O Levels - 6 A*s and 2 As
AS Level - 3 As and 1 C
SAT I - 1940 (didn’t submit)
Rank - school doesn’t rank but counselor said I am easily in the top 10%
GPA - we don’t have GPAs either (British curriculum)
Honors - Valedictorian (class of 2013)
Essay - Strong
Supplement - Average to strong (talked about an incident with my schizophrenic sister)
Recommendations - Stellar! Teachers and counselor know me really well
My ECs are mostly writing related. I was Head Girl in grade 11 and currently head the school Literary Society.
HOWEVER, I think I have a weak course load (only 3 A2 subjects) and I’d need almost a full ride.
I have applied to:
Bates
BMC
Colby
Colgate
Connecticut
Dickinson
Grinnell
Holy Cross
Lafayette
Macalester
Manhattan
Mt Holyoke
Reed
Smith
Trinity
Union
@cityrazzledazzle We have 7 colleges in common. Here’s what I think.
Pros:
Top 10%.
Valedictorian honor.
Recommendations.
Essays probably since your ECs are writing related.
Cons:
Test scores for many of those places.Many colleges aren’t test optional for internationals
Being an international needing a lot of aid (much like myself).
I’m not familiar with the British system, but I think a lot of colleges only consider A levels. I could be wrong.
I think Macalester, Colby, Reed and Colgate may be reaches. As for the others, either I’m not familiar with the schools or the “international student needing financial aid” makes your situation unpredictable. When everything is said and done, I think you’ll get into several places. For some reason, I have a gut feeling that you’ll end up in Mount Holyoke.
Many universities condition financial aid to submitting SAT scores, even the test optional ones. Email each of them and ask - “someone told me that in order to be considered for financial aid, I needed to submit an SAT score. Since .X…College is test-optional, I didn’t think I had to. Do you need an American standardized test score or are my GCSEs and A Levels sufficient?”
You look great for admission to Manhattan College, but they meet only 66% need for domestic applicants. For the others, your SAT is in or near the bottom half. You applied to many test flexible schools, but I don’t believe Colgate, Grinnell, Macalester, Reed are test flexible even for domestics, and I’m not sure if the others allow test flex for internationals, especially int’ls that require $50K+ in financial aid.
But don’t give up hope! You might have jewel-like qualities that came shining through in your writing and recs!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Does that make Manhattan affordable for your family?
Its big advantage is its location (hard to beat); its downside is that it’s primarily commuter so you’d likely
be more lonely on weekends and in the evenings than on a traditional campus where students spend all their time.
Thank you @MYOS1634. It’s still not affordable. I have applied for additional financial assistance.
I am okay with it being a commuter though. I am not one to party on weekends.
Commuter school means fewer activities organized on weekends when you’re there and others aren’t, a different organization for club hours, fewer study groups, less of a community for you to be a part of. It makes a huge difference. It’ll help obviously if you can be part of the honors community or a living-learning community on campus.
