"we aim above the mark to hit the mark" -Emerson

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>please please please take some time to read this (about 5-10 minutes). I have been reading others' and leaving posts so hopefully it will turn out to be good karma :D</p>

<p>I am Indian (this plays a part later on) and I attend a public school in California (a renowned school near and as the same caliber as Monta Vista/ Palo Alto area). My father went to MIT so I have some pressure to go there but I would rather stay here in California. I am very strong in Math and Sciences but I have a lot of interest in International Relations and Economics; my dream as of now is to be a part of the United Nations!</p>

<p>《SCHOOLS》
Ⅰ. Stanford
Ⅱ. Harvard
Ⅲ. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ⅳ. Princeton
Ⅴ. Columbia (I love the 3-2 5 Year Program!)
Ⅵ. Cambridge
Ⅷ. London School of Economics
Ⅸ. Yale
Ⅹ. CalTech
ⅩⅠ. University of Chicago
ⅩⅡ. UC Berkeley, LA, SD, SC</p>

<p>《SCORES》
PSAT
●205: I got owned but somehow I still got National Merit Commend
SAT Reasoning (MRW)
●2160/1440: 800, 640, 720
●2300/1510: 800, 710, 790 (I wanted 1550+)
SAT Subject Tests
●Chemistry: 770
●Chinese w/ Listening: 690 -> 10th percentile :] = retake this Nov...
●Biology E: 800
●Math IIC: 800
●Physics: 800
●US History: 760
Advanced Placement (predicted)
●Biology: 5
●Physics B: 5
●US History: 4</p>

<p>《TRANSCRIPT》
GPA
●9-11 (W/UW): 4.27 / 3.87
●10-11 (W/UW): 4.49 / 3.88</p>

<p>FRESHMAN:
●Geometry Enriched [A/A]
●Computer Programming JAVA [A/A]
●Biology [B/A]
●Art 1 [A/A]
●Chinese 1 [A/A]
●English 9 [A/B]
●PE 9 [A/A]
SOPHOMORE:
●Algebra 2 Honors [A/A-]
●Chemistry Honors [A/A]
●World Geography <a href="only%20one%20semester">A</a>
●Health/Driver's Ed [A]
●World History [A-/A]
●Chinese 2 [A/A]
●English 10 [A-/A-]
●PE 10/Spring Tennis [A/A]
JUNIOR:
●Trig/PreCalc Honors [A/A+]
●AP Physics B [A-/A]
●AP Biology [A/A]
●AP U.S. History [A-/A-]
●Chinese 4 Honors [A/A+]
●English 11 Honors [A-/A]
●T.A. [P/P]
●Spring Tennis [A]
SENIOR[predicted grades]:
●AP Calculus BC [A+/A+]
●AP Chemistry [A+/A+]
●AP Statistics [A+/A+]
●AP English Language [A/A]
●AP European History [A/A]
●AP Chinese 6 Language [A/A]
●U.S. Government/Economics <a href="taken%20online%20at%20local%20college">A/A</a>
●Spring Tennis [A]</p>

<p>《Extracurriculars》
◆Interact
—President
—International Coordinator of District
—raised 8K from our school to build a school in ghana next year
—going to Panama this summer to build a school!!!
◆Model United Nations
—President
—hosted an introductory conference at my school
—attended Stanford & Berkeley MUN
◆Mandarin Club
—President
—organizing a trip to go to China next year with some other schools
◆Student Government
—ASB School Site Council Student Representative
—Head Community Commissioner
—WASC Student Representative
—Head Safety & Improvement + Traffic Commissioner
—Link Crew
◆Tutoring
—T.A. for ELD class
—Tutor twice a week at Tutorial Center
—Tutor through ESL club
◆Languages (Read, Write, Speak)
—Simplified/Traditional Chinese (RWS)
—Arabic (RWS)
—Urdu, Farsi (RW)
—Spanish (RWS)
—Hindi (RWS)
◆Junior Varsity Tennis
—played doubles for two years</p>

<p>《SUMMER》
Junior Year: I went to Chile to live with a host family and help them rennovate their home. I also learned some Spanish and completed a year of Chinese over Summer. I also led my team to Second Place at the Stanford Youth Leadership Conference on Asian and Pacific Islander Health.
Senior Year: I am learning Arabic, Spanish, and Chinese, and will be going to Panama, India, and China.</p>

<p>《HOBBIES》
I love playing piano but I haven't won any awards or anything like that but I have played in a concert for an Indian band. (yeee!)
I love drawing, which had an influence on my decision to learn Chinese and Arabic.
I have more interest in the politics of other nations than in that of the U.S. (which leads into my whole UN thing)</p>

<p>In my opinion my main weaknesses are that I have no awards and maybe I have more weaknesses.</p>

<p>please tell me whatever you like!</p>

2

<p>GOOD chances</p>

3

<p>really? thanks! do you have any advice to change that GOOD into a GREAT? :)</p>

4

<p>I agree with above, you have GOOD chances... and in my opinion, GREAT also..
I don't think you should be too worried about doing anything to change that. I think a good lot (at least 60%) of your schools should take you.</p>

5

<p>sweet that helps a lot, considering I have such a low UW GPA :/</p>

6

<p>Again for these upper tier schools, almost everyone is a reach. But honestly, you're one of the most well rounded applicants I have seen. Your extracurriculars are really damn good. Chile trip is considered an EC I believe. You should be able to get into at least one of those top ten schools with some good essays and a bit of luck.</p>

7

<p>Your academics are strong. Not too sure about your honors/awards--you may have more than you think (National Merit Commended, etc.), but your ECs are strong for your interests. Convey a passion on your application and I'd say you have a great shot at all of them.</p>

<p>Find a way to connect the languages to that and you'll have an even stronger application. Perhaps discuss how languages are a doorway to other cultures and countries --> international relations.</p>

<p>On my applications, I showed a passion for languages/linguistics, and ended up getting into HYPS with likely letters from a few. I was also told by admissions officers that I have a unique passion, so I'd think that bringing out and connecting your interest in languages would help quite a bit.</p>

<p>Edit: also, you don't need to retake Chinese. You don't seem to be a native speaker, so getting ~700--especially in such a difficult language and on a subject test in which native speakers screw up the curve considerably--is excellent. Not to mention your other SAT IIs are awesome, so you'd just be splitting hairs to retake. Really, only retake if you personally want to do better; it really isn't necessary for applications. It won't affect your admission at all.</p>

8

<p>You definitely are fine in the grades/test score area, and your ECs reflect your interest, however, I agree with you that your lack of awards is not so good. Because most of the people who apply to these schools are fine with grades and test scores, and they all do a bunch of ECs too. It's the success/advancement in the ECs that might be the seperating factor. I think you still have a good chance at all, but its always a crapshot.</p>

9

<p>Does your school rank? Your gpa/scores are good and your ECs show interest in the field you wish to pursue. I think the focus will help you even if you don't have so many awards. For an unhooked applicant, you have a good shot. You should get in somewhere.</p>

<p>Ⅰ. Stanford
. Harvard-reach
. Massachusetts Institute of Technology-reach
. Princeton-reach
. Columbia (I love the 3-2 5 Year Program!)-lower reach
. Cambridge-reach
. London School of Economics-i don't know much about this school
. Yale-reach
. CalTech-reach
. University of Chicago-lower reach
. UC Berkeley, LA, SD, SC-in</p>

10

<p>If you can speak Hindi, why can't you speak Urdu? Aren't they virtually indistinguishable spoken? Sorry, that might be a dumb question. xP </p>

<p>Anyways, everything looks really good. I'm not good at predicting chances for individual schools (nothing is predictable!), but I'm sure that you'll get into a number of great schools. Your extracurriculars/interests are very unique and impressive.</p>

11

<p>haha yea i actually haven't even tried to learn urdu but no, you are pretty much correct; they are pretty much the same but just with different writing (kind of like Simplified and Traditional Chinese)</p>

<p>i just know that I can read it because I know arabic fluently.. I guess that will have to be picked up some other time :)</p>

<p>and I also want to learn Japanese in college and possibly Kiwahili/Russian, then I should be done with most of the world :)</p>

12

<p>
[quote]
If you can speak Hindi, why can't you speak Urdu? Aren't they virtually indistinguishable spoken?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>They are mutually intelligible--hence "Hindustani language" and Khariboli--but written Urdu is very different, much more like Farsi (Persian) or Arabic (Perso-Arabic script). Hindi has more Sanskrit elements (hence the Devanāgarī writing system), which can make it difficult for Urdu speakers to understand, but for the most part, they can communicate relatively well.</p>

<p>Persian</a> alphabet, pronunciation and language
Urdu</a> alphabet, pronunciation and language
Hindustani</a> language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>

<p>Edit: Wikipedia also lists Hindi and Urdu as mutually intelligible in spoken form only.</p>

<p>Mutual</a> intelligibility - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>

13

<p>first of all, I definitely don't trust wikipedia.. secondly, kyledavid80, your knowledge is REALLLY impressive if you aren't Indian/Pakistani/Middle Eastern!</p>

<p>and again, thanks, guys, for the advice and opinions!</p>

14

<p>Good chances in all, but college apps are definite crapshoots these days</p>

15

<p>true.</p>

<p>do you guys know if any of the schools have specifically great IR/language programs.. so far Columbia is the only one that has appealed to me and I'm strongly considering re-ordering my list...</p>

16

<p>
[quote]
secondly, kyledavid80, your knowledge is REALLLY impressive if you aren't Indian/Pakistani/Middle Eastern!

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Thanks--as I said, languages are my passion. That's why I think you should emphasize them and connect them to your intended major. :)</p>

17

<p>If you can speak Hindi or Urdu, you can understand / semi-speak the other. Of course there is difference in local vocabulary and idiomatic phrases and whatnot, but the languages are Sanskrit-based and very similar. However, you cannot read and write both if you know one of them.</p>

18

<p>yes that is becoming very apparent now :)</p>

<p>I'll probably include something about my Panama trip if it ends up inspiring me...</p>

<p>kyledavid80, where will you be going out of the HYPS? :)</p>

<p>to the rest of you, do you think an essay in the languages would help? i mean why would the admissions officers believe that i even know those languages.. wouldn't then want proof or will my [english] essays suffice?</p>

19

<p>I'm going to Stanford--for the linguistics major, at that. :) In my case, I put in my additional info the languages I'd studied and to what extent. I suppose adcoms just take your word for it (it's the same with ECs, awards, etc.--they just take your word for it).</p>

20

<p>sweet! common app just came out today.. it has begun :/</p>