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Great site ... just found it. I'm pretty much in the same boat as a lot of people here. Let me throw my stats in. Anyone else feel like a damned commodity during this whole process? You preen and parade around like a two-cent whore and hope some school picks you up. Haha.

The nitty-gritty:
Asian male (strike one!) from a California public school
4.43 GPA (3.95 unweighted)
1520 SATs (720 V/800M); first and only try.
SAT2: Writing: 790; Math 1C: 760; Math 2C: 760; Chemistry 740.
3.93 GPA taking college classes at the local JC during my sophomore-junior years in H.S. (have taken 11 legit courses with 10 A's and 1 B).

Scholarships/Honors/Awards: plenty not worth mentioning here. Don't want to bore you guys with the details.

Letters of rec: nothing too special. I think teachers at my HS use a generic format that they distribute for all students ... one of my instructors gave me a look-see of his rec and it was nearly identical to the one he wrote my brother ... FIVE years ago. Won't help or hurt my admission chances.

ECs:
-4x varsity in WRESTLING (all-league, all-section, team captain ... etc.); I'm really hoping this bolsters my chances. I've contacted the coach at MIT and UChicago (both Division III programs) and we get along great ... he'll "flag" my app but I don't really know how much pull he has with the admissions process. I'm pretty solid but not quite good enough to sign a letter-of-intent from a Division I program (Stanford, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, UPenn). But for D3, I could probably start as a freshman.
-VIOLIN STUDY (play for a major youth symphony; toured Western Europe and Hong Kong/Japan in 2002 and 2003); when applicable, I've sent an excellent "tape" of my performances along with my apps.
-run-of-the-mill clubs (didn't want to be just a "joiner" tho): honors society (VP), key club (treasurer), founder/prez of Investment Club.

Essays: pretty damned good.

Outlook?
I'm pulling that athlete/musician/intellectual angle. I've proven myself in all three domains so it's not like I'm scrambling like mad to "make myself look good." But my philosophy is that there's no use in stressing over admissions. It's usually a numbers game and a lion's share of overqualified and ill-qualified students get accepted or rejected from any one school. I'm throwing my app into the mix with everyone else and hoping that it sticks.

Feedback/comments appreciated.

Good luck y'all.

By Kone (Kone) on Monday, November 24, 2003 - 07:13 pm: Edit

folks, i cannot emphasize enough ... do not smoke pot! it diminishes your short and long-term memory skills ... oh yeah, whoops. on that note, i forgot to add my AP scores:

US History 5
English Language 5
Physics 4
AP Biology 4

Taking five more tests my senior year.