How do my chances look?

williamsf1_fan
Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:04:42 +0000

in short…

Junior/Female/Chinese/WA

3.94 GPA UW if I don’t improve my B+ in AP Bio…If I can bring it up, then 4.0 UW

Does not rank, class of 49

SAT: 1420/2110 as a sophomore, taking again in January.

SAT II: 800 MathIIC, 760 Chemistry

PSAT: 217, will probably miss NMSF by 1-2 points :(

APs: 5 Chemistry, 5 Microeconomics…will take 5 this year and 6ish senior year.

ECs: 15 hrs/week working at a grocery store, various small math competitions, qualified AIME both 9-10 years, Academic Games (9), Key club, FBLA club co-founder/co-president, NHS treasurer and probably president next year, 250+ hours volunteering at a blood center by next year, played piano 11 years but never competed.

No sports; severe asthma and hay fever, but that’s no excuse…

Most difficult course load of my class, only person in class to take summer courses to skip up, online courses…
In grades 7-10 I have taken Spanish 1-4, and this year had the option of taking AP Spanish. However, because we only get one elective, I chose instead to take Biotechnology because I thought the lab work would prepare me more for biotechnology internships that I’d like to be able to do in the summer. In retrospect, I regret my decision. I am considering taking the AP Spanish class senior year…but if I don’t, how will colleges view this?

Recs will be very good, teachers love me. However, my math teacher who is the most sought-after for writing recs just got pregnant and might take a year off next year…and I REALLY wanted her to write one for me, as she is both my favorite teacher and her class is my best class…how convenient.

I don’t have the most impressive WOW ECs, but my hobby that I spend the majority of my non-academic time on is watching NASCAR. I’ve always loved cars as a child, and the one TV channel I actually watch, besides the news, is SPEED Channel. I spend 5+ hours/weekend watching NASCAR races on TV, and then even more hours watching pre-/post-race commentary shows, etc. I waste so much time browsing news sites and discussion forums to talk NASCAR. I play fantasy predictions and suck at it… I also am a huge motorsports fan in general and have recently developed an affinity for F1 also and now I’m spending just as much time watching F1 stuff as NASCAR. I like to describe myself as a die-hard NASCAR fan who is also a closet F1 fan due to the mutual resentment between NASCAR and F1.
Blah blah blah, I definately COULD be doing some science research or a super-impressive EC, but I’ve come to realize that I can’t live without watching motorsports and I don’t REALLY want to waste my life on more substantial ECs. If this doesn’t get me into a top college then I guess I wouldn’t have belonged there anyways.

Essay: Will most definately be unique; I’ll probably write about my passion for NASCAR, passion for motorsports in general, why I must get up at 3 am to watch the F1 race then watch the NASCAR at 11am and how sporting events must be watched live and not tape-delayed, or growing up with one nudist parent and resenting that (although I’m not sure that’s puts me in a good light).

So this ended up not being short…but
How is my list in terms of a balance of reaches/matches/safeties?

Prospective major is Economics/Chemistry and then filling Pre-Med requirements
Although I am toying with the idea of engineering/aerodynamics and then trying to get a job designing racecars…common sense tells me that it’s too much of a gamble because I wouldn’t like any other engineering occupation if it didn’t involve cars, but passion wants me to consider it
And applying to mostly Southern schools does relate to the whole NASCAR thing…it’s be pretty easy to actually attend races; Seattle is a pretty lonely place for a big NASCAR fan to grow up in.

in order of preference:

1. Duke (should I apply ED?)

2. Princeton

3. Vanderbilt

4. Washington University in St. Louis

5. Wake Forest

6. University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

7. Davidson

8. University of Washington - Honors (in-state)

9. University of the South/Sewanee

and if I end up choosing to go with the engineering thing, how about UIUC and Purdue? Purdue isn’t that far from Indianapolis Motor Speedway…

Thanks in advance…