<p>BE WARNED THIS IS LONG, BUT MAKES UP FOR IT WITH HUMOR. I THINK.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech is probably my numero uno choice now, Berkley is most likely a reach for me, but I am curious if Berkley is a high reach or a not so high reach for me, because GT lacks the prestige that Berkely has, which (having a textbook tiger mom) pleases my folks more. I also personally think Berkley is a more well rounded school and a better fit for me. I’m also really not so sure what I want to major in; I’m good but not passionate about History, I’m decent at Science, and I hate it when my English teacher pulls symbolism out of their ass and claims the author “meant” it (aka I hate Literature/Grammar/etc, although I enjoy writing). But I love math (definitely my forte).</p>
<p>Sooo I was thinking engineering, architecture, or journalism…read on and perhaps you can also give me a suggestion based on what I do, along with your opinion(s) on me getting in…(be warned it is quite lengthy, I tried to make this as in-depth as possible so you guys have a better idea of moi. It took a while to write this, hence my interspersed bad jokes due to my boredom)</p>
<p>ACADEMICS:
Out of state rising-senior Chinese male</p>
<p>(I’m out of the country now so I don’t have my exact stats, I just know they’re in that ballpark)
GPA (unweighted): 3.6-3.7
(weighted): 3.8-3.9
got 5 B’s Frosh year cause I didn’t balance my my academics with my extra curriculars. Sophomore year I got a B in Hon Chem and French III…the former cause I was lazy and the latter cause I’m a dumbass when it comes to foreign languages. Junior Year I got a B in Hon Chem II and AP Chem. So total 9 B’s (but I got A’s in all my other courses!). Don’t hate. Yes Chinese kids can get multiple B’s (although my mom rationed the amount of dogs I eat) and still not get killed by their parents. Also I have lots of upcoming AP Courses to bolster my weighted GPA</p>
<p>Honors Courses:
Hon Algebra, Hon Alg II, Hon Pre-Cal, Hon World History, Hon Bio, Hon Chem, Hone Chem II, Hon English I, Hon Eng II</p>
<p>AP Courses:
AP Euro History, AP Chem, AP English (Lang), APUSH</p>
<p>AP/Honors Courses in my upcoming schedule:
AP Calc AB and BC, AP English (Lit and Comp), AP Gov/Econ, and Honors Physics</p>
<p>also I took 3 years of French (although I am currently incompetent at it)</p>
<p>Standardized Tests (don’t make fun of me):
SAT Math: 640
Sat Reading: 570
Sat Writing: 530 …definitley planning on retaking it (my lame excuse: I didn’t study well)</p>
<p>ACT Composite: 29
ACT Math:30
ACT English: 35
ACT Reading: 24
ACT Science: 26 (**** YOU READING AND SCIENCE!!!)
ACT Writing: 9/12
I also planning on retaking this (another lame excuse, albeit this score isn’t as bad: I didn’t study at all)</p>
<p>I’ve taken each once, but I plan on taking each again. I live in Tennessee (which makes my GPA look even worse…) where the curriculum is designed more towards the ACT. Hence no studying=decent score vs. months of half-hearted focus(actually more like 1/36th-hearted focus, back then I really didn’t understand the amnt of work you need to do to perform well) on SAT courses=bad score (no offense if you got that kinda score, remember I’m Chinese and my mom wants me to go to Cambridge and make 23492034234 dollars a minute).</p>
<p>I’m shooting for at least a 2000 SAT and a 30+ ACT.</p>
<p>Class rank: meh, somewhere in the top 20…percent</p>
<p>EXTRA CURRICULARS:
SGA Freshman VP (09-10)
SGA Overall VP (11-12)
+Countless hours of SGA, I get over 60 hrs in just the 2 weeks alone before school starts (we have summer work days)…i think somewhere around 120-150 total hrs of service per school year. Also I have attended my state Conference twice (helped host it once, plan on going to the next one) and have attended the Southern Assc. of StuCo’s Conference for 3 years (also plan on going again). Our SGA also holds and consistently breaks the national record for the largest non-corporate donation through our annual Second Harvest food bank competition/fundraiser with another local school. Last year we raised over $60,000, but fell short of the record by a few grand.</p>
<p>News Station Assistant Manager (10-11)
News Station Director (11-12)
+Countless hours of service, editing clips, producing montages, filming events, etc. (I know this excerpt isn’t as long as my soliloquy for SGA, but I actually spend a bit more time with this than SGA. I also only started this Junior year. However, I’d say I am more passionate about SGA; I love both though.)</p>
<p>I don’t know if this paints a clearer picture, but I often rode my bike to school during the summer to help with our SGA workdays (so glad I have a car with AC now), and while hosting our state convention I had over 50 hrs of work in 3 days, not leaving school until 1:00 am most days; that’s just the convention, I did tons of other stuff throughout the school year. And for my news station I stay after school every Thursday until 6:00pm to edit for our weekly Friday broadcast, along with filming many football games, soccer games (the girls’ games cuz I play in the guys’ games), etc. I rarely leave my school the same time other students leave because of my extracurriculars.</p>
<p>I’d say the two I’ve just been preaching about are my strongest hooks (soccer comes in close)</p>
<p>On with my catharsis…
Freshman Mentoring Program (show freshmen around school, regularly visit their homeroom, guide them academically through freshman year, etc.)</p>
<p>NHS and NJHS (I didn’t do jack ***** in this, along with the rest of the club. Our school just offers this to bolster college applications. I think you need 5 hrs of service to stay in the club. Yes I said 5 hours only.)</p>
<p>Key Club (All of my Key Club hours come from SGA, idk if that’s considered “cheating”)</p>
<p>High School Soccer: Freshman year(JV), Sophmore year (injured for whole season but still was on the team), Junior Year (Varsity Letter)
State Quarter-Finalists 09’ and 10’
Consistently ranked in the top 25 nationally
Best Teammate Award 09’, 10’, and 11’
Club Soccer: played for 5 years, Captain for one year
I have been playing soccer for roughly 10-11 years now. This dominates my spring semesters, which I had trouble adjusting to freshman year, hence a plethora of frosh B’s. I spend more time on this than my News Station, but this is only during the spring semester, therefore not as sharp of a hook.</p>
<p>I also have played the violin for 12 years
I played in my local youth Orchestra for 5 years, but quit after my freshman year for my other extra curriculars (particularly for high school soccer). However,
now I regularly perform with my teacher’s violin studio at retirement homes, veteran homes, art festivals, etc. for 5 years and counting. Countless hours here too.</p>
<p>I also mountain bike, my relay team was the 3 Time Defending Champion of The Annual 12 Hours of the Hill of Truth Race (my team lost after i got injured and I could not participate for a 4-peat…coincidence??? jk lol I’m not that conceited…or am I???)</p>
<p>HOOKS:
ECs (particularly SGA, News Station,Violin, and soccer) and being able to/struggling to balance them with the most rigorous courses my school offers, I am first gen Chinese (I heard that kinda works against me though…), I can speak Chinese roughly, Parents had an ugly divorce during sophomore year (on the bright side, something to write about in my essays), and Dragonite is my favorite Pokemon</p>
<p>All kidding aside tell me your thoughts, what I can improve on (except my jokes, I already know they can’t get any better),etc.</p>
<p>Btw I was kidding about the dogs. We actually eat cats.</p>
<p>Jk we don’t eat any common household pets.</p>