Am i good enough (a tad long)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Posted this originally in another thread. Realised that I should have posted here insted.</p>

<p>Hi, I would like to know if I have a fair chance at the college I want to go to. I wish to do a double major of classics/russian with econs/finance/accountancy. One problem is that I am a international student, so I don't have a GPA. My school system follow the A levels.</p>

<p>GPA: ?? I took the O'levels 2 years ago. A max score is 6 (the lower the better), my score was 10. In my country, the ranking of pre-university schools is very obvious. Out of the 2 best junior colleges in my country, one is dubbed the "ivy league machine" because it is the high school with the most number of students going to the ivies in the world. My school is ranked 5/6th so I have no idea how that will affect admission. My grades were average last year (average in my school - slightly above a pass) but my grades are around the top this year (my school counts ranking as a part of the entire school) Oh yes, and I haven't studied history in the past 4 years. I am a geography student :/ My only excuse for my poor grades last year is that I only considered studying in the US this year. In my country, only the results of national exams count, so I didn't bother to make much of an effort last year </p>

<p>Recommendation: Don't talk to my teachers much. I do contribute a lot during class discussions, but I'm pretty sure it wont be fantastic </p>

<p>Extra-curricular: err weak? Not much of a leadership position, I am the student reading ambassodor of my school and president of the reading club... Erm, I learn japanese outside of school (2nd year of study), planning to take the JLPT exam at the end of the year (won't be in time for admission com to see my results) and ran a few marathons. Oh and I am volunteering at a home for 6 months. </p>

<p>SAT: did it once. reading: 750 math:650 writing: 590. Will be taking it again in june. Pretty sure I can pull math and writing up,currently attending a SAT prep course.</p>

<p>Enough about the long winded explanations, onto the colleges of my choice:</p>

<p>1) UPenn: (for wharton)thinking about doing early decision. However, my A level results only come out in Feb/Marchn and a few posters said that it's not that great...</p>

<p>2) Uchicago: pretty cool school scared about the essay though</p>

<p>3) Umichigan: for their business school</p>

<p>4) uvirginia: business school</p>

<p>5) wellesley college: i already spent 10 years in a girls' school. Don't mind spending another 4 years in one.</p>

<p>6) Dartmouth: lol if I can get in. Their choose-1-sem-off system is pretty cool. enables you to get a cool internship</p>

<p>Not sure if I'm overreaching myself here. I want to go the US cos I can study classics and/or russian, which is not offered in my country. There is no way my parents will be willing to pay 50k a year to let me study these subjects alone, so I have to study a "practical" subject too.</p>

<p>My only criteria for a uni is opportunities in school, good internships, and a good business/econs faculty. Cost should not be a problem. Please recommend me some other unis as well! Thanks! </p>

<p>ps. I am Chinese and a Catholic. Is that a factor?</p>

2

<p>
[quote]
My only excuse for my poor grades last year is that I only considered studying in the US this year. In my country, only the results of national exams count, so I didn't bother to make much of an effort last year

[/quote]

LOL, this was what happened to me too :) Do you have any idea what your predicted grades are yet?</p>

<p>
[quote]
I am Chinese and a Catholic. Is that a factor?

[/quote]

Nope, the fact that you're an international student from your country matters more than your ethnicity and religion.</p>

<p>Do you really really wanna go to uni in the US? Because all those schools you're planning to apply to are very selective, and even more so for international students... you're not applying for financial aid though (am I right?), so that's an advantage.</p>

<p>We can recommend some other schools for you, but it'd be great if you could tell us more about what you want in a college. Location? Size (like number of students)? Et al.?</p>

<p>I think you can get into Boston U, I heard their business school is pretty good, but I don't know about double majoring in Classics/Russian. But at the moment, your list sounds good to me, just that it's a little reach-y.</p>

<p>Dont' forget to take SAT Subject Tests :)</p>

3

<p>I'd say that most of those schools are a reach, especially being an international student. Your SAT needs to be improved, try taking the ACT. Also, you don't have much for extra curriculars, so get involved. Your "gpa" seems decent but nto great since the best is a 6 and you got a 10. The competition to those schools is crazy, kids with . Good Luck</p>

4

<p>Yup I'm not applying for financial aid. Actually, all that I want a college to have is a good business/finance program with good internships that can land me a job at a relatively big firm maybe even BEFORE I graduate :)</p>

5

<p>Oh my predicted grade will only be known to me after September, which is when I take the last exam in my school. One problem is that as my country has a national exam which follows a curve, the number of people that can get an "A" grade is about say 20% of the cohort (10,000 to 20,000) on average per subject. :/</p>

6

<p>Haha and the country you're talking about is Singapore.</p>

<p>Most of the times, the grades that matter the most are your predicted grades, and hence, your prelim grades must be of a certain standard. I kinda did very badly over the two years but most of the unis that I applied to (except Berkeley) only required me to submit the predicted grades, and my end-of-year sec4 grades. </p>

<p>Honestly I think your ECs are not so strong but I don't think you can do anything about it at this moment. Try pulling up your SATs as much as possible to make up for it, and write a darn good essay too. Don't forget to take SAT IIs too, when are you planning to take it?</p>

<p>You can still apply for ED, the fact that A-Level results are only out on Feb/March doesn't affect anything at all.</p>

<p>So far I think you're only listing down your reaches... What are your safeties? Don't get me wrong, all the unis you put there are reaches for almost everyone. If those are your only options, then yes you are over-reaching yourself.</p>

<p>As of good business school.. You can try UC-Berkeley and NYU Stern, and Carnegie Mellon's Tepper if you want to focus more on the quant side.</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
most of the unis that I applied to (except Berkeley) only required me to submit the predicted grades, and my end-of-year sec4 grades.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>whuuut? my school counsellor got me to send in my [horrid] promos and prelims grades too! boo.</p>

8

<p>Haha I don't know, I just had to attach my school profile along with it, to explain our school system and all.. Do other schools have it??</p>

9

<p>My counsellor did all the work la, basically we just had to hand in our promos/prelims/O Level grades, and the rest [predicted grades, recommendation, school profile et al.] was left to him. Of course we had to tell him a bit about our CCAs but yeah that's about it. I wonder what my predicted grades were...</p>

<p>@nelle: Try and do as well as you can for your remaining exams (esp prelims!) 'cause this is where your teachers/counsellor will base your predicted grades on. I think you can definitely do better for SAT Reasoning, and try to score perfect, or close to perfect, scores for Subject tests. I agree with lisieux, your CCA record doesn't seem too fantastic, compared to what other Singaporeans would probably have, but don't lose hope. Your interest in languages (Jap and Russian) is pretty unique, and your commitment with volunteering is good too, so just try to play up whatever you have by the time the applications period arrives. Work on getting great recs from your counsellor and teachers too.</p>

<p>Wellesley is an LAC, I don't think you'd be able to study Business there. Economics, yes, but Business I doubt it. Do UChicago and Dartmouth even have Business as an undergrad major?</p>

<p>For a good, more "match"-y business school, look at Indiana U at Bloomington, or Fordham U in NY. Again, I have NO idea about studying Classics/Russian alongside Business at most of the schools you mentioned, though. Do you intend to double major?</p>

<p>Try to ask in the College Search and Selection forum for suggestions on schools where you can major in business but still have the freedom to study Classics/Russian as well.</p>

10

<p>You don't need to study business to get a business job. In fact often the best recruiting is for econ majors at places like HYPS, Dartmouth, Columbia, etc. Only Wharton and a couple other business schools are competitive with econ majors from these schools. Wellesley does fine with recruiting as well.</p>