Please share your thoughts on the whereabouts of my chances to the following colleges which I have applied for the Fall term of 2009. They are all regular decision: Columbia College, Cornell – College of Arts n Sciences (1st choice), Cornell Engineering (alternate choice), University of Pennsylvania – Penn Engineering, NYU, Cooper Union, and Macaulay Honors College at City College. Thanks. Much appreciated.
Stats:
SAT I – CR: 600, M: 740, W: 640. (I am taking the SAT I again in January, so hopefully I will get a 2100+.)
My Prediction for my Jan24th score results: Cr: My 600 will stay (I feel I went down.) Math: 770+. Writing: 750+
SAT II – MATH 1 – 710, Chemistry – 670, MATH 2 – 650.
GPA: 3.88/4.0.
Rank: 4/92.
AP: 4 – Environmental Science (Only AP offered- I go to a small school.)
Senior Courses: No APs, but all my courses are honors.
Extra Note: I am graduating in three years from my high school. I am in an Honors Accelerated Program, which challenges gifted students with rigorous courses and allows them to graduate with an Advanced Regents Diploma. The Program contains 29 students. The remaining 63 seniors are not in the Honors Class. The class is very competitive and I rank 4/29. The three students ahead of me are all in the Honors Program. The #1 student’s cumulative academic average is only ahead of my cumulative average by .60. This program is diverse and I am coming from a small school in the Bronx.
Extracurricular Activities:
- Team Captain for Robotics Competition. – One Semester – 3hrs/week
- President/Tutor of Math Club – All three years of high school. – 1.5hrs/week
- Alianza Dominica Inc. – Biotechnology – Group Leader – One Semester – 4hrs/week
- College Now Programs (Rigorous College Classes offered to high school students) – American Government (One Semester), Medical Terminology (One Semester) – Psychology (One Semester) Law and Social Change (One Semester) – 3hrs/week for all programs.
- Chess Club – Tournament Referee
- Guitar Club
- Newspaper/English Club – Head of Sports/Puzzles section for newspaper
- Online Pre – Med Course
- Volunteer at New York Public Library – Started Sept. 2008 – 4hrs/week
- Community Service at the 92nd Street Y. Homework Helper and Cooking Assistant -Total hrs= 28
Acheivements/Memberships:
Member of Gauss Honors Class – 2006 – 2009
Member of National Honor Society – 2007 – 2009
Alianza Dominica, Inc Outstanding Performance and Contributions Certificate – 2007
Medal for Alianza Dominica AIDP/CAPS Program “For Your Improvement 2007”
American Chemical Society Certificate for Participation in the 2008 U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad Local Competition
Personal:
Location: Bronx, NY
High School Type: Public – Small school inside William H. Taft.
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income: <$60,000
Other:
All of my courses since freshman year were honors.
Personal Essay: I believe was great but not perfect.
Supplement Essays: Great
Letters of Recommendation: Both were awesome.
Guidance Counselor Rec: Okay
Your SAT scores are so so. GET THEM UP.
GPA is solid.
Class rank is good.
Regardless if your school offered AP or not, the deans will see this and think you don’t like to challange yourself. IB/AP rank above any other class type, but you are in an honors program which is good, so you don’t be "killed off" by this catagory. Also your rank in this is good.
Any of your "one semester" extra cirriculars, just throw those away. Colleges will see those and think you did them only for colleges, not by choice/interest, which may or may not be true. The ones which you’ve been in for at least 1 year, with a leadership position, will be the one to sell yourself on. The online course is academic. And how long were you in the newspaper? If it’s at least one year, that would be good. Also, the 28 hours volunteering part will not help you much. if you want a volunteer service to be really noticed, you need at least 100 hours at one place.
Your awards are ok. Nothing too amazing, not to shatter your feelings, but it’s true.
Your personal-part is interesting. To start, I’m sorry to say New York, and the east coast in general, is one of the most competitive states/regions in the US, you will have ALOT of competition, because colleges like a diverse student population of states, countries, and ethnicities. Which brings me to point 2, you being asian, I’m sorry to say doesn’t help either. You may be a minority in the US, but not in colleges, but an asian does stand out better than a white person, as racist as that sounds. Not sure how the income will effect you.
COlumbia judges you alot on your writing, so you better hope they love your essay. And I hope your letters of reccomendation were great too. If it’s from a teacher, coach, or someone else you’ve known for a long time, that will mean more than anything.
So, can you get in? Who knows, only the current dean of Admissions. Just remember, thousands of perfect applicants, with perfect grades in the highest courses possible, get turned down every year. SO good luck to you.