Any chance at Ivies for me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm becoming a senior this year and I was wondering if I should even apply (early action too) to Ivies and the prestigious schools...</p>

<p>First off, I'm a male Korean, so I will be applying as an international student; I'm assuming both things will work against me...</p>

<p>I go to a public school in Wisconsin, which I don't think will matter.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 unweighted, school doesn't do weighted...
Rank: 1/520ish; again I'm tied for this rank with other students who have 4.0.</p>

<p>SAT1: 2220 (Math 800, Writing 730, Critical Reading 690) I will retake this fall, shooting for 2300s
SAT2: I know its really bad planning, but will take Math2, Biology, Japanese this fall too, shooting for all of them around the high 700s...
ACT: 34, will retake to perhaps get 35</p>

<p>AP: School again doesn't provide AP classes very much, except for Calc, statistics; however, I have taken most of my classes in the honors and accelerated classes.</p>

<p>EC: Haven't done a lot, but focused in taekwondo and japanese</p>

<p>Tae Kwon Do (at an actually serious school) all four-years...
Black belt 1st degre, had to go through extensive testing to earn; gold (3), silver (2) and bronze (2) medals in annual national tae kwon do championships in the four years. Regularly assist teaching classes.
Grandmaster is head of National Taekwondo Association..could get recommen.</p>

<p>Japanese National Honor Society: Initiated end of soph. year, president this year. Taught as a group Japanese culture and introductory Japanese at middle schools. Organized Japanese holiday parties...etc</p>

<p>Japan Bowl: Can only start soph. year (Japanese II)
Soph year, first place in regionals, second place in nationals
Junior year, first place in regionals, sixth in nationals (I know, a big drop from soph year)
Senior, all happens in spring, but expecting first in regionals, and at least an invitation to nationals.</p>

<p>City area math league/math team: 9th-10th JV; 11-12 Varsity
JV: 1 first place team, three second place team, 2 third place individual, 1 fourth individual; all-star selection or something like that, meaning ranked in around top 15 or 20 in league individually, and was in top JV team of school.
Varsity: 2 second place team, 1 fourth place individual; varsity-award</p>

<p>National Honor Society: worked in blood drive, needed 60 hours to enter, and have good gpa, leadership and all that.</p>

<p>Volunteer at Church as all-around helper/usher around 50 hours,
humane society- around 15,
public library- around 15
Peer Tutorial at school(soph and junior year, will do this year)- around 10</p>

<p>Tennis, freshmen team, and JV soph year....worth mentioning?</p>

<p>Worked during all three summer in Korea as an English tutor, self-employed... taught three children.</p>

<p>Great recommendations, a good essay</p>

<p>PLEASE HELP!! If you could, tell me if I have a chance at the top colleges like Harvard, yale, princeton, stanford, and where I should apply (early-action too) to.....Thank you.</p>

2

<p>you should have a good shot at those schools. but exactly which school? depends on where you want to live, what you want to major in, size of the school, etc.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for reading! I am planning mostly to major in something in the biotechnology field, then medical school? Problem is I heard international students rarely get accepted into medical schools in the US...</p>

<p>Also, I really don't have any preference in the size of school or where it is...I guess wherever I get accepted and has the highest ranking....
I know its a bad reason, but if I ever, and most likely will, go back to Korea, they hold the prestige of the college a person went to really highly....I don't like that it happens, but I don't really have a choice...</p>

<p>Also, if I really do have a good shot, should I consider applying early action to say..Harvard?
And does being an international student really hurt me that much?</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

4

<p>Anyone? Please?</p>

5

<p>it all works against you but keep trucking, you have a slim chance but that doesnt mean impossible!</p>

6

<h1>1 - being an international does hurt you that much. International admit rates at HYP are under 3%, lower if you require financial aid.</h1>

<p>You aren't a legacy, a developmental admit, an athlete in a sport they recruit for, a desired URM, a published novelist, and you hold no patents. So reduce your <3% chances roughly in half. </p>

<p>None of this has ANYTHING to do with your stats, which are mostly irrelevant. It has all do with numbers - the applications - not yours. Don't feel bad. You didn't do anything wrong, except choose your parents badly. Apply - magic does happen occasionally - but now concentrate on where you really want to go to school.</p>

7

<p>mini is not credible, I have no idea where she got that 3% from. International admit rate at Princeton was 9% vs. domestic admit rate of 13%.</p>

8

<p>Eliminate the legacies (39%), developmental admits (100%), recruited athletes (unknown, but if they recruited them...), desired URMs (makes up 37% of the class), published novelist, patent holders, sons and daughters of ambassadors, national leaders, etc. (Is Princeton so-called "need-blind" for financial aid?) You can do this for domestic applicants as well, but it has a greater impact on the international ones. </p>

<p>Has nothing to do with stats of the individual applicant. Fit into one of those first 8 categories, and you can, in many instances, get in with SAT scores much, much lower than the OP cited.</p>

9

<p>
[quote]
You aren't a legacy, a developmental admit, an athlete in a sport they recruit for, a desired URM, a published novelist, and you hold no patents. So reduce your <3% chances roughly in half.

[/quote]

According to your previous post, you cited 3% as the acceptance rate before you took away the hooked applicants...</p>

<p>But think of this: how many offsprings of ambassadors/national leaders are there applying to Princeton in 2010? 2? The international pool is competitive but the acceptance rate is not as low as 1.5% :)</p>

10

<p>I'm terribly confused as to where I stand. My SAT scores are at best, average. I'm expecting a 1900 at most. I have a solid weighted GPA of 4.3 (but everyone does these days). I haven't taken every challenging class possible because my previous counselor believed I wasn't up to par with the people in my class who were native english speakers.
Part of the discrepancies in my academic record can be attributed to my atypical situation. I am a US-born citizen by document, but I have lived in South Korea for two-thirds of my life (where I've been educated in an international school).
Here's an outline of my academic record:
GPA
9th: 3.3 (bio 9, CP Alg, Eng 9, Fine Art I, PE, Music, Spanish I, US History 9, World History)
10th: 3.7 (Acting I, Aerobics, Bio II, CP Geometry, Government, Honors Eng; Mental Health; Spanish II, US History 10)
11th: 4.0 (first semester: accounting I; AP psyc; Chem 1, CP Alg II; honors anatomy; honors english; Spanish III; second semester: Adv. Chem; Adv. Spanish III; Alg II, Anat/Phys; AP Psyc; Adv. Eng Religion 11; Speech)
12th: 4.3 (AP Spanish; AP English: Religion 12, Ap Government; Adv. Physics; Calculus; Ceramics/Graphic Arts)</p>

<p>My extracurricular activities:
Great Miami Youth Orchestra (First Violin) - two and half years
Grace Korean Church (Violin for Choir) - two years
Science Fair (first place at international school in South Korea) - 9th grade
Su Casa (community service) - one year (sr. summer)
Chesterwood Village Nursing home - one year (jr. summer)
NSLC (National Leadership Conference) - (sr. summer)
Creative Writer's Workshop (Summer program at Duke University)
Spanish Club (President) - 11th grade and probably through 12th grade
Babel Tower (a multicultural club I had started at school) - 11th grade
Psychology Club - 11th grade (no longer available in the school I transferred to.)
Big Sister, Little Sister - 11th grade (no longer available in the school I transferred to.)
Student Government - 9th grade - president; 10th grade - just transferred student; 11th grade - transferred to a new school so missed the chance to become elected so I became Rep.
I've also helped Korean immigrants who have been invited to the pastor's house with adjusting to the American culture and English.
From middle school I've worked as a translator (korean - english).</p>

<p>I missed many chances to get involved in the National Honors Society and clubs such as that because I had transferred high schools three times. I also failed to win various academic awards for this reason also. Because I had no one to provide transportation for after school activities I couldn't be involved in sports.</p>

<p>I cannot rely on anyone for guidance concerning colleges except my counselor. And in all honesty, she isn't attentive to my needs. The pastor and his wife have shed great spiritual light unto my life, but they are not familiar with American colleges and their admission processes. My parents in South Korea are also unfamiliar with American colleges.</p>

<p>Since I don't live with my parents I don't have the liberty to make college visits and such. I want to inform Wellesley, Brown and Cornell of my interests, but I don't know how I should go about doing that.</p>

<p>After reading everyone's near perfect SAT scores, GPAs, extracurricular activities, and etc I realized the Ivies are so much more competitive than I previouisly thought they were. Would anyone give me some advice as to where I stand in the admissions process for Wellesley, Brown, and Cornell?
I'm very nervous about all of this as many of you are. I don't know how I'll ever handle this by myself. Please help!</p>

11

<p>Hey mini, are u serious in saying people should hold patents if they want to go to good colleges?</p>

12

<p>Thanks everyone for replying...
Wow, I didn't know being an international student would hurt me THAT much....I guess I'll still apply to those competitive colleges since there's no harm in it, but.....wow...
I'd still like people to tell me if I stand any chances...Thank you.
Also, considering all this, if I do not have any preferences, where should I apply early to?</p>

13

<p>For the poster above me, I'm sure the idea was that holding a patent is one way of getting into competitive colleges more easily, not a requirement. I mean, holding a patent on something is kinda a big thing...</p>

14

<p>Any more opinions on what kind of chance I have, please?</p>

15

<p>Wait, how are you an international student, if you live in Wisconsin? Aren't international students from countries trying to get into US colleges? I know it's really hard for them. Anyway, if you aren't international and you can get the SAT scores you're reaching for, you have a decent chance. Your EC's look pretty solid as well. Your lack of AP's might be looked down upon, but it's ok since your school doesn't offer them.</p>

16

<p>The thing is I'm currently in the U.S. on a student visa, basically the same thing as what will happen in college, but for high school...
So I'm studying in US high school, but citizenship is still Korean, so I'm an international...
Please, post more opinions. Thank you!!!</p>

17

<p>Please help?
I would especially like to know what the percentages for international admit. are around, for schools like hyps...Thank You!
And international student issue aside, do I have a pretty good chance?</p>

18

<p>Whosang,</p>

<p>International admits are not at a major disadvantage, a slight one. I have known a bunch of applicants like you - the truth is many of them get waitlisted at HYPS, sometimes they get in, I would say one might come in of the four. My advice is to apply early to your favorite. You should make sure to apply to many of schools right below HYPS - duke, brown, columbia, dartmouth, penn, amherst, etc - I would say you will get into 75% of those schools. They usually are more friendly to applicants with near perfect stats but low ECs.</p>

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<p>the top LACs look very favorably towards international applicants- look into williams, amherst, and middlebury for starters</p>

20

<p>h2online- a 4.3 weighted GPA and 1900 SAT score will give u a very slim chance of gettin into cornell, wellesly, and brown. ur choices are very high reaches. consider rutgers, PSU, BC whcih all look like a match foru</p>