Chances for Stanford, Harvard, JHU, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Cornell

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Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:01:36 +0000

To the OP:
Here is my analysis.

Personal Stats:

Singaporean, Chinese, Male, International- bad.

Top school in country- bad. (competition within your classmates,… no?)

SAT I: 2220 750/770/700 - Will be retaking, hoping for 2300+± bad. Since you are ORM international

SAT II: Math 2/Bio-M/Chem - Not taken yet, taking this upcoming test- Hope you do well!

Applying for Financial Aid- Meh.

School Results:
Predicted A-level Grades: possibly AAAAA for Bio, Chem, Math, Econs, General Paper / H3 Pharmaceutical Chemistry: Distinction- A-level grades are great, but how is your transcript?
Rank: Top 5%- good.
After this threshold (SAT+SATII+Courseload+GPA) I think you are within the range.

Co-curricular Activities:

Computer related:

Chairperson of the Computer Science Club (11th and 12th Grade)- 11th and 12th only? :(



Led club to the top position in the country again, winning the club a fully sponsored trip to Silicon Valley- Cool.
Multiple awards at national computing competitions, including InnovateIT 2009 - 2nd Place, SDMA 2009 - Merit Award- Good job.
Organised competitions for students in my school- Meh, delete it.




Vice-chairperson of the Infocomm Club (10th Grade)
> Led club to the top position in the country, winning the club a fully sponsored trip to Silicon Valley
> Multiple awards at national computing and robotics competitions, including Grand Olympiad ECE LiFoRobo Challenge 2006 - Silver Award, National Software Competition 2008 - Silver Award- Good.


Science related:

Awarded a Gold Medal in the Singapore Chemistry Olympiad 2010- Wow!

Represented my school in the Singapore Biology Olympiad 2010- Meh.
Did you apply for ICho?

Performance and Cultural related:

Was part of the Chinese Drama Club in my school- Part… now is this a resume-padder, or did you do any significant work with this club?



Won a silver medal at national judging: SYF Central Judging of Drama Groups 2007

Lol. But seems cool.

Was part of the Choir in my school
Section leader
Participated in multiple overseas choir competitions and won gold in all of them
Won a gold medal at national judging: SYF Central Judging for Choirs 2007
^At first I thought this was a resume padder for music requirement, but you have significant work with it. Good.
Community service:

Busked in the Bone Marrow Donor Programme (Buskers’ Fest) - 2007- Good

Organised a concert (Appena la Voce) to raise funds for Grace Orchard School - 2008

Assisted in an art therapy programme at St. Andrew’s Autism Centre - 2010

Photographed the SE-ed Project event held at SMU - 2009
(not an exhaustive list for all of the above)
^Delete.
Academic awards and achievements:

Was awarded the MOE Pre-University Scholarship for 2009-2010

Was awarded the A*STAR JC Science Award for 2009-2010

Achieved a Merit grade in the Talent Development Programme (TDP) organised by MOE in 2007

Achieved a Distinction grade in the Innovation Programme (IvP) organised by MOE in 2006

Placed on the Dean’s List in my school for 4 out of 5 of my subjects



Good academic awards, but don’t include the “dean’s list”… meaningless.
Internships:

1 month attachment at the Vertebrate Developmental Signalling Lab in the Institute of Medical Biology, a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
^nice!
Others:

Organised Walks of Life and guided interested students around natural heritage sites in Singapore- Meh. Kind of random

Piano (Grade 8 Merit from ABRSM)- Meh.

Avid photographer (also part of my school’s photography club)- Meh.

Schools I am applying to:
Stanford- reach
Harvard- reach
JHU- match
UC Berkeley- match/reach
UCLA- should be easy.
Cornell- ED Here!!

:)