Holiday seasons, can't get mad at a chance post. ;)

Chance Me / Match Me
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<p>Schools I’m looking at – Berkeley and UMass Amherst </p>

<p>(I’m applying to more places, these are just the ones I’m particularly interested in)</p>

<p>GPA – UW: 3.9/4.0, W: 4.3/4.0
Course Load – really bloody challenging, but it was actually kind of stupid; I’ll explain soon xD*
Race – Caucasian (but adopted by Asian parents so my mother tongue is Chinese, LOL)
Class Rank – top 5% of 364 (don’t know the exact percentage)
Type of School – public </p>

<p>*I spent roughly 6th grade to 2nd year high school in China, so when we moved back my parents and I thought AP stood for “active preparation” so I signed up for a full AP load, LOL. It was really stupid but my parents thought it was hilarious when they found out.</p>

<p>SATs – M740/V740/W740 (I think I’m prouder of the fact that I got the exact same score in all three categories than I am of the combined total)</p>

<p>SATIIs – Chinese 800 (unfair, I know) // Math IIc 780 // German 760 // Spanish 750</p>

<p>Achievements / EC’s / Hobbies (can’t tell the difference) – I self-studied Spanish, French and German 3 months before the exam dates and scored 5’s in all of them. I now translate local ads and articles from Chinese (I live in Chinatown) to English and Spanish. I translate formal business letters from English to German, and occasionally I tutor French kids in English. I also help at my little brother’s school, which is trying to incorporate a bilingual curriculum.</p>

<p>Violin – what can I say, for the first 6 years of my life I thought I was Chinese. xD Not really special, BUT my uncle in China worked making violins and I play a violin I made myself. Mind you it’s not spectacular, but it works, and for a while I worked repairing broken instruments.</p>

<p>Hospital Volunteer – I tend to stay away from the actual medical stuff and translate forms to patients. </p>

<p>Essays – I’m pretty sure I wrote a good, if not entertaining, essay about growing up as the only white kid in my neighborhood in Chinatown and how 80% of the residents thought I was an orphan bumming around since there were no white parents to be found, LOL. And of course having a little brother (the biological son of my parents) who has no idea why his older brother has “yellow hair and eyes the color of olives” and my parents, who didn’t really notice/care I was white and gave me bowlcuts anyway. xD xD xD</p>

<p>Letters of Rec – my sign language teacher, along with the German, French and Spanish teachers at my school, all combined to write an amazing rec (I was surprised)! I spoke with them shortly before the exams and they said I spoke almost perfect German / Spanish. French she said was really good, just that my accent sucked. xD</p>

<p>Counselor – wrote a rec that highlighted my grades/achievements but focused more on me as a person (kind of funny, really… we were an Asian community so most of the kids had a violin that was somehow defective at some point, so I was pretty well-known in school for fixing them). </p>

<p>I want to study linguistics or international relations, and I’ve heard Berkeley and UM Amherst had fantastic programs. Seeing as how it’s almost New Years and you can’t really rag on a guy since it’ll be on your CONSCIENCE FOR ALL OF 2008, anyone wanna feel like chancing me? :)</p>

<p>Thanks,
Alex</p>

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<p>i think you have pretty good chances for berkeley</p>

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<p>I see no reason why you wouldnt get into either:</p>

<p>although i am told berkeley is more based on scores as it is a public school (international student, i might be wrong)… i still see no reason why you wouldnt get in… ur essay sounds interesting as does your background (im mixed: half white half asian but ur background sounds really interesting- you could have a really well done essay!!) i mean i can see u getting into pretty much any school… but ur ECs seem a little heavy on the languages but i mean you clearly are good at them and its quality not quantity but if you have other ECs that are in a different field, like violen, or sports, that can show that you pursue other interests but have at the same time found ur ‘calling’… but good luck with all the schools uve applied to</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/440363-chance-another-canadian.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/440363-chance-another-canadian.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I love your attitude about your whole chinese background story, like canada said above, your essay could be really good</p>

<p>SATs and SAT IIs are great, I think you have a great chance at berkeley</p>

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<p>i looked at berkeley and i think you have a good chance there, but i have better knowledge about umass because i live about 20 minutes away.</p>

<p>you seem more than qualified for umass amherst, and I don’t see why you wouldn’t get ing with flying colors. i would even suggest applying to the honors program to challenge yourself more.</p>

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<p>Actually, I’m a CA resident. My parents just moved to China when I was really young and we’ve been bouncing back and forth since. Hopefully this helps my chances! And if not it’s an awesome in itself to say I’m from CA. ;)</p>

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</p>

<p>Thanks! Looking back on it, it made growing up really weird. Confused the heck out of Germans when we visited Europe - at one point I took my little bro for a stroll at the Cologne Zoo and some people told my parents, who were standing RIGHT THERE, that their son was being taken off by a “mysterious young man”. xD xD xD</p>

<p>Thanks for the input so far guys :),
Alex</p>

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<p>I think you have great chances.
You are really interesting and could give off great personality in your essays.
And the Chinese is kind of unfair :stuck_out_tongue:
Berkeley talked about how they value personality on my tour, so I think you’re in, especially with you’re great scores.</p>

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<p>Again, thanks for the responses, they gave me a bit of an idea of what my chances are. And before anyone tries to bring me down (I’ve seen it a lot of it on CC) I already know it’s a crapshoot and there’s a good chance I’ll get rejected and the adcoms will make me cry etc., etc. ;)</p>

<p>Looking forward to March (or whenever decisions come out), best of luck to all of you. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Thanks,
Alex</p>

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<p>To be honest, you seem like the kind of guy everyone wants to get to know. I really liked, “I play a violin I made myself.” Haha.</p>

<p>You have solid SAT Is, solid SAT IIs, and solid GPA. Your ECs aren’t as strong as they can be, but you should be a match for Berkeley.</p>

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<p>Good marks, good scores, ECs aren’t great, but you seem bright (self taught three languages in three months?!?) and really unique. I don’t see why you would be rejected. And anyways, what better for “diversity” than a white kid who grew up thinking he was Chinese?</p>

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<p>Your ECs are very interesting – not numerous, but interesting. Do they take up most of your time? Funnily enough, when I saw that you’re applying to Berkeley and UMass-Amherst–two very, very different schools–I automatically thought that you were into linguistics. Berkeley has an amazing linguistics department.</p>

<p>You have great scores and a strong GPA, unique ECs and presumably great essays. I’d say you’re a match for Berkeley. I’d usually say reach for someone who doesn’t have many ECs, though you seem to stick out particularly. UMass-Amherst is a safe match to safety, even though you’re OOS.</p>

<p>I’ve read many chances threads and this is probably the most intriguing/entertaining one I’ve seen in a while. (Though that might be because I myself have a propensity for languages/linguistics!)</p>

<p>Did you apply to any privates like Stanford? You seem like the sort of student who would get in, and all the students with “president of that” and “chairperson of this” would be jealous because they were rejected. =p</p>

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<p>About the lack of EC’s - oh, well. xD </p>

<p>My EC’s aren’t even real EC’s, LOL. I didn’t take part in school clubs or sports (except BADMINTON) and for the most part I did what I liked, which couldn’t really be organized into a school club. I was really only a member of the German Club because of Dönerstag (free kebabs every Thursday!).</p>

<p>

Well. I am Asian. :wink: But since Berkeley and UM Amherst are (from what I’ve heard) excellent in linguistics, I’m focussing on those instead. Besides, my parents are the only Asian parents I know who don’t really care about HYPS. My dad even told me about Amherst and my mom is forcing me to spend the weekend with her. “AIYAAAA if you’re leaving home you’d BETTER KNOW HOW TO MAKE GOOD FOOD.” It really warms my heart. :)</p>

<p>I’m not complaining.
Alex</p>

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<p>Also check out Penn and MIT if you have the time/volition. This is the best chances thread I’ve read all year, by the way :)</p>

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<p>You are very interesting and funny you know :wink: :smiley: If I were an adcom, judging by what you’ve told so far, I would find your essay very intriguing… All the best!!</p>

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<p>

Thanks, I’ll look into it! I keep forgetting that private school apps are due a bit later than UC ones. </p>

<p>Alex</p>

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<p>AIYAAAA?</p>

<p>lulz</p>