Australian student for HYPS, etc =)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Applying to:</p>

<p>-Stanford (Maybe RCEA)
-Yale (Maybe RCEA)
-Harvard
-Princeton
-Duke
-UCB
-UPenn
-Chicago
-Maybe some other ivies? Haven't done any research on them though...</p>

<p>Basics:</p>

<p>SAT: 2330; 800CR, 780M, 750W (10E)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 740 Lit, 760 Physics, 640 Chemistry(ugh)</p>

<p>GPA: ~4.0
Class Rank: ~40
Class Size: ~180
School: Selective private all boys school in Australia, rank translates into top 1 percentile of state.
Gender: M
Ethnicity: Asian</p>

<p>Extra-Curricular:</p>

<p>-Basketball at school and for club (6 years); varsity equivalent, Captain (1 year school, 4 years club)
-Basketball referee (4 years); Level Y-3 (high)
-Chess Club (4 years); Captain 1 year; undefeated in senior year. Regional finals.
-Music (4 years); Concert Band (1st Trumpet), School Orchestra, School Choir
-Charity organiser (3 years)
-Community service (3 years); Homeless men's shelter, children with learning difficulties
-Science beyond the curriculum (2 years); Silver medal
-Volleyball (2 years); junior varsity equivalent</p>

<p>Award Schemes:
-Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award
-Young Achievement Australia Award; Marketing Director</p>

<p>Reflection:</p>

<p>Strengths: Strong scores, decent ECs(generic?), recommendations/essays should be good</p>

<p>Weaknesses: Over-represented?, no hooks, average mid-year report</p>

<p>Thanks for chancing! Cheers mate!</p>

2

<p>At Yale, Harvard, and Princeton, international students are typically the best at what they do in their respective countries (and sometimes even in the world). You should of course apply if that’s where you want to go, but I wouldn’t have too high of hopes for HYP.</p>

<p>The others, however, you have at least a reasonable chance of admission. Also note that you have no genuine safeties here, so you might want to apply to a well-respected Australian college that you’re sure you can get into, just to be sure. The places you have listed here are all very competitive, so it could happen.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the feedback!</p>

<p>I’m unsure what the applicant pool from Australia is like, but I’m definitely one of the stronger applicants from my school. Generally speaking, of the 10 or so that apply to US Colleges, half get accepted into Ivies.</p>

<p>I’m not too concerned about safeties, at worst I’ll just do undergraduate study at Usyd.</p>

4

<p>Great chances!
Class Rank: ~40</p>

<p>This might be to your disadvantage.
Chance me back?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/967874-chance-two-applicants-compare-them.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/967874-chance-two-applicants-compare-them.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>Don’t send chem.
Just a word of advice.</p>

6

<p>What is your intended major?</p>

7

<p>International Relations. 95% sure.</p>

8

<p>Any ECs that back up your intended major?</p>

9

<p>I think you are a match for Berkeley. </p>

<p>You should apply to Georgetown, and replace Duke with either JHU or Cornell.</p>

10

<p>^True, since Berkeley wants more and more OOS students nowadays.</p>

<p>I think the OP would be a competitive applicant to even HYPS- excellent test scores along with decent ECs.</p>

<p>RCEA=?
I thought it was SCEA.</p>

11

<p>^Yeah was thinking REA when I typed that. </p>

<p>I don’t have specific ECs to back up my intended major, but my course-load and background is relevant to the course. </p>

<p>I’ve done some more research since the post and have revised the list of schools I’m applying to:</p>

<p>Yale
Stanford
Princeton
UPenn
Brown
UChicago
Georgetown
Duke
UCB
USC
Claremont McKenna College (Is this a safety?)</p>

12

<p>Yale- reach
Stanford- reach
Princeton- reach
UPenn- mid reach
Brown- mid reach to match
UChicago- reach to match
Georgetown- unpredictable, lol (they send random waitlists)
Duke- match
UCB- match
USC- match
Claremont McKenna College (Is this a safety?) - Nope, not a safety- also unpredictable</p>

13

<p>Mate, I’d be careful. I’m an Australian applicant too, and unfortunately having an ATAR of 99.95 and decent ECs aren’t going to cut it. Just listing extra-curriculars won’t do, I know heaps of people who have been admitted at Harvard and Yale and a lot of them got ATARs in the 95+ range, good enough but nothing exceptional, and had ok ECs. They’re not looking for someone who just studies and does a lot, they’re looking for someone with a hook - from what you’ve listed, it doesn’t look like you have much going for you, maybe you should think of something fast.</p>