asian female, chances at princeton, harvard, yale engineering

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm an asian female, currently a junior in North Jersey
lol I came to U.S. in Sophomore year as an immigrant, but I still have to apply as an international this fall because my family does not have a permanent residency yet. I realllllyyyyyy need full ride or else I can't attend any college..
lol...it's kinda sad. anyway:</p>

<p>Courses:</p>

<p>Sophomore- gpa 4.3
Honors English
Honors Bio
Honors Pre-calc
Skipped from Spanish 1 to Spanish 2
Regular US History</p>

<p>Junior- gpa 4.8
AP Stats
AP Calculus ab
Honors English
Honors Chemistry
Honors Spanish 3
Regular US History</p>

<p>Senior- gpa ???</p>

<p>AP English Literature
AP Biology
AP Physics
AP European History
AP Calculus bc (self-study)
Honors Spanish 4</p>

<p>Rank: top 3 out of 178 (fairly competitive, though- many asian kids)
SAT: dunno yet, taking it next saturday.
on practice tests: c720 m800 w780 - 2300ish...?
SAT2: Math 2c 780 Bio E 700(definitely taking bio again this fall)
im taking physics and US History later in senior year</p>

<p>AP: Calc ab, Statistics -11th (scores will come out in july)
Biology, Physics, Euro, Calc bc(self-study; school doesn't hv this class), Eng-12th</p>

<p>EC's:
Founder & President, Classical Guitar Club
Asia Pacific Economic Conference Busan 2005 Essay Contest, 2nd place
Founder & President, Math team
New Jersey Math League, Merit Award
Amnesty International, organizer
Volunteering commended by the New Jersey Legislature
New Jersey Governor's School in the Sciences Finalist- LOL!! arrrrghghhh
Finalist for Tomorrow25 candidate, hosted by the Time magazine
Commendation from the Society of Women Engineers
Rowan University Summer institute in Materials Science
New Jersey Math League Merit Award
FIRST Robotics Team Founding member, 3D Design/Animation Captain
-animation came in 2nd place at regionals
Pianist for the school choir, select choir
Invited to the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine in D.C.
Class representative, Academic Honor Society
Spanish Honor Society
Recipient of the student of the month award
Academic Decathlon- 4 medals, highest math scorer in the region</p>

<p>future major: engineering, but not really sure yet lol might go for business</p>

<p>whoosh. so what do you think my chances are at HYP, especially princeton??</p>

2

<p>if those three are out of my reach, what other schools would u recommend?</p>

3

<p>well, I'll say that your ECs look nice! (though I might leave off the national youth leadership forum on medicine, since lots of people are invited to that...in the long run, I doubt you'll need that one extra line on your resume). I hope your SATs turn out as promising as your practice test scores.
I honestly think that HYP is a crapshoot...sorry that I can't give you much advice. I DO think, though, that applying as an int'l student will make things a lot more difficult, esp. since you're asian, and there's sure to be plenty of asian geniuses applying (I'm part asian...i've seen 'em).<br>
If you can get fours and fives on all those APs, and if you continue to put time into all your ECs, I think you'd have just as good a chance as anyone else applying. Best of luck!</p>

4

<p>I'm not going to give chances, but...</p>

<p>You won't get a full ride if you're international. You need to be realistic about your finances. What is your family's income range (if you don't mind sharing)?</p>

5

<p>Those GPA's are weighted?</p>

6

<p>^Is that even a question?</p>

7

<p>Do I really have to answer that?</p>

8

<p>lol we are on student visa so we won't have any income for the next few years.. we have to rely on our savings- which isn't too much cuz i guess we are VERY VERY POOR? lol? lol. and yes, Gaffe, my gpa's weighted- my school doesn't have unweighted gpas.</p>

9

<p>wow im mad unlucky. asian female + international LOL. if i had been an asian male it might have been a little bit better...life is just so UNFAIR...</p>

10

<p>Harvard and Yale are not known for your engineering. I really think you should look elsewhere if you want to attend a top engineering school. As for the money, I'm not really familiar with international aid, but I know it's hard to get.</p>

11

<p>yeah why dont you apply to an actually good engineering school lol.</p>

<p>also, the person who said you won't get financial aid as an international doesn't know what he/ she is talking about. hyp offer need-blind admission to internationals and princeton doesn't even give loans (only grants) so you're good. that is, if you can get into one of them. and even though you're strong, odds are you still won't get in (with RD acceptance rates being what they are...over 90% of applicants are rejected!). i know it's not what you want to hear, and you're probably thinking, "ill get into one of them," and "if not me, who can get in" but it is seriously that hard to get in. the standards are so crazy and admissions is such a crapshoot. to see that, you only have to look at the decision threads for hyp this year on the CC forums for those colleges...jeez, massacre!!</p>

12

<p>just like what b4nnd20 said, lol im not applying to HYP because im an AZN, it's because HYP are most generous in giving financial support to internationals. besides, i never said im TOO sure about going to engineering field.</p>

13

<p>okay okay.. but still, there are better schools for science out there than yale that do give fin aid to internationals. do your research. harvard and princeton are not bankable options...sorry about the pun haha</p>

14

<p>It may be in your best interest to attend a local college or CC until you obtain some sort of permanent residency (who knows how long that will take). HYP would not necessarily be the best choice for you if you do in fact choose to pursue engineering. </p>

<p>It is vital that you start researching schools you can afford. It is very unlikely that you will receive adequate financial aid/scholarships to attend a private school.</p>

15

<p>ditto=Harvard and Yale are not good engineering schools.</p>

<p>You need to broaden your scope and include some schools that are good, but not necessarily #1 or 2. I would suggest VA Tech (excellent engineering). You're certainly a reach at the three that you've listed (although you might have a slight advantage for being a female engineering student).</p>

<p>I concur with everyone else though. You can't realistically expect a full ride at one of your top schools. There are two ways to mediate this:</p>

<ol>
<li> apply to lower-ranked programs (schools will throw a lot of money at their top candidates)</li>
<li> wait for your residency so that you can apply for federal aid</li>
</ol>