A Story Of Mass Rejected International Student - Learn From My Mistakes

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I was just roaming around CC, and was overwhelmed by the amount of international people there are on here that want to go to the US. Now I have lived in europe my whole life, and was in the same situation last year, and got absolutely killed in the cycle. I applied to I think 20 colleges, and got rejected by 18. I am going to school in the UK now, at a great uni, so it still worked out alright (outside US I applied to 8 schools and only got rejected by 1). Anyways, there are a few things I think I could have improved, and so I just want to put it down here to help you guys.</p>

<p>First off, I just want to give you my stats:</p>

<p>IB with 7 subjects: 38/45 points
(English A1, Dutch, Business SL and Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics HL)
Rank: Top 5% (School Doesn't Rank)</p>

<p>SAT I: 2360
SAT II Math II: 780
SAT II Biology M: 740</p>

<p>Major Awards:
Cricketer Of The Year (Club)
2nd Place in Cricket National Championship
Football League Championship
Endeavour Award
Honour Roll every year
3rd Place in National Drawing Competition</p>

<p>Languages: Fluent in 4 languages, in addition to 3 years each of Spanish and French</p>

<p>Volunteer/Work:
Fundraised 2400 euros with 5 others for a charity trip to South America lasting 2 weeks
Tutoring 2 years
School Work Council Elected Rep 2 years (got paid 25 euro per hour)
Training youth cricket teams 4 years</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Piano 5 years
Tabla
Cricket 7 years (Played internationally for several national youth teams)
Football 8 years</p>

<p>Leadership positions:
Captain of the football(soccer) team (Led them to league championship)
Captain of the cricket team (Led them to national championship finals - we lost though)
Elected School Work Council Rep</p>

<p>Research: Now I know I shouldn't put my Extended Essay in here, but I really aced it. I had to use things way above my level, spent almost 6 months learning advanced math from a university course, and then got it reviewed by a NASA physicist who also wrote me a rec to go along with it. I had to go to him because my Physics teacher had no idea what I was talking about, and said I could go advanced if I wanted to, just it was on my own head.</p>

<p>So yeah, that's all I can think of off of the top of my head. I will admit that my grades are not the best, but they are more than adequate, considering I have taken an extra higher level science subject. Also, my SAT I and II scores were definitely write up there. I will admit I am lacking in work experience, but I think it should be evened out by my extracurriculars (International Athlete) and leadership positions.</p>

<p>My recs were jaw droppingly brilliant (well, maybe not that good, but still). Each of my teachers said I was in the top 5%, and all that yak. I also sent my research project to all the schools with a letter of rec from the NASA scientist.</p>

<p>So all in all, I thought it was a pretty solid application, and was relatively confident of getting in to a good school in the States. </p>

<p>Now this is where it all started to go wrong, looking back. I went for the approach that the more the better. As a student asking for circa $40,000 in aid, this is not a wise choice. Here is a quick tip. One of my friends applied offering to pay the full tuition. He got in to many of the top colleges (Stanford, Chicago, Cornell and Duke I think...) without any questions asked. He didn't even have an interview. He ended up not going, because he changed his mind, and didn't want to pay that much. But it does show something which seems pretty logical. If you can pay, your chances of getting accepted go up by a long shot. This is why I seriously urge younger students to start looking for sources of finance that could possibly pay your tuition for you, or outside scholarships.</p>

<p>So, I quite literally applied to every school that would offer me aid. This basically means every school in the top 20. I spent about a month writing all the app essays. I thought they were alright, but here is the second problem. When you apply to that many schools, you just get utterly exhausted. It is literally grinding your mind every day to find new stuff to write. As a consequence, your work gets progressively worse. If I did it again, I would probably apply to fewer colleges. </p>

<p>This leads me to the third mistake. I did not apply anywhere early, because I would have to accept the financial package they gave me. Looking back, it would probably have been better for me to apply early to Cornell, as their ED chances are far greater, even for International students. I am by no means a perfect applicant, and if I had shown more interest, who knows, they may have accepted me. If not, I could have continued this process anyways.</p>

<p>And that takes me to my fourth mistake. I never asked anyone for help. I should probably have asked professional counselors for help in this regard, counselors who have gotten kids into the US already. They might cost a lot of money, but to me, it is worth it if I can get in with a scholarship.</p>

<p>My fifth mistake was that I took the SAT too many times (3). This is quite a nice story for improvement though, just as a reminder to anyone who thinks SAT scores can never really change that much. The first time I took the SAT, I got a 1700. Abysmal. Then I hit the books really hard, and in my third try, I improved by 660 points, and got a 2360. Massive ego boost. So make sure you study hard first though, before taking the SAT, as it looks far better to colleges if you get a 2360 on your first time than if you get it on subsequent tries.</p>

<p>And lastly, I think especially in this present era of US colleges, especially for the top colleges, admissions are a lot of luck. I know people who have gotten into Stanford with a 3.4 GPA (true story, though they were a minority), and I know many more with 4.0's and near perfect SAT scores who have gotten rejected. Don't put all your eggs in one basket, as everyone is uber-competitive now. Everyone has done a gazillion things and has great stats and is a leader in like 6 clubs. Do your best I guess, good luck to everyone!</p>

2

<p>“As a student asking for circa $40,000 in aid”</p>

<p>“I quite literally applied to every school that would offer me aid. This basically means every school in the top 20.”</p>

<p>Unless only the top 20 would have been acceptable places for you to study, this is where your plan went wrong. These institutions are highly selective, and get many applications each year from applicants with profiles like yours, and reject many of those applicants every single year. Admissions at those places is like playing the lottery - most people will not be admitted no matter how wonderful they are. Students who are viable candidates for the top 20, but who are less picky about where they are willing to attend, can find places here where they are guaranteed automatic merit-based aid, and other places where they are strong candidates for competitive merit-based aid. There are threads on those topics at the top of the Financial Aid Forum.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, many international applicants are not aware of the free or inexpensive services offered by the counselors at the advising centers of EducationUSA. Had you been able to communicate with one of those counselors, you might have been able to form a better list for yourself.
<a href=“https://www.educationusa.info/centers.php[/url]”>https://www.educationusa.info/centers.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Lastly, even though you are a bit sad that you aren’t able to study in the US just yet, you have found a good university for yourself, and you have every chance of meeting your own long-term goals. In the end, that is what really matters.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>

3

<p>Sad story really. However, think that Cambridge(probably the best university outside the US) is less selective than virtually any top private US university(though probably better than most of them), so getting into many UK universities while being rejected by many US universities isn’t that unlikely.</p>

4

<p>Good wishes from her. I agree with everything Happymom has written. You applied to schools where your chances were low to get accepted–just look at their accept rates, even without needing financial aid. As an international needing that much aid, for all but the schools need blind to that category, that dropped your chances even more. You might have gotten some acceptances ast schools where your numbers put you into the very top 1-5% of their applicants. Not where you were run of the mill since all of their applicants were way up there.</p>

5

<p>This is something we on this forum have been telling international students for years:</p>

<ul>
<li>Trying to get into a top 20 school with extensive financial aid is like playing the lottery</li>
<li>To increase your chances, apply to lower-ranked schools (many are still excellent)</li>
<li>To increase your chances even more, apply in the central-middle part of the U.S. (“mid-west”) or the south, where there is less competition from other international students</li>
</ul>

<p>and finally</p>

<ul>
<li>Have a back-up plan at home! The odds are against you in the U.S.!</li>
</ul>

6

<p>Hard reality to face for internationals. Tough competition in the top schools. Most importantly, money talks. If you need big amounts of money, you have to strategize very well as that need is the one that will severely handicap your chance of admission. Rich international students have it much easier.</p>

7

<p>Actually, the bigger problem may have been your ib score. You need at least a 38/39 out of 42 to begin to be considered by top schools. 38/45 is way too low. </p>

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<p>trackpop: this is nonsense. The problem isn’t the IB score, but the way the list was designed. Regardless of scores, EC’s, etc, the list should always include several colleges with admission % in the 30-50 range, and preferably at least one with admission % above 50. OP picked colleges that deny so many exceptional applicants that it was a catastrophe bound to happen. The “safety/match/reach” rule applies to exceptional applicants too.</p>

9

<p>I am afraid I will have to disagree. We were told by numerous schools that anything below a 38/39 predicted out of 42 is a non starter–even for legacies. This is a consistent message admissions officers from all Ivy league schools and most Ivy league equivalents as we asked this specifically at each visit. Given the IB score, the list had to be designed differently as you suggest. The financial aid may have played a part, but for the top schools, the IB score would have been a non-starter. </p>