Would it be worth applying MIT or Yale?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey everyone, I'd really appreciate any sort of advice.
Not to mention that I'll DEFINITELY Chance back (with whatever meager knowledge I possess) if you post a link.</p>

<p>I am a senior in South Korea(Male), and I believe that my school is one of the best high schools in South Korea.(the only Korean high school ranked in Wall street journal, Sending aprroximately 20 to Ivy leagues every year)</p>

<p>The thing makes me nervous is that I have bad standardized test scores, and there are many students in South Korea(and widely, in Asia) who have SAT scores 2300++, lots of APs and ECs. I am worried that whether I could differentiate myself or even compete. The only thing I expect is that I am an American citizen so I could apply for Early Action in MIT and 'some'(not many) awards.</p>

<p>-Standardized test scores
My SAT Scores are
SAT I : CR 630 Writing 730 Math 790
SAT II : Math IIC(800), Physics(790), and Chemistry(800)
I will(should) take one more SAT I Test and I think I can rise up my CR score by 700.(I should get a higher score, but I'm not sure that I can)</p>

<p>I got 32 in ACT(English 30, Math 36, Reading 29, Science 33)
Also 109 in Toefl.</p>

<p>And I've took 8 AP exams
-Calculus BC
-Computer Science A
-Physics C(Mechanics)
-Physics C(Electronics)
-Microeconomics
-Macroeconomics
-Chemistry
-Computer Science AB
All except that last one(CSAB) are 5, and CSAB is 4.</p>

<p>I think I had many small and big awards, so I will abridge them shortly
-Special Prize in International Robot Olympiad(Went Malaysia last year)
-First Place in our province Robot Olympiad
-3rd place award in International Robot Softwar Competition
-Certificate of Excellence in USAMO(First Korea living American to take the test)
-142/150 in AMC, 11/15 in AIME, became a school winner in AMC 12A(I took this when I was a sophomore, there are 4 small awards that I got from AMC, AIME, USAMO such as Honor Roll of Distinction Pin, or whatever)
-The only student who got 3 year full amount scholarship from my high school, by winning the First Place in the Math Olympiad sponsored by my school.(approximately 3 thousand dollars a year)
-2nd Place in our School Festival by a 10 page math paper.</p>

<p>I had some internships in my vacations
- Worked in PIRO(an institute in the Korea Top 3 universtiy in engineering, Pohang Universtiy) for 2 weeks.
- Designed a Disposable micro blender in a Korea branch office of an America Company Promega
- Internship with a prominent math professor(examinor of Korea Math Olymiad) for 3 weeks
- Intership for a CongressWomen as my school club member.</p>

<p>But my volunteering activities and ECs are quite poor
- I was a DJ(turntablist) in my school HipHop Club, can do somewhat scratching with my LPs.(Did performances in our province for children day)
- Volunteered for the blind by making Braille letters in my School Club, and also teaching children(approximately 100 hours, aggregated)
- Swimming, Kumdo(Kendo), Economic newspaper are all ECs but not significant
- I was a vice-chief in my school Environment Department</p>

<p>And the poorest is my GPA, which is 3.65 -> 3.79 -> 3.89 -> 4.13 -> 4.42(weighted) thanks god it is increasing kk</p>

<p>I thought about majoring Computer Science, but I changed my mind to major Mathematics, because most of the B's in my GPA are Computer Science. I took Precalculus, Calculus, Differential equations, Linear Algebra, Discrete Combinations as a math course, all As)</p>

<p>I will describe myself as :
An American citizen in a quite good high school in South Korea, loves HipHop music(wakes up and sleeps with my earphone on, bought hundred albums), have some talent in Math and Computer(not only Java, but also AutoCad, Robot C, and even computer games[school winner]) but don't have talent in English, especially a bad writer, who wants to major Math.</p>

<p>My main questions are :</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Do I have chance in MIT, Yale(preferred), Duke, Cornell, UC Berkeley(next preferred)</p></li>
<li><p>Shall I take SAT once more, or ACT once more(I think I can get 33, or 34 if I take one more time)</p></li>
<li><p>What should I do in my summer vacation? ECs? Volunteering?</p></li>
</ul>

<p>And absolutely, any other advices!</p>

<p>Thank you for reading this long thing despite many grammar mistakes :)</p>

2

<p>Hey! I’m a fellow South Korean here (even though I spent middle and high school in the US). I’m one year above you though (going to college this fall). Let me guess – you went to Minsah-goh or Daewon-wehgoh? :wink: </p>

<p>YES I DO THINK YOU HAVE A CHANCE! Don’t put yourself down so much. You have quite strong EC’s (designing a microblender? that’s so cool.) Your awards in the math section are good, too. </p>

<p>You might want to bring up your SAT/ACT score a bit; the only thing that could drag you down is the 630CR or the 29 Reading. You should retake whichever you’re more comfortable with. If you can get your CR above 700, I think you definitely have a fairly strong shot at both MIT and Yale. (Maybe a better one at Yale; they’re more actively trying to get math/science people to attend) </p>

<p>– if you have any more questions about applying to colleges or etc. feel free to PM me. Hey, we Koreans gotta stand by each other. :D</p>

3

<p>Before I get into it, I want to say that you going to a school in South Korea and coming to America for College is EXTREMELY cool lol. I know international students do this all the time but this is the first time I heard of it. </p>

<p>Now on to it: I think that you have a strong resume to present to these schools but unfortunately, your SAT scores may be something that will hold you down a bit, but I don’t think it would overall detract from what you have to offer to MIT and Yale.</p>

<p>-D o I have chance in MIT, Yale(preferred), Duke, Cornell, UC Berkeley(next preferred)
You have a chance at all, no one here can really tell you “you’re so in!” with Ivies because history has shown that students with numbers like yours have been admitted over students with higher numbers. It’s all about what you have to offer and what makes you different from the pool of applicants. I would like to say you have a good shot, but I wouldn’t know with these Ivies and Top schools.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Shall I take SAT once more, or ACT once more(I think I can get 33, or 34 if I take one more time)
It won’t hurt – just make sure that you’re confident in maintaining that score or getting higher. If you think that you can’t pull off a 2000+ again, I would leave it.</p></li>
<li><p>What should I do in my summer vacation? ECs? Volunteering?
Don’t start doing things to add to your long list of EC’s. Like I said, you have to differentiate yourself from the pool of applicants. Do something that is meaningful to you; don’t go do 20 events in the Summer and list them all on your resume, because colleges, espicially Ivies see right through that and it could possibly do more harm than good.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>And absolutely, any other advices!
I would say that you have a decent fair shot. Not to sound trite, but your numbers are pretty much common when applying to these schools. I honestly think that if you could get good Recs, write a stellar essay
you’ll be fine. I think based off of your ECs you have a lot to offer. Good luck =]</p>