Asian-Canadian chances for Ivies and others

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>I'm currently grade 11 in a public high school in Vancouver, suddenly blown away by how fast incoming adulthood and university decisions are throttled towards me. So, I'm not too prepared, but I'm pretty sure I can change that. I just needs lots and lots of opinions and words of wisdom ;) on colleges, SATs, FA and whatever comes to your mind! I currently want to go to a liberal arts school, and my interest is in the sciences, particularly biology. I particularly want to get into UC's, especially Berkeley (does living near the area for 2.5 years and in US for 3 affect decisions?) So, here are my stats; excuse my disoriented manner.</p>

<p>Schools that I'm interested in - UCB/LA/SD, any Ivies (which ones are good for sciences?), U of Wa. in St. Louis, Rice.</p>

<p>SAT - took it first time without any preparation for fun - 2000. I'm pretty sure after studying in the summer I can raise it to 2250 +.</p>

<p>Grade 11 - Okay. I have no clue how the GPA system works. But here are my courses and grades.</p>

<p>AP Econ ~94%<br>
AP Bio ~95%
Eng Lit Hon (pre Eng Lit AP) ~94%<br>
Math 12 H ~99%
AP Phy B ~94%
Mandarin 11 ~93%
Chem 11 Hon (pre Chem AP) ~95%
Law 12 ~97%</p>

<p>I didn't request a transcript or gpa calculations yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm ranked 3-4 out of around 500 + in our grade. I think our school feels indifferent towards the rigor of different courseloads so it doesn't weigh according to it.</p>

<p>Grade 12 - planning to take </p>

<p>AP Eng
AP Calc
AP Psych
AP Chem
AP World His
AP Art Hist
AP Stat / Weight training</p>

<p>And why weight training you may ask?! </p>

<p>I've been playing tennis for about 9 years. Back when school wasn't busy it was everyday practice. So, I've </p>

<p>Been invited into canadian junior nationals through provincial qualifiers 5 times
Went to canadian nationals 3 times, came top 16 one time.
Won many medals/trophies for finalist/champion (around 30), and reached finals/winner of competitive provincial championships (10?).</p>

<p>However, these are mostly piled up from grade 7 - 9, since I've took tennis a lot lighter after grade 10 as courseloads piled up biggggtime, but I definitely will whoop myself back to shape during the summer, hopefully winning more tournaments. So, my question is, how does the "hiatus" bode for me? Do these achievements count fully for entrances? Do I need more EC's or is tennis enough? Is it possible for a big scholarship due to tennis?</p>

<p>Currently my ECs are pretty pitiful as the only [EDIT: productive] thing I do now after schoolwork is tennis. It includes</p>

<p>Ping Pong Club, Tennis Club (mvp), School Reach</p>

<p>Volunteered at tennis summer camp and ballboyed for an professional tournament = 150 + hours.</p>

<p>Wrote some essay contests and math contests. Top in my grade for a math contest and highly commended for a royal commonwealth essay contest. Not very impressive or worth mentionning I know :D</p>

<p>And... that's about it. So I'm not too sure what the top schools are looking for - concentration upon preferential subjects or lots of volunteer/community services. Anyway, any feedback, criticism, guesses or sites of valuable information are welcome, sorry it was so long.</p>

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<p>Hello fellow Canadian!</p>

<p>Uh right now your chances for the UC's are OK, and for WashU & Rice you just don't have enough ec's. Do some meaninful things outside of school and you should have a good shot. One bad thing about being Canadian - Financial Aid. None of the schools you mentioned offer ANY need-based aid for Canadians although WashU offers a fair amount of merit based. Columbia, UPenn, and Cornell all offer Need-Based to Canadians on par with Americans. About how much money does your family bring in a year? If you're a typical Vancouverite your gross income and expensive house will rule you out completely so be sure to have $50000+ CAD a year ready. BTW What public school in Van do you go to with that many AP's!?!?!? As for good 'Sciences' liberal arts colleges you can't really go wrong since 'Liberal Arts Colleges' generally focus on Arts & Sciences.</p>

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<p>oh boy. Thanks, I didn't mention gross income, its around 40-50 K / year, so it's not much, and I doubt I'll have that much per year ready. And the school I'm currently attending is Burnaby North. Which other good schools has need-based financial aids for canadians? :P</p>

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<p>CynicalBliss:</p>

<p>UCB/UCLA: Slight Reach (out of state)
UCSD: Match (out of state)</p>

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<p>Find your passion, and demonstrate it through your ECs.</p>

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<p>Hm.. out of state. a bit of a reach. but still pretty good chance. =] best of luck</p>

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<p>As far as I know only Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, UPenn, Cornell and Dartmouth. I don't think anywhere else can afford it. BTW Whats the cost of your house? Having a Vancouver house is a killer for need-based. Why not look at some Canadian universities? UBC actually has an awesome science program and if you want more of an LAC feel try St Francis Xavier.</p>

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<p>Oh, my house is not worth that much at all. It's currently a town-house worth around ~250-350k, and we bought it 2 years ago. And hm yea, I think my parents wants me to move down to the States since they'll be doing it too, so it's best to get a states college, then canadian. But I guess its all fine. Time to try >_></p>

<p>And thanks for the input :)</p>

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<p>being in canada isn't out of state... i think you're classified as an international student which makes the competition much more intense. ucla and ucb will then be reaches. since you are into the sciences, i would suggest caltech and mit; they're both need blind and will meet your financial need if you happen to get in.</p>