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Background

Status: Caucasian female

Country: Australia

School Type: Private Anglican

Academics:

Scores:

SAT I: M590CR720W650 (M=maths, CR=critical reading, W=writing)

SAT II: Taking them soon..)

GPA: Unsure. Guessing an unweighted 2.8

Rank: 8/200 (rank/class size)

Senior year course schedule and predicted grades:

Chemistry HL - 6

Physics SL - 5

Maths Studies - 7

English A1 HL - 7

Spanish Ab Initio - 6

History HL - 5

Extracurriculars:

1. Oaktree Foundation branch president

2. Field Hockey (varsity)

3. Softball 1st

4. Debating 1st

5. Mock trials (top 8 team/600)

6. Touch football (girls 1st) + Coaching little league team

7. 40 hr famine

8. Girls Theatresports team

Colleges of Interest:

1. Illinois Urbana Champagne

2. Indiana at Purdue

3. Northwestern (doubtful)

Hooks: Legacy at Cambridge...

1. Illinois Urbana Champagne: Medium probability

2. Indiana at Purdue: Medium probability

3. Northwestern (doubtful): low probability (NO MATTER, try for it)

Good IB scores! But what's up with the SAT score? Take it easy on SAT 2 and concentrate on bringing the SAT 1 score up.

Oh and how about some colleges for backup?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Background

Status: Latinoamerican Female

Country: Argentina

School Type: Public

Academics:

Scores:

SAT I: didn't take it yet, but I got a 112 in the TOEFL iBT

SAT II: Math Lvl. 1: 800, Math. Lvl. 2: 760, and i'll be taking Physics in November.

GPA: 9.38 on a scale of 1-10, I don't know how this is calculated

Rank: Top 5%

Senior year course schedule and predicted grades:

(my school doesn't give predicted grades, so this is what I think that will happen:)

Spanish A1 HL - 7

English B HL - 7

Physics HL - 7

Math SL - 7

History SL - 6

Computer Science - 6

ToK/EE - 2

Extracurriculars:

1. Red Cross volunteer

2. President of the Student Council

3. 3rd place in the national Astronomy Olympiad, and I'm about to participate in the Latinoamerican Olympiad

4. Volunteer work in rural schools

5. Singing and Irish-dancing, with shows all around the country

6. Internship at Instituto Balseiro -a prestigious engineering school here in Argentina-

7. Rocketry

8. Work at an institute as a math and physics teacher

9. Scout since the age of 6

10. Horse-back rider with 9 or 10 prizes

11. Free-software enthusiast and collaborator

12. Amateur radio operator

Colleges of Interest:

1. MIT

2. CalTech

3. Boston University

4. Worcester Polytechnic Institute

5. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

1. MIT : Low probability (Requires research papers)

2. CalTech : Low probability

3. Boston University High probability

4. Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Medium probability

5. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering: Can't say, not enough information online.

Sorry, how is that about MIT requiring research papers? I've talked to a lot of MIT alumni and none of them had done research papers for their application. Where did you hear that? (I've done some research on cosmic ray muons anyway, but I didn't know it was so important)

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For those thinking about going to American universities without SATs...think about what the SATs are used for. Many universities consider SATs because it can give them a perspective of your foundation skills. From IB, the final grades of 1-7 are blurred when they receive applicants with 5s or 6s and their school grades may be biased. How can they know for sure that you have the basic skills down...and not have gained an unfair advantage with some outside help?

If this situation doesn't apply to you (and let's hope this doesn't), then take the SAT and send them your score. Sometimes fighting convention isn't worth the effort.

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Background

Status: Egyptian Female (i guess considered caucasian?)

Country: U.S (born and raised)

School Type: public

Academics:

Scores:

SAT I: M660CR670W680 (M=maths, CR=critical reading, W=writing)

SAT II: Literatue 740, physics: to be taken

GPA: 4.0UW N/AW (uw=unweighted, w=weighted, All ib courses are weighted)

Rank: not sure but i know I'm in the top 5% at least

Senior year course schedule and predicted grades:

World History HL - 7

World Literature HL - 6

Math Studies SL - 5/6

Physics SL - 5

Arabic A2 SL - 6

Visual Arts HL - 5

Extracurriculars:

1. Tennis (recreationally)

2. Founded "Campaign for a Cleaner Cairo" environmental initiative

3. Helped a teacher with a 9th-grade Physical Science class for 1 semester

4. will join Model UN

5. will Intern for a senator

6. Attended a 3-day Leadership conference (Seminar for Tomorrow's leaders) (I doubt this matters)

Colleges of Interest:

1. George Washington University

2. Georgetown (not at all likely)

3. NYU

4. Michigan State

5. American University in Cairo

6. Syracuse University

p.s any advice on what to work on to get into George Washington?

Edited by Sorry...What?
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  • 8 months later...
Background


Status: Indian Female

Country: India

School Type: Private


Academics:


SATs:

Haven't done the SATs yet, but I did write the PSAT's this year:

Critical Reading - 80/80

Writing Skills - 79/80

Maths - 70/80 (will improve on this - had a bad day with a few problems...)

Total - 229


IB1 Predictions:

English HL - 7

Maths HL - 7

Economics HL - 7

History HL - 7

Theatre HL - 7 (certificate course)

Dance HL - 6 (certificate course)

French Ab initio SL - 7

Biology SL - 7

ToK - B

EE - B

Total: 44/45 (+13/14)


GPA: 4.42 (W) and 3.93 (UW)


Class Rank: 1/100-something (not including students from other boards in my school - only counting fellow IB students)


Homi K. Bhabha Institute:

Accreditation of 4-year training:

- Photographic memory in 95th percentile in India

- Spatial thinking in 94th percentile in India

- Logical Reasoning skills in 96th percentile in India


Trinity College:

Accreditation of up to Grade 9-level of Speech and Drama training


Sangeet Mahabharthi:

Completed 6/7 Forms of study in Indian classical music

- Received a Diploma in Indian classical dancing (Kathak) (2010)

- Will receive degree in Kathak in July 2013 (after I pass my exams and final showcase)

- Certified to teach Kathak since 2010


MENSA India:

Member since 2006.


Kinda academic:


- Part of an Indian Young Ambassador Summer exchange programme where I've spent the past like 5 summers with an international family, learning their culture (lived in: Aberdeen, Scotland; Yvoire, France; Geneva, Switzerland; Boston, USA; and Paris, France)


Extracurriculars:


1. National-level Debating Champion

2. Attended 5 MUNs (will be going for Harvard MUN in Bangkok this summer; and hopefully THIMUN next year)

3. Went to Brazil representing India (team of 20) in the International Horlicks Whiz Kid, ranked 6th internationally

4. Won over 30 competitions (intraschool, interschool and regional) for speaking, debating and choral recitation.

5. Ranked 2nd in India in a National Quiz competition

6. Editor-in-chief of School Newsletter

7. Run the school Drama department (have acted/directed/staged/etc. as part of Theatre HL duties)

8. Acapella Choir

9. House Captain in Student Council

10. Work with children in an orphanage every first Sunday of every month.


Sports:

1. Captain of Girl's Handball team (I confess I haven't played much this year, I do the training on the weekends and join in for important matches, but I plan on taking a more active role next year since one of the junior girls tried to dethrone me last month!)

2. Archery (Recreationally - I confess the fascination was tots inspired from Katniss Everdeen)

3. Running (Recreationally)


Work experience:

I work during the school year in my dad's shop. Basically managing the till and counting the money and helping with the books. Nothing too impressive. But worth mentioning. My dad pays me in books and family stories (I'm a huuuuge family genealogy buff) :P


Colleges of Interest (in order of preference):

1. Harvard

2. Yale

3. Princeton

4. Columbia

5. NYU

6. UCLA

7. Dartmouth

8. Cornell

9. UPenn

10. Brown


Hooks: None. My dad dropped out of university in India, my mum never went. Among my grandparents, my nani (mom's mom) is the most educated being a metric pass (finished high school). The rest either failed or dropped out of high school. My older brother is currently studying Biochemistry with Management at Imperial College London with a year abroad and my older sister graduated from Cambridge in 2011 with a degree in Finance and Accounting, if that helps?


Please rate me! (I'm almost 100% sure I want to go to the UK to study law after the IB, but a lot of people told me that it's better to convert to law after doing a non-law degree. So on the off-chance that I could get into one of the listed amazing universities above, I would consider doing that.)

Edited by I_Dream_Of_Law_School
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  • 1 month later...

Note: I am entering into the IB this upcoming school year

Background

Status: Indian
Country: USA
School Type: Public

Academics:

Scores:

ACT: Probably around a 28 or 29
SAT I: Will take in Junior year but estimated to be around a 2000
GPA: 3.7UW 4.1W

Senior year course schedule and predicted grades:
Bio HL - 6
Physics HL - 5
Maths SL - 6
Spanish SL-5

History HL-5

Literature Sl-4

Extracurriculars:
1. Robotics (FIRST)

-Go to World Championships almost every year and won at one point

-12 hour weekly commitment

Colleges of Interest:
1. Harvard
2. Princeton
3. University of Michigan

4. Michigan State

5. Columbia University

Edited by Alby Thomas
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  • 1 month later...
Background

Status: Asian Male
Country: Indian
School Type: Small Private Catholic

Academics:

Scores:
SAT I: M650 CR630 W630
SAT II: n/a
GPA: n/a
Rank: 1/20 (rank/class size)

Senior year course schedule and predicted grades:
Economics - 7
Business and Management HL - 7
Maths SL - 5
English A1 HL - 6
French AB intro - 6
ESS SL - 7


Extracurriculars:

Organized and Volunteer Experience

7/2011 - 1/2012 Helping India, (My own initiative)

11/2012 - 12/2012 Organised TEDxTheCalorxSchool

7/2012 - Present Volunteering at Operation Smile, India

Extra Activities

2010 - Beijing China(WEMUN)

2010 - 2011 - A Level at Alliance Francias, India

2011 - AMITY MUN – Delhi, India

2011 - ECOLE MUN – Mumbai, India

2012 - HARVARD MUN – Mumbai, India

2013 - AIS MUN – Ahmedabad, India

2012 - The Young Entrepreneur (TYE) Participant - Ahmedabad Chapter, India

Study tours

2008 - Italy and Greece

2010 - Various remote villages and Beijing, China

2012 - Brussels and Euro Space Camp, Belgium


Colleges of Interest:
1. Boston
2. NYU
3. Brown University - high match
4. John Hopkins University - high match
5. University of South California - match
6. University of California Los Angeles
Hooks: Have a scholarship in name of First cousin in Boston.
P.S Well suggest me other universities which has good Finance Major.

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  • 3 months later...

Background

Status: Asian Male
Country: Colombia
School Type: Small International School

Academics:

Scores:
SAT I: Math: 550; Writing: 450; Critical Reading: 370.
SAT II: N/A.
Rank: Don't have one but in the top 30%

Senior year course schedule and predicted grades:
English A1 HL - 5-6
History HL - 6
Spanish B HL - 7
Physics SL - 5
Maths SL - 5
Computer Science SL - 5

Extracurriculars:
1. Rugby Team.
2. Community Service with old people.
3. Translation (Korean -> Spanish) in real business situation

Colleges of Interest:
1. UCLA
2. USC
3. CSULB
4. NYU
5. University of British Columbia
6. University of Miami

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  • 2 years later...

I'll give this a shot? Looking at everybody's scores make me feel sad

Background: Asian female

Country: Indonesia

School Type: International School

IB Predicted Grades

  • History HL - 7
  • Indonesian B. HL - 6/7 (not sure)
  • Economics HL - 6
  • English Lang&Lit SL - 7
  • Biology SL - 6
  • Math SL - 5

TOK - B

EE (English) - A

41/45 or 42/45

  • SAT I - CR610 M590 W660 (Not the best I know)
  • SAT II - None
  • TOEFL - 112

 

Extracurricular:

  • Attended locally held poetry slams a couple times
  • E-commerce Economic convention 2015 where I met investors, mayors, and successful business people
  • B-Link: A business/economic elective
  • Red Cross volunteer
  • Piano from 6th grade
  • Technovation: Coding for girls
  • Debate Club - President
  • Magazine Club - Chief editor/writer
  • Book Club - member
  • World Scholars Cup - International debate competition, got several medals and a trophy. Competed for 2 years & passed all three rounds. 2014: Jakarta (Indonesia) --> Singapore --> Yale (didn't have enough money to go). 2015: Jakarta (Indonesia) --> Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) --> Yale (went this time)
  • Internship in Indosiar (a major tv/media/news company in my country)
  • Badminton club: Won a medal for best girl singles

Major: Communications

Choices

  • ED: Northwestern
  • USC
  • UC San Diego
  • UC Davis
  • UC Irvine
  • UC Berkeley
  • UC Los Angeles 
  • USC
  • University of Washington
  • Pepperdine
  • NYU
  • Boston University
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  • 3 months later...

Would be great if someone could predict my chances of getting into the universities I want too:

Background

Status: Indian Female

Country: India

School Type: IB School

Academics:

SAT: *Going to take them in May*

Senior year course schedule and predicted grades:

Chemistry HL - 7

Physics HL - 6

Maths HL - 6

English A1 SL - 7

Spanish ab intio SL - 7

Business Management SL - 7

Extracurriculars:

1. Founder and President of Debate Club and Founding Member of school's editorial tem. 

2. Been part of the school band in all the schools I attended in the past 10 years.

3. Blogging for 7 years

4. Organized fundraisers and lead a team for G4 project. Also attended two MUNs. 

Colleges of Interest:

1. Harvard

2. MIT

3. Stanford

4. Cambridge, UK

Hooks: I know English, Tamil, Hindi, Spanish. Have won many academic awards in middle and high school. 

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2 hours ago, Pri said:

Background

Status: Asian Female

Country: India

School Type: large private ( 2nd best in the country)

Academics:

Scores:

SAT I: M730C670

GPA: 3.8UW 3.8W ( out of 4 point GPA)

Rank: 1/30

Senior year course schedule and predicted grades:

Economics HL- 7

Physics SL- 7

Maths HL - 6

Hindi SL- 7

English SL - 7

Business Management- 7

Extracurriculars:

1. Started a Club

2. Research on microfinance

Colleges of Interest:

1. Harvard

2. stanford

3. Cornell (ED)

Well tbh, your grades are already fantastic but I highly doubt you'll get into any of those universities because your extracurriculars, quite frankly, kinda suck. I don't have the best scores but my brother had almost a 2400 in his SATs and a final IB score of 44 and he got rejected to all the Ivy leagues. He only got into UCLA (which is good) but none of those schools. So I highly suggest that if your aim is that high, you fix up you extracurrics. Plus don't forget to write a good college essay.

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On 2/24/2017 at 10:36 PM, Lynn Gweeny said:

Would be great if someone could predict my chances of getting into the universities I want too:

Background

Status: Indian Female

Country: India

School Type: IB School

Academics:

SAT: *Going to take them in May*

Senior year course schedule and predicted grades:

Chemistry HL - 7

Physics HL - 6

Maths HL - 6

English A1 SL - 7

Spanish ab intio SL - 7

Business Management SL - 7

Extracurriculars:

1. Founder and President of Debate Club and Founding Member of school's editorial tem. 

2. Been part of the school band in all the schools I attended in the past 10 years.

3. Blogging for 7 years

4. Organized fundraisers and lead a team for G4 project. Also attended two MUNs. 

Colleges of Interest:

1. Harvard

2. MIT

3. Stanford

4. Cambridge, UK

Hooks: I know English, Tamil, Hindi, Spanish. Have won many academic awards in middle and high school. 

I think you have a pretty good chance as long as you make sure you have a killer essay and do well for your SATs. Additionally, you should do one more impressive extracurricular to make you stand out. That's just my two cents

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well I've produced three plays in school and I may also be elected as secretary general for the MUN and may be even president of the senior class and I'm also planning an e-commerce platform, does that count

Edited by Pri
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3 minutes ago, Pri said:

 

well I've produced three plays in school and I may also be elected as secretary general for the MUN and may be even president of the senior class and I'm also planning an e-commerce platform, does that count

Sure! That sounds amazing. Just make sure you include them in your commonapp. Specifics are VERY important. 

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  • 2 months later...

Hey there, I'm an IB1 in mid-term. I planned to apply to all the ivies (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UPenn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown) + USC, UChicago, UC Berkely, Rice and Duke for regular on 1 Jan 2018 with Cornell being my early decision but I feel like I should have more on my list which might be more suited towards these grade boundaries just in case my magic trick doesn't work. I plan to study finance. I'd really appreciate it if you could chance me and maybe even give me some recommendations. Below you'll find all my stats.

School's internal predicted grades:
HL: 
English A:LAL - 5
Biology - 5
History - 5

SL:
Math Studies - 5
Business and Management - 5 
Norwegian B (anticipated) - 4


SAT Subject Test Practice (taking the real tests in 2 weeks):
570/800 Literature
450/800 World History

SAT Practice (taking the real test in 3 months): 1000/1600

Extracurricular's:
-IB papers study resource website (difference is all the questions from 1999-2016 are organized by chapters in the syllabus)

-YouTube channel with loads of helpful information for new-coming international students going to study at my school

-Made 2 websites for 2 intentional companies with no programming knowledge

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16 minutes ago, Kai_Harry said:

Hey there, I'm an IB1 in mid-term. I planned to apply to all the ivies (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UPenn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown) + USC, UChicago, UC Berkely, Rice and Duke for regular on 1 Jan 2018 with Cornell being my early decision but I feel like I should have more on my list which might be more suited towards these grade boundaries just in case my magic trick doesn't work. I plan to study finance. I'd really appreciate it if you could chance me and maybe even give me some recommendations. Below you'll find all my stats.

School's internal predicted grades:
HL: 
English A:LAL - 5
Biology - 5
History - 5

SL:
Math Studies - 5
Business and Management - 5 
Norwegian B (anticipated) - 4


SAT Subject Test Practice (taking the real tests in 2 weeks):
570/800 Literature
450/800 World History

SAT Practice (taking the real test in 3 months): 1000/1600

Extracurricular's:
-IB papers study resource website (difference is all the questions from 1999-2016 are organized by chapters in the syllabus)

-YouTube channel with loads of helpful information for new-coming international students going to study at my school

-Made 2 websites for 2 intentional companies with no programming knowledge

I'm just going to be honest here, those scores for your universities are simply not enough. Not even close. Sorry, but that's the truth. Your total score is below world average which is 30. And even if you get the full three points for ur TOK/EE, 32 is still too low. Your SAT is also pretty bad. Average is 1200. But don't give up. First time I took SAT (old) I got 1400+ and I tried harder and got a 400 point boost so miracles do happen. If you're really aiming for the aforementioned schools, get your grades up to mostly 6 and 7s for IB and SAT 1500+ for those Ivy Leagues. Your extracurricular though fine (eh), are still not good enough for your university. Furthermore, the only impressive thing is the website making but that isn't even connected to your major. From observing other ppl tht went into Ivys, you need to have community outreach projects and make sure you're the founder or leader. I just graduated recently with an IB predicted 40/45 and an SAT of 1320 (new) and 1860 (old) which isn't that great thus I didn't even try Ivys. However, I joined sports, was chief editor of my school's first magazine club, founder of the debate club, joined Red Cross, interned in both a TV and online news company, etc.. And I still don't think this was good enough to get into an Ivy. I was accepted to pretty good schools though. NYU, UCLA, UCSD, among a couple others. I think you can get into said schools too if you raise your scores. Plus, be realistic. See the average SAT and IB scores for the schools you choose. You don't want to be wrong and end up getting accepted nowhere. And even if you get your grades up, have safety schools. My brother's friend got too cocky and didn't end up getting into any of the reach schools he applied to and was forced to take a gap year. In this harsh world, I guess someone's gonna burst the naivety :/

PS. You're taking math studies but want to get into finance??? Uhm, that's not the smartest move. Furthermore, even changing ur major can't save u from how bad math studies looks to universities even if you get a 7. Consider taking math SL. I struggle a **** ton in math but I force myself to take Math SL even if my major was comm

Edited by RachelDarma
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1 hour ago, Kai_Harry said:

Hey there, I'm an IB1 in mid-term. I planned to apply to all the ivies (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UPenn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown) + USC, UChicago, UC Berkely, Rice and Duke for regular on 1 Jan 2018 with Cornell being my early decision but I feel like I should have more on my list which might be more suited towards these grade boundaries just in case my magic trick doesn't work. I plan to study finance. I'd really appreciate it if you could chance me and maybe even give me some recommendations. Below you'll find all my stats.

School's internal predicted grades:
HL: 
English A:LAL - 5
Biology - 5
History - 5

SL:
Math Studies - 5
Business and Management - 5 
Norwegian B (anticipated) - 4


SAT Subject Test Practice (taking the real tests in 2 weeks):
570/800 Literature
450/800 World History

SAT Practice (taking the real test in 3 months): 1000/1600

Extracurricular's:
-IB papers study resource website (difference is all the questions from 1999-2016 are organized by chapters in the syllabus)

-YouTube channel with loads of helpful information for new-coming international students going to study at my school

-Made 2 websites for 2 intentional companies with no programming knowledge

As of now i'd agree with the previous comment that your scores aren't sufficient, but here's a list of things you could possibly do:

1.  Focus on your HL subjects - it is key for you to demonstrate your understanding and in depth knowledge in your HL subjects because universities take it for granted that these are your core subjects.

2. SAT scores- make SAT a priority and devout (in my understanding) around 2 or so hours everyday. Join a study group if you can but what ever you do, concentrate on focusing on your weaknesses.

3. Don't spread yourself too thin - if you have a passion for making websites, start a mini business and go deep into it. don't try doing too many things and develop core areas.

Although I'm not sure if this can push you towards the ivies, it can surely help you get into good universities.

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  • 1 year later...
49 minutes ago, 41289501 said:

I'm not sure if this is still a valid discussion post since it's already 2018 and the first post was in 2008, but I'm pretty desperate so I'll give a try.

I want to major computer science or artificial intelligence or some different information technology stuff.

 

Status: Asian female (Korean) (I'll get Canadian permanent residency in a month or two)

Country: Canada

School Type: Public school in downtown

Academics:

Scores:

SAT I: Evidence-based: 730 Math: 770

SAT II: Maths II: 800 Physics: 800

GPA: approx. 3.75 ~ 3.80

Senior year course schedule and predicted grades:

Mathematics HL: 6

Physics HL:7

French ab intio SL: 7

Chemistry HL: 7

Philosophy SL: 6

English Lit HL: 5 

Extracurriculars:

1. Volunteering: year and a half of volunteering in local Korean school, taught Korean and Korean martial arts

2. Self-taught coding and developed apps. (Two gaming apps and one grade tracker) These can be found on appstore, though the amount of downloaders are not really impressive :( like few hundreds I think.... I'm also in process of developing mapping app for grade 10s who are new to my highschool(my school is very old and it's like a dungeon to the point where school has to hand out a map of the school to every individual entering the building). 

3. Did Korean martial arts for 11 years. (I was in a competitive team most of the time, before injury) Two bronze in Western Canadian Open.(Female individual and Mixed duo)

4. Executive member of school's Culture Club for three years. Organized and performed a cultural talent show in school and organized numerous fundraising events.

5. Executive member of school's Anime Club for a year. 

6. Executive member of school's Science Club for two years. Organized science decathlons. Two for feeder school students and one for high school students.

7. Member of Computer Science Club. Together, we developed game and going through beta testing right now.

8. Played flute in school band for three years and played alto and base flute in flute ensemble. 

9. Laboratory internship in university's nano-engineering lab, conducting two researches with graduate students.

10. Participated in lots of math and science competitions, contests, Olympics. Usually ranked in top 20% percentile or get silver or bronze or something... a.k.a not worthy of gold but your effort is appreciated.

11. Learned French for three years and Japanese for two years.(Outside of school curriculum)

and few more that are neither as important nor as impressive.... :( 

Colleges of Interest:

Honestly, I don't know if I will be able to get into ANY of those good universities since my grades are pretty low for those good schools...... please tell me if you think I can get into any of 'top universities' even if they are not listed... Thanks a lot. Seriously. THANKS.

1. Princeton

2. Harvard

3. Stanford

4. MIT

5. Yale

6. UC Berkeley

and more

Focus hard on 1-3 top-notch schools e.g. MIT/Princeton and then have half a dozen or so good "match" schools e.g. UMichigan/UVA/BU/NU/NYU/CMU/USC. It's never a good idea to spam-apply a lot of uber selective schools without genuine interest/actual research and introspection on why you want to attend. It's not just about attending an excellent school, but it's why you would fit that school more than the other 95% of applicants.

Judging from your list it seems you're attracted to those schools because of their brand names. While one can argue that the only real difference between Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and Princeton are their different school colors and names, you don't want readers to think that. Hence, do a lot of research on 1 school you can apply early action for and really look into what makes that school a unique fit for you. A good test would be if you can replace 'Harvard'' in your personal statement with 'Stanford' or any other name in your list, then that essay is generic and does not show genuine enthusiasm for the school. In other words, it's off putting to application readers and unlikely to make you stand out from the bulk of the applicant pool.

Your best bet is to show that you 9999999% genuinely want to attend that school because it 9999999% is uniquely fitted to you and not because of any superficial reasons. Such schools are usually known for their academics but you're going to have to look for reasons beyond those as everyone will be highlighting academic reasons and they're pretty easy to look up online.

Edit: I might have sounded a little aggressive in my post. Often times a lot of people apply to those schools due to peer or parental pressure. If that is the case, and even if it's not it's still relevant, my best advice is to reflect hard on yourself and figure out what you would want out of your college experience. The student community, geographical environment, and ideals of the institution are almost as important as academics and  the last thing you want is to be at a school you're unhappy with. You're a high achieving student, but so is 80%< of applicants to all your listed schools and thus if you can't think of an extremely compelling reason to attend that school, app readers in turn won't feel compelled to admit you. Most schools in the top 100 are as academically fulfilling as the Ivy League schools; broadening your perspective is always a healthy thing. 

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