<p>First of all let me thank all of you for taking a spare moment to read my post and (hopefully!) reply to it. I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>I am applying to 8 schools, but after reading some of the posts here I am very confused about my possibilities. Any advice would be <em>greatly</em> appreciated.</p>
<p>Ethnicity: Born in Colombia, lived in Peru for the last 8 years. (native language: Spanish)
Graduating from a very competitive HS.
Applyting to Engineering schools at:</p>
<p>Stanford
Cornell
Dartmouth
Yale
Princeton
UPenn
McGill
Columbia</p>
<p>Rank: 10/88
W GPA: 3.811
UW GPA: low 3.6
Full IB Diploma Candidate</p>
<p>Did really poorly in freshman year (all B's) but Sophomore and Junior year I earned straight A's with very high marks in all the sciences/math. This is why I don't rank higher overall, despite being one of the best students currently.</p>
<p>IB Predicted Scores:
IB Math HL: 7
IB Physics HL:7
IB Chemistry HL:7
IB Econ SL:6
IB Spanish A2 SL:6
IB English A1 SL: 5
TOTAL: 38 without bonus points.</p>
<p>SAT's:</p>
<p>Sat I:
Critical Reading: 720
Math:800
Writing: 620</p>
<p>SAT II: (took them today)
Math IIC: Expecting an 800
Physics: Expecting an 800
Spanish: 800 (for sure)</p>
<p>Extra Curriculars:
Wall Climber
Technology Student Association President (Honor society) - Member for 4 years
- Placed 3 in (int)National Conference 2007
Operation Smile Club President - member for 4 years
Peer Group Connections leader (PGC)
Track and Field (regional meets level)
Leader ofSolar Stove Project - project aimed at providing people living under poverty conditions in nearby areas a renewable, free of charge, source of cooking energy.</p>
<p>Finally, thank you for your feedback!</p>
<p>First off, being an international student is not going to help you. For all the ivies and Stanford, I'd say reach. But that goes for everyone. I'd pick a really good back-up. Out of curiosity, how did you come up with that list of schools?</p>
<p>Well being an international student, and taking into account how expensive schools in North America are, it is almost a tradition for us to aim for the best schools in order to make the financial sacrifice worth it. Furthermore, I like the ivy's because the provide an engineering education within a liberal arts context which is something that I personally love.</p>
<p>Ivies really aren't known for engineering, except Colombia.
I'd look at the top engineering schools rather than just the top schools in general.</p>
<p>I suggest you take a look at Duke- it has the liberal arts side as well as a great engineering school; and it has a name that puts it in the top 10 in the country.</p>
<p>Yeah, that's what I was thinking. The ivies have very little in common if you research them. And I agree that only Columbia has a super good engeneering program. And if you're applying to engeneering, make sure not to apply to Columbia College and instead the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.</p>
<p>And do you guys think I have a decent chance at a school like Columbia or Stanford? I realize my SAT's could be better but I'm hoping the fact that English is my second language will encourage them to 'overlook' my low writing score. Or am I just dreaming about theses schools?</p>
<p>Your SATs are alright I'd say. Yuou have a good a chance as the next person, but it'll hurt that you're international. When looking at international students, they're not need-blind. That means they'll actually take into consideration whether you have the money to pay or not, something they don't do for USA citizens, at least they claim not to. We know better, though. If I were you, I'd research those schools better, though. It just seems like you randomly picked schools that were top 20 and went with them. What kind of engeneering do you want to do? And you know, just because the school has a high rank, that doesn't mean it's the best for engeneering or that it'll fit you.</p>
<p>You should apply to other universities where the admission rates are better. That way you increase your chances for admission. Look to some of the schools in the south or in California (Georgia tech, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Harvey Mudd)
Buena Suerte!</p>
<p>Maybe the University of Southern California? That's a good school.</p>
<p>CDS32090: thanks for the positive comment. I hope so too!</p>
<p>Do you guys think I have a chance a Princeton, it has a great engineering program within a liberal arts school.</p>
<p>Do schools take into consideration that I am an international student and go easy on me one my writing score (620)? or will I be looked upon like any other student. All of my math/science tests are very strong though.</p>
<p>I'm sure they'd take that into consideration. But for the ivies, I really don't know if you can get in. I think you have a chance, but you have to consider that people with high GPAs and 2400 SAT scores get rejected all the time. No one really knows what it takes to get in. Most universities here <em>are</em> liberal arts. Unless you got into like a technical school or something. So you don't have to go to a high ranking school to get that kind of education. I think you should stick with a few high reaches like some of the ivies and some more schools with a higher admission rate. Even if you apply to every ivy out there, that doesn't mean one will take you. They can all reject you and then you wouldn't have a back-up. Also, you have to consider the Ivy schools are very different from each other. Like, Columbia is in the middle of New York City while Cornell, even though it's also in New York, is said to be in the middle of nowhere. What kind of environment do you want? What kind of school do you want?</p>