<p>Hey all, a few questions about an international application, as well as differences in education systems at high school level between the two countries.</p>
<p>Firstly, how much weighting is given to each part of your application as an international student? Would they be focusing on diversity first and foremost from international applicants or are all applicants treated (almost) equally? Also, how significant is financial aid; how much is usually offered?</p>
<p>About my education in Australia, currently I am studying or have studied English, the highest level of maths available, Chemistry, Physics, the second highest level of maths, Latin and Chinese. Would the subjects I have studied be considered in my application, given that I have two more peculiar subjects in Latin and Chinese? Another question I have about this is that the maths I am currently studying is of greater difficulty than any of the maths SAT Subject Tests (or so I am told). Would the selectors consider that I have studied maths at a higher level?</p>
<p>Finally, a comment about ECs. The activities and clubs that are offered in Australia are much much less in number than those available in America. It seems that many people in these forums are invovled in many groups, but I have only been invovled in a few activities such as academic competitions and musical committments such as symphony orchestra. Is (apparent) lack of ECs going to reduce my chances of being accepted into MIT?</p>
<p>Anyway, just a bit I would like to have cleared up :)</p>
<p>They’re not going to hold the availability of ECs against you. People understand that not every school has the same amount of them. It would be illusory to assume that you are not a qualified candidate simply because you do not have as many as the next guy.</p>
<p>As far as I am aware, there’s no attempt to admit students from a large variety of countries per se. However, in practice, students from a large number of countries are admitted every year ([link](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/registrar/www/stats/geofinal.html]link[/url]”>http://web.mit.edu/registrar/www/stats/geofinal.html)</a>). International students’ applications are read by country, which I believe is so the admissions officers can get a sense of what opportunities are normal in your region.</p>
<p>The admissions officers are familiar with a wide variety of school systems across the world, but if you think there’s information about your school they may not understand, be sure to get it across someplace in your application. Your counselor may be able to help you with this.</p>
<p>Lots of the applicants here end up with a “laundry list” of activities that don’t show passion or commitment. MIT has a lot of people who were dedicated to two or so things in high school.</p>
<p>I think most American applicants have taken calculus (at least) when applying to MIT, which is beyond SAT math anyway.</p>
<p>Well, it’s certainly a comfort to hear the part about dedication. I’ve been with our school orchestra for five years and visited eight or so countries on tour with it.</p>
<p>A question about maths in the US; how advanced are the APs and SAT Subject Tests for Maths Level II?</p>
<p>Finally, how much consideration do they give to your teacher evaluations?</p>
<p>So nothing like integration of trig inverse functions or vector calculus?</p>
<p>EDIT: I also seem to be getting the impression that SAT scores don’t matter as much for international applicants. Of course they still matter, but I doubt this is true. Is it?</p>
<p>Vector Calculus isn’t covered in AP calculus (BC)… it’s a separate courses sometimes also called Calculus III or Multivariable Calculus. The SAT I covers topics through Algebra II and the Math II test covers topics through Pre-cal.</p>
<p>Look on collegeboard’s website if you what more specific detail.</p>
<p>Oops, I meant integration of inverse trig functions. That’s (probably) an AB topic considering its relative simplicty. Vector calculus is definitely too advanced for that. And I think the BC only touches on differential equations, too.</p>
It matters that your SAT scores are good, but it doesn’t necessarily matter how good. The international pool is very competitive, so most applicants have great SAT scores (especially in math), but getting an 800 vs. a 780 isn’t going to help your application significantly.</p>
Students whose first language isn’t English can take the TOEFL if they choose. Writing scores aren’t considered this year for anyone.</p>
<p>
Not exactly – I mean, obviously you don’t want candidates stronger than you applying from anywhere, but students from the same school are not directly compared.</p>
<p>I’ve seen some people with pretty impressive extracurriculars around here, but how would something a bit more out of the blue like principal percussionist of the school symphony orchestra for three years, MVP of the worst soccer team in the school and a house cooking award fare against a more conventional American model student when it comes to university applications?</p>
<p>As an international EC, I know that this is ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE. SAT’s matter a great deal for international applicants. It is very hard to know all of the details of every school that any applicant might apply from. There are a huge number of different options for secondary education. Does an international applicant take the IB, or A-levels or (since you are from Oz) South Australia Matriculation (SAM). If they are taking A-levels, then there is a huge discrepancy between say a Cambridge A-Level, Nigerian A-level and a Hong Kong A-level. </p>
<p>The ONLY exam that every applicant has to take is the SAT, and for that reason it is very very important for international applicants. That being said, MollieB is quite right (as always) that there is no appreciable difference between a 780 and an 800, You should not fret about the odd 40 points here or there, but there is a significant difference for example between a 620 and a 750. Given that the international admit rate last year was 3.38%, you would be foolish to discount the SATs.</p>
<p>Also be aware that your secondary school curriculum might not be the same as the US curriculum for SAT 2 subject tests. For example, in my country, it is not uncommon for high school students to know a great deal more about circuits and systems than their US counterparts, but to never have encountered special relativity. Then when they take SAT subject test in physics they can be quite surprised by the questions that have them approaching the speed of light. It is important to take a look at the syllabus covered by the SAT subject tests and to ensure that you are ready for them.</p>