I am an international applicant from Pakistan. Got 13 A in GCSE. 3 A and 2 B in A levels. I did the toughest subjects. Was rejected by Harvard this year. I know that the reason was low SAT and weak essay full of mistakes as I wrote it at the last minute. This year, among the various places I got to such as NYU Mcgill Jacobs, I wasn’t able to enroll due to financial constraints. I plan to give ACT this year. I am working very hard on it.
I did not have much access to good EC this year but I did various internships throughout the year in various hospitals. Plan to apply for biology.
If I get a good ACT and write better essays do I have a chance of getting in SCEA. Especially as I have a very good backstory about the way I picked myself up after severe financial constraints.
The admit rate for internationals is much less than five percent – probably worse for India/Pakistan/China. If you score a 36 ACT, your odds will still be terrible. There is no avoiding this reality.
As stated above, the acceptance rate for internationals is lower than the overall acceptance rate, so you’re probably looking at 2-3%. Harvard, and similar schools reject applicants all the time with a perfect GPA and 2400/36. Having said that, feel free to apply because you never know.
Next time, a better thread title will be highly appreciated.
Don’t forget Harvard will have your materials from last year, including the unfortunate essay. It is probably best to move on and try to apply to the other colleges who might actually meet need. That means avoiding schools like NYU where you are likely to have to come up with a very large amount of money — that was a given what a waste of effort.
As @BrownParent said, Harvard keeps an electronic version of every student’s application for 3 years just this reason. If a student reapplies for admission, AO’s will be able to consult not only your unfortunate essay, but your previous year’s teacher recommendations, interview report, test scores, EC’s – and they will be able to read whatever comments last year’s AO’s wrote about you. Given all of that, it’s highly unlikely that an applicant who has been rejected (not waitlisted mind you, but flat-out rejected) will be accepted the second time around. It’s time to move on!
I understand why you are looking at Amherst – because it’s one of the 6 US colleges that offer to meet 100% of need-based aid for international students – but Amherst is going to be just as competitive for international students as HYP: https://www.amherst.edu/admission/apply/international/enrollment
By all means try, but I wouldn’t expect a different result.
Apply, but don’t expect anything. I know someone who got rejected at MIT and Tufts the first time they applied, took a postgraduate/gap year, and got in the second time around. You never know…But don’t expect anything. Really. The odds are not in your favor. Or in anyone’s, for that matter.
Here’s some stats on how hard it is to gain admission as an international to Dartmouth (a school which is also need blind for internationals but still probably far less popular with foreign applicants than Harvard).
@gibby and @Falcon1 Should I apply ED to Upenn or Columbia or Cornell or Amherst. These colleges give significant aid to into students. As for the ACT I am working very hard and am hoping to get 32+. Which one should I apply to.
I don’t follow Amherst College enough to know if a composite score of 32 puts you in the 75th percentile for the school. I would think not, therefore much will depend on what your teachers say about you in their letters of recommendations and the take-away Admissions gets from your essays.
According to the latest CDS (2014), the 25-75% for Amherst is 30-34 for enrolled students. That means for accepted students it’s probably higher AND that includes domestic applicants.