Please chance an international

lin4621
Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:38:01 +0000

Hi! I am an international student from Taiwan. I attend the most competitve HS in my country(we have to take entrance exam for HS and only the top1% can get into my school), and I am also tested into a science class(60 out of 1000). Most of the students in my school go to local universities. About 10~20 students annually apply to colleges in the US.

I am bilingual( Mandarin and English)

SAT1: will retake in Oct. Expect to get a 2200~2250
M: 800
CR: 610
W:670
totall:2080

SAT2:
math2:800
chem:800
phys:770

GPA: 89
rank: top5%
(Taiwanese students cannot design class schedules. The classes are generally very hard, and we have school from 7:30 to 17:10)

ECs:
-volunteer at city art museum(100 hrs+)

-started a English tutoring service in my neighborhood and charges are all for charity( I live in an upper-middle class area. Most kids in my age are busy with commuting between schools, cram schools, and homes. This activity actually gets a lot of attention in my neighborhood. My current students’ parents are professors and governmental officials, so they can afford someone who have more experience than me. However, they are very impressed with me and think that this activity is meaningful to their children.) (5 hrs/wk)

-English club with leadership position(5 hrs/wk)

-a research project about my school’s eletromagnetic radiation pollution(This is an issue that is vastly discussed even outside of my school. My school gives stats, e.g., 0.00000000012unit, to mock students and parents. Therefore my partners and I started to work on this project) (300hrs+)

-a research project about atmospheric science (200hrs+)

-I do recycling job and teach how to do recycling(it is a kind of leadership position at school) (2 semesters)

Summer:
trip to New Zealand w/ my friend(5 wks)
trip to Italy w/ my sister(2 wks)
take courses in UC Berkeley( Astronomy 10 and college writing. Get A and P)
Volunteer(taking care of dying people) at Asha Daan, Mumbai, India(2 wks)
Chemistry camp(only 3 days but it is a very selective program)
Wild Fires camp(2 days)
earth science training program for olympiad(6 days)

Awards:
500 USD support for my research project from city government
Harvard Book Prize
National writing(Madarin) competition -3rd place
the rest are school-level awards on English writing, art, math, earth science, science fair

I would like to know how much merit-based aid I will possibly receive. And if I apply to need-based aid, how will my chance be affected?
Thanks for reading this long thread. Any advice/comments are appreciated!