Am I hopeless or not for top Unis/LACs?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

To be specific, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Williams, Swarthmore, Amherst - I’m especially hooked on Amherst.

Interests: History and Political science

GPA: 3.9 ( We don’t really do percentages, but my counselor put me in the top 10% in my commonapp)

SAT: 2190, but I’ve taken the Nov. ones and am hoping that they’ve gone up.

Nationality: Korean (groan I love my country, but…)

High School: Middle Eastern Country

IB Predicted:41

ECs:
Psych Club President & founder(1 year)
NHS Leader(1 year, but I’ve been in NHS for 3)
Lit Mag(school magazine) Secretary(1 year)
MUN for two years and during break
Girl Up 1 year(Just got started this year)
Badminton 3 years(Varsity for two years)
Math Club 2 years(9th, 10th grade)
School Orchestra member
Main Vocal at Church(4 years)
Violin ABRSM grade 4 award
Uploaded stories on a website for over 5 years - one was pretty popular

Volunteer:
Several relief efforts
Of course, NHS.

Internships:
Interned at a major financial institution one summer.

Essay:
Both shouldn’t be that bad - I’ve started on both since last vacation and gotten feedback from my counselor and some other teachers. It’s about living in Middle Eastern countries.

Teacher Recs:
Probs excellent - one of my teachers is my NHS adviser and the teacher of the subject I struggle most with(and thus work hardest in), and the other was my MUN adviser for a while and my teacher for history(My fav. I love it to the point I’d stay after school just to talk to him about it). I’m on great terms with both.

Counselor Rec:
Eh. Probs good?

Unfortunately, not many awards or consistent ECs, and nothing really shows that I’m not the stereotypical Asian(racket sports and violin and all that), so I have that against me. I know that there’s a lot of subjective elements involved in the process, but would you say that I’ll probably get cut straight away? < Bracing myself!

2

So you’re applying as an international, is that right?

Frankly, your odds are very low. Right off the bat, they’re at best 1%… so think of this as “1% max”.
Where else are you applying - I mean, real reaches (vs. dream school reaches), matches, and safeties?
How will you handle military service (unless you can ask for conscience objector or something?)

3

Frankly, I have no idea what you mean by military service - in Korea, only the male population is really required to go.
I didn’t really mention that up there, but I’m female :). Other places I’m applying to are Carleton and NYUAD. Problem is, our family isn’t well enough to pay for all of my school fees, so can’t really apply to a school without financial aid.

As for matches and safeties, I’m applying to Korea for those. It’s basically this: if I want to attend a college in the U.S., go to one of the most selective ones.

4

That SAT score will not give you merit aid to attend those elite schools, even if you were to get in.

Your odds and chances are really low for your list of schools because you are an international student, who needs financial aid and have selected the most elite colleges, (and your scores are not in the realm of those schools). Your activities show that you have money to travel to different countries to “volunteer”, so that is not a plus for you.

You can try to find match schools but they won’t be the “most selective ones”. You do realize that there are over 3000 US colleges and universities? There are hundreds of thousands of domestic and international students applying to those universities. Their stats are high and ECs are good.

Your best bets are your safeties in Korea.

5

I agree with aunt bea. I highly doubt you’ll get in and chance of getting any merit aid is even less. It seems like you went through the USNews rankings and just chose the top 3 on the national and LAC lists with no other reason.

6

There’s financial aid at Skimore, at Macalester, at Mount Holyoke… Try to widen your search.

If you can afford 25-30K/year, your odds are relatively good if you aim at colleges ranked 35-60. Those are still in the top 5% of US colleges.
What’s your exact budget?

What Korean colleges would you be able to get into if you went back to Korea? Do they recognize your US education?

7

“if I want to go to attend a college in the U.S., go to one of the most selective ones” (2)

Why not one of the best ones?

8

@stanfordtree2014 Actually, it has more to do with the fact that most of the colleges I had in mind had a need blind admissions policy for international students. Of course, there’s also the impact of college tours to consider. Obviously the top three on both lists were awe-inspiring on that tour…seriously, is it any wonder I want to apply?

9

@MYOS1634 We actually did look into that, but most of the colleges ranked 35-60 are still pretty expensive. Sure, the tuition might be reasonable by itself, but there’s also the book fees and living costs to consider. Plus, I probably haven’t visited the schools on the list, so I can’t really be sure if I’ll be well-suited to them or not for me to chose them as my safety/match schools. Thanks for the advice though!

I’m not so sure about U.S. education in general, but most colleges in Korea know the IB diploma and accept internationally taught students in a separate applicant pool.

10

@merc81 touche

11

Buy The Princeton Review’s Best Colleges and start reading :). Their descriptions are pretty accurate and easy to read so you should quickly find which ones match what you want as well as your personality.

12

@“aunt bea” Ouch, but realistic. Unfortunately, a majority of the 3000 unis you mentioned are costly. I’m well aware that there are a lot of brilliant applicants(self taught languages with 2400s, 4.0 gpas, varsity captain with well renown debating skills etc) - definitely scanned through some of the other threads. Then again, a girl can hope…

13

Part of my usage of the word “best” was intended to imply “best for you.” For example, from your list, I view Williams and Harvard as having little in common other than the aforementioned selectivity (and general academic quality). So while either could be among the best for an individual student, I don’t see by what broader aspects of the schools they both could be. Nonetheless, I’m really glad you liked your visits, and, despite my earlier post on this thread, I’m usually reluctant to attempt to counter the intuition of a student who has researched their colleges thoroughly.

14

Has the OP mentioned merit scholarships (3) as opposed to need-based aid?

15

Amherst is need blind/meets need, but Williams isn’t.
Some colleges are need blind for internationals (meaning they don’t care whether you can pay or not). In most cases, it means that if you can’t pay, it’s not their problem.
Some colleges are need-aware for internationals, but promise to meet need for their admitted international applicants.
Finally, there are 5 colleges in the US which are both need blind and meet need for internationals, and they’re exceedingly hard to get into (HYPM plus Amherst).

merc81: I’m guessing OP isn’t interested in merit scholarships at schools that aren’t Top25.
OP, would you be interested in Temple Honors, Alabama Honors, UCincinnati Honors, UNC Robertson…??

A concern also is that I know of some international students who went back to Asia, and the transition was really rough. They ruined their GPA and had to transfer back to the US, often to Community College because of the GPA. So OP has to be sure she knows Korean education culture well and knows how to navigate the differences between what will be expected of her and what has been expected of her in the US while she was in HS (participation, especially, is a huge difference).

16

Did I miss something? Doesn’t the OP go to HS in a Middle Eastern country?

17

Yes but OP is Korean and said her safeties were in Korea. OP is attending an international school outside of Korea and thus presumably hasn’t attended a Korean school since she was old enough to actually analyze the hidden curriculum (which is pretty impossible before age 15-16 at best).

18

@merc81 True, they’re not really similar. For atmosphere, from what I could tell I’m a bit more leaned to Harvard(Plus the Harry Potter lunch hall!), but for Williams…that library…lol.

We actually weren’t going to put Williams, but we still visited it since it was close. My parents are hoping that we could still pay some of the tuition, so maybe. It is a bit on the sporty side for me(coughnot student athletecough), but if they’ll have me, hey, who am I to complain? Plus, I love their tutorial classes.

I guess all of the schools have their good points that make me want to go :).

19

@MYOS1634 I learned at Korea when I was in middle school, but my parents were a bit worried about as well. I’m pretty used to Korean education culture though. As for some of the colleges you mentioned, they sound great, but if I were to chose colleges other than the ones mentioned above, I’d probably chose a liberal arts college. And yes, I honestly do prefer higher ranking colleges, but mostly because they’re more likely to have an intense academic curriculum. Of course, there’s also location to factor. But thanks :slight_smile:

20

You can have a pretty intense academic experience if you choose well - colleges such as Hendrix, Earlham, or Wooster punch WAY above their weight when it comes to academic prep (as indicated by PHD admission). URochester, Bates, Skidmore, Macalester, but also St Olaf, Lawrence, Rhodes would all be good choices if you want academically serious students. If you have 50K, William&Mary would be a good possibility.
If you like the library at Williams, you would love the library at Vassar.
Can you do a “gap year” in Korea before you decide going to college there? Going there based on childhood memories may not be what you’re used to and expecting. Volunteering, travelling, living on your own without the weight of grades may be less risky while nurturing your love for your country.
You’re a great applicant but International/Korean is one of the most competitive pools. The fact you need financial aid will also handicap you. Since it seems like your family has money (as per ECs), if you think you could pay 30K+ it’d offset that handicap.