What are my weaknesses?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I realize that it's too early to post an actual chance thread since I'm only a sophomore, but I'd really like a better idea of where I need to improve. Right now, I'm looking at applying to MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford (like no chance, since I'm hoping for a bit of financial aid), Dartmouth, and Johns Hopkins. I know it looks like I'm just applying to "big-name" schools, but really, I'm just trying to apply to schools that are full-need for international students, or specifically, Canadians...it would be awesome if you could suggest a few (they don't necessarily have to be need-blind, just full need).</p>

<p>ANYWAY, moving on.</p>

<p>Objective stats:
Gender: Female (lol can't really change this...)
Ethnicity: Asian (lol can't change this either)
UW GPA: ~95.8/100 (School doesn't weight)
Class rank: ~6/116 (competitive private school)
SAT I (retaking in October): 2250 (800M, 730CR, 720/8W)
PSAT: 237 (80M, 80CR, 77W)
APs: APES and APUSH this year (exams only), Bio, Chem, Calc AB, Stats next year (exams only for Calc and Stats), Calc BC, a Physics one, and a couple more senior year. My school only offers 4 APs.
Family income: <150 000</p>

<p>ECs (grades are in brackets)
A sport that isn't that popular (but it is in the Olympics!) (3-12)
-20 hours/week
-nationally ranked, have competed internationally
DECA (10-12)
-Top 10 at Provincials
Math Club (8-12)
-Executive since 10th grade
Art Club (7-12)
-Executive since 9th grade
-Organized fundraiser
Ballet/Jazz (1-12)
-Got Intermediate certification for ballet in 9th grade
-Regularly do charity performances
Equity Committee (9-12)
-Moderate in-school discussions
-Organized various campaigns
Summer programs at top Canadian universities (9-10)
Volunteering at a centre for disabled children (10-12) and elementary school (7-12)
-Currently have >300 hours
Summer Camp Counselor (9)</p>

<p>Awards
-COMC (Canadian equivalent of AMC/AIME) honour roll
-Canadian Biology Olympiad Top 20
-Top 10 in the Michael Smith Science Challenge (out of ~2000), Cayley Math Contest (out of ~20 000) and top 20 in the Fermat Math Contest (out of ~20 000)
-Honour roll in the Canadian Computing Competition, Pascal Math Contest, Fryer Math Contest, Galois Math Contest and a bunch of other random contests
-Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award</p>

<p>Sorry for the long post, and thanks for reading!</p>

2

<p>Have you taken SAT Subject Tests? If not, you’ll need to do that as well.</p>

3

<p>I haven’t taken any yet, but I’m planning on taking US History this June, Math 2 in January, and Biology/Chem (possibly both) next June.</p>

4

<p>Bumpity bump</p>

5

<p>Why not taking US History and Math2 SAT2 together? It is cheaper this way.</p>

6

<p>Really? I didn’t know that…I’ll look into adding Math 2 to my US History test in June.</p>

7

<p>$23 for registration and $12 per subject.</p>

8

<p>Ah okay, thanks so much for letting me know!</p>

<p>Also, looking at my list of schools, it would be awesome if someone could suggest some more matches that fit my criteria of being full-need (not necessarily need-blind) for Canadians (since some schools differentiate between Canadians/Mexicans and other internationals I think?). Right now, I only have safeties and reaches (listed above).</p>

9

<p>Nice stats, like the other guy said, get your SAT2s taken care of. Aim for those 800s. You’ll probably get an 800 on math in your sleep lol.</p>

<p>Everything looks great, just make sure your essays/recs are good and show off your personality and you should get into a couple of top tier schools. At your stats its just based on luck. </p>

<p>Good luck with apps next year.</p>

10

<p>Thanks for the reply!
I sure hope I get an 800 in math (and maybe something else too?)!</p>

<p>I’ll probably start working on my essays next summer. I already have some ideas about what to write about :)</p>

11

<p>alot of of incredibly high reaches for an international student :confused: May want to apply ED to your top choice and EA to the rest</p>

12

<p>Thanks for the replies!</p>

<p>@Nalenthi:
Can’t really help the international thing, and I’m also hoping for an improvement in my SAT score. I agree with the ECs being scattered thing…I kinda want to go into Biology/CS or maybe Bioinformatics, so I guess I could orient some of them around that, but the rest is mostly for personal enjoyment. Regarding APs, that’s why I’m only doing the exams for most of them. I’m self-studying and taking the exams at another school that offers them. LOL I was a bit ambiguous in my statement earlier…I meant that I had a ton of reaches which I listed, and a bunch of safeties which I didn’t list.</p>

<p>@collegeeager:
Yeah, I agree, right now I have 7 super-reaches…I’ll try to EA/ED as much as possible, but I know that Yale, Harvard, and Stanford only have SCEA :S. This is just a tentative list, and I’m going to try and whittle it down to 3 or so.</p>

13

<p>Anyone else?</p>

14

<p>Everything looks good to me. I’d say you’re a reach at all those schools, but this is a scale that goes from safety ------------> never happening, so reach is about the best you can hope for for HYPSM.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I disagree about it needing to improve; 2250 is competitive for any of these schools and I know that MIT (and possibly others) don’t weight SAT that heavily in admissions after they make sure it’s not alarmingly low. And PSAT scores aren’t a great indicator…I took the SAT freshman year, got a 2250, then got 229 on the PSAT the same year, then got a 217 on the PSAT my junior year (only got commended scholar, frustrating!). But those things kind of bounce back and forth. Either way, a 2250 is a fine score for any of those schools. Take it again if you want to (I did, and I did worse LOL), but it’s not gonna be crucial to your application.</p>

15

<p>Yay at least reach means I still have a chance (even if it’s tiny!) I’ll probably retake the SAT, and if I do worse, I’ll just submit my first one (well, except for the schools that don’t allow Score Choice). And aww that must have been kind of upsetting…you must live in a high cut-off state?</p>