<p>SAT I: 770 Verbal, 710 Math (1480 total)
Sat IIs: 760 US History, (taking writing and math iic in November; projected scores are definitely 700+)
GPA: 4.48 (tied in #1)
Family Income: ~$30,000 (a little less)</p>
<p>My school is very urban with a student population of 2500+ students. </p>
<p>Classes Senior Year:
OCAD (zero period)
Ap Studio Art
Ap English Lit
Ap Bio
Ap Govt
Ap Calculus</p>
<p>I've basically taken the most academically challenging classes available at my school.</p>
<p>ECS:</p>
<p>Secretary General of Model United Nations Program
4th year member of Academic Decathlon
Vice-President of Key Club
3rd year member of Mock Trial
Volunteered at the Public Library for most of last year</p>
<p>My family are Vietnamese refugees who came to America in 1992 with virtually nothing except for an undying hope for the better. We came to America because my mom's side of the family had political connections to the former South Vietnamese gov't. and thus, were severely persecuted. My sister went to community college, then a Cal State, and is now pursuing her masters in Library Science. My brother is in the Army. I'm the third and middle of five children and am a refugee myself.</p>
<p>Questions for you guys:</p>
<p>1) Will being Asian hurt me? since I'm not an underrepresented minority. Do they differentiate between South East Asians and East Asians like Koreans and Chinese?
2) Will it be too trite and cliched to emphasize my refugee status in my essays?
3) What are my chances at UCLA, Stanford, or Berkeley? And perhaps even uber reach schools like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.</p>
<p>YOU PPL POST TOO FAST. STOP OVERLAPPING ME!</p>
<p>Your EC's are a little weak, but you have strong academics. I think it is pretty significant that you are a refugee, so I would mention it but not dwell on it too much.
I'm not sure about whether or not being Asian will hurt you. But because you are a refugee, it probably won't. UCLA is probably a match/safety. The others are always hard to predict. Good luck!</p>
<p>Oh gawd. I find it hilarious how people find that my ECs are weak. I think that if I have another EC squeezed in there I would certainly die from exhaustion. I'm averaging 4 hours of sleep per day and it's wholly impossible how you guys do all the other crap in addition to the crap you're already doing. I dedicate 8 hours per week to OCAD, 5 hours to MUN, and 3 hours to Key Club. I don't like spreading myself too thin like all you people who want to be president of every club on campus. I feel that doing one thing well is better than doing ten thing terribly.</p>
<p>StressedOutSenior doesn't mean you don't have enough ECs. It's just that they're somewhat pedestrian and common-place with a very limited scope (no awards/honors/distinctions.) If you have won any individual awards or distinctions, by all means, include them on your application! Otherwise it appears as if you were a passive member in your clubs and activities.</p>
<p>I understand, but ennumerating awards one received in MUN would take to long. I've been to like 20+ conferences and have received awards in each one. Being Secretary General is not pedestrian. The Secretary General last year at my school got into Harvard and her stats were a little weaker than mine.</p>