Chance an international for top engineering! Will chance back!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Swedish (don't know if Scandinavian would be URM)
White male </p>

<p>Scores:
SAT: 2110
- M: 740
- CR: 730
- W: 640
Retook in december, should be 2250+ with at least 700 in writing.
SAT Physics: 720
SAT Math II: 780</p>

<p>Since I am from Sweden my grade sytem is quite different from the american grades. My GPA is 19.55/20 at the moment and will most likely be 19.75 at the end of senior year. From my understanding this corresponds to a 4.0 american GPA since the Swedish A and B both correspond to an american A. I am taking 27 courses in total and 10 of them during my senior year, with my senior schedule being:</p>

<p>PE specialization
English Language Specialization; Writing
Natural Science Specilization; "Future Horizons"
Swedish 3
Mathematics 5
Social Science 1b
History 1b
Religion 1
Physics 2
Senior thesis</p>

<p>No APs since we don't have them here... But the level of the maths/science, English and Swedish courses (don't know about humanities) that I have taken is similar to AP (more like British A2-levels/IB higher level).</p>

<p>School type: Large public, one of the most prestigious and competitive schools in Sweden.</p>

<p>EC's:
UNICEF associated charity organisation - (11-12) Co-founder and head of official relations.
Piano - (10-12) Have played for 8 years. Part of the advanced programme at my local school of arts.
Trombone - (10) Lead trombone in the most advanced jazz orchestra at my school of arts.
Student mentor - (11-12) Tutoring in Mathematics, Chemistry and English.
School Plays - (10-11) Head of light and sound for two major productions put together by my class. Winner of best light and sound.</p>

<p>Work experience:
Home tutor (paid) - (12) 4 hrs/week
Distributor of newspapers - (12) 5 hrs/week
Dentist assistant - (11) Summer job for 3 weeks, 30 hrs/week
Store Clerk - (10) Summer job for 3 weeks, 30 hrs/week
Internship at Truck-Manufacturer - (9, before HS) 2 weeks, 30 hrs/week</p>

<p>List of schools (in order of preference)
Tier 1:
MIT
Tier 2:
Stanford
Princeton
Cornell
Columbia
Tier 3:
Olin College
Harvey Mudd
Harvard
Northwestern
Tier 4:
Cooper Union
Berkeley
UCLA
Georgia tech</p>

<p>Realised this was quite a long post I-) , but thanks for taking your time to read it! I hope you can make sense of all this and give me some kind of prediction. And as I said earlier, I will chance back! </p>

2

<p>Oh, and I’m applying RD to all of the schools as well.</p>

3

<p>probably no problem to most of these schools SAT might need to imrpove to get into top Ivies though</p>

4

<p>You have the stats (grades and SAT I and II scores, although the SAT I may need improvement) and a good variety of ECs. And the fact that you are international helps a bit too. But remember that when you are applying to these top schools there are thousands of applicants who are as good as or even better than you in terms of raw stats. So your focus should be to make your ECs seem extraordinary. When you compare two people with the exact same numbers, you’ll pick the person with the more compelling essay or the more meaningful ECs. Colleges want to see dedication and effort in your ECs, so show them that. With a good essay and good descriptions of ECs that matter to you most, you have a good chance at being in the competitive pool of applicants. </p>

5

<p>Thanks for the feedback! I have an additional question however: do you think it would be a good thing to submit a research paper abstract, even though the research wasn’t part of a research program and wasn’t published? It is a quite extensive paper that does connect with what I want to major in (mechanical engineering) but would the admissions people really care? I could pm you the thing if you would want to have a look at it…</p>

6

<p>I highly doubt you have a good chance at MIT, Stanford, and the ivies, but besides that you should be able to make it into most schools listed</p>

7

<p>Eh, I kind of disagree with what @Outlooker said; nobody has a good chance at any of those (Ivies, Stanford, etc) schools. You have a good chance at the less competitive schools for sure, and you definitely have a chance in the Ivies. Definitely focus on making your essays great!</p>

8

<p>@rhubarber‌ that’s pretty much what I said too</p>

9

<p>@Jeepen How credible is it? It think it wont be as effective if it is not backed by a program, college, or some other credible research facility. If you really think that it is comprehensive and scholarly, then maybe you should. But keep in mind that its probably not really extensive. I mean, did you have access to certain technology, did you perform multiple high level experiments, did you organize hundreds of subjects and study their behavior, did you work in a built model-environment or top-notch lab, or did you do research based on what you read on the internet? </p>

<p>If it sounds like a high school paper with sources from the internet and no “real” studying - as in performing experiments yourself - then maybe not. But if it sounds like a “true” college research paper, then definitely. But this is only my opinion, if you feel like it would be a great supplement to your entire application, then by all means go for it. </p>

10

<p>Your stats are good enough to make you a competitive applicant at most of these schools, however you like I said are competitive not guaranteed. These schools are very hard to get into anyway, but with your ec’s and international applicant status you stand a chance. these schools are high reaches for you but not impossible. Hope this helps :smile:</p>

11

<p>@Jeepen - I agree with @Dreamcatcher1‌ - you’'re a competitive candidate for all of these schools, including MIT and Stanford.</p>

<p>These schools all have far more competitive candidates than they have spaces, so your goal should be to submit the best applications and essays you possibly can, and above all, aspire to appear interesting, unusual, and different, and make it clear to each of these colleges that you offer something than no other candidate does!</p>

<p>A few comments:

  • being an international rarely helps. It’s much harder to get into any of these schools as an international
  • you definitely have no URM advantage
  • your current SAT scores are great for a non-native speaker. I’m sure this is taken into consideration when evaluating applicants.
  • if you’re looking for financial aid, the public schools you listed may be problematic - investigate them on a case-by-case basis. Most of the private schools you listed provide generous aid to internationals.
  • if you would chose Cornell over Harvard, it may not be worth applying to Harvard - the likelihood of being rejected by Cornell and accepted to Harvard is very small.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

12

<p>if you get a 2250+ you have a really good shot at cooper probably 80%+</p>

13

<p>Thanks everyone! @BldrDad‌ I have already looked into the financial aid offerings from the public schools, hence their low placement on the list ;). But wouldn’t Harvard still be worth applying for, considering the ability to cross-register with MIT and just the awesomenss of a Harvard degree? Paying for/writing many applications isn’t a problem. Also, how much does being first-gen really help?</p>