Type of high school: Magnet School (usually sends 5-10 students to T10s)
Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Asian Male
Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): N/A
Intended Major(s)
CS/EE, Math, Economics
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 96/100
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): No weighted GPA given but have taken 8 APs so far.
Class Rank: Not Given; approximately top 10%
ACT/SAT Scores: 1570 SAT
Coursework
8 AP Scores by the time I apply; likely to be all 5s.
Including AP CSA, AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, AP Econ, and more.
Have taken 3 years of Spanish (max offered)
Awards
USAMO Qualification
IChO National Team
International History Olympiad Qualification
National Math Olympiad (for my country) Qualification
USACO Platinum
Extracurriculars (Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
Math Club Exec + Math Team
Business Club Exec (DECA ICDC Top 20 Award)
MUN Club and Team Exec
History Club Exec
Physics Research at a Local University (National Science Fair Silver)
Varsity Baseball
Volunteering for an Allergy Research and Awareness nonprofit
Finance internship at a Bank
Essays/LORs/Other
Essays likely to be decent (above average) but nothing extraordinary.
LORs likely to be the same.
Cost Constraints / Budget
Can pay up to 40k USD, which is right about where the NPC puts me at.
Schools
Will only apply to reaches in the US as I am guaranteed a spot at many local universities.
Assuming you’re referring to MIT and Stanford, doesn’t HYPSM already include those schools??
To answer your question, yes, a good reason why HYPSM is on my list is due to reputation as well as the opportunities provided there.
Otherwise, I am happy to stay in my home country and attend a good university (where I could potentially even get a scholarship).
You will find it difficult to study in the US if you need aid - not impossible but difficult.
You need to add some lesser schools. If you only apply to those mentioned, you could possibly get shut out.
A school like Washington & Lee has the Johnson scholarship and international is eligible - so it might be worth looking into. It’s not easy - but it gives you a shot at full coverage based on merit.
Heard the story, so I’m just curious. Are you one of the Chinese student who trained with your national math Olympiad team, could not make the team, so came here to try to qualify for the US team? And your school is located at Princeton, NJ?
Do you have any sure things? These are all reaches…and especially for international students. Some are also need aware meaning your level of need will be considered when your application for admission is reviewed.
What does the rest of your application list look like???
I will apply to local universities in my country, where I am almost guaranteed a spot (as they only look at grades and if you meet the cutoff, you’re almost certainly accepted.