Spare a few minutes to chance me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Get ready, it's long because I basically included my whole life on paper. I'm going to use HPYS etc (probably not MIT) as reaches. Any suggestions for safety schools? I have in mind CMU, tufts, Pitt, and maybe BU. Am I aiming too high?</p>

<p>Gender: female
race: Asian-American
From an upper middle class family</p>

<p>I live in West Virginia, which I hear helps because it's like being a minority.</p>

<p>Class rank: 1/400
GPA: 4.0 unweighted</p>

<p>Clubs
President of Habitat for Humanity (member for 2 years)
President of Science Honor (member for 3 years; you can only join if you're a sophomore or older)
VP of Math Honor (member for 4 years)
National Honor Society</p>

<p>SAT Reasoning: 2150
-Reading 680
-Math 770
Writing 700
I'm going to take them again</p>

<p>Subject Tests:
-Math II: 800
-Chemistry: 800
-Bio M: 790</p>

<p>EC's
--competitive violinist: 1st place at states (2007, 2006), 2nd place at states (2005), regional competitor in 2007
--member of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony (pretty prestigious; we've toured Europe and most recently China), principal 2nd in 2007-2008 season, member of 1st violin in 2008-2009 season (we haven't had seating auditions yet)
--Varsity tennis member freshman and sophomore year, 2nd place doubles at regionals in 2006</p>

<p>200+ hours of community service at the local hospital plus some volunteer tutoring</p>

<p>I also tutor sometimes for money.</p>

<p>Courses and AP grades:
9th grade:
English 9 Honors
History Honors
Geometry Honors
Pre-calc Honors
Mandatory Gym
Orchestra
Science 9 Honors
Spanish II</p>

<p>10th grade:
AP Stats-5
AP Calc AB-5
AP Physics C mechanics-4
Mandatory health
English Honors
History Honors
Spanish III
Adv Chemistry</p>

<p>11th:
AP Bio (2 periods)-5
AP Chem (2 periods)-5
AP English Language-5
AP US History -4
AP calc BC-5
Spanish IV</p>

<p>12th:
Math 251 (Multivariable calc) at the local university, WVU (2 periods)
Bio 124 (The human environment) at wvu
TA for my calc teacher's lower level math, where I do a lot of volunteer tutoring for the students
Human Anatomy and Physiology
AP English Lit
Honors Civics </p>

<p>So, I was an AP scholar at the end of my sophomore year and I'm an AP national scholar right now.</p>

<p>Summers:
WV Governor's Honors Academy for math and science: 2005
Summer Trig class at WVU: 2006
WV Governor' School for the Arts: 2007
Harvard Summer School program: 2007 (B in the sociology class)
Concord University Students of Excellence Summer Academy: 2007
Morgantown High School Summer Biotechnology course: 2007
WV Governor's Honors Academy: 2008
Pittsburgh Youth Symphony International tour to China: 2008
Volunteer at a local professional science lab: 2008</p>

2

<p>Your stats and ECs are definitely solid. BU's a safety, but CMU and Tufts are more matches if anything. You have a really good shot at getting into HYPS. Best of luck!</p>

3

<p>I think I'm most worried by the fact that I don't want to come off as the typical Asian applicant (play violin, good at math and science, etc). I'd like to think that I'm not as well, dull (maybe not the best term...) as most people would think. I think my teacher recs and my interview will show that? Hopefully my involvement with habitat for humanity helps a little, too.</p>

4

<p>bump .</p>

5

<p>bumpppp???</p>

6

<p>
[quote]
I think I'm most worried by the fact that I don't want to come off as the typical Asian applicant (play violin, good at math and science, etc). I'd like to think that I'm not as well, dull (maybe not the best term...) as most people would think. I think my teacher recs and my interview will show that? Hopefully my involvement with habitat for humanity helps a little, too.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>You hit the nail on the head. Write an amazing essay to set yourself apart and hope for the best. Being from West Virginia will help, but being Asian will detract.</p>