Rising Senior with a few doubts

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>This is the preliminary list of schools I have, I'll narrow it down to a couple over summer, but this is about the list of schools I want to apply to</p>

<p>Georgetown, UPenn, Northwestern, Yale, Harvard, UCLA, UCSD, BU, UChicago ,Dartmouth, Duke, John Hopkins, NYU, Princeton, Stanford</p>

<p>Basic Info:
-Asian Male
-California
-Fairly competitive high school
-First generation to go to school in the US</p>

<p>Areas I'm interested in
-Poly-Sci
-Econ
-Engineering
-Computers </p>

<p>GPA: 3.9 (UW) 4.9(W)
SAT: 2140 ( 660 CR, 790 Math, 690 Writing, 10 on essay) Superscore: 2160
PSAT: 207
ACT: 33 (Took a practice one, plan on taking the September ACT)</p>

<p>SAT IIs
Taking the June:
-US History
-Physics
-Math II</p>

<p>APs
AP Euro (4)
APUSH, AP Physics B, AP Spanish Lang (This year, no scores)
AP Comp Sci, AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Microecon (Next year's schedule)</p>

<p>Extra Circulars:</p>

<p>-Active member of the schools debate team, VP of the team, and top 80 in the nation.
-Swim (2 years) wasn't the best
-President of a school club
Member of:
-NHS
-CSF (California Scholarship Federation)
-NHHS (History)
-NSHS (Science)
-Mu Alpha Theta (Math)
Volunteer
-Taught english at a bi-lingual school in rural China
-Commissioner for local AYSO League (volunteer)
-Over 800 hours (from freshman to now)
-Work with Native American families to rebuild homes and repairs</p>

2

<p>Your GPA is good, but your SAT scores will definitely count against you. The fact that you are Asian American will not help you. </p>

<p>Georgetown: High-match
UPenn: Reach
Northwestern: High-match
Yale: Far-reach
Harvard: Far-reach
UCLA: Match
UCSD: Match
BU: Low-match
UChicago: Far-reach
Dartmouth: High-match
Duke: High-match
John Hopkins: High-match
NYU: Match
Princeton: Far-reach
Stanford: Far-reach</p>

<p>Ranking:
Safety : Low-match : Match : High-match : Reach : Far Reach</p>

3

<p>@Bridgewood if I raised my SAT to a 2200+ how would it affect my chances? Does the same still apply for the ACT? </p>

4

<p>It would definitely help you, and I’d say it’d probably put BU into your Safety with UCLA, UCSD and NYU into Low-match. However, all the schools that are far-reach will still be far-reach. Even if your SAT score is a 2400, they will still be far-reach. If you can push your ACT an extra point or two, it will of course help. Having perfect test scores, a perfect GPAs and interesting extra-curricular activities would be the bare minimum to be considered at the far-reach schools. I feel like you don’t have too much farther to push to see that you meet that minimum, and I’m sure you can do it. Make sure you are maintaining strong relationships with a couple of your teachers, letters of recommendation are extremely important. I noticed that your writing score is also on the lower end, definitely work on your writing in preparation for the essays. Those are extremely important as well and in pair with your letters of recommendation after you meet the bare academic requirements, will be the factors that either make or break your applications.</p>

5

<p>@Bridgewood‌ Thanks! Just another question, would BC also be in the safety category? </p>

6

<p>bump</p>

7

<p>I would not quite put BC as a safety, I would say match or low-match. </p>

8

<p>Raise your SAT score or ACT score to stand a better chance. As you probably know these won’t get you into the school but the certainly prevent your app from being put in the trash. IMHO you’d have a better shot at raising your ACT score. Definitely try to focus on your letters of recommendation and essays which could also really help you. Since summer is right around the corner try to find a job (even if its part time), internship, or the like in to explore your desired college majors. </p>

9

<p>Ok. First of all, I don’t think that @Bridgewood‌ knows what he’s talking about. A 2140 is a pretty good score. However, you don’t seem competitive enough. That’s the problem not the SAT score. </p>

10

<p>@hawkace Last I checked, a 2140 does not stack up against your typical applicants to Stanford and the Ivies, which OP has also asked about. His SAT score will definitely contribute to whether or not he is competitive, given typical students at those universities have scores above 2300. </p>

11

<p>@jkpascale16‌ I agree with you on the ACT score, the 33 on a practice test through my school was done without any studying. During summer I plan on spending a good week just studying ACT. As far as letters of rec go, I have a pretty solid idea of a few teachers I want to ask, so I think those will be okay. As for an internship, I already have one set up as a intern at a local law office, but didn’t think to include it in my original post.</p>

<p>@Hawkace‌ , what about me isn’t as competitive as it should be? </p>

12

<p>being Asian,and EC’s are solid and good but nothing out of this world along with a low SAT score for your ethnicity at top 5 colleges. </p>

13

<p>I seldom open chance threads but the one thing I loved about your profile was the service you have done–both the work in rural China, with Native Americans and also the sheer number of hours.</p>

14

<p>@theanaconda‌ I agree, but are some schools still realistic (ie UChicago or UCs) </p>

<p>@Picapole‌ Thanks hopefully the admissions officers love them too! The hours for rural China amounted to about 180-200 over 2 summers(I forgot the exact number) and hours for the Native Americans is about 300 over 5 summers. Most of the hours come from the local AYSO league where I coach, ref, and help on board of directors.</p>