Sigh. I had to retype all of this because the forums messed up.
anyways, any help would be greatly appreciated even if only one question is addressed
<li>Is being asian a big disadvantage for top schools? How does being asian affect my chances, and is it worse than being caucasian?</li>
<li>How does work experience play into it all? Is it seen just as another EC or does it weigh more than an EC/volunteer work? Is it worth it to get a job for the application? (The space for work experience and huge and scary).</li>
<li>Should the common app teacher evaluation/secondary school report be hand-written or typed (can it be typed)? I could email the .pdfs to my teachers and have them type it in acrobat reader, but then the only hand-written part would be the signature line–is that ok? Also, if they decide to hand-write it, can it be in pencil?</li>
<li>I’ve been the top of my class (and school) since 9th grade, 1 of ~354 people, however at the end of junior year another person beat my gpa by .01 sadly the time most critical for putting on the application. I cannot surpass him since he is taking all the hardest classes senior year. I’m not suppose to know all this though, since my school gives out transcripts about the beginning of 2nd semester. But by the time I send everything out, I’ll have requested a new transcript and it would probably show that I was 2nd. Does this really matter that much, and is there any way I could sort of mention that he just very barely beat me when I was at the top for so long?</li>
<li>My class has several excellent students that are probably all applying to Harvard/Stanford/etc. The guy mentioned above is who I’m most worried about, as well as one other person I know is applying, and probably a whole bunch more. If excellent candidates all come from one HS, will generally only 1 get in even though more could have if they did not go to the same HS? How does this affect acceptance, and if the top ranking guy gets in, will this probably mean I won’t? He has better exam scores, but not sure about ECs, and is not asian.</li>
<li>Whenever it is optional to put your place of birth, ethnicity, etc, should you? For example I was born in Beijing but moved to the US when I was 1, and I consider myself chinese-american. This kind of goes with #1 I guess.</li>
<ol>
<li>stop worrying about what you can't change and start working on things you can improve.</li>
<li>depends what kind of job/how you play your cards.
3.doesn't matter
4.if your gpa is high anyways, don't fret it(really, don't). and im sure it is.
5.no.. stop trying to say u wont get in beacuse your asian. your attitude is coming off bad here and i hope you don't do the same whine approach with your applications.. just show your personality and hope for the best.. yes multiple kids can get in. 14 kids from my class are going to princeton next year(public)
6.yes</li>
</ol>
<p>Yea, 14 people to Princeton is pretty impressive. I also go to a good public school (test school), and we sent 26 kids to Harvard a year ago. But that partially has to do with the fact that Harvard was created specifically for kids from my school, and we have a good relationship with the university.</p>
<p>Jobs aren't extremely consequential, nor are they completely ignored.</p>
<p>Having a job means that you had responsibilities and all. Some applications ask for ones held over the academic year specifically, which means you could handle the normal academic workload, EC's, AND extra responsibility.</p>
<p>They look at your position too, by the way.</p>