Realistically, How Bad/Good Are My Chances for Yale?

<p>Objective:</p>

<ul>
<li>SAT I (breakdown): 2260 (780M, 790W, 690CR) - Will take SATs again to raise CR</li>
<li>ACT: N/A</li>
<li>SAT II: Bio E - 800, Math Level 2 – 800, Chemistry – 800, US History – 750</li>
<li>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0</li>
<li>Rank - 1/185</li>
<li>AP (place score in parenthesis): Biology – 5, US Government and Politics – 5, US History – 5, Chemistry – 5, Calculus BC – 4/4</li>
<li>Sophomore Year Course Load: AP Biology, Honors English, Precalculus Honors (only sophomore in class), AP US History I, Spanish III Honors, Honors Chem</li>
<li>Junior Year Course Load: AP US History II, AP Gov, AP Calc BC (only junior in the class, only one taking BC test), AP Chem, Spanish IV Honors, Honors English </li>
<li>Senior Year Course Load: AP Stat, AP Psych, AP Euro, AP Spanish, AP English, AP Physics
(Will graduate with 11 AP’s total)</li>
</ul>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Leadership:
-Senior Class President ’09-’10
-Junior Class President ’08-’09
-Sophomore Class President ’07-’08
-Freshman Class Secretary ’06-’07
-Drum Major of the Marching Band
-2008-2009 Yamaha Cup Champions, NJ State Champions, Northern States
Champions</p>

<p>Academic:
-Participant of Columbia University Science Honors Program
-Mind and Brain
-Quantum Mechanics, General Relativity, and String Theory
-Participant of Robert Wood Johnson Mini-Medical School Program
-Participant of CTY Summer programs
-Biology ’06, Chemistry ‘07
-Participant of ALJBS (NJ Boys State)</p>

<p>Athletic:
-4th Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo (only about 100 people under 18 in the US to hold this title)
-Regularly judge regional and statewide Taekwondo tournaments
-200 hours of voluntary after-class instruction
-Founder of the Taekwondo program at the Boys and Girls Club of Morris County (80 hours)
-Varsity Tennis (9-12)</p>

<p>Music:
-Achieved High honors for 2 consecutive years in NJMTA Piano Program
-Lead Clarinet player in Wind Ensemble/Concert Band, Select clarinet player in school musical</p>

<p>Other School Related Activities:
-Math League (9-12)
-Academic Decathlon (9-12)
-Miscellaneous awards in math/science
-Chess Club (9-12)
-Spanish Honor Society (11-12)
-National Honor Society (11-12)</p>

<p>Miscellaneous:
-Cadet at the First Aid Squad
-Raised $500 for the American Diabetes Association
-50 hours as a teacher assistant at the St. Andrew Kim Korean School
-300 hours of tutoring international students
-Questbridge CollegePrep Award
-AP Scholar w/Distinction</p>

<ul>
<li>Essays: I’m a fairly decent writer so my essays should be pretty good.</li>
<li>Teacher Recommendation: Very good recommendations</li>
<li>Counselor Rec: Very good recommendation</li>
<li>Additional Rec: I might get one from my AP US History teacher from sophomore year (who went back to college). He graduated from Harvard and likes me a lot…</li>
</ul>

<p>Other</p>

<ul>
<li>Region (if domestic applicant): NJ</li>
<li>School Type: Medium sized public school (circa 800 kids) - doesn’t send kids to Ivies often. </li>
<li>Ethnicity: Korean-American</li>
<li>Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation for 4 year college, low income ($40,000)</li>
</ul>

<p>good of a chance as any other unhooked applicant - Don’t think the 4 year college first generation thing will help, and low income is def. not a “hook”</p>

<p>great numbers, and fair ECs, though, so good luck - you are definitely a competitive applicant.</p>

<p>^agreed.
Your academics are in great shape and you have a wide range of different EC’s, clearly pretty talented given some of the your accomplishments. Fair chances all around :]
Although I might not mention the $500 dollar donation unless it was derived from a truly meaningfuil experience…as lovely as it is, most colleges like to see more grandiose numbers (in the thousands), objectively speaking.</p>

<p>Thanks guys. Anybody else have any input?</p>