Chance an Average Asian

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>I’m an average Vietnamese guy. My parents are fugitives of the Vietnam War, and both lived in ultra-low income families until they started their own lives starting with going to UCLA (both of them). I live in Diamond Bar, California and go to Diamond bar High School. I’m am a smart and ambitious guy (even though my grades/SAT/ECs don’t reflect it). I’m the type of person who loves to learn everything about everything in my free time (except when it comes to college apps). So help me out and tell me where I should apply (up to 10 schools to apply to).</p>

<p>Freshman:
Alg II/ Trig Honors
Biology Honors
English I Honors
Chinese I Honors (I am not Chinese, and have no connections to Chinese people)
SRC/IC3 (state required-course + general health/driving stuff)
PE</p>

<p>Sophomore:
Math Analysis / Calc. Honors
Chemistry Honors
English II Honors
Chinese II Honors
AP European History
PE</p>

<p>Junior:
AP Calc BC
AP Bio
English II Honors
US History (not AP)
AP Computer Science A
IB ITGS SL</p>

<p>Senior:
English (Composition) AP
AP Microecon.
AP Stats.
AP Chem.
Photoshop</p>

<p>Along with self-studying for: AP Physics B/C, AP Environmental Science, AP Psychology and AP Macroecon.</p>

<p>I have gotten straight A’s except for 1 semester in English III honors (my teacher doesn’t round an 89.6) and 1 semester in Chinese II honors (89.4% darn it)</p>

<p>AP Scores (freshmen to junior year):
Biology: 5
Calc AB: 5
Calc BC: 5
Euro: 4
Comp. Sci: 5</p>

<p>Predicted scores for senior year
Stats: 4/5
Chem: 4/5
Environmental Science<em>: 4/5
Psychology</em>: 4/5
English: 4/5
Microecon: 4/5
Macroecon: 4/5
Physics C*: 4/5</p>

<ul>
<li>Indicates self-studying w/o taking the course at my local HS (this means I’m taking the course by solely reading textbooks or a local community college)</li>
</ul>

<p>SAT Scores:
PSAT: 206 (only distinguished)
SAT I: 780M/710W/640CR = 2130 (This is my first time attempt in sophomore year and I will retake it in fall for hopes of 2250ish.)
ACT: 31
SAT II: 780 Bio M + 800 Math II
Expecting 750ish for Chem in fall</p>

<p>EC :
-4 Years of Key Club (2 years as divisional executive assistant and 1 year as VP) ~200 hours
-3 Years of Illuminate! (Organization whose goal is to better the educational opportunities of students all around the world. I was one of the original founders and treasurer)
-1 year of Retech (founder and VP of an organization that focuses on taking old, broken computers from donations, building working computers out of them that work, and donating the computers to charities/orphanages and properly recycling the rest.)
-4 Years of Envisioneering Club (founder and president all 4 years of a technology interest group. Some of our projects include writing programs in java to assist the school, making a robot, and talking about tech stuff.)
-2 Years of FRC robotics team
-8 Years of Church Youth Ministry, 400+ hours of service
-1 Summer of DB 4 Youth (Community project to teach kids basic behavior and intellectual skills) ~50 hours
-2 Yrs - Olympia Medical Center – Volunteer research assistant for California Digestive Diseases Institute under Dr. Ian Renner regarding medical reviews about pancreatic cancer, pancreatitis, and bile duct cancer (1 Summer)
-1 Summer Intern at Olympia Medical Center in the IT and research departments (independent of volunteering) 150 hours</p>

<p>Around ~600 to 700 hours and probably around 700 to 800 by college apps.</p>

<p>-Won 3rd and 4th place YLT Doubles Tournaments (Tennis program for kids, I wouldn’t consider it significant)
-2 Years of Vietnamese Culture/Tennis Organization
-Top 10 Award for Key Club
-Certificate for APAPA Youth Leadership (Asian-American Youth Leadership program)
-USABO Semifinalist</p>

<p>I can get a very very excellent letter of recommendation of the doctor I researched with and my bio teacher, math teacher, and GLC (grade-level coordinator).</p>

<p>I’m decent at writing college essays.</p>

<p>Major: Computational Biology (or double major in microbiology/immunology + CS)
Career Goal: Medical researcher (w/ strong tech influence)</p>

<p>Schools I plan to apply to:
(extreme stretch in my opinion):
Stanford
Carnegie Mellon
Rochester
Harvard
MIT
Princeton</p>

<p>match:
UCLA
UC Berkeley</p>

<p>safety:
UC San Diego
UC Irvine</p>

<p>Alright, I’m ready to hear what you’ve guys gotta say. If you know any other good schools for computational biology or double major in immunology/CS, please tell me. Location is not an issue, but cost (unless I get financial aid) is.</p>

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<p>Bump * *</p>

3

<p>What is your GPA and class rank ?</p>

4

<p>Around 3.93 (unweighted) and my school doesn’t do weighted GPA.
Rank: Top 5% (No rank assigned)</p>

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<p>If you get the 2250+ then I say you have a great chance at Stanford especially since you live in California. I think you have a shot at any of those reaches but it all depends on if the admission officers like you.</p>

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<p>Is there a certain approach that will increase my chances for acceptance at those reach schools? And what is the average acceptance rate for “reach” schools with a similar spec-sheet to mine. Will only two years of foreign language harm me much?</p>

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<p>I heard that after a certain score, it doesn’t really matter as much but I’m not sure if that is true or not… But I think a 2250 would be good, in my opinion. Of course you have those people who would want the 2400, but if you’re in that 2100-2200 range it’s still really good. Two years might harm you, I mean it won’t be such a huge deal. I heard 4 is the ideal, though…</p>

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<p>Does Stanford give out a lot of financial aid?</p>

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<p>I thought you said you got a 1670 at the end of your sophomore year on the SAT?</p>

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<p>Sorry that was a typo on my part, thanks for noticing. I can’t seem to edit it now, but it should appear as</p>

<p>2130 as my best shot so far (fall junior year)</p>

<p>In the original post, I forgot to mention I also have 2 more summer interns for business where I studied online marketing from an author of a book that teaches how to work less and make more (money).</p>

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<p>Oh, ok. Sorry.</p>

<p>Anyways, I think you have a great shot at all of the schools you mentioned, specially Stanford. Of course, stanford is usually a reach for most people, but your uncle should have some sort of pull, AND EAing should also help you. Also, taking Chinese even though you’re Vietnamese you should pretty good. Your stats are AMAZING. Your SAT could be higher, but, like you said, you’re retaking it anyways. All in all, it looks like you’ve got a good shot.</p>

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<p>Does living in the same state change much? (other than cost?)</p>

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<p>Actually, I’m not completely sure. I know that if you live in an underrepresented state (like…Minnesota or something :)) it does increase your chances, but I’m not sure whether living in the same state as a school like Stanford changes your chances much.</p>

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<p>Will applying for financial aid affect my chances?</p>

15

<p>You’re too hard on yourself. You’re grades and scores DO indicate you’re an intellectually passionate person. While these scores don’t make you Ivy-Bound exactly, many great schools are well in reach for you, such as:
All UC’s(if you’re in state)
-Washington University St. Louis
-Boston College
-Georgia Institute of Technology
-Tufts
-Tulane
-Many others</p>

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<p>If I got a 2250, will I be even close to Carnegie Mellon/MIT/Stanford/Harvard/Princeton? Also, will being a first generation born in the USA from war-fugitives change my chances?</p>

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<p>I like Mathcountser’s list. First of all, for the foreign language, would I be correct in assuming you speak fluent Vietnamese? That counts, even if you did not take it in school. Otherwise, the 2 years will hurt you a little. I am also assuming your school doesn’t offer a 3rd year of Chinese, make that clear on the apps if true.</p>

<p>It will help a lot if you can manage to get that SAT score up to 2250 or at least very close. Getting into the Ivies with your current test score is certainly doable, given the rest of your record, but it is a long shot for everyone, even 2300+. Harvard only accepts like 6%, and the other Ivies are not too different from that. Right now I think your chances at Stanford are decent, but being from Cali probably does hurt you just a bit. It is a highly represented state for them, and so many of the other kids will have similar stats except better SAT scores. However, balancing that is that you are Vietnamese which might not be highly represented. I know it isn’t as much here in the east, might not be as rare where you are. The other good thing is that Stanford has a reputation for weighting grades and strength of schedule a lot more than test scores. Carnegie-Mellon with a 2250 I think you are in.</p>

<p>I think being first American born Vietnamese heritage in your family might work in your favor, certainly won’t hurt. But you are not the first to go to college, so you don’t have that hook. But you are certainly still an URM, so like I said it can only work in your favor, however much or little it might be.</p>

<p>The other good thing if you can get your SAT score to that next level is that the merit scholarship opportuities will improve. I don’t think Stanford does merit scholarships for freshmen, but their FA is supposed to be good. However, a school like Tulane will award you a merit scholarship upon notice of acceptance, in your case probably $25,000 or maybe $22,000. Again if the SAT score gets to your goal, it would be the $25K for sure. Then you would also have a shot at the full tuition scholarship, which is an additional application process. But for that you will need to get 2200+, 2250+ is recommended. There are many other fine schools that are similar. If you really want to “only” apply to 10 schools, then your current list is fine. If you want to expand it some, there are many ways to go. It would help to know if you have some things that, everything else being equal, you would like to have in a school. Size of freshman class, location (urban or rural, warm vs. cold), sports scene, Greek scene, arts scene, anything like that you would love to have if you can.</p>

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<p>I want to go to any school that is strong in computational biology (using CS to do med-based research). School size doesn’t matter (I’m currently going to a high-school that has 4000 students anyways) and I don’t really notice a lack of attention from teachers/staff. I prefer colder areas and have little cultural interests. I enjoy being in a social environment of intelligent and mature people and as long as the city isn’t associated with drugs/crimes, I’m okay with it. Money is my biggest factor so unless I can get a scholarship or FA, money cannot exceed 30k a year.</p>

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<p>OK, that helps. I would add Wash U in St. Louis then, and look into all their scholarship opportunities. They hide some of them well, lol. But I think they all require separate applications, and some you have to be nominated for, I suppose by a teacher or GC.</p>

<p>I am not sure how strong Tulane is in this area, you might want to e-mail Caz Taylor (<a href=“mailto:caz@tulane.edu”>caz@tulane.edu</a>) who is a prof in this area and find out more. I think it might be worth the effort because of the good merit scholarship you would get from Tulane. Also, if you get you app in by first week of October (free, btw), you will get an answer within a few weeks, including the merit scholarship and an invitation to the Honors Program.</p>

<p>I think otherwise your list is pretty strong and covers reaches and safeties, including financial ones.</p>

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<p>Wash U and Tulane don’t have computational biology as strong as I’d like but thanks for the rec.</p>