Hi, I’m relatively new to College Confidential, but I would just like to know my chances…
On the SSAT, I got the 95th percentile overall, with a score between 2230-2240. All of my scores for reading, math, and verbal was above 90th percentile.
I do tennis, and I am on the junior varsity team for my school
I do Model UN, and all the resolutions I have submitted so far have been picked, and I was chair for VSA, an MUN event in Hong Kong. In addition to this, I was picked to go to Tasmun, which is in Taiwan International School (Not sure if this is the correct name)
I do G.I.P.S, (Global Issues Problem Solving) and I was picked by the G.I.P.S board to go to Kenya, where we basically given a problem, and we had to think of solutions and write something similar to a resoultion paper in MUN.
I am in Math +8, which is something like honors in our school.
I have consistently gotten A’s and I have recieved two honor rolls, one with distiction and the other just being a normal one.
In addition to this, I participate in service trips; ME to WE, going by myself to go to Cambodia to help build houses, educating children though our school’s adopt a school program, participating in We are silent day (raised around 300 USD)
TELL ME! WHAT IS MY CHANCE OF GETTING INTO THESE FIVE SCHOOLS?
Please reply ASAP
Whoops! I forgot to mention that I almost made it into Mathcount’s Nationals that are taking place in Vietnam. Should I mention this in my upcoming interviews?
I don’t give chances, because I think they’re pointless; once you’re in the ballpark, which you are, it’s all up to admissions.
I will offer as a suggestion, as a graduate of one of these fine schools, that even the kids whose families are uber-rich tend to downplay these “service” trips to far-flung destinations, because they just reek of privilege.
I have a family member who is studies in one of the schools you mentioned and I believe that you can actually make it and it depends on how you did your interview. Showing all these destinations you have been to and he community service you have done won’t really help you much because any of the schoools you have chosen dont really care about something like that as it doesnt really show much to go to destinations on the other side of the world to help as you give back to your community and thus you might want to mention local communitiy service you have done(if you have ) alongside these which don’t need a ton of money and a student applying for full fa could have done. Additionaly the work you have done doesnt really show you have a thoguhtful mind to the poor or trying really hard and thinking about helping the poor but instead kind of indicates that you have alot of money and you just did spmething to use as a part of your admission.But as I said earlier you might be able to make it even without showing all these services.
I can’t tell for certain from the post but it sounds as though the poster might be living in either Hong Kong or Taiwan? In which case service work in Cambodia is not all that far flung… If memory serves for example I believe Hong Kong to Cambodia would be about a three hour flight.So would you be dismissive of a New York City student volunteering in Appalachia? I do agree that service learning has turned into somewhat of an “industry” which can be off putting and appear insincere, so one should be mindful of that. But I would not dismiss the service work out of hand.
If I came across that way, it was unintentional. If so, I apologize.
As a matter of fact, yes. While “dismissive” is not the word I would have used, I would look askance at any applicant, whether to a boarding school or a college, who hypes up a “service” trip that they (or let’s be real, their parents) paid for.
While providing service in Appalachia is certainly needed, the student in NYC can perform as much good at a fraction of the cost by hopping on the 4/5/6 train to 125th Street.
True, but I think a lot of kids do both. BTW, as I mentioned, i do think there is something a bit misguided going on with
“service learning”, but I don’t want to stray off topic.