<p>bethel, thanks. I'm glad to hear that. My E.C.s have always been the part where I'm most concerned about, as the majority of them are done during my junior year. I really enjoyed them, but I'm just afraid that, with such a short span of time (my longest was from the beginning of 10th grade), admission officers would just see them as something I just started to do my junior year to get into colleges (which is partially true in case of the clubs, as I didn't greatly enjoy them since we did almost nothing except attending meetings and going to competitions, but I loved working as a teacher and a TA at my church). And thank you for the suggestions. I'm adding them to my list of colleges I should look into. =)</p>
<p>cangel, thank you! Being so dense that I am, I haven't thought of transportation at all. I will definitely look into that for the schools you've mentioned as well as others. I think I will have to depend on fee waivers, because my parents would never pay for my applications for any school out-of-state. Luckily, some of the schools I've looked at so far accept copies of the SAT fee waiver as a legitimate source for fee waivers, and I still have mine from when I took the SAT in January. Others, I'm sure my counselor would be able to write a fee waiver to send to those schools.</p>
<p>I've been advised to use my experience of taking care of my siblings as a college essay, but I'm just not sure how to make it special. It's just too mundane - I mean, it's just something I've always done and never thought much about. It's as common as washing the dishes. I've thought of writing about my transition to the US from Vietnam in middle school and how learning English has taught me not to give up when things get rough. Perhaps I'll write both and see which one is better. =)</p>
<p>No, my family does not own any businesses (we used to at Vietnam, but I don't suppose that counts). And Rice does state that they'll meet all needs of families with income under $30,000 without any loans on their website - but I will discuss with my counselor when I ask her for a letter of recommendation, as she is more likely to understand it than my parents. Thank you for all the advice. :)</p>
<p>cbreeze, I thought I had an all right chance at the top schools when I first entered the process, mostly just looking at scores from College Board. However, upon hearing so many horror stories of last year's admissions and reading profiles of so many better applicants on CC, I kind of lost confidence and hope. But yes, I will apply to some of the top schools - at worst case scenario, all I'll lose are some hours writing essays and filling out applications. I never knew that airfares between major cities are cheaper (probably because my experience with airplanes are restricted to other countries). I will definitely keep that in mine when looking for more schools. Thanks! =)</p>
<p>tiyusufaly, I didn't consider Harvey Mudd at first, even though I heard many positive things about it on college_help community on livejournal because I thought it's most concentrated on engineering. But I will definitely check it out now, because it sounds really great! :)</p>
<p>marite, I've never heard of Questbridge before, so I will look into that. Thanks! =)</p>