Do I even have a shot at Swarthmore?

oregonman983
Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:11:00 +0000

About me:
Major: possibly business, but most likely undeclared
Male
Asian-American (Korean)
Live in Southern California

School does not rank
GPA weighted: 4.24
GPA unweighted: 3.76

About my GPA, my sophomore year I was taking 3 APs and I got 4 B’s first semester and 2 B’s second semester (3.91 GPAW). My junior year I took 5 APs and got straight A’s for both semesters (4.8 GPAW). Hopefully, this shows at least an upward trend and that I can handle an extreme courseload.

UC Eligibility in Local Context ELC (indicates top 4% of class)
SAT: 790 Math, 780 Writing, 730 Crit Reading, 2300 overall
SAT IIs: Math 780, US History 720, Chemistry (taking in October, expecting around 750+)
APs:
Sophomore year:
AP Calc AB – 5
AP Euro Hist – 3
AP Environmental Science – 4
Junior Year: Again, hopefully my AP scores also show an upward trend from my sophomore year
AP Calc BC - 5
AP Physics C - 5
AP US Hist - 5
AP English Language – 5
AP Chemistry - 4

Senior Year: AP Stats, AP Physics EM, AP Eng Lit, AP Gov, Spanish 7-8 (did all 4 years of HS), Comp Applications(for requirement)

ECs:
-Math Tutoring Club Secretary (11), Treasurer (12)
-Investment Club founder (12)
-Volunteer at local Hospital (10-12) over 100 hours
-National Honors Society (11-12)
-various local writing and math competition semifinalist
-School JV tennis (9-10), MVP for Sophomore Year
-Piano National CM test Level 10 (9-12)
-participate in city’s Youth Symphony (9-12)
-Youth Symphony Marketing Committee
-kiva.org member and participant (9-12)
-smaller school clubs that I might or might not write down
-Stanford EPGY Summer program (11)

Work Experience:
-Internship at IBM Korea and Deutsche Bank Korea (2 weeks each, not sure which one to write down), can get a 3rd optional rec letter from either
-Volunteer work at North Korean refugee camp in rural South Korea (3 weeks)
-Work at UPS for 4 hours per week during the school year

Rec letters:
-pretty sure of 2 very good recommendations, one from physics another from US History to balance it out
-can get a 3rd optional from one of my internships

Essays: I have one very, very unique experience at the North Korean refugee camp and another talks my overarching passion for business that I’ve shown through my ECs and and the different types of work experience.

Hooks: Can pay full.

Antihooks: Asian, Korean, I have alot of ugly B’s, upper middle class

Thanks in advance!