Can I be an Ivy Leaguer?

International Students
21

<p>She is applying for CS at hyps and Cornell. Our concern is everything else being good, will this sat score impact her chances. Should she apply for a “safe” . what college should that be.</p>

<p>She is going to be really busy in October with school, and other entrance exam preparations, is it really so important that we make her do general sat again.</p>

22

<p>October is the best time to take it. From November onwards, preboards and everything will start.</p>

23

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>It has been quite some time since I posted here. Adding to my original post, here are few more things that I’d like to mention:</p>

<ol>
<li>SAT Main- 2320</li>
<li><p>SAT Subject tests:
World History- 730
Biology(Molecular)- 790</p></li>
<li><p>I will be appearing for a few AP exams this may and I’m well prepared to score above 4 in all of them.</p></li>
<li><p>The most important factor is that I am a homeschooler. I have homeschooled myself in the last two years of high school to focus on research in psychology. I have enrolled myself with the National Institute of Open Schooling(NIOS)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Will being an international homeschooler have an adverse impact on my application?</p>

<p>I have extremely strong extra-curriculars and have strong reasons to explain why I opted for homeschooling.</p>

<p>I’d appreciate a reply.</p>

24

<p>I’m no expert, nikhilravi, but I think anything with a solid explanation isn’t going to affect your chances. Especially since you’ve homeschooled yourself to focus on research in psychology (Kudos by the way). Being an international on the other hand is, unfortunately, nearly always a disadvantage. It’s not something you can get over but you have great scores and great chances! I’d say follow your dreams!</p>

25

<p>I also wanted to know if applying under early action to a number of schools is allowed given the fact that early action decisions are not binding, unlike early decision.</p>

26

<p>There are two types of early action programs: restrictive early action and non-restrictive early action. Restrictive EA (used in HYP, Stanford etc.) allows applicants to apply to only one early action institution and to no institutions for early decision. But there are no such restrictions if you apply to schools which have a normal (ie, not SC) EA program.</p>

27

<p>The real question for you is this : Do you have the hustle?</p>

<p><a href=“The Ivy League Hustle (I Went to Princeton, ■■■■■) - YouTube”>The Ivy League Hustle (I Went to Princeton, ■■■■■) - YouTube;

28

<p>I’d suggest you do what I wish I’d done. Make a list of all the colleges you’re interested in. Then choose say 5 of your top priorities. Research them and see if they offer Early Action to internationals and if they have restrictive EA (this might also be influenced by whether you’re applying for FA). Now you have basically 3 choices:

  1. Apply to one college ED. As in, you’re sure this is your top choice and you would definitely go. If FA is a priority, don’t do this.
  2. Apply to one SCEA college which is among your top 5.
  3. Choose a non-restrictive EA plan where you apply to as many colleges on your list as you can Early Action. This gives you more time to work on your apps and stress out a lil less for the RD round. If you have one acceptance from your EA schools, this also takes out a lot of the worrying from the RD round.
  4. No matter what you do, check out sam’s link. ROFL.</p>
29

<p>Thanks for an elaborate reply. This might be a stupid and pointless question but, will I be eligible for FA at a university that is need-blind for international students if I apply ED(Amherst in my case)? Since admit rates are higher for ED, is it a better idea to apply to your top-choice ED and wait and see how it turns out? </p>

<p>@SAM213- LOL.</p>

30

<p>Yes, your financial aid will be the same whether you apply ED or RD. From my personal experience, I applied to 15 schools (a good mix of public and private) and Amherst offered the best financial aid. If you’re sure of your first choice, apply ED. However, know that the admit rates for ED are inflated because many athletes and legacies also tend to apply ED - this is true for all top private colleges, not just Amherst.</p>

31

<p>You need to be the best of the best from your country - say top half of one percent. If you are then you got a shot.</p>

32

<p>^I would just say that it’s very difficult to quantify the “best”. Best in what? Academics? Test scores? International awards? National recognition? Or some super-genius medley of all of the above?
My point is that you can’t predict these things. Nothing, absolutely nothing is going to guarantee you in and what I’ve seen this year is that college admissions are totally utterly unpredictable. I’d say you have a shot no matter what you think of yourself.</p>

33

<p>^ Amen. 10char</p>

34

<p>Exactly. I know of many people with near-perfect SAT scores, flawless GPAs and decent extra-curriculars who could not get into any of the top tier schools. It is quite hard to predict what the adcoms look for.</p>

35

<p>International level olympiads…</p>