Woot, Another Asian Under Pressure... this time from my Uncle

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>I got my SAT scores today and they were very good (2380). Well naturally, my whole extended family knew by the end of the day, and I just got a call from my uncle who wanted to tell me how proud he was. Yes, I know a ****load of people get such high scores all the time, but everyone in my family is kind of mediocre (even though we’re indian lol) so it was kind of new to them. </p>

<p>Anyway, my uncle is really wealthy and promised to pay for me to go to college to the best place I got in, as I would be the first in the family to “go Ivy.” I was trying to slip in that I probably wouldn’t get in (basically covering my a-s-s) to schools like Princeton as to not get his hopes up, but I still feel like there’s this pressure on me to get into a great Ivy. I don’t really think I will though… meh. It’s worse now that someone has offered to fork over $200,000, although I thought it was the nicest thing ever. I’m stressed now, so I thought I would get CC-er’s take on it. Do you think I will get in somewhere?</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT: 800 CR, 800 WR with 12 Essay, 780 M (2380)
SATII: 800 USH, 780 Math II, 740 Bio, 720 Literature (retaking Lit and Bio in Jan)
GPA: Depends on how you look at it, weighted is 98.6667, unweighted is around 93-94 unofficially. Based on the Burger King scholarship page haha this is a 3.8.
Rank: 12/350ish (meh) I might go up. Probably not though.
AP Scores: USH (5), Comp Gov (5), Lang (5), Psych (5), Enviro (5), Calc AB (5), Micro (3), Macro (2); taking Calc BC, Euro, US Gov, Lit, Art History and Stats this year. Not reporting Micro and Macro, which were self-studied.</p>

<p>Side note: B’s in language classes soph, junior (AP), and senior years (AP) and in Spanish junior year. </p>

<p>Indian, F, mediocre public school that barely managed a UPenn admission last year,
NJ</p>

<p>Awards: Semifinalist for the National Merit thing, AP Scholar with Distinction, School Winner of the AMC 12 last year, random award for “leadership” (lol) from school. Nominated for HOBY (I went). Published in national literary magazine.</p>

<p>EC’s of Note: President of Class (11), Vice President of Class (10), Co-President of Environmental Club (12), Vice President of Environmental Club (11), GSA Board Member (12), GSA VicePresident (11), Math Team Captain (11, 12), MUN Secretary (12), Key Club VP (10, 11, 12), freshman mentoring program thingie (11, 12), member of Youth and Govt (10, 11, 12)</p>

<p>Outside of School EC’s: National Editorial Board for a literary magazine (11, 12), Chain Reaction Council of state March of Dimes office (11, 12), Volunteer with March of Dimes (11, 12, about 150 hours), member of Temple’s Youth Committee (11, 12) and also a camp counselor at the temple’s summer camps, founder and director of a local volunteer-run math tutoring program for the last two years (a personal favorite for me), member of the local Indian cultural association’s student board, Indian classical dancer (10 years) and student teacher at my academy, student rep to the local public library board, teen advisory group member at library as well, volunteer at library too (I spend a lot of time at the library lol). </p>

<p>Community College: two history courses, 4.0 GPA.</p>

<p>Disciplinary History: one day of in-school-suspension in early high school years (sigh) for truancy; I have to write a feel-good letter about what I learned and crap about this, but honestly I was just stupid and skipped school.</p>

<p>Recommendations: I would surmise that they are decent; one teacher straight up came to me and said “I want to write your recommendation,” another did a checklist (gah) and wrote like a paragraph. She liked me though. Counselor recommendation might not be great: had a depression/anxiety related meltdown a month ago and not sure if she mentioned that; also poor attendance at school, again, unsure if it was mentioned. Naturally, because of my lovely issues this semester, my grades aren’t stellar this year, but they’re along the same track as my grades in past years so it’s not really a dip. Expecting a B in language, etc. </p>

<p>I’m applying to:
-Harvard, Yale, Princeton
-Brown
-Columbia
-MIT
-Stanford
-UPenn (not Wharton)
-Cornell
-Georgetown (deferred EA - MAYBE because I turned in app late)
-already got into my safety </p>

<p>I just want your thoughts on the general strengths/weaknesses of my application; do you think I am guaranteed to get into AT LEAST one of the Ivies? Be honest, brutally so.</p>

2

<p>Not guaranteed. You have a shot though.</p>

3

<p>bump? any more opinions?</p>

4

<p>Don’t worry about your grades and sat score. The Ivy Leagues have thousands of students with those stats. Your extra curriculars are sadly average compared to other applicants who are usually admitted, except the Indian classical dancer, which is pretty unique. </p>

<p>The second recommendation which is one paragraph is a VERY VERY *****ING BAD idea to send. I’m not going to lie to you, that is basically asking for a rejection. They expect your teachers to write 2 page recommendations. </p>

<p>And LOL, why are you mentioning that one in-school suspension? The ivy leagues won’t find out and your school won’t even mention it. It doesn’t even go on your record!</p>

<p>What was your app essay about? THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT IN THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS! If you want, I’ll read it and tell you if it is good(I’m an anticipated creative writing major and I’ve won many awards/scholarships for my writings) and help you improve it, unless you sent them in already. </p>

<p>You need to have a hook if you’re applying to ivy leagues.</p>

5

<p>Disregard what the above poster said. (S)he is misinformed.</p>

6

<p>“I know a ****load of people get such high scores all the time”
Nope. ~2,000 students score 2350+ per graduating class. ~17,000 students per graduating class go to the schools on your list. For unhooked applicants still over 10,000spots. The rest of your profile looks solid, so I like your odds. Someone’s gotta fill the top 25% of the sat score ranges at these schools.</p>

7

<p>Raiderade, what are you talking about? You’re telling me that it is cool to send in a one paragraph recommendation to a college? You’re telling me sending in a BS app essay is alright? You’re telling me that being a captain/president of the typical academic clubs is unique? Ivy Leagues get these in all of the applications they get and you need to find a way to stand out of the thousands of applications. My dear friend, you were misinformed.</p>

8

<p>write a good essay</p>

9

<p>StarStunning is misinformed</p>

10

<p>“The second recommendation which is one paragraph is a VERY VERY *****ING BAD idea to send. I’m not going to lie to you, that is basically asking for a rejection. They expect your teachers to write 2 page recommendations.”
A one paragraph rec is not asking for a rejection. Colleges are aware that many schools, particularly mediocre, average public schools are not filled with brilliant, passionate teachers. A paragraph-long LOR will look fairly average and will probably detract more from an adcoms view of the quality of the high school than the quality of the student. If the LOR was negative about the student, that would be a different story. But a short one that doesn’t have a ton of thought put into it probably won’t add or subtract much from an app. </p>

<p>“And LOL, why are you mentioning that one in-school suspension? The ivy leagues won’t find out and your school won’t even mention it. It doesn’t even go on your record!”
This does go on your record and colleges request you to explain your disciplinary history. By not informing colleges, the OP would be dishonest…</p>

<p>“What was your app essay about? THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT IN THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS! If you want, I’ll read it and tell you if it is good(I’m an anticipated creative writing major and I’ve won many awards/scholarships for my writings) and help you improve it, unless you sent them in already.”
It’s pretty evident that you can make an informed judgement about the quality of anything to do with college admissions…</p>

<p>“You need to have a hook if you’re applying to ivy leagues.”
Not in the LEAST bit true. Hooked candidates have an easier time getting into Ivy leagues. PLENTY of unhooked applicants are accepted, my sister being one of them (accepted to Columbia ED). You certainly don’t need to be a hooked applicant to even apply. </p>

<p>Did I do a sufficient job explaining myself???</p>

11

<p>You probably will get into at least one Ivy League school.</p>

<p>EDIT: I see you had an in-school suspension, so maybe not.</p>

12

<p>Ok, I had an in-school suspension and I did not write about it in my common app. Why? Because I contacted my school counselor and in OUR school, in-school suspensions are NOT marked as suspensions, they are their own type of punishment, like detention. Contact your school, avoid writing about it at any cost.</p>

13

<p>Yeah, I’ve had three in-school suspensions for tardies (I’ve also been on two semester-long probations for the same reason), but my counselor straight up told me my school didn’t report those because 1. most schools DON’T put students on probation for 9 tardies, and 2. reporting the suspensions made the issue sound more serious than it was. Basically, they only report systematically bad behavior, cheating, plagiarizing, etc.</p>

<p>I know it’s kind of dishonest not to report this, but if my counselor doesn’t feel compelled to mention the issue, I’m not going to complain.</p>

<p>So ask your counselor if your suspensions will be reported. They might not be.</p>

14

<p>You are not guaranteed admission at an ivy. Unfortunately your issue will be rank, from an average high school ivies largely favor vals and sals. Why not add some of the top LACs?</p>

15

<p>ah, thank you guys for your insight. and um, that is quite an interesting debate raiderate and star/whatever. i’m inclined to believe raiderade however, but thanks haha. </p>

<p>about the suspension: yeah, i was considering not adding it if it’s not an “official” suspension, ie. and out-of-school one. I’m emailing my counselor and getting her take on this.</p>

16

<p>Your rank, grades, and SAT are all in range, now focus on your essay</p>