Chance a quirky(?) fellow int'l begging for $$

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>I'm an int'l from Korea living in Venezuela in dire need of $$$ to attend college.</p>

<p>Schools I'm applying to (in order of preference):
Yale (considering SCEA)
Princeton
UChicago (stingy FinAid)
Dartmouth (considering ED)
UPenn (stingy FinAid)
Middlebury
Williams
Vassar</p>

<p>Objective stats:
-SAT I: 680CR 730M 670W
-SAT II: Spanish 800, Korean 800, Math II 770, US History 720, Literature 700
-Toefl: 117/120 iBT
-APs: USH (4), Spanish (5), Calculus AB (5), Psychology (5).
-Senior Courseload: AP US Gov, AP Stats, AP Econ, AP English Literature, AP --Calc BC, Sociology
-Class Rank: N/A (school doesn't rank, but I'm in top 5%)
-GPA: 94% (from 9-11th). 104% (12th grade so far). (Both weighted grades)</p>

<p>Subjective stats:
-Nationality: Korea
-Race: Asian
-Trilingual (Korean, Spanish, English) and basic skills in Japanese, Chinese, and Italian.
-Lived in 6 countries, an average of 2.5 yrs per country (Korea, Chile, Nicaragua, Spain, Guatemala, and currently in Venezuela)
-Moved to Venezuela 10th grade</p>

<p>ExtraCurriculars (no leadership positions; my weak point):
-Varsity Soccer (9,10,11,12)
-Varsity Table Tennis (only 9th grade)
-JV Tennis (11,12)
-Entrepreneurial Club (11,12)</p>

<p>**Self-assessment: I have solid SAT II scores w/ good variety but mediocre SAT I. I have below par ECs but I have other strenghts (multi-lingual, lived in multiple countries). I am taking the hardest courseload at school, and currently have a decent class rank (top 5%)</p>

2

<p>It definitely helps that you have lived in multiple countries esp in Latin America, but I am not sure that offsets your lack of leadership positions in ECs. All of the schools you've listed above are going to be reaches for any international asking for aid, especially significant amounts of aid.</p>

3

<p>Leadership positions aren't that important. Imagine an entire college full of leaders - nothing would ever get done! Colleges need some strong leaders, but they also need a lot of students who want to be led. Be sure to mention any significant activities you have been involved in, even if they are not formal school activities. Examples might be a job, involvement in a church, playing an instrument or spending a lot of time babysitting younger siblings. When looking at your ECs, colleges mainly want to see that you would enhance the social life on campus, even if that just means being an interesting roommate.</p>

<p>Are you planning to continue playing soccer in college? If so, you could contact coaches and try to get recruited.</p>

<p>You are taking a lot of challenging classes - that's great. It's just unfortunate that your SAT scores don't reflect the excellence you display in your classes. Your scores are good, but they might not be good enough for the type of schools you are shooting for. Your Korean and Spanish scores won't count for a lot because you have (presumably) been speaking those languages for a while. Please don't get me wrong, it is very impressive to be tri-lingual, but these tests are aimed at students who have learned the languages for 2 or 3 years in a classroom setting, not students who grew up with them. Your other SAT II scores are good but not outstanding - you are allowed to make quite a few mistakes on the SAT IIs before you lose points at all.</p>

<p>As frankchn pointed out, you should consider all of the colleges on your list reaches but none of them is impossible to get into. Good luck and keep us posted!</p>

4

<p>I know I split hairs, but... didn't you say you were Chinese in other thread?</p>

5

<p>Good point!</p>

<p>
[quote]
SAT I = 2060 (690 CR, 680 M, 690 W)
SAT II = 800 Math II, 680 Lit, 800 Spanish, 710 USH, 800 Chinese
Toefl = 118/120
APs = 4 USH, 5 Psych, 5 Calc BC, 5 Spanish</p>

<p>Btw, I do attend an american school in **Mexico<a href="I've%20done%20so%20for%202%20years">/b</a></p>

<p>How will me being a Chinese living in Mexico attending an american school with the score I have affect how top schools consider my scores?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>vs</p>

<p>
[quote]
-SAT I: 680CR 730M 670W
-SAT II: Spanish 800, Korean 800, Math II 770, US History 720, Literature 700
-Toefl: 117/120 iBT
-APs: USH (4), Spanish (5), Calculus AB<a href="5">/b</a>, Psychology (5).
...
-Lived in 6 countries, an average of 2.5 yrs per country (Korea, Chile, Nicaragua, Spain, Guatemala, and **currently in Venezuela)

[/quote]
</p>

<p>(Differences highlighted)</p>

<p>Either the OP wants to remain anonymous, has a very bad memory and sense of orientation, or we have a troll here.</p>

<p>P.S. Hey, this is fun :D :D :D</p>

6

<p>Jeez <a href="mailto:b@rium">b@rium</a>. Obviously I want to remain anonymous...</p>

7

<p>You are changing your SAT II scores in Math II and US History to be more anonymous? :confused:</p>

<p>I will watch for your post as a Japanese student currently in Nicaragua.</p>

8

<p>fedorfan the differences in your thread are significant. for anonimity you shouldnt change your scores by more than +-10. IT effects our evaluation ;-).
Anyway, I disagree with Barium when he says leadership skills are not important! They are critical and I was told they were critical when I got into Wharton. If colleges could produce all leaders, they would. followers are bound to be there!</p>

<p>I think you are a smart applicant.You already know your weaknesses and your list is very sensible considering you need a lot of aid. Just try to underplay your weaknesses in your app and emphasize your strengths.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

9

<p>^^sorry about being untruthful to you all, but I am a paranoid person ;). THnx for your consideration</p>

10

<p>Do you have split-personality disorder? I understand changing origin ... Chinese in Honolulu and Japanese in Papua New Guinea don't have much of a difference.
But a change in test-scores for anonymity? Hola?</p>