where do i stand among transfer applicants?! Please rate....

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi all... I am an international student from Hong Kong China and I am now studying in a community college in California. I came to US a year ago...Thanks everybody for taking the time to read this post and comment....</p>

<p>Everything here is to the best of my knowledge. (just a little declaration. ^^)</p>

<p>COLLEGE
major: biochemistry
GPA: 3.926
SAT reasoning: (expect) CW~650 W~650 Math~770
SAT subject: chemistry 800 math IIc 780
ACT composite 27 (science 27 math 35 english 27 english 20 (***!!))
TOEFL: 267/300, essay 5.5
volunteer: stanford blood center, labortory assistant
EC: Speech and debate team of my college
academic honor: Dean's list I guess ><
recommendations: from 3 professors
essay: should be on my adjustment to the lifestyle of CA...mediocre topic but i guess i can write a faithful essay</p>

<p>HIGH SCHOOL
Grades: 1A 5B 2C 1D (my school curves and there are tons of geniuses...)
HKCEE grades (sth like IGCSE): 3A 4B 2C
Volunteer: just do some random stuff
EC:
1) Head prefect
2) recipients of some internal scholarships (the $$ is hecka small)
3) Chairman of Speech and Debate team
4) Chairman (Management side) of School Orchestra
5) Student representative</p>

<p>So...my list of target colleges (ranked according to my perception of admission chances)
1) University of Texas Austin (safe)
2) University of Washington Seattle + University of Wisconsin Madison (match)
4) Vanderbilt University (reach)
5) Cornell University (reach)
6) University of Pennsylvania, College of Arts and Science (Impossible I guess?)
7) Johns Hopkins University (Impossible)
8) Duke (Impossible)</p>

<p>So what do you guys think? Thank you once again....</p>

2

<p>You're a solid candidate to all the schools. I cant say you'll get in, but it is worth your time applying to all of them.</p>

3

<p>thanks...yuri....
a nice little bump haha</p>

4

<p>Don't assume UT is a safety. You're out of state.
An ACT of 27 probably won't do for UW-Madison. I hope you'll hit your SAT target; that ought to do the trick.</p>

5

<p>I am unsure about your HS record. However, i do think that some of the schools you are shooting for are practically impossible (like Upenn). If you reach your SAT goal, I think you'll be in at Vanderbilt, JHU, UT and U-Wisconsin.</p>

6

<p>If you are asking me, both Vanderbilt and Cornell are a little out-of-reach too. Especially Cornell.</p>

<p>You should shoot for other public ivies like UWash, UW and UT. Try Maryland-College Park for example. They have a great biotechnology program. Also you may want to consider University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. </p>

<p>If you really want to try one of your reaches, nothing keeps you from it. However, don't keep your hopes up about them. They are way too uncertain to hope for anything. </p>

<p>Maryland-College Park, Seattle, Madison, Austin, Urbana-Champaign.. Maybe Pittsburgh. You are quite strong in all of them. However, some of these schools may not admit internationals. I am quite sure that they do but double-check so that you don't kill me if you waste your $60 =)</p>

7

<p>thanks for all of your replies...
so the next question is...how can I make the application stronger...?
My big dream is to go to these good schools....</p>