<p>Grade: Junior
Ethnicity: Asian
GPA: 90.38 (the highest GPA in school is probably 96.8)
ranking: 24/129. by the end of this yr, I will be in top 10%
AP Classes: taking 3, calc, physics, mandarin
teachers' recommendations: not a problem
personal recommendation: not a problem
education:
Cornell Summer School 2009, grade: 91
this year's summer is most likely going to be Harvard/Stanford.
SAT:~2100
ECs:
Chinese Club. (president, founder) 3 yrs by the time I app.
School Ping Pong Team (captain) 2 yrs by the time I app.
YMCA Leaders' Club (former president, current member) 4 yrs by the time I app.
CPC, Chinese American Planning Council. Volunteer. 3.5 yrs by the time I app.
Community service hrs: 400 hrs.<br>
awards: best volunteer. Principle's star student.
Special circumstances: came to the US 6 yrs ago (by the time I app), first generation that goes to college. Both parents are illiterate. </p>
<p>what is my chance? what do i need improvements on?</p>
<p>People with 2350 SAT and a 97% get rejected —> put ur application into perspective (u arent an Olympic Champion, national champion, state champion, county champion, province champion or even regional champion) </p>
<p>The best school i see you getting into might be Chicago, JHU, Northwestern etc. even those are reaches, once again, u have no chance at top 10s</p>
<p>I wanna say that applying to college is not just black and white. gpy and sat is not everything. my gpa may be low, but the highest gpa in the school is 3.9 (weighted) and my high school is extremely competitive, it is ranked # 64 in the united states. (check up US news, best high schools). my grade went from 82 to a 96 during freshman and sophomore year. I am going to get over 101 this year. yea I know Harvard wants straight A students, but they love students that have exponential growth in their report card grades even more. I saw my sister got into Columbia College with 2090 SAT and 93 gpa, and I am doing everything that she did. how does these facts fit into your people’s opinions? please be considerate of what you say, not just to me, but to everybody else. </p>
<p>for those who wants to apply to top 10 schools. Try hard in school, and built a great relationship with your teachers. Do something within the school that will shock all your teachers, like pulling off first ever Career Day (this is what I did). Show the admission officers that you are trying all your best, consistent in all your ECs. You need four, no more that. Make sure you have at least 1 sport team within the ECs. Remember, there are only 6-7 slots on the common app EC column, having 4 ECs with consistency makes your application look great.</p>
<p>I got accepted to all of the Ivies.
I’ve helped pick Ivy League students.
I know what the Ivies are looking for. </p>
<p>You are not it.</p>
<p>Nothing is impossible, but don’t get your hopes up. The big 10 care very little about how good your highschool is. If you can’t cut it at a good high school, what makes you think you can cut it at a great college?</p>
<p>Honestly, the GPA plus the 91 in summer school are not going to help you.-get straight As from now on, get a 95 or higher at your summer program this year, and the Chinese Club is useless, unless it does a LOT of outreach to the disadvantaged. Spend that time tutoring or join a literacy volunteer program and boost that part of your app.</p>
<p>princiPAL’s star student-what is that?
Apply to your state universities.
Who is advising you that you are competitive for Stanford/Harvard? The principal?</p>
<p>Once again, #1 - UR GPA AND SAT AREN’T THAT GREAT —> this almost automatically puts u at the bottom of the list - sure EC’s are important, but grades are definitely MORE important</p>
<p>Secondly, ur EC’s aren’t that great either… What you said above applies to millions of students, what makes you so special??? Why should they feel that you are truly passionate and THE ONE. Fact is, u arent special in any way and u got no chance.</p>
<p>Also, the fact that you said “only 6 or 7 slots” on common app reveals ur character and that you are doing your EC’s to fill up the app. Why care how many SLOTS there are??? (if you get what i mean)</p>
<p>I have a much stronger app than yours and the best schools I am considering are Berekley, JHU, Northwestern… I have friends and family members who have gotten into top schools like Yale and Harvard, and trust me, they are amazing.</p>
<p>Also, what is your hook??? You must have a hook if you even want to be considered for those schools.</p>
<p>Your only chance of getting into the top ten schools is if you in the Intel Science Talent Search or you make to the IMO.</p>
<p>90.38 is nowhere near close enough to get into the top ten schools. I have a 97 GPA, am in 10th grade, and I’m working my ass off just to get a shot at CORNELL.</p>
<p>To the OP, why are you getting defensive? You came on here asking for everyone’s opinion. Did you expect to hear that you had a good shot and because you’re not hearing that you are defending yourself? Why does it matter so much to get into a “top 10” school? If you really are making the best of high school then carry that into college no matter where you go and you will succeed. College acceptances aren’t about “winning,” they’re about finding your HOME for the next 4 years.</p>
<p>In regards to your chances, though. I have to agree with everyone on here. An enormous number of kids across the countries have spectacular EC’s, are varsity athletes, and/or have incredible obstacles they’ve overcome. Having all that volunteer work is great, and I hope it made you happy, but save being an olympic athlete or being nationally recognized for some event you organized/ volunteer work you’ve done… NO EXTRACURRICULAR will ever be more important to a college than your grades. You are at school to learn first and foremost. Colleges want EC’s to have rounded students, but more so want students who can meet the standards of the academic environment they have. I am sorry you have obviously worked hard, but the top 10 schools in this country are almost positively not going to believe someone with barely an A- Average and decent SAT’s will thrive at their school. Do not take it as an insult to your intelligence, go to a school where you can thrive because that’s where you’ll be happiest.</p>
<p>My purpose for this thread is not really asking for people’s opinion abt my chance.</p>
<p>I posted this thread because I know I am doing bad in school, but I can do way better. This post is more like a stimulus packet that i need to actuate myself, to pull myself together. you know? </p>
<p>Because all you guys are saying all those worst stuffs in the world, that actually makes me angry and try super duper hard in school.</p>
<p>I just have 2 more question:<br>
if you are a Harvard admission officer. do you take straight A+ student, or do you take students that show efforts in their grade?
is there anything else I should do with my ECs? I know I will be competing in citywide ping pong tournaments. </p>
<p>thanks people, you guys really did a good job in p!ssing/inspiring me</p>