<p>Hey Everyone!</p>
<p>I am a senior who is passionate about international relations and social justice. Right now, I am particularly interested in UPenn CAS and Georgetown SFS. I am an international applicant from Canada, so I would like to know how competitively I stand as compared to others, and in what aspects can I improve. Thank you all in advance! </p>
<p>Sex: Female
Race: Asian (Chinese)
Applicant Type: International (Canadian Citizen, born in Canada)
Hooks: Umm, first in family to go to college? Not sure if this counts for internationals</p>
<p>Stats:</p>
<p>SATs: 780 CR, 780 WR, 650 MATH (will be taking this once more in October, but not sure if Math will improve by much)
SAT IIs: World (700), Lit (750), Chinese w/ Listening (800) <---not native speaker, went to Mandarin school
APs (self-study, school is non AP/IB): AP Eng (5), AP World (5), AP Euro (5), AP Comp Gov (5), AP Human Geo (5)
GPA (unweighted): Around 3.88
Rank: Definitely top 5-10% (out of a class of 350)</p>
<p>Awards: Some decent debate awards (Top 3 in Regional Champs, Qualifier to Provincial Champs, Finalist for largest tourney in Canada, some small ones), some speech awards (2nd in District, Finalist for Provincials, Law Cup Finalist), and MUN awards (usually on regional, national level). Also AP National Scholar (Canada), but other than that, I don't have any huge awards. </p>
<p>Extra-curriculars:</p>
<p>Women's rights (grades 9-12): Founder of a community branch of an international non-profit (organized events and raised money), act as a youth rep/speaker for the same international non-profit (been on the paper a few times), co-founded a conference on girl's rights, currently helping a retired activist research/write a book (to be published in 2015)</p>
<p>Model UN (grades 8-12): Have been on the Secretariat for national level conferences since grade 10 (three in total, one each year), coach/exec for school MUN club and also on Sect for school conference, directed/staffed/delegated at over 20 conferences</p>
<p>Debate/Speech (8-12): Coach/exec for school clubs, organized school invitational tournaments, have some awards (see awards section)</p>
<p>Politics (8-12): Elected Premier for regional youth parliament (had other positions since grade 8 like Minister of Communications), Youth rep/volunteer for a federal level political party, Elections officer for Provincial Elections, Intern at local politician's office, writer for an online youth political blog, on youth council for city</p>
<p>Non-profit (9-12): Co-founded an international branch of a pretty notable non-profit -- I'm mostly in charge of human resources and I manage over 100 personnel. We've also held many fundraisers ranging from debate tournaments to textbook drives as well as educational conferences. Also provincial manager for a national campaign on environmentalism but not sure if I want to put this on app.</p>
<p>Business: Was selected to organize a university-sponsored youth entrepreneurship conference. ****If I'm applying for IR, I shouldn't put this on my app right? </p>
<p>Teacher recs: One from Socials Department head (and MUN sponsor teacher), and another one from Humanities Department head and Law teacher. Both have known me since grade 8, we're very close, so I'm hoping the reference letters will be great. </p>
<p>Essays: Not too shabby of a writer, so they will be pretty good. Probably not amazingly, out-of-the-world good though!</p>
<p>Yep, so this is it!</p>
<p>Questions:</p>
<p>-How much would that math mark affect me? I'm currently doing a lot of math prep books, but math is NOT my strong point and it has given me a lot of grief. I cannot guarantee that I will be able to pull it up by 100 points</p>
<p>-UPenn is needblind to Canadians, hence one of the main reasons why I'm applying early to it. Georgetown indicates that they only give a "limited amount of aid to internationals), so should I bother applying at all? I am an international applicant who definitely needs aid. I know this decreases my chances by A LOT. </p>
<p>-Lastly, are there any colleges that are good for international relations that I should look into? Preferably the ones that offer some aid. </p>
<p>-I'm not too involved in school, and who knows if I will be involved the school MUN club this year. How much would this affect me?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance! </p>