Chance a Canadian Applicant for Vanderbilt and NYU

Chance Me / Match Me!
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1

Demographics

  • international student applying from Canada
  • public high school (graduating class size approx 350, only IB program is competitive)
  • asian (Chinese) male
  • no hooks
  • not applying for financial aid

Intended Major

  • business with an emphasis on finance
  • applied to Vanderbilt for economics
  • applied to NYU for NYU Stern Business w/Core Concentration

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • UW GPA: school doesn’t calculate (i was curious and i calculated it myself: 3.93)
  • Weighted GPA: school doesn’t calculate (was curious as well: 4.33/5.0 including gym & leadership, 4.22/5.0 excluding gym & leadership)
  • Class Rank: school doesn’t calculate
  • Test Optional

Exam Results

  • IB SL Mathematics Analysis & Approaches (took the exam M22): 7
  • IB SL CS (M22): 7

Transcript Grades (the course name is in the parentheses; some courses have two names bc of my school board, but are ultimately the same IB course)

NOTE: my school converts IB grades into percentage grades. these grades are from my last reporting term, and i included my quarter grades i submitted to Vanderbilt. midterm grades for NYU not available yet, but should be continuing the upward trend.

I took all the possible IB courses I could take. School doesn’t let us choose; they arrange the courses in ‘course packages.’ Chose the one most related to my future career path.

LAST REPORTING TERM:

  • IB SL French B: 88%
  • IB SL Mathematics Analysis & Approaches (Advanced Functions): 100%
  • IB SL Mathematics Analysis and Approaches (Calculus and Vectors) 100%
  • IB SL CS (Intro to CS): 88%
  • IB SL CS (CS Final): 98%
  • IB HL English A Lang&Lit (English): 92%
  • IB HL Psychology (Psychology): 97%
  • IB HL Economics (Economics): 97%

QUARTER GRADES:

  • IB HL English A Lang&Lit (English): 94%
  • IB HL Psychology (Psychology): 96%
  • IB HL Economics (Economics): 98%
  • IB Theory of Knowledge: 96%

All grade 9 - 10 grades are A’s (90%+).

Awards

  • Invited to the Kakehashi Project, an exchange program in Japan; met the Tokyo 2020 Winter Olympics Team Canada (INTERNATIONAL)
  • 1st place in the provincial Japan Bowl competition; won all rounds in this Japanese language and culture competition (STATE/REGIONAL)
  • Royal Conservatory of Music First Class Honours Level 8 Piano/Piano Theory (NATIONAL)
  • Outstanding academic excellence for IB SL Mathematics A&A (SCHOOL)
  • Honour Roll w/Distinction (90%+ average) (SCHOOL)

Extracurriculars

Head of Advertisement, Student Activity Council (gr. 9, 11, 12)

  • organize, film and promote various school-wide events
  • created inaugural Holiday Assembly and made $2400 for school dance because of my team’s promo
  • added all the videos I made (including the Holiday Assembly) in my videography portfolio I sent to Vanderbilt

Percussion Section Leader, Wind Ensemble (gr. 9, 10, 11, 12)

  • play the drums/xylophone in this advanced band
  • lead sectionals to help other percussionists improve
  • currently preparing for MusicFest Canada’s 51st national competition
  • mentioned on my resume i submitted to Vanderbilt about my conductor nominating me to audition for the city’s senior band, and that I was accepted

Drummer and Choreographer, rock band (gr. 9, 11, 12)

  • lead peers during rehearsals by planning breakdowns and choreographing stage movements
  • perform in school-wide concerts, and tour other schools
  • added a music portfolio in the resume i sent to Vanderbilt

Content Creator & YouTube Manager, National [name retracted] Charity (gr. 11, 12)

  • create STEM-related TikToks
  • original “How-To” series gained 10k views, inspired my peers
  • develop promo plans for the YouTube channel

Social Media Coordinator, non-profit org in my community (gr. 9, 10, 11, 12)

  • promote STEM workshops on Instagram and YouTube
  • plan and film the [name retracted], a large conference held at UofT featuring Google, Amazon, etc.

Member (gr. 11), President (gr. 12) (gr. 11, 12) (Career-Oriented)

  • chosen by FBLA Canada to lead the city’s community chapter
  • recruit students from various high schools
  • prepare the chapter to compete in the Canadian National Leadership Conference

Video Director and Software Developer, dance studio in my community (gr. 10, 11)

  • directed, filmed, and edited a promotional video which is posted on their website
  • designed and coded a registration application to simplify manual work
  • added the promo vid in my videography portfolio in my resume I sent to Vanderbilt

Link Leader, Link Crew (gr. 10, 11, 12)

  • nominated by teachers to be a Link Leader
  • help students transition into high school; lead engaging activities and host school tours

Doubles Partner, Badminton (gr. 9, 11, 12) (JV/Varsity)

  • practice skills and doubles strategies with my teammate
  • co-host tryouts for the JV team
  • currently training to play on the varsity team

Card Creator, non-profit org in my community (gr. 10, 11, 12)

  • design motivational cards for cancer patients during the pandemic to instill positivity
  • create around 5 handmade and virtual cards each month

Essays/LORs/Other
CommonApp Personal Statement: 9/10 (wrote about how videography is my way of telling stories w/personal growth; overcoming insecurities)

Vanderbilt Extracurricular Supplemental: 9/10 (wrote about how my drumming in the rock band not only fostered my love for music/performing, but also how it can radiate happiness to others esp. my friend who went thru difficult times; using drumming as a creative way to solve a problem, basically)

NYU Diversity Supplemental: 9/10 (wrote about how filming a promo video @ the dance studio opened up varying new perspectives, identities, and backgrounds – and how I’ve come to embrace that and how I will continue doing that at NYU)

Math teacher LOR (submitted to Vanderbilt): 8.5/10 (theme of spreading smiles on people’s faces)

CS teacher LOR (submitted to Vanderbilt and NYU): 9/10 (mentioned how i was only a handful of students in her 15+ years of teaching IB/gifted kids to show maturity of an adult and relentless drive for success)

Peer LOR (submitted to Vanderbilt and NYU): 9/10 (mentioned my connection with Taylor Swift’s drummer, my involvement in the Wind Ensemble with him [the peer who wrote the LOR], and my involvement in a school music committee as the Head of Photography that I didn’t touch upon in my app)

Counsellor LOR (submitted to Vanderbilt and NYU): 6.5 or 7/10 (said she spoke highly of me?)

Schools
Vanderbilt (ED2)
NYU (RD)

Final Thoughts

I understand how competitive these schools are and the added disadvantage as an international applicant. Keeping my hopes low. Thank you for your insight!

2

Not sure if you’re aware but Vanderbilt does not have an undergrad business school or business major. They do have a business minor.

3

i listed “business w/emphasis on finance” on my application, and applied to their economics major. thank you for the info. sorry for being unclear!

4

I just wanted to make sure you knew in case you are the position of choosing between Vandy and NYU Stern. :slightly_smiling_face:

5

I see, thank you!

Lol, choosing between the two would be the dream…

1 Like
6

my mistake, sorry.

all GPAs are cumulative.

UW gpa: 3.93 and weighted: 4.12 (no plus/minus)*

UW gpa: 3.89 and weighted: 4.22 (plus/minus)*

*no leadership and physical education included.

Weighted is a bit lower because only the IB DP courses in junior year are included. Didn’t take additional APs.

Would these stats lower my chances?

7

You are a really interesting applicant! Your ECs are diverse, in depth and …. very interesting. You come across as honest and truly passionate about a variety of things. In other words, your resume does not look like it was premeditated and calculated to increase your chances of admission. It looks like exactly what universities are looking for … a kid with true interest in something … who has evidence that they have pursued and explored it.

I think your ECs will really help you and balance the test optional status.

Your grades are good and don’t harm your chances and with your ECs, I think you have a good chance at universities like Vanderbilt and NYU.

Unfortunately the ED2 acceptance rate at Vanderbilt is not good, last year it was 10.3%, but you have a chance.

Good luck!

1 Like
8

thank you for your opinion!

I was wondering, do colleges usually re-calculate GPAs with no plus/minus taken into account? or with plus/minus? or do they rather look more at the transcript (all grades) and ignore the single-stat GPAs? obviously you probably aren’t an AO but was just curious.

thank you again!

9

Other people may chime in with their experience but yes, the universities do calculate or recalculate your gpa taking into account “plus and minus”.

An A- is not as good as an A. A B+ is better than a B etc.

They do not all calculate gpa in exactly the same way either. Some universities have their own calculation system that is a little different or unique.

And there is weighted versus unweighted gpa …. weighted usually refers to the fact that some advanced courses like AP courses are given a higher number value compared to regular courses. Unweighted does not give more points or a higher number for advanced courses.

10

Great, thank you for your information!

My current cumulative UW (without gym and civics/leadership) is 3.89 and weighted is 4.22 with plus/minus. I hope this is good for Vanderbilt (their average is 3.83)

I know gym isn’t calculated into GPA, but what about a civics course like leadership typically?

11

In my experience, every class is included in the unweighted gpa if the class has letter grades. If your leadership or gym class have letter grades they would be included … a particular college may recalculate your gpa removing gym at their discretion (they would probably not remove civics/leadership), but each college would handle it differently.

If your gym and leadership classes are given grades such as “pass” or “fail”, that would not count toward your gpa. The American high schools I know give classes like gym a pass / fail rather than an “A, B, C”.

12

I see. My school doesn’t use pass/fail, but rather percentage grades on the transcript, which I assume correlates with these letter grades?

As always, thank you for your information! It helps a lot.

13

If you get the same type of percentage grade in gym or leadership as you do in math or science, the gym and/or leadership percentages will most likely be calculated into your unweighted gpa, with the caveat that some universities may remove the gym grade but probably leave in the leadership grade.

A typical scale they would use for your unweighted gpa would be something like this:

A+ 97-100
A 93-97
A- 90-92
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82

And so on …

I have spent part of every summer in Ontario since I was a kid (Stratford and NOTL) so I am rooting for you!

14

Okay great! I’ve been calculating my GPA using a similar scale to this. Thank you so much!

That is so cool! I’ve been to Stratford and NOTL a few times. Glad to see some Canadian representation :slight_smile:

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