Chance A Singaporean!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>i am a handsome singaporean male about to complete ns! (saying that i'm handsome probably gave myself away)</p>

<p>anyhow,</p>

<p>this is what i got for my 'a' levels</p>

<p>PHYSICS A
MATH B
ECONOMICS B
GP A2 <<<<< do they even bother with this?</p>

<p>PROJECT WORK 2
CHINESE C5</p>

<p>and for my 'o' levels
ENGLISH A2
CHINESE B3
E MATH B3
SCIENCE(PHY/CHEM) A1
LIT B3
COMBINED HUMANITIES B3
A MATH C6</p>

<p>i wouldnt say it isn't the most rigourous coursework. ok i'm sure it isn't.</p>

<p>SAT I on OCT.. predicted range abt 2200-2400
SAT II on NOV and DEC (predicted) : </p>

<p>CHINESE 800 since its so ridiculously easy
MATH 700+
PHYSICS 700+
LITERATURE 700+</p>

<p>my ecs are nothing spectacular.</p>

<p>FOR MY JC</p>

<p>TEN-PIN BOWLING MEMBER
CHAIRMAN OF CLASS WELFARE COMMITTEE
PHYSICAL EDUATION REP
CLASS EVENT ORGANISER
PARTICPATED IN INTRA-COLLEGE SOCCER (BRONZE)
PARTICPATED IN INTRA-COLLEGE TRACK & FIELD MEET
INVOLVED IN JC'S NEIGHBOURHOOD RECYCLING PROJECT
INVOLVED IN RAISING FUNDS FOR MINDS (disabled children).
INVOLED IN JC'S NEIGHBOURHOOD ENHANCEMENT PROJECT
COMMUNITY SERIVCE TO REGIONAL LIBRARY</p>

<p>PART OF ECONS ENRICHMENT PROGRAMME (FOR THE TOP 20 STUDENTS)
RECEIVED A CERTIFICATE OF ACHIEVEMENT FOR MUCH IMPROVEMENT IN MATH.</p>

<p>FOR MY SECONDARY SCHOOL</p>

<p>MEMBER OF BOYS BRIGADE (CORPORAL)
SERVICE TO TANGLIN SPECIAL SCHOOL
FLAG DAY
CLEANING UP AT METHODIST WELFARE SERVICES
GREEN EARTH PROJECT
FAIRFIELD STREET FESTIVAL
LOCAL SERVICE LEARNING
INTRA SCHOOL :
TRACK & FIELD '01
CROSS COUNTRY (3 YRS) '01,03,04
BASKETBALL (BRONZE) '03
CAPTAIN'S BALL '04
SOCCER '01</p>

<p>ENRICHMENT PROGRAMMES:
JULIA GABRIEL SPEECH & DRAMA
STUDY SKILLS PROGRAMME
HANSVISION
LEVEL CAMP
LEADERSHIP TRAINING
STUDY ON URA & CIVIC CENTRE
FARMS STUDY
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
LEADERSHIP CAMP
SERIVCE LEARNING
CAREER GUIDANCE</p>

<p>SUMMARY OF EC'S = SPAM</p>

<p>I MIGHT ADD THAT I WORKED AS A RETAIL ASSISTANT BEFORE FOR ABT 2-3 MONTHS ( BUT I PRACTICALLY GOVERN THE WHOLE SHOP MYSELF COS THERE WERE NO SUPERVISORS) IN PARAGON (UPSCALE CLIENTELE) IN MY COUNTRY WHEN I WAS 16 GOING ON 17!</p>

<p>chance me at
UMICH
UC BERKELEY
UCLA
NYU
U VIRGINIA
(HARVARD,YALE,PRINCETON,BROWN,CORNELL,PENN)</p>

<p>thank you all!!!!!</p>

2

<p>If you do not require financial aid, I suppose you have some chances at UMichigan and UVa, though your A-level grades should ideally be at least AAB. It would be harder to get into UCBerkeley, UCLA and NYU (I presume you want to apply to NYU Stern School of Business) since straight-A students from HC and RJ are applying to them as well. Not much of a chance at HYP.</p>

3

<p>yea not applying for financial aid. do they actually bother with the peripherals? like gp,pw and chinese? i am from the '88 batch btw.</p>

4

<p>Write back when you get your SAT scores--I don't like to rate anybody on the top colleges based upon "projected" scores.</p>

5

<p>Probably reject, or high match for only UMich and UCLA and UVa. Your grades are pretty much terrible, and you only took 3 subjects? Definitely not a rigorous workload. GP, Chinese do count - GP's like English and Chinese's the second language. PW, not so much, I know that most of the Aussieland unis don't consider, so I surmise American uni's wouldn't.</p>

<p>And there's some serious resume-padding going on here. Cleaning up at the welfare service? I infer it's a mandatory CIP activity organized by the school. That doesn't count, long-term committment will impress though. Please correct me if my conclusions are wrong.</p>

<p>However, if you could really do well in SATs, you might get into UMich and UCLA and UVa based on that alone. I reckon you'd need to hit the books pretty hard, though. 2200+ should be good enough. Why are you taking Chinese SAT, anyway? Singaporeans count as native speakers, so the adcom might look at it with a different perspective.</p>

<p>Btw, just curious - what do you want to major in? Those schools are specializing in vastly different areas. UMich is full of A*Star scholars...</p>

<p>PS. It's rigorous, not rigourous.</p>

6

<p>pardon the british spelling.
yea you are right. my grades suck and i took only 3 subs. honestly i think so too.
like i mentioned, my ec's are all crap.</p>

<p>are the 'o' levels considered for admission as well?</p>

<p>i prolly want to major in biz, maybe philosophy or english/ english lit.</p>

7

<p>the british spelling is ALSO "rigorous". pardon me for being pedantic :D</p>

8

<p>ok.. can we get over this. lol. will bear that in mind. thanks for the english 101.</p>

9

<p>Philosophy? Good luck getting a job in Singapore, hehe :) 'O' levels generally aren't considered, unless you're applying straight after O's. I recall Purdue does admit based on O's, but I might remember wrong.</p>

<p>Since you're interested in biz...UMAA's business program isn't bad. I might suggest USC as well, what's there not to like about California weather? :)</p>

10

<p>i intend to work there after i graduate and bring my family over as well. yea i love everything abt california too. but im not sure if usc is really recognised there or back home. (being a singaporean, i do look at the rankings). i am really really slow though, ord-ing this yr so that means i'm going in next fall so i don't have any room for mistakes if not i'll just be stuck here in good ol' singapore.</p>

11

<p>Hmm, I'm not sure about how difficult it is to secure a visa post-graduation. USC, well, it's certainly not a top-tier school but it's not bad. With regards to philosophy, I'm not sure if American employers recognise the benefits of philosophy either. Haha. You might find this thread on CC informative:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/other-college-majors/491328-nytimes-practicalities-philosophy-major.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/other-college-majors/491328-nytimes-practicalities-philosophy-major.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>In addition, you might consider doing a post-grad degree or transferring halfway, if you can't get into the school that you want. Though it is harder to get in as a transfer... But with mediocre high school grades, it definitely won't be easy to get into a good school now.</p>

12

<p>USC is ranked as the 27th school (among national universities, which are most of the nation's top schools). (Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and Stanford are 1 through 4 on this list). So, obviously it's a top, top school.</p>

<p>Their undergraduate business school is ranked #2 in California and #9 nationally. Their cinema (theatre) production program is ranked in the top 3 (most rank it as #1 nationally), and their broadcast journalism program is also ranked #1. They are not as strong in the sciences, but their engineering program is also ranked in the top 10 programs nationally.</p>

<p>Oh, and I went to their cross-town competitor (UCLA--currently ranked #25 among national universities), so I'm not in the habit of praising USC.</p>

<p>P.S. I'm not giving chances here, only because I don't "chance" people until they have their actual SAT scores. Too many people overrate their predicted SAT scores (not saying you did, just that a lot of people do).</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

13

<p>People with better A-Level grades than you from RJ have been waitlisted in UMich. UVA has been getting more and more selective as well. ECs need to be tidied up - why on earth do you put "PE Rep" there??? Lol. Get rid of all the unimportant ones - they just make your EC disorganized and lacking focus. (Please don't write in caps lock next time btw) And anw.. I think you might have over-projected your SAT 1 score. No offense, but looking at your other grades...</p>

<p>Ok now to the chance:</p>

<p>UMICH - low match
UC BERKELEY - reach
UCLA - not sure, match???
NYU - low match
U VIRGINIA - low match
(HARVARD,YALE,PRINCETON,BROWN,CORNELL,PENN) - very very high reach</p>

14

<p>i agree with lisieux , especially abt the caps lock and the projected SAT scores. you cannot have such ordinary grades and expect 2200-2300.
Berkeley will also be pretty hard, almost as hard as HYP and the other ivy leagues</p>

15

<p>I think my chances up there might be a bit <em>too</em> optimistic, now that I think of it again.. A lot depends on your essay and teacher recs as well. Good luck!</p>

16

<p>Lisieux you make me laugh. Sorry to OP, but yeah, for god's sake, PE rep XD Woots.</p>

17

<p>thanks for the comments!</p>

<p>yea. like i mentioned, my ec's are just spam. i have not decided what to put in.. just typing whatever i see on my cert.</p>

<p>anyway, having been brought up in singapore's education system we singaporeans are quite ok when it comes to exams in general, so when we say the SAT is ok, it probably is. </p>

<p>i guess u guys are right, prolly have to take my sat and wait for the scores before deciding on my university. In any case if i don't make it to the U.S, i still have my SG safeties (NUS,NTU,SMU).</p>

<p>BTW, the dean of smu said that smu is in the same league as umich and the uc's during the tea session. hahaha</p>

18

<p>Well.. We are Singaporeans and well even RJ student with 4As can score below 2000 for that (my friend), so advice is... be realistic. :)</p>

<p>And LOL.

[quote]
BTW, the dean of smu said that smu is in the same league as umich and the uc's during the tea session. hahaha

[/quote]

HAHAHAHAHAHA. HAHAHAHA. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. HAHAHAHAHA.</p>

<p>fiona_, bet that made you laugh even harder. Mwahaha. Omg that's SO FUNNY. </p>

<p>I don't even think NUS can be in the same caliber with UMich and the UCs AT ALL. And SMU?? HAHAHAHAHA. xD Lol okay I shouldn't diss SMU. But how can such a young institution in SINGAPORE claim so against UMich and UCs???</p>

19

<p>Well, the guys that i mix with all get rather good scores for the SATs (>2300). I might not be in the same league as them but i don't think i am really that far off. (No other meanings)</p>

<p>Also, do u guys know if being the first generation college student will increase or decrease my chances? (sister went to college as well but not my parents)</p>

<p>And if my parents i.e. dad, is a high networth individual i.e. constantly featured in forbes with offices in major finance captials, will it decrease or increase my chances? (even though i do not intend to reveal this to the adcom, it's me not my dad entering college)</p>

<p>i found that line hilarious as well so i decided to share. lol.</p>

20

<p>I guess a good yardstick will be how much you score under your timed practice tests. I have good faith that your predicted SAT score was based on that. :)</p>

<p>Being a first generation college CAN help if you can present yourself well with it.. Like e.g. tell them how hard it is for you to be able to go this far with parents that did not go to college (however it doesn't sound like you have this experience at all! Haha) A lot of this depends on how you tell the admission committee about your experience. Soooo it may help, it may not, depends on you. </p>

<p>I am not sure about your last question though. If your dad is some very well-known and well connected individual, then he can try to get you in through connections, I guess?? No idea...</p>