Your Opinions on my Chances, Please...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi, I'm a high schoolie in South Korea. I attend a boarding school named KMLA. I will be graduating in February of 2006, and will attend a university in the U.S. starting in September of 2006.</p>

<p>Here's a list of the schools that I will apply to:</p>

<p>LEVEL 1</p>

<p>Harvard
MIT
Princeton
Stanford
Yale</p>

<p>LEVEL 2</p>

<p>Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
UC Berkeley</p>

<p>LEVEL 3 [Safety]</p>

<p>Johns Hopkins
Northwestern
U of Illinois at U-C
U of Michigan</p>

<p>And here's a detailed description of my high school activities... Please take the time to read it.</p>

<hr>

<p>GPA - 4.72/5.00 (3.78 on 4-point scale) NO RANK AVAILABLE</p>

<p>Verbal - 800
Math - 780
Writing - 780 (took as SAT II)
SAT I - 2360 (WILL TAKE THE NEW SAT I in JUNE)</p>

<p>Biology M - 770
Chemistry - 800
Math 2C - 800
Writing - 780
Physics - (WILL TAKE)
Japanese - (WILL TAKE)</p>

<p>AP Biology - 5
AP Calculus BC - 5 [AB Subscore: 5]
AP Chemistry - 4
AP Microeconomics - 5
AP Music Theory - 5 <a href="didn't%20take%20course">Aural and Non-Aural Subscores: 5</a>
AP English Language - 4 (didn't take course)
AP English Literature - 4
AP European History - 3 (-_-)
AP Physics B - 4</p>

<p>(WILL TAKE)
AP Physics B (again)
AP Environmental Science (no course)
AP Macroeconomics
AP Physics C Mechanics (no course)
AP U.S. History</p>

<p>TOEFL CBT 293</p>

<p>Major #1: Environmental Science or Biology
Major #2: Music</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS/AWARDS</p>

<p>Music-Related</p>

<p>-Piano (13 years - 8 years classical, 5 years jazz)
-Percussion/Drums (5 years)
-Clarinet (5 years)
-Saxophone (2 years)
-Recipient of $1,500 Scholarship for Berklee School of Music 5-Week Summer Performance Program (2002)
-Lead Janggu Player in Korean traditional percussion ensemble 'Samulnori' (2003-2004)
<em>Student at Berklee School of Music 5-Week Summer Performance Program (2003)</em>
<em>Keyboardist & Founding Member of rock band 'PentaTonic' (2003-2004)</em>
<em>Conductor/Head, Arranger, Pianist & Founding Member of 'KMLA Orchestra' (2004-2005)</em>
-Gold Prize in School Pop Song Contest (2004)
<em>Recipient of $7,000 Scholarship for Berklee School of Music Undergraduate Program (2004)</em>
-Nominated for 'Proud Student of Gangwon Province' Award, Fine Arts Division
*CURRENTLY waiting for a Jazz Piano Trio CD to be released on Jave Entertainment, Ltd. (~Summer 2005) [all tracks composed or arranged by myself] *</p>

<p>Athletics</p>

<p><em>PF/C on School Basketball Team - JV 9th grade, Varsity 11th grade <a href="2001-02,%202004">2nd Place in 39th Gangwon Province Athletics Competition</a></em>
-Member of School Track & Field Team - 9th grade (2002)
-Member of Department of Physical Health - 10th and 11th grades (2003-2004)
-3rd Baseman on School Baseball Team - 10th grade <a href="2003">1st Place in 38th Gangwon Province Athletics Competition</a>
-1st Dan (Degree) in Tae Kwon Do (2004)
-Member of Basketball Club 'CrossOver' - 11th and 12th grades (2004-2005)</p>

<p>Social Service</p>

<p><em>Habitat for Humanity Global Village Programs @ Greater Metro Manila (80 hours)</em>
-Pyeongchang Mitan Middle School Student Tutoring (18 hours)
-In-school Tutoring (18 hours)
-Other In-school Volunteer Work (23 hours)
-OTHER VARIOUS... TOTAL 192 hours</p>

<p>Biology</p>

<p>-Co-author of a Biology Thesis; written during Biology Project Study (10th grade - 2nd sem; 11th grade - 1st & 2nd sem; 12th grade - 1st sem)
<em>Internship @ Genetic Biology Lab in Myongji University - TOTAL 320 hours (2004 Summer, 2005 Winter)</em></p>

<p>English & Philosophy</p>

<p>-Participant in the 1st National English Debate Competition hosted by Sehan Academy (2004)
<em>Grand Prize in the 8th National English Scholastic Ability Competition hosted by Sungkyunkwan University, 11th Grade Division (2004)</em>
<em>Co-Author of 'English Diaries? Ask Mr. Jeong!' (2001) [over 10,000 copies sold]</em>
-Author of 'American School Life: Through The Eyes of a Korean Student' (2004) [over 250 copies sold]
<em>Representative of South Korea in the 12th International Philosophy Olympiad (2004) [15th individual, no award]</em></p>

<p>AP-Related</p>

<p>-AP Scholar with Honor (2003)
-AP Scholar with Distinction (2004)</p>

<p>Scholarships</p>

<p>-Yeongjae Scholarship (2004)
-Recipient of $1,500 Scholarship for Berklee School of Music 5-Week Summer Performance Program (2002)
<em>Recipient of $7,000 Scholarship for Berklee School of Music Undergraduate Program (2004)</em></p>

<p>Others</p>

<p><em>Captain of Team 'VAMOS' on Arirang TV's Quiz Champion; 5-consecutive winning team</em></p>

<hr>

<p>More than anything, my not-so-good grades seem to be the tripping stone here. Although there are fewer than 50 students in my grade, seeing that everyone's really smart at my school, I'm not even in the top half... In addition, there's none of the upward trend that shows improvement in my GPA, either.</p>

<p>I'm hoping that my high SAT scores (or not so high?) and my extracurricular activities/awards - important ones labeled with asterisks - will make up for some of it. I'm also planning to send the books that I've written, the CD that I recorded, and another CD containing scores of the orchestral pieces that I've arranged or composed.</p>

<p>Honestly, what do you think my changes are? I seriously need some feedback on this. (I can't even sleep properly these days) Also, if you think that some other schools might be a better match for me, I'd really appreciate it if you told me. Thanx for taking your time! ^^b</p>

<p>Some Websites Related to the above Information</p>

<p>KMLA (My Boarding School) -> <a href="http://www.minjok.hs.kr%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.minjok.hs.kr&lt;/a>
Berklee School of Music -> <a href="http://www.berklee.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.berklee.edu&lt;/a>
Arirang TV -> <a href="http://www.arirang.co.kr%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.arirang.co.kr&lt;/a>
KMLA Orchestra Homepage -> <a href="http://smk1987.com.ne.kr%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://smk1987.com.ne.kr&lt;/a>
KMLA Orchestra Homepage OLD -> <a href="http://www.geocities.com/kmlaorchestra/eindex.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.geocities.com/kmlaorchestra/eindex.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>im pretty sure level 1 is almost a match. 50%. level 2 is your fallback</p>

3

<p>you obviously have a chance, but the fact that yo bothered to post so many insignificant ec's proves to me that you need to get a life.</p>

4

<p>so whats the deal, just some kid from a rich family? do you take initaitive? or are all of your feats served to you?</p>

5

<p>Impressive stats. Seriously, how did you manage your time?</p>

6

<p>As a fellow korean who is now currently living in US, I might be able give you some important infos on college admission process.........trust me you'll find it worth your time
oh by the way, how is minjok sagwan highschool......your classmates are cream-of-the-crop among all the korean students but that still doesn't guarentee your admission............if you want to know more about the US college admin process, e-mail me at <a href="mailto:ychong@sbcglobal.net............trus">ychong@sbcglobal.net............trus</a>t me you'll find that many things about college admissions over here are very different from what you hear in korea.........i can clear up lots of myths and false rumors that could potentially cloud up the issue</p>

<p>either e-mail or Instant message if you have AIM (sn: Cardinal880804).......by the way, have you ever lived in US......? that can seriously give you some more insights on how everything works around here.</p>

7

<p>when u say a 3.78 makes nwestern a safety, i think ur funny</p>

<p>wow u posted a lot of worthless junk, CONGRATULATIONS!!!</p>

8

<p>^yo the top post...this guy is a foreigner. Cut him sum slack. I dont think he realizes the presiege that Nwestern and JH has. Yo, smk_pianoman . excellent grade but put sum realistic safties like couple lower UC's. Because to tell you the truth, the safteies you put are most people's reaches.</p>

9

<p>Wow...this guys goes to Minjok! I heard about a girl from that boarding school who got accepted to 11 top universities last year (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, CIT...)</p>

<p>Keep up the good work!</p>

10

<p>Hmm... I do realize that my extracurriculars are a bit disorganized. But anyone who doesn't know the situation at my school probably should note the fact that doing an extracurricular activity for a long period of time is something quite rare.</p>

<p>Only the things with the asterisks will go on the application; the rest will be sent on an attached resume. To that fella who called my previous post 'a lot of worthless junk,' I would really like to know just how much 'worthless junk' is in that guy's life. -_-</p>

<p>Not to brag or anything, but the GPA system at my school is quite rigorous; the student with the highest GPA in my grade has one of 4.94/5.00. (3.95 on a 4-point scale) And the average SAT score in my grade is about 1500. Is that good enough?</p>

<p>Maybe I was wrong, though, to label some of the 'Level 3' schools as 'Safety.' Wish I could edit the previous post, but no avail.</p>

<p>Sorry if that offended anyone.</p>

11

<p>And also, although my extracurriculars seem to be numerous, there are still students with even more impressive extracurriculars and stats at my school. And yes, I have a life.</p>

<p>Want to tell you what I did yesterday? After studying for my economics quiz, I took about an hour to pay attention to my virtual city in SimCity 4.</p>

<p>And no, I'm not some rich kid. I only do what I want to do, and I did very little of what's considered 'resume padding.'</p>

<p>Just because I categorized my EC's and they seem a bit more numerous than the average student, doesn't mean that I necessarily went for quantity over quality. You should check out some of the girls at my school if you really want to see quantity-over-quality.</p>

<p>And I'm really glad there's some people who know my school! It's quite surprising, considering it's not even 10 years old currently.</p>

<p>P.S. The girl from my school who got into all those prestigious schools actually got rejected from Yale EA. I really don't know how, though...</p>

12

<p>I understand you're international...and no offense, but it seems that you looked at a "US top 15" schools list and simply applied to those. You need to look past prestige. I can understand somebody applying to say, Harvard, Columbia, and UPENN. Those are all in fairly large cities, and have a lot in common. I even understand your applying to all the ivies, but schools like dartmouth and harvard are completely different, and if you are just applying to schools based on prestige, maybe you should reconsider.</p>

13

<p>HAHA....I hope you're Black/Hispanic/Native American calling Johns Hopkins and Northwestern safeties, anyways I get that you probably didn't understand the prestige. One thing I would say is that you do have kind of a laundry list of EC's, maybe you could combine some of them or do something to show that you are more focused in a specific area</p>

14

<p>The only real "safety" that you'd have is UIUC; and I don't even know their International acceptance rate.</p>

<p>Many of your schools are ** NOT ** need-blind for internationals, and I do hope that you keep that in mind. Although, with all of your achievements, I don't think this will be a problem.</p>

<p>You know, reading through your profile is like reading through a Wikipedia article. Especially the "external links" thing at the end, that really made me laugh.</p>

<p>In all seriousness, expect some disappointing results, and then some good, smile-invoking ones as well. Depending on how well you display yourself to the admissions committee, you may find yourself very happy or very disappointed come next April.</p>

<p>You seem to have a hodgepodge, prestige-oriented list of schools; exactly what are you planning to study again? Your music extracurriculars are not going to be too large of a plus for you; almost all the schools that you listed have excellent violin/piano, etc., players, and unless you are recruitable... forget the sports.</p>

<p>Remember, with the schools you are applying to, although you may be a somewhat desirable candidate, you are not an "in." I'd classify all of these schools, except UIUC, as a reach for you, precisely because of a) your international status and your b) hodgepodged extracurricular lists. Spreading yourself too thin makes you a target for weakness when it comes to college admissions decisions. </p>

<p>Then again, it's all about how you display yourself. If you manage to tie in everything well in your essays, etc., then you will obviously do well.</p>