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I go to a huge public school, my class is 850+ and we only have one college counselor. Unfortunately, my counselor's counseling abilities are questionable, which is why I am posting on this site.

Basically I am a Chinese American senior in a 3800+ public High School in an LA suburb.
GPA: somewhere around 3.6-3.8 ( I'll check rankings tomorrow)
SAT I: 780 verbal 770 math
Sat II's :
US HISTORY 790
MATH IC : 780
Writing :660, but I'm retaking in a couple days

extracurriculars, not that great:
4 years on tennis team
2 years Junior Statesmen of America (club) - I am minister of public relations right now
a month of full time volunteer work at a summer camp (last summer)
2 years in Political Philosophy Club
2 years in Chinese School (demanding language school I attended weekly. Two years in high school, although I have attended for at least nine years.)
3 years in Video Production class ( I'm in my third year. And are classes I have interests in extracurriculars?)

3 weeks at summer program at Brown (Existentialism class)this summer
3 weeks at summer program at Cornell (Intro to Political Philosophy) last summer


APs: four this year, two last year (5's on both) and a 4 on the AP English language test ( I didn't take the class)

I got straight A's last year, but I've been a 3.5 (As and Bs) student for the two years before that.
Basically I worry most about my GPA, my recommendations ( not sure what my teachers will say or what i should recommend to them to say)
and my essays (i find it difficult to convey my uniqueness)

I'm not sure what kind of schools are "in my league". I am basically applying to a bunch of Ivy Leagues and other prestigious schools like U of Chicago, Northwestern, UC Berkely, UCLA and Georgetown.

I don't know exactly what school I want to go to, although I am under the impression that early decision helps a candidates acceptance. I don't know what I want to study, although I have interests in political philosophy, philosophy and film, and I want to explore business. I suppose the school i am looking for is a diverse school preferably with courses in said subjects and loose undergrad core requirements.

Please advise me what schools I should be looking into, what my chances are in getting into these schools, and whether or not early decision is a good idea to help my chances. What is good for someone who doesn't really overcome any real trials or accomplished anything too serious to write about? Any advice for helping me think of something in me that is unique that i can write about? and what is a good way to help a teacher write a good recommendation?
Thank you in advance for any help provided because I need it badly.

By Reidmc (Reidmc) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 01:34 am: Edit

Early decision (ED) will increase your chances of acceptance at almost all of the schools that offer it, though that benefit appears to vary across ED schools. Conventional wisdom (CW) dictates that ED should be used only if the ED school is a clear first choice, and there is no need to haggle over a financial aid package. There are other cases where ED can be utilized, but in general I'd go with the CW.

Unless you are deadset on a business career, I would take a liberal arts degree and utilize economics courses, internships and summmer jobs to explore business. At a large university you will find business-related courses in other disciplines (psychology, sociology, history etc), too. Even if you are set on business, a liberal arts degree plus an MBA is an excellent combination.

Given your interests and stats, here are some additional schools you could consider: NYU, University of Michigan, USC, Wesleyan and Vassar.

Recommendations: It's a good idea let a teacher know that you are seeking a recomendation that will help you get into a selective university. It may screen out someone that is not enthusiastic about your work in their class. It also helps to give the teacher some general information about you, including things like your course schedule, test scores, ECs; your academic and career interests etc. Don't put everything in, but do put in important things, especially those things that adcoms will see in other parts of your application. Hopefully, the teacher can tie some of that information into his or her discussion of your work in the classroom.

Essays: Make sure you respond directly to the essay questions and prompts. Some of them will elicit easy responses. Others will take some thought. The important thing is not the topic (though you do need to use it for focus), but writing in your natural voice and showing how your think and feel about things. If you do that your uniqueness will come out.

That said, I'm intrigued a bit by your video editing EC. Is there something about video editing that shows how you think and feel about things? Do you have some insight into video or film as a medium or cultural phenomenon? Does it lead to discussion of perception vs reality, etc. Other ideas for topics might be courses of study, books, other ECs, life experiences or current events where your perspective is different from that of your peers.

By Nnnrrggghh (Nnnrrggghh) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 09:44 pm: Edit

much thanks.