updated stats... looking for advice/opinions on list of colleges

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Stats: Senior this fall (sorry about the inaccurate sn)</p>

<p>232 PSAT</p>

<p>SAT I: 1410/1600 (8th grade 800-M),
2300/2400 (800m750cr750w),
2320/2400 (760m800cr760w)
[does that mean my composite score is 2360?]</p>

<p>SAT IIs: 800 Math IIC
780 on Bio-M,
730 Math IC,
720 US History
660 World History</p>

<p>ACT: N/A</p>

<p>GPA: 4.9 W, 4.1/4.5 UW scale (this doesn't make sense?), but I've had maybe 5 B+s (3 were junior year :-/)</p>

<p>Rank: 3/500</p>

<p>APs: 5 on World History AP
waiting for the mail on: US Hist, Eng Language, Calc BC, Psychology and Music Theory.... ahh, my mom won't let me call!</p>

<p>Senior year courseload:
Sci Research 3
Govt AP, German AP
MultiVari Calc (EPGY-Stanford? maybe)
Graph Theory (local university)
Economics Honors (looking for a possible online course for AP level instead), Physics AP
English Lit AP</p>

<p>ECs/Awards for each: (all long-term involvement)
Academic Team-student govt rep (9th-11th) (VP or Prez next year, probably), National Academic Championship Semi Finalist Team Member (2006. I was actually an alternate, and didn't end up having to participate)
DECA (1 year)-2nd pl regional/top10 state 2004 on Business Law
FBLA- Treasurer 11th, President 12th
German Club- VP 11th, President 12th National Exam Medal
Marching/Symphonic Band & Orchestra
Science Research Internship
Job at National not-for profit Organization (apprx.~10 hrs/wk)
Math Team- student govt rep (9th-11th), hopefully Prez this year
AMC 10 school award (got 108, 117.5, 9th and 10th grades, bombed AMC 11 :( ), New York State Math League participant annually since 10th grade,
Mock Trial- VP for half of 11th grade (then time constraints, it was unfair and I gave it up)
Music:
Clarinet at school (hopefully 1st clarinet, 2nd chair this year-3rd chair this past year)
Piano outside of school for 12 years,
For piano, I attend a music school outside of regular school (approx. 12 hrs/wk). I'm part of Honors Program there. Unfortunately, I am not extraordinary at piano, but very, very involved/passionate anyways
I have some performance creditials, i.e. a world premeire of a quartet, masterclasses with NY Philharmonic and a handful of world-renowned solo pianists, etc.
Pit Orchestra
Chinese School: first graduating class 2005, various local word bees/essay contests, one regional public speaking award
Youth Organization of Chinese Americans: (it's a county-wide thing)Outstanding Chinese American High School Student Grand Prize Award ($100), VP of YOCA 12th grade
Chinese School Newspaper: Editor (10th), Editor in Chief (12th) (~60 hours a year)
Youth and Govt (2 years)
Community Service = ~200 hours by the time I graduate</p>

<p>Honors:
NYS Science Honor Society
German Honor Society? (we were never formally inducted)
National Honor Society: VP of Finance, Captain of Relay for Life Cancer Fundraiser NHS Team </p>

<p>Other Achievements:
Golden Apple Community Service Award
University of Pennslyvania Book Award
Publication in CTY's IMAGINE magazine
Part of JHU's Study for Exceptional Talent</p>

<p>Summer Activities:
CTY (2004)
"Root-Seeking" camp in China (2004)- travel/culture/immersion, pretty highly publicized program in China
Outbound Ambassador Scholarship, Experiment in International Living (2005)
Piano Recital Performances in New York (not NYC) and Shanghai, China (2006)
Internship/Employment at the March of Dimes (2005 & 2006)</p>

<p>Sports:
JV Tennis- Team Spirit (9th) and Sportmanship Awards (11th)
V Tennis this fall? hopefully.</p>

<p>Demographics:
Location: upper middle class suburb, NY
School Type: Public ~2100 students
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Random: I skipped a grade in elementary school, and so I'm a year younger than most people-but that doesn't matter, does it?</p>

<p>Ok, so there are all my stats. </p>

<p>and here's my plan:
I am debating between applying Harvard SCEA and UPenn-Wharton ED. I'm pretty much undecided right now, but considering business/finance, the likes. I've weighed the pros and cons of these schools, and am basically obsessed with both. I can't decide. Let's hear a debate.</p>

<p>Other Schools Regular Decision:
Yale
JHU (can that count as a safety/backup?)</p>

<p>Schools that I've thought about (as in found their pages in the Fiske Guide or been suggested by my guidance counselor (amazing person, but others question her choices), I haven't visited any, and won't be getting a chance to-I'm leaving the country in two weeks and won't be back until September and still have to work before then). So any input on these schools that can help me eliminate/rank would be SO VERY appreciated. Please keep in mind that my optimal schools would be either Harvard or Wharton-UPenn. Also, I'm curious as to how my stats would fit in (aka Impossible/ Reach/ Match/ Safety/Not Appropriate) [though I can only think of one school on this list that I've been considering as possibly "not appropriate" because of being too low-tiered]. Also, some of these colleges are really urban, and/or not co-ed or within driving distance (all characteristics that I do not prefer, but if somebody can prove to me that the school's worth it, I am willing to reconsider)
Here are the schools in alphabetical order:
Amherst Barnard Brown
Caltech Carnegie Mellon Case Western
Colgate Columbia Cornell
Dartmouth Haverford Lehigh
Northwestern Oberlin Stanford
Swarthmore Wellesley Williams</p>

<p>I am open to new suggestions as well.
Wow, this was a long post. Thank you so much! (I will update the AP scores once I receive them in the mail)</p>

2

<p>bump... please advise!</p>

3

<p>JHU is not a safety.</p>

<p>...and tell me again, why'd you retake a 2300?</p>

4

<p>I'd just believed that I wasn't showing my potential because I had taken the test cold and could've done better.
becuase I had thought that I could work on CR and easily up the writing score, (i lost points on the essay because I didn't finish, having not noticed the time). I did add points on my essay, this time watching the clock, but got more MC wrong :-/ so that wasn't a significant difference.</p>

5

<p>...bump...</p>

6

<p>it sounds like you have a good chance for getting into a great school. first off, you are ranked number 3, out of 500, which according to the statistics, is very likely for you to get into your school.those B+'s might weigh you down a little, but i think because your EC's are pretty much amazing (in my opinion anyway), colleges might overlook those grades. your SAT I (over a 2300!!!) are great, as well as your SAT II (WH could have been better, but still above average scorers), so colleges like people who do well on standardized tests. i think because you wanna go to wharton (my first choice too, but probably a reach for me) your math grades are crucial. but i think what might impress them is your EC's because you have traveled the world, and if you are fluent in chinese, thats even better. It shows that you are familiar with the world and its languages, and chinese is an important language to know in the business world because china's economy is growing and they have one of the best economies in the world. im impressed by what you have, and now that i look back, i think they'd be stupid not to let you in.
=]
btw what county in NY do you live in?</p>

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<p>Westchester</p>

8

<p>i thought so, when you said upper middle class suburb. i live in westchester too, which school district are you in?</p>

9

<p>...bump... does anyone have any input on the other colleges?</p>

10

<p>why did you make a double post?</p>

11

<p>double post?
I posted on UPenn and Harvard to hear opinions about where to apply early, if that's what you mean. Those posts didn't have the last section on all the other colleges</p>

12

<p>you posted twice in "my chances" forum.</p>

13

<p>hm, ok, I didn't notice that, but if I did, sorry :(</p>

14

<p>if i were an admissions officer, i would wonder why the heck anyone with a 2300/2400 (800m750cr750w), would RETAKE....what on earth were u trying to accomplish</p>

<p>a 750+ on all 3 sections is FAIR GAME for any school....the extra points after this MEAN NOTHING</p>

15

<p>Update: AP grades
This year: one 5, two 4s, 3 CalcBC (3 ABsubscore)...waiting on one late test....a lil disappointed. will it affect?</p>

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<p>Junior(now Senior), your scores, grades and rank are excellent and your ECs are strong. At some colleges being Chinese will be a positive for admissions, at some it will be a negative. Being upper middle class from a New York suburb is a very competitive demographic group, especially for colleges on either coast.</p>

<p>So, you want to go to Harvard or Penn, maybe Wharton. There’s nothing in your profile that would keep you out of these schools and plenty that would make you a serious contender. You know that there are no guarantees so you’d like some less selectives. </p>

<p>Wharton offers a very education in style and in content. ED definitely would increase your chances but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re 100% sure that business/finance is what you want to study. You can achieve success in business by a lot of other routes than undergraduate business school so don’t take that option unless you’re certain it’s for you.</p>

<p>Yale is just as selective as Harvard so that doesn’t help. JHU is a little less so and although I can’t imagine that they would turn you down I don’t think you should use them as a safety.</p>

<p>Also both Penn and JHU are highly urban so if being “really urban” is a negative for you you might want to reconsider.</p>

<p>Among the other 18 schools on your to consider list, you have just about every type of college known to humankind: Coed/all women, Urban/suburban/rural, Sporty/Geeky/Arsty, Liberal/conservative, Big/small/medium, Core/Open curriculum, etc. etc. </p>

<p>This list just begs the question: What do YOU want? Until you narrow that in a bit, throwing out names is just like throwing popcorn to the pigeons or darts at a board.</p>

<p>You DO need some reasonable matches and safeties. Everyone does. But the only person who can do the research and thinking about which ones are appropriate for you is you. Spend some time on researching on the internet and come back with a more focused list. Obviously you’re a smart person but this kind of approach to college search is a recipe for disaster.</p>

<p>Based on your criteria, non-urban and coed, you can eliminate Barnard, Columbia and Wellesley. And if you think Northwestern, Oberlin, Stanford and Caltech are within driving distance of New York, then you’d better take another geography class.</p>

<p>Amherst, Brown, Columbia, Caltech, Cornell, Dartmouth, Stanford, Swarthmore, Wellesley and Williams are all very selective schools and wouldn’t qualify as matches or safeties under any circumstances.</p>

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<p>it amuses me how people on this site think that excellent scores (which the OP undoubtedly has) will give you a really good chance at any school! ya, they get you a second glance, but at the level of schools that you are looking at, they certainly do not give you a leg up on any of the competition. please don't take this the wrong way: your resume makes you seem really boring! of course, this is probably not true. you are going to have to prove yourself to be more interesting than a clarinet playing asian girl from an overrepresented state with impecable college board scores. you can show this in your essays and your interview. i think that Wharton is one place that you will have a slight advantage, because you are a girl. maybe you should consider it for your early decision choice if you really like business.</p>