chance an Ethiopian student

Hi, i am from Ethiopia chance me
i have 97.6 average and scored 4.0 in national exam
Didn’t take SAT as it is test optional this year

My extracurricular are ;
Physics club to support student grade and furnish their interest also raised members’ average to 89, i am not sure about the last one but its close.
I have tutored poor kids and fund raises every year to feed homeless.
I work as tutor and car washing to support my parents as my parents have no formal job, if it is considered as EC.
play tennis and school president.
applying to MIT( early action) and Harvard
lastly can you imply me who can edit or review my essay. thank you.

As a frame of reference, Harvard enrolls about 1 student a year from Ethiopia.

thank you for your reply ,however do i have a chance?

Working (in any capacity) to help support your family is considered an excellent EC.

You have about a 1% chance of being accepted, which is about the same for all international applicants (and the chances aren’t a whole lot better for American applicants). Take your shot, but make sure you have a backup plan, part of which should include applying to colleges in your own country too.

Thank you for your great advice.

I think it’s hard for us to judge your achievements in the context of your country, as there are unlikely to be many people on CC with much knowledge of the Ethiopian education system. Your targeted colleges will know, however. You may have a marginally better chance at ivies like Princeton that seem to value geographic diversity a little more, but it will still be extremely low, as it is for all international students. Good luck.

I am thankful for your reply. for your information, Ethiopian curriculum i very difficult as it starting from 11 Grade we take college level course without option. Furthermore, for 10th grade and 12th Grade we take 2 year worth of topics in one exam. and 97 its not percentile rather it the average and rare .

I think that you are a very competitive applicant. As noted in other responses the acceptance rate for international students is quite low. However I do think that it is worth sending in the two applications to MIT and Harvard. Be aware that MIT is quite a bit of work if you do get there – you need to plan to work hard for four years and learn an enormous amount.

I like your ECs.

Good luck with this!

The schools you listed are lottery tickets for most everyone but especially for international students. It’s fine that you go for it. It’s something to try to do. Are you the top student in t your school, the top in the last several years, the best ever? Have any graduates from your school gone to any such colleges in the US? Yes, you have a chance. Look at the numbers as to how many students apply to those two schools, and how many get accepted. That describes your chances, and remember that some of those who applied have some strong advantage.

For these sort of colleges, it is important that they know what level of difficulty your curriculum has been. If they do not know your school , you should work with your guidance counselor, school head or someone of authority at the school to include a profile that describes the courses you have taken.