Applying to Ivy League from a British school?

Student Lounge International Students
1

Hello

Just wondering if anyone else on here was attempting an Ivy League application from a British school.
I have a few questions - if anyone in the same situation has answers that would be very much appreciated!

. Do my grades at IGCSE count?
. What about A level predicted grades - would I need A*s to stand a chance?
. There is no GPA or Class Rank at my school, is that a problem?
. My school has nowhere near as many ECAs as American schools do and is a lot more grade-oriented; is it still possible to compete against students from American schools?
. Are A levels similar to AP?

If anyone has managed to get into Ivy League from a British school, I would really appreciate some tips and pointers!!

Cheers

2

For one thing, I would prepare for and take the SAT I and/or ACT. The SAT IIs should be relatively easy after A-levels and are generally required by Ivies: high scores on these should help your application. You aren’t going to be able to provide grades and so much ECs and it is hard to differentiate with everyone getting As, so high SAT and SAT IIs are important. AP exams are not that important in admissions, but I would take them anyway: you should be able to get 5s in your A-level subjects. They should be aware of the A-level system and are probably looking for mostly As; certainly top Ivies would be. As far as Ivies, HYP are way above the others, and there are other non-Ivy schools at a similar level to lower Ivies.

I am not an expert on this, but only like 50 or so US students get into Oxbridge, so if you are at that level, you should easily be able to get into some Ivy school. It may be difficult both ways due to different systems, but UK preparation is strong.

3

Also, you understand that college in the US are very expensive. There may be possibilities of getting financial aid. Being able to pay the full price may help you with some schools.

There are various universities that are not Ivy League, but are at or close to that level. MIT and Caltech are harder to get into than many Ivy League schools. They are also very intense and difficult. US engineering school are well regarded internationally. Top smaller colleges without graduate schools, such as Williams or Amherst, are hard to get into: a degree from one of those might help you in certain circles in the US, but they aren’t as big names.

4

@sattut I’ve done an SAT (2250) and one subject test so far (I’m doing 2 or 3 more in October). I’m not sure how I can sign up to do an AP exam - do I still need this even with my A levels (I’ll hopefully have 5 A levels and 7 AS) ? Isn’t the SAT II enough to show skill in a subject?
I’d have to send my A level predicted grades because I won’t have finished my exams but teachers don’t often predict A*s for A level - do you think that could affect the application?

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No you do not need to do AP exam, that would be ridiculous.

Many secondary schools in the US do not rank either and it is not an issue, however they like to get an idea what decile you are in.

You are not really competing against American students as an international.

I don’t know what ECA is. If you mean EC, then you should know that American colleges want vibrant communities and look for indications of leadership, involvement, talent and what you contribute to your school, your town, your country, the world. What you do when you are not in formal class is taken as an indication of your passions and interests and commitment level to getting involved with something bigger than yourself.

It looks like Harvard has about 12 UK students enrolled per year. All the UK applicants have the same issues you do, so it won’t be unique to the colleges and the colleges will have admissions officers that are dedicated to your area and familiar with the types of exams you have.

6

While they are familiar with A-levels, I would make an effort to give them US exam scores. The SAT I and ACT are sort of aptitude tests, but there are ways to prepare for them. You only need to submit one of those not both, but I would try to maximize the scores. AP exams aren’t used much in admission, and you should be able to get 5s on them with A or A* A-levels, so the other poster may be right that it is pointless to take them for admission. You may be able to get credit for introductory courses when you get to the Ivy, so I am not sure whether or not you should take them. However, Ivy’s require or expect SAT IIs from US students. The material on them is not that advanced from your point of view. However, it may be harder to get an 800 on some SAT IIs than an A* on an A-level. Therefore, I would recommend doing some preparation and taking SAT IIs.

7

Your application will be evaluated “in context”, which means that you will be looked at with regard to how effectively you took advantage of the opportunities available to you, rather than some idealised state. So if your school has only a few extracurriculars offered and you took advantage of what you could, then that will not be a disadvantage. It also means that your transcript will be evaluated in terms of what that means at your school. So there are a bunch of schools where nobody takes more than 3 A-levels. If you get out of such a school with 3 A-levels, then that is fine. Whereas there are other schools where everyone takes 4 A-levels. If you get out of such a school with 3 A-levels, then what the heck happened to you? The same holds true for extracurriculars. This is really asking "How do you choose to spend your time when you are not in classes. That can be either in a school-organised EC, or alternatively in a non-school EC or something else.

Your application will be read by someone who understands the UK. All of the top schools really ensure that they know the UK. One of the Harvard admissions officers spends more than a month each autumn in the UK visiting schools, one of the Yale admissions officers is British.

If money is an issue, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Dartmouth (and MIT, though that is not an IVY) are both need-blind for admissions and guarantee to meet full financial need for all four years. Admissions are quite competitive, but there are students who get admitted from the UK year on year. Each school will have slightly different admissions requirements but most require the SAT I or the ACT, and many of them require SAT II subject tests as well. There are no hard and fast rules for these things, but I would recommend getting a 700 on each section of the tests (either SAT I or SAT II).

8

As far as ECs, they don’t want a bunch of nerds who only study. It is sort of select of be selected against. I went to Johns Hopkins, which was very intense and modeled on Heidelberg. They didn’t care so much about ECs and wanted students who could handle their school, so there were a lot of dull grind types the Ivies didn’t want. Probably at engineering schools, such as MIT, Caltech, and Harvey Mudd, there are also a lot of that sort of student.

So they should understand you wouldn’t have the opportunity for so many ECs, but you want to convince them you are “well rounded”.

They are looking for 700+ on the SATs and SAT IIs. However, if you have close to 800 on those and all A*s, it is a stronger application. Your SAT IIs should be high. Your essays and faculty recommendations are probably significant also.

9

You will need SATs or ACTs for essentially all of the most competitive schools. These cover GCSE level maths and english. You do not get better at this stuff the longer you are away from it. If you are seriously thinking about an American university, I would take these in the Spring of my lower sixth. Most of the top schools “superscore”, which meanss that if you take the exams more than once, they will only consider your top score. If you can afford it, I would recommend taking them early, and if you need to, you can always take them again later.

I disagree that you need to convince the schools that you are “well rounded”. While that does not hurt, the top schools are not after all well-rounded students. They are after a well-rounded class. That being said, with limited space in each class, they want to take students who will add to the life on campus. Consider two students with equivalent grades and scores. One spends all of his/her time in their room alone, studying. They other started a band in primary school, then got to secondary school and started a band, then got to sixth form college and started a band. There is a pattern here. Given equivalent academics, which do you think would be more fun to have on campus?

The competition at the top schools is so fierce that there isn’t really an unimportant part of the application. Grades, Scores, Letters of Recommendation, Essays, Interview. There is not one thing that can get you in (or usually keep you out), but you really would not want to screw up any part of that.

Also, the UCAS personal statement is totally unusable for virtually any US application. They are very different documents that serve very different purposes. For UCAS you want a paean to your subject. If you want to read Physics, you need an essay extolling your love of Physics. For a top US university, that is almost never what they are asking you about.

For impartial advice on US universities and admissions, I recommend (not for the first time on this board) the non-profit, independent Fulbright Commission, and their advice service. Awesome, and without any agenda excepting to encourage Americans to study in Britain, and vice versa.

10

The SAT I and ACT are on basic material, but the questions are tricky and involve a lot of reading between the lines. They are designed to test your reasoning ability and aptitude for higher study. They also are used by lessor schools to evaluate whether marginal students know the basics and have the aptitude.

I would advise preparing for the those tests, and most of it is how to take the tests and the types of problems on them, rather than subject knowledge. There are forums here with plenty of information on how to do that.