<p>No, I'm not committing suicide. This is just my last chances thread--a stab in the dark to see, one last time, what you guys think, before the admissions officers have their say on what they think. I'm putting everything down. Any and all comments are greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I am an Asian-American male from New Jersey. I am not afraid to bubble it in. I go to an 1800-person non-competitive public high school in the suburbs. However, I am in a magnet school within this public school, which is brand new and insanely competitive. </p>
<p>Basic Statistics:</p>
<p>GPA: 4.41 W
Rank: Top 9% (46/490). Things get complicated here. There are two magnet programs in my school. One of them is well-established and has plenty of honors courses to inflate GPA. Our magnet is new and doesn't have that number of honors. The GPA difference between me and my friend (#17) is .3, which is basically the difference of 3-4 extra honors courses he took with the same grades as mine. My rank is quite low as a result, despite my A average.
SAT: 2240 (710 CR; 730 M; 800 W; 12 E) - Single sitting, and I do not plan on retaking
SAT II: 800 USH; 730 Lit; 730 World - I self-studied the last two
ACT: 34 (35 E; 35 R; 32 M; 33 S; 9 E) - I am submitting this everywhere</p>
<p>I am a National Merit Semifinalist (227).</p>
<p>I took the maximum number of AP courses allowed by my magnet-I will have 8 when I graduate. </p>
<p>AP Eng. Lang: 5
AP USH: 5
AP Calc AB: 4
AP US Gov: 5</p>
<p>Senior Schedule:
AP Stat
AP Psych
AP Lit
AP Physics B
Gym (required for graduation)
Honors Senior Seminar (required by magnet)</p>
<p>Extracurricular Activities</p>
<p>My school is a decade old next year. I started three new clubs in my time here, and I'm hoping that Model UN will begin by the second semester. These clubs take up much of my time and effort.</p>
<p>**Mock Trial<a href="9th%20grade--present">/B</a>: I was one of the two lead plaintiff attorneys last year when we won county championships. I am one of the two lead defense attorneys this year. (note: I've never once in four years seen another Asian kid in the courtroom, lol)</p>
<p>**Amnesty International<a href="10th%20grade--present">/B</a>: I cofounded this with a bunch of other people, but this club has kind of languished because the elected president is extremely flaky, and I can't do everything. We did get a pretty good number of people to sign petitions for the Jena Six, but otherwise we have been pretty scattershot.</p>
<p>**Forensics Team<a href="11th%20grade--present">/B</a>: This is the club I wanted to start for 3 years. I am Captain, but I've never done Forensics before. Our team has won exactly zero events, but it is my favorite extra-curricular. No one on our team has ever done it, our advisors have no clue how to prepare us, so it is up to me to lead. Blind leading the blind? Leads to a great game of Marco Polo. </p>
<p>In addition to these clubs, I've also been a contributor to several other things:</p>
<p>Student Government: I've been Sophomore, Junior, and now Senior Class Vice President. I like to think that I am the longest-running incumbent in my school's history =P. We raised a record $3000 in sophomore year, and a super-record $10,000 in junior year. </p>
<p>**Newspaper<a href="10th%20grade--present">/B</a>: I write politically charged articles for our school newspaper. Nothing too insane (my advisor edits all of that out...)</p>
<p>I volunteered at a retirement home and a local hospital for a year each. Although these were definitely volunteer positions made so that kids could fluff their applications, I tried to actually work. </p>
<p>I interned full time (40 hrs/wk) this last August for the local courthouse. Now THAT was a real eye-opener to the law, because I got to see court cases every couple days or so. Unfortunately, I also processed (in some way) around 1000 envelopes a day for various purposes. But that is what a job is, I guess.</p>
<p>Background and Miscellaneous</p>
<p>I moved in 8th grade from a lower-middle class town near Paterson to an upper-class town near Freehold. I got destroyed that year--I'd never been in such a competitive class (SO MANY ASIANS), and my guidance counselors couldn'tve cared less about high school. I entered 9th grade repeating Algebra I and Earth Science. I was angry. I took online/summer courses and whizzed through AP Calc AB by junior year (6 years of math in 3 school years). I did chemistry in 3 weeks and placed into Lab Physics in junior year as well. Later, I also placed into AP Physics B despite not being on the Honors Physics track. </p>
<p>I don't have any awards really. I'm an AP Scholar with Honor. Whoo.</p>
<p>My essays have been received generally well--probably not outstanding, but quite proficient and grammatically correct.</p>
<p>My recommendations will hopefully be good (one from Mock Trial/Forensics advisor/magnet program teacher, one from my Lab Physics/AP Physics B teacher).</p>
<p>I want to work in law or politics. </p>
<p>These are the schools I've applied to. Chance me for these and more?
Yale:<a href="SCEA">/b</a> (I visited, and the res. system blew me away. The overall atmosphere was completely badass and I got the feeling that I'd really *go *places with the environment that Yale creates)
**Harvard:<a href="I've%20wanted%20to%20go%20here%20since%20I%20was%209.%20The%20only%20things%20I%20disliked%20after%20visiting%20twice%20were%20the%20crazy,%20unnavigable%20streets.%20Cambridge%20is%20also%20sweet.">/b</a>
**Columbia:<a href="I%20did%20a%20summer%20session%20here%20and%20it%20was%20absolutely%20awesome.%20The%20dorms%20were%20small,%20but%20single!%20Being%20in-New-York-but-not-quite-IN-New-York%20rocks.">/b</a>
**University of Chicago:<a href="Law,%20Letters,%20and%20Society%20major%20is%20EXACTLY%20what%20I%20want%20to%20do.%20Hyde%20Park%20is%20beautiful.%20The%20whole%20quirky%20college%20feel%20is%20awesome.">/b</a>
**Dartmouth:<a href="Food%20was%20delectable,%20atmosphere%20was%20fresh,%20and%20I%20know%20some%20really%20great%20people%20who%20go/went%20there.%20Also,%20the%20peer%20recommendation%20I%20find%20intriguing">/b</a>
**Williams:<a href="Similar%20reasons%20to%20Dartmouth,%20but%20with%20a%20closer%20tie%20to%20the%20outside%20world.">/B</a>
**Swarthmore:<a href="I%20watched%20the%20DVD%20they%20sent%20me,%20and%20the%20whole%20campus%20just%20exudes%20what%20makes%20an%20LAC%20so%20appealing--relaxed,%20intellectual%20discussion,%20with%20no%20rank%20or%20GPA.%20A%20real%20student's%20dream.">/B</a>
**NYU:<a href="Because%20being%20IN-New-York%20is%20also%20awesome.">/b</a>
**University of Pennsylvania:<a href="First%20college%20visit,%20also%20one%20of%20the%20more%20interesting.%20Locust%20Walk%20is%20the%20shiz--I%20walked%20down%20it%20on%20a%20weekend,%20and%20it%20was%20absolutely%20filled%20with%20life.">/B</a>
**Rutgers: I would go here as a safety. 90% of my friends will inevitably end up here, and I feel that I could definitely make the most of the opportunities available here)</p>