Amherst '14 - how will the cookie crumble

<p>General Things
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: East Indian (international)
Country: India (but living in Singapore for 16 years)
Current Grade: Senior Year (in singapore, schools run from Jan-Dec)
Financial Aid: Not applying for any sort of FA</p>

<p>Grades
GPA: 3.1 (Sharp rising trend)
-Very tough international magnet school specializing in Math & Science</p>

<p>SAT Reasoning Test
SAT Critical Reading - 770
SAT Math - 800
SAT Writing – 800
SAT Composite (M+CR) – 1570
SAT Composite (M+CR+W) – 2370</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests
SAT Math Level 2 - 800
SAT Physics - 790
SAT Chemistry – 780
SAT Biology M - 770</p>

<p>AP Tests
AP Calculus AB – 5
AP Chemistry – 5
AP Physics B – 5
AP Biology – 5
AP Calculus BC – 5
AP Statistics – 5</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities

  • Captain: Debate Team
  • President: Creative Writing Circle
  • Editor: School Yearbook
  • Editor: School Newsletter (we don’t publish too actively tho)
  • Editor: Official Newsletter of Singapore Int’l Mathematics Competition
  • Captain: Scrabble Team (placed 3rd nationally in 2007, several individual awards at national level too)
  • Head Delegate: Model UN
  • Tennis Team
  • National Education Ambassador
  • 300ish Community Service Hours
  • Creative Arts Program (very selective program for writers and poets)
  • Research on atomic spectroscopy
  • Research on oxygen’s behavior on palladium and applications in fuel cells
  • Interned at a renowned museum of biodiversity research
  • 2 Commendatory Awards @ Commonwealth Int’l Essay Writing Competition
  • Gold (Drama) @ Singapore Youth Festival
  • Best Delegate @ Singapore Model United Nations 2009
  • Best Delegate @ WE International Model United Nations 2009</p>

<p>Wow, amazing stats. Where else are you applying? Anywhere ED?</p>

<p>Those stats should get you into the first stack. Just make sure your essays are REALLY good!</p>

<p>but a 3.1 is a C+ average…</p>

<p>Hmm just to put into perspective, your SAT I’s are amazing, but subject tests seem a bit weak - most ppl i know that applied to Ivy-range schools have perfect SAT IIs - they’re rly not that hard to get.</p>

<p>As for the 3.1 GPA, can’t rly comment unless there’s a frame of reference.</p>

<p>Do apply though, Amherst is an amazing school and it’ld be great if you can get in!</p>

<p>3.1 is slightly above a B on a 4.0 scale, so the GPA is a bit low for Amherst, but your scores are high enough that you will get a second look (I completely disagree that 800/790/780/770 on the SAT II’s is “weak”, although you should check whether you need to have take one that is not math/science). erj1 is right, the essays are key.</p>

<p>His GPA may not be on the same scale as many schools here, since it’s an international school; I know at my school that would be a B-, but at my friend’s school, that would be a solid B. Someone else said it’s a C+ - I guess their school grades differently than mine (although i use the standard 4.0 scale).
That being said, if his grades show a “sharp rising trend” up to a B-/B, then it worries me slightly what they were before he got the B’s…“sharp” to me implies going from extremely low to extremely high.</p>

<p>On the other hand, that’s literally the only weakness; the other stats are great. I also disagree about SAT II scores; I think they’re very good. Everything else considered, I’d say the OP has a good chance.</p>

<p>I don’t think you can have a weakness and apply to Amherst unless you are a URM, athlete or legacy (and legacy is iffy).</p>

<p>He probably attends a top school in Singapore. Their schools have far higher standards and more rigorous demands of their students than ours do.</p>

<p>Imagine: math and the hard sciences in an East Asian country.</p>

<p>His 3.1 would be extraordinary if it were evaluated in the context of his high school.</p>