<p>I was just sorely disappointed with a rejection from Cornell, the land of my dreams… I think I should at least try some other schools, but we’re really poor and so the Ivy League financial aid initiative was one of my few hopes for going to college, so this is terrible news for us… But anyway, I’d like to ask for a range of schools that offer pre-med where I might have a chance, schools with very generous financial aid programs for households making less than $30,000 a year. I mean a range, as in shoo-ins, good fits, and reach schools (no HYPS, I’m not insane) given my academic standing (copied over from my Cornell chance thread). Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!:</p>
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<p>First off, I come from a fairly poor family; my mother is a single parent of three children (including me) and we’ve been struggling financially for as long as I can remember. When I heard about the Ivy League’s insane new FA program, I was both excited and heartbroken because I had always planned to just enroll in the local state university, and had accordingly skimped on my academics to a small degree accordingly. Family issues arose that caused me to become depressed during my junior year (which I wrote about in my essay), and my grades declined partially due to that. But as many great people before us have said, it’s better to have tried and lost than to never have tried at all, so I might as well see if it’s at least worth the effort. Here’s my resume:</p>
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<p>Korean-American male; 1st generation born in America; born & residing in Ohio
I attend a fairly competitive school; we certainly have a lot of smart people, but we’re not elite or anything</p>
<p>GPA weighted: just slightly over 4.0
GPA unweighted: about 3.6~3.7
My class rank was not reported, but I just barely fell out of the top 10% during my junior year (which upset me quite a bit later on)</p>
<p>freshman year I did pretty much nothing except the few basic honors classes that were offered
sophomore year was pretty much the same; could have taken AP US History but was intimidated out of it (later my history teacher told me I should have taken the AP course)
junior year I took AP World History, AP Lang, and AP Biology
senior year I’m taking AP Chem, Latin Literature (AP Latin wasn’t offered this year; our school alternates between the two courses each year), AP Calculus AB, AP Environmental Science (thought it’d be a nice blow-off class; oh how wrong I was), AP Literature, and AP Gov.</p>
<p>SAT: 2210 (720 Critical Reading, 740 Writing, 750 Math)
SAT II: 740 Math I, 760 Biology-E (unfortunately I was sort of emotionally unstable that day because of something unrelated, and since I took it several months after I took AP Bio, I think I may review and re-take them in January)
ACT: 33 (I don’t remember my subject scores for sure, but I think they were 31 Math (lol), 33 English, 35 Reading, 34 Science, 8 essay (terrible, I know)
AP exams (it’s a miracle; I barely studied for these):
Biology: 5
English Language & Composition: 5
World History: 5</p>
<p>Extracurriculars, et al:
volunteer at the hospital (150+ hours) -11th, 12th
summer volunteer at the library - 10th (maybe 9th, I can’t seem to keep my summers
straight, but I made sure I got the year on my Common App)
summer Vacation Bible School volunteer teacher at Korean Church of Columbus - 9th, 10th
Korean Church of Columbus Youth Group senior officer - 12th
tennis team - 9th, 12th (sort of 11th as well, but wasn’t officially on the team that year)
Latin Club - 10th, 11th, 12th
Japanese Club - 11th (I was sort of a guest)
National Honor Society - 12th (didn’t apply as a junior)
I also play guitar, both electric and acoustic, and I’ve pursued hobbies in drawing and programming as well.</p>
<p>*I really wish I could have taken more after-school activities and summer programs, but money/rides were a big issue. I suppose there’s really nothing I can do to remedy that, though.</p>
<p>Honors, Awards:
AP Scholar
National Merit Semifinalist
local Rotary Four-Way Test Speech Competition - Honorable Mention/3rd place (11th grade)
National Latin Examination Silver Medalist (10th grade)
Academic Plus Pin award (12 consecutive quarters on honor roll at our school)</p>
<p>My essay was actually quite good, based on the response I got from those whom I asked to read it; they said it was insightful, well-constructed, and interesting to read, if a bit wordy (around 1000 words, though I don’t really go off on any tangents in it).</p>
<p>One of my teacher recommendation’s quite specific to her class I was in, but overall it is very good and supportive (maybe even too much, haha), and the other is very well-rounded and fairly typical for a rec letter for an honors student, and is generally quite supportive as well. My counselor’s recommendation was also pretty good, and it addressed the stresses I had to deal with which hurt my grade a lot during my junior year and how I overcame them later on during the year, and at AP exam time.</p>
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<p>So is there any hope for me for a college education? It would mean a lot if I could go to a good school. It’s clear that the Ivy League is way over my head, but what other good schools might be possibilities for me?</p>
<p>Thanks! ^_^</p>