What are my chances...?

ms1312
Fri, 07 Jun 2019 20:11:14 +0000

Junior, attends school in New Jersey

Demographics:

Asian female

immigrant

single parent household

low-income

my parents went to school in Korea and my brother was the first one in my family to go to school in America

Class Size/School Profile:

about 450 kids in my graduating class (approx. 1700 in the school)

my school doesn’t report rank

a competitive school

very white, very rich

Weighted GPA: 96.0952
Unweighted GPA: 93.2381

Course Load:
9 Honors, 3 APs (Calc, Lang, Studio) – I am expecting 4/5 on all of my exams
Throughout high school, I’ve had 3 B’s (88, 85, 85)

Senior year, I plan on taking 4 more APs (Econ, Stat, Spanish, Bio) and 1 Honors (English)

ACT:
First time: 32
Second time: 34 **Should I retake it??
(Superscored: 35)

Extracurriculars:
Student Government (Class Officer) for 3 years
Fencing (JV, Varsity, Captain)
National Honor Society
National Art Honor Society (board member for 2 years)
Youth and Government

I participate in two other clubs that are specific to my school. For one of them, I am serving as president. We make short films to raise awareness for social issues that air on the school tv channel. For my other club, I’ve been a board member for two years (VP next year). We raise money to provide scholarships to underprivileged students in my school, which consists of a majority of more affluent students.

I volunteer a lot through my church (well over 1,000 hours) and have several leadership positions including praise team leader, youth group leader, and a teacher’s assistant for the children’s ministry and Korean school. I also help out at the community center by coaching the fencing program for kids there.

This summer, I will be working at a dentistry office and volunteering at a local hospital.

Awards: Honor Student, 2 fencing awards (conference tournament)

Schools:

Brown (I don’t think I have a shot… Is it worth applying ED??)

Hopkins

WashU St. Louis

Emory

Northeastern

Tufts

UNC Chapel Hill

Barnard

Wellesley

UVA

I am aware that my grades aren’t really up to par with my top schools but I’m hoping that maybe my background status and extracurricular/leadership positions can pull me up?

In my essay, I’m hoping to talk more about the club in which I raise money for less privileged students within my community, developing on the idea that my personal circumstances drive me to help others like myself. Another idea: my mom moved me and my brother to the US so that we can get a better education (Korea is so cutthroat and toxic…) and how that drives me to learn and take advantage of presented opportunities.

Other schools I could look at? My chances? What should I improve?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!