Demographics: A South Asian man from Canada
Major: Electrical Engineering
Grades (IB Grades)
Math HL - 7
Chem HL - 7
Physics HL - 7
Econ SL - 7
Lang & Lit SL - 7
Spanish AB Initio - 6
Predicted IB total - 44/45
Test Scores:
35 ACT Superscored
Extracurriculars:
I trade options in my free time - I’ve made $10 000 from doing this
Math competitions: Scored 110+ on the AMC 12, and my AIME was >= 9 → no USAMO lol rip
Research internship at T5-T10 university for Engineering
I wrote a research paper on Hockey Analytics that I sent to the R&D Departments of a couple NHL teams - I’ve gotten some serious interest from them about my work
Captain of my school’s trivia team - we’re top five in Canada
President and Founder of my school’s investments club
Machine Learning Internship at one of Canada’s fifty fastest growing tech companies
One of forty attendees worldwide of a FinTech camp at Sloan - not as prestigious as it sounds
A bunch of miscellaneous volunteering
Recs:
Got my Phys and Phil teachers to give me recs - they both love me and are really good at writing recs
My counsellor doesn’t know me as well but she’ll definitely comment on my work ethic
I got a former Wall Street trader to write me a rec complimenting my trading abilities and how I was one of the only teenagers he knows who does trading
Essays
Really, really good. I poured an insane amount of time into my supps and I spent hours with an experienced college counsellor reviewing them. He also said that my Personal Statement was one of the best he’s seen (I’m being honest)
Will you require financial aid?
No, fortunately I don’t think I will need it.
As an international student, there are different factors that need to be considered. Since those schools are need aware for international students (except Princeton) it’s helpful that you won’t need FA. Another factor is how many students apply, get accepted, and enroll from Canada? You will be compared with other students from your country/region more so than with the general applicant pool. With a smaller percentage of international students versus the general student population, those schools will be even more competitive for you than for American students and the overall acceptance rates are in the single digits for the schools you listed. You have some impressive things listed but Ivies are a huge reach for everyone.
This isn’t meant to dissuade you from applying to those school but if you’re really interested in studying in the US make sure you have some match and likely schools on your list as well. Canada has some amazing schools and they’ll more affordable than schools in the US.
Apply and see. You might get accepted and you might not. Your info sounds great but there is really not a good way to predict whether or not you will get accepted so apply and see.
But also have some other colleges on your list of applications where you will have great acceptance potential.
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FWIW US News top 5 rated EE undergraduate programs:
- MIT
- UCal-Berkeley
- Stanford
- Georgia Tech
- University of Illinois
Trading options is viewed by many as a form of gambling so you might want to focus on your other activities/strengths. Also, options trading is a “not uncommon” activity for teens since RobinHood.
Obviously these aren’t the only schools I’ve applied too - I’ve applied to U of T and Waterloo and I’ve already been accepted to some other schools in Canada. I applied to Stanford, Yale, Duke, Cornell and Berkeley in addition to Penn/Princeton/Columbia, but these three were my top choices so I wanted to know my chances for them specifically.
Glad to hear it. Congratulations on your current acceptances and good luck with the rest.