Help me with my Declining dream

Applying to College
1

<p>Dear People
Hi
First I read a lot of threads in this site and
thank you for inspiring me alot by ur great SAT, AP, SATII scores which are super high :]</p>

<p>Anyway…
I live in California
I’m gonna be junior at high school
my school is a small christian private day school
My ethnicity is Korean
I came to United States last year’s June as a sophomore at high school
from Korea</p>

<p>Actually, I’ve always dreamed of going to Yale since i was 12
but I didn’t live a life that would make me special to go there</p>

<p>Right now i still feel that i don’t deserve even now!!!
But I get really stressed
When i think like that…
So i think I need u guys help…</p>

<p>This is my general academic info.</p>

<p>Soph GPA: 4.2</p>

<p>Junior Schedule: Bible, Honors British Lit, College US History, Honors Precal, Honors Chemistry, A capella, Football, Spanish 2</p>

<p>I play varsity football and track this year… and im pretty good at hurdles.( got some medals from the league finals) </p>

<p>I’m currently in no clubs…
****…</p>

<p>My May Sat Score was 1780
CR: 440 (It was hell for me)
Math: 720
Writing: 630 ( Essay-9)</p>

<p>I’m planning to join 5 clubs next year and be very active…
i really regret a lot about the first year in America
And i wish i could find mere hope.</p>

<p>My dream colleges are Yale, Columbia, Nyu and Harvard
Please give me some advice people</p>

<p>Message me plz</p>

<p>sorry, Im not that good at organizing my thoughts…</p>

2

<p>definitely retake the ACT really study for it and aim for 2000+</p>

3

<p>Uh, john6391, I think you got your standardized tests confused. The highest you can get on the ACT is 36, and the highest you can get on the SAT is 2400. </p>

<p>You should retake your SATs if you want to go to top schools like Yale or Columbia. To be honest, I don’t think you have much of a chance of getting in, just because your EC’s are pretty weak compared to other prospective applicants. However, it’s a crapshoot (I’m blue in the face from saying it all the time in chance threads but it’s true). If you write very good essays and get excellent recs, as well as bring up your standardized test scores a LOT, then you should have a shot. Just don’t use the whole “just moved here” thing as an excuse, because a lot of people are like that.</p>

4

<p>Try to speak with the coaches over there if you’re really good at your sports.</p>

5

<p>Ivycmm has some good advice for you john. Being an ORM from California will really set the bar high, and the first thing you need to do is increase your standardized test scores. If the SAT/ACT doesnt go so well, I believe Yale also accepts the TOEFL…though it seems like your English is very good (E9 on the SAT essay is pretty good).</p>

<p>In terms of ECs, if you’re good enough at sports (good enough to be recruited) that will be a huge boost to your application. If not, then definitely get involved in school. Know that joining 5 clubs itself won’t benefit you in terms of the application, but it may help you find something that you enjoy, that you can further in other activities (if its science, there are many research institutions in CA, if its writing, you could enter writing competitions etc etc). Maybe you could also take on a leadership role in your school club.</p>

<p>There are plenty of competitions that you could enter your junior year. CC has threads on many of them. You could look into the olympiads (chem/bio/phys etc), the Scholastic Writing awards, math competitions like USAMO, history day, among others. Find your passion/strengths and apply them.</p>

6

<p>Consider taking TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). As an immigrant who didn’t take most of his schooling in English, this should give a better idea of your command of the language than the SAT CR.</p>

<p>Also, do you hold a green card? It is much more difficult for internationals to gain admission than for US citizens and green card holders.</p>

7

<p>consider that ACT is science, math, and reading. SAT is reading, writing, and math. Clearly, you’ll have the advantage on the ACT if you’re not great at english/critical reading.</p>

8

<p>Are you good enough to play ball or run for the teams at any of those schools? That will go a long way to getting you in. Also, you mentioned how you were going to “join 5 clubs next year and be very active.” Don’t do that. Join TWO clubs and be very active. Devote all the time and energy you can spare to those clubs and try to earn a leadership role or something. Colleges don’t want to see you padding your resume with 5 different club memberships. They’d rather see that you excelled and devoted a lot of time to one or two.</p>

9

<p>I meant to say SAT lol. Sorry</p>

10

<p>oops lolol i thought john was op >.<<br>
“ivycmm has some good advice for op”</p>

11

<p>DEFINITELY look at trying to get in via athletics, and also work on studying for the SAT some more, and take the ACT – some people test better on the ACT because its a different kind of test than the SAT…also, make sure you join some clubs and make your extra-curriculars look better – the top schools will really be looking for that</p>

12

<p>When you say that you’re dream is to attend Yale–does that mean only as an undergraduate. Would you be happy perhaps going to another school–Calif. has many excellent choices–doing really well, working hard (which it sounds as if you are dedicated to doing)–and going to Yale for Grad school? It’s great to have a dream and a goal–and sometimes when things don’t work out exactly as you planned,you can find other ways to realize your dream. All of those schools you mentioned have great grad programs.</p>

13

<p>The best thing would be to convince yourself that not going to one of those schools would not be the end of the world. The Ivys are great, but look into the new ivys admission is less competitive, the schools are almost as good, and you don’t have to deal with that ridiculous cocky attitudes every time you try to talk to someone (major plus).</p>

14

<p>I think you should go to a UC.
Koreans respect UCs too (im korean too)!!</p>

<p>You SAT scores are gonig to make it hard for you, so retake them. You’re class of 2010, so you can retake them as many times as you want and the college will never know!</p>

<p>But why did you take the SATs already?</p>

15

<p>^Kungfumaster: The ACT science section isn’t real science. It’s basically interpreting graphs and other information they give you. But you’re not expected to have any prior knowledge of any science for this section.</p>

16

<p>Looking at your stats and profile, it may seem like it’s impossible, but it isn’t. The top colleges actually do consider the language barrier and immigration difficulties and etc (seriously I know people who came late like you did and went to harvard ) but you should probably</p>

<p>1) Study for SAT and raise it up
2) Still join some clubs you’re interested in and see if you can get leadership positions (11/12th grades)
3) Definitely continue with your sports since you seem to be very good at them and emphasize them.</p>

<p>and etc…I don’t know, if you’re seemingly passionate in the math/sciences areas, you can also go for those olympiad stuff.</p>

<p>don’t give up, as I know people who have made it as immigrants (both asian and non-asian) with less dynamic profiles, but you should also consider UC’s as well…might be easier.</p>

17

<p>i used to dream of going to yale or harvard like you or like almost every korean but then i soon realized that i couldnt.</p>

18

<p>^ don’t let him discourage you!</p>

19

<p>^ no man i am being honest. its so hard to get into ivy league especially if you are asian and competing in the ever so difficult world of college admissions where almost every applicant has above 2200, internships, research, volunteer at africa, 5.0 gpa, either really rich or really poor, etc. how can normal asians compete against that?</p>

20

<p>To improve your critical reading I would just start reading challenging novels and go over vocabulary. I could take the ACT because like other people said, if you can do well on the science and math, it could hide a weak reading score. I took the ACT and it did the opposite and hid my weak math score, but my reading and writing score brought up my composite. Don’t get discouraged because I started out with a 167 on my PSAT (which translate to about a 1670) and I studied and got a 1940 on my actual SATs, which is a huge improvement. I plan on taking them a third time for a 2050+ score. So it can be done!</p>