>As you can probably tell, the only notable Extras I have are music oriented... except I'm not going to major in Music. I don't know what I want to major in yet. Perhaps Neuroscience. Something science, most likely. Hopefully, colleges will take this as me being a well rounded student, who can devote himself to something he enjoys, is athletic and is fairly academically achieved. </p>

<p>So... After this lengthy description, what are my chances on: Dartmouth College, Stanford University, Brown, Williams, John Hopkins, Princeton, Cornell... Basically, do you think I can make it to the "top schools" with what I have now?</p>

<p>bump… please help out…</p>

<p>Personally, I think you can make it into top tiered schools such as the ones you listed contingent on the fact that you can get fairly close to 2300, do well on subject tests, and also, I think you need to branch out a little more with the EC’s. Your EC’s are decent, but concentrated too highly in music, math, and tennis… I hate to say it, but you will be competing against tons of other Korean applicants with identical EC’s. So maybe some student government or just something out of the box and atypical for most of the applicants you will be competing with in the Asian pool. Good luck with everything!</p>

<p>Exactly what I wanted to hear. Yeah I think you’re right about “diversifying” my ECs. Except I don’t really want to be student body leader or something. I participate in Mu Alpha Theta and National Spanish Honor Society, but not much else. Any suggestions on what these “Out of the box” ECs might be (other than winning some crazy award or raising thousands of dollars )?</p>

<p>I don’t know… that is sort of what I had in mind… haha Something that pops off the paper when the admissions committee reads your credentials. Maybe get a couple hundred service hours doing volunteer work that means a lot to you, this could also allow you to write about this activity in an essay. Leadership in Spanish honor society would be a nice addition…</p>

<p>hmm… I see. Thanks</p>