<p>I was just wondering what my chances for getting into my prospective colleges are. I'm hoping that some more so experienced people can help me out.</p>
<p>Basic Info:</p>
<p>Asian male (First generation)
Public International Baccalaureate (IB) school in South Carolina
Majoring in Biological Sciences/Pre-medicine</p>
<p>Educational Info:</p>
<p>IB Diploma candidate
GPA: Unweighted: 4.0/Weighted: 5.09
Rank: 10 out of 179 (small, competitive classes suck =/)
AP courses (as of junior year):
- World History (4)
- Comp Sci (4)
- Statistics (4)
- Psychology (5)
- Calculus AB (5)
- German (4)
- English Lit/Comp (4)
- US History (5)
IB courses (as of junior year):
- Psychology SL (6)</p>
<p>SAT: 2300 (CR: 740/Math: 760/Writing: 800)
SAT Subjects:
- Biology (800)
- German (800)</p>
<p>E.C.'s:
- Soccer: 4 years commitment, Captain
- Academic Team/Quiz Bowl: 4 years commitment, Captain
- Forensics/Speech & Debate: 4 years commitment
- Tennis: 2 years commitment, Co-captain
- Foreign Language Honor Society: 2 years, German representative
- National Honor Society: 2 years, Public Relations Officer
- Red Cross Chapter: 3 years
- Interact/Rotary Club: 2 years
- Biology Club: 2 years
- Mu Alpha Theta: 2 years
- Youth in Government: 2 years</p>
<p>Achievements:
- Two-time national qualifier in quiz bowl (top 8)
- One-time national qualifier in S&D, One-time state champion, Two-time semifinalist
- Special award given at Regional Science Fair
- National AP Scholar award</p>
<p>Summers:
- German-American Student Exchange (2008)
- National Forensics Tournament (2008)
- National Quiz Bowl Tournament (2009)
- College visits (2009)
- Tons of volunteer work all 3 summers</p>
<p>Prospective schools:
- Harvard University
- Stanford University
- Cornell University
- Duke University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Emory University
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- UC Berkeley
- UCLA</p>
<p>Well, what are my chances? I don't really know...hoping you guys can help out.</p>
<p>You’re from SC. College admissions are def less competitive there than here in NYC.
That’s a huge number of AP’s. Your SAT’s are solid; if you want harv, you might want higher SAT’s. Your SAT II’s are clearly really good, but I would take one more (certain top notch schools prefer 3). While I think most of your EC’s are “okay” (lots of Asians do the same things), the quiz bowl part is definitely impressive. </p>
<ul>
<li>Harvard University (bit of a stretch)</li>
<li>Stanford University (It’s possible)</li>
<li>Cornell University (You’ll get in)</li>
<li>Duke University (More likely than not)</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins University (You’ll get in)</li>
<li>Emory University (You’ll get in)</li>
<li>University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (You’ll get in)</li>
<li>UC Berkeley (You’ll get in)</li>
<li>UCLA (You’ll get in)</li>
</ul>
<p>robbiez: I definitely realize that my credentials aren’t top notch and might not warrant my applying to such prestigious colleges, but that’s why I’m on here isn’t it…to find out what my chances are.</p>
<p>Hopefully I can get some more input in order to be able to gauge my chances. =P</p>
<p>good SAT, mediocre class rank. Your ECs and awards are all from little competitions, you have nothing from the powerhouses (usamo, intel, etc.) After reading you’re application, I have no clue what you are interested in, which is a problem. You’re too much of the stereotypical asian applicant who wants top colleges but has no real passion in anything.</p>
<p>MeSsIah: Thanks for all the input. I do realize that my class rank is less than spectacular and that my ECs and awards aren’t from powerhouses. However, I would argue that four years commitment/achievements to soccer/quiz bowl/S&D definitely show my passion for not only sports, but activities that involve communicating with people all over the country. However, I can understand how you couldn’t make out my interests, because I realized, after presenting my application, that I forgot to include certain aspects of my summers spent such as touring Europe (specifically Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg) in the summer of my freshman year in order to immerse myself in a country with a language that’s not my own. I also forgot to expand my volunteer events (i.e. organizing a charity golf tournament raising over $50,000 for various charities, Relay for Life and March of Dimes, volunteering at a local doctor’s firm, etc.) I don’t know how much that factors into my interests and passion, but I do believe that I have genuine passion to not only interact with people nationally, but internationally…a trait that I personally believe all people who go into the medical profession need.</p>
<p>But yeah, just adding some stuff to my application. And my comment isn’t meant to debase your help, MeSsIaH…I just wanted to clear up some things so as to allow others to approximate my chances better.</p>
<p>asian75: Thanks for your input. I really appreciate it. Are Harvard, Stanford and UC Berkeley really not at all possible? I was benching on the idea that if I show enough uniqueness and ambition within my essays and recommendations that I’ll have a chance. I suppose my rank, ECs, and awards are killing me?</p>
<p>Thanks HonorsCentaur. I appreciate the input. However, the more and more people post, the more I feel that my efforts at admittance to Harvard/Stanford are in vain. I didn’t realize the extremities of their applicant decisions until now.</p>
<p>Well I certainly didn’t feel that way when I applied. I basically sat down and wrote my essay for Stanford 3 hours before it was due and turned in the appliation 2 min before the deadline. Still got in</p>
<p>I think you’ve got a great shot at all of those schools. Just write a killer essay that a) shows who you are as a person and b) brings focus and passion to what could otherwise come off as an unorganized list of ECs. Make all these seemingly divergent activities coalesce into an identity that is uniquely yours.
Best of luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip FashionCapital. =D Despite what anyone says, I’m not discouraged from applying to these schools. In my opinion, so long as I honestly and effectively convey to these schools what kind of person I am and how my passions coalesce together, I believe I have a shot at these schools =P. Besides, I don’t really have anything to lose from applying.</p>