I’m applying to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Wharton, UChicago, Northwestern, Columbia and Dartmouth. What are my chances?
So … some slightly crazy stuff here
First gen
GCSEs: 9A* 2A 2B 1C (but this is a lot more taken than the usual amount IMO).
What would this equal in GPA terms? Is it sufficiently competitive?
Predicted A-levels: AAAAA* (double math, econ, history, EPQ research project)
SAT: 1580
ECs:
Student body president
National WSDC debate team
Founder of an economics non-profit/blog with around 30 people contributing
Internship on a pretty good political campaign
Research assistant for a professor at a pretty well-known university
Editor in chief of school econ magazine
Ambassador for a well-known international newspaper in my school
Volunteer math tutor
Part time job + work experience with brand-name bank
Your ECs are very strong for a student from the UK. But I’m assuming you feel your GCSEs and A level predictions make you marginal for Oxford?
You mention first gen, but nothing about whether you are from a poor family/disadvantaged community/ethnic minority/state school which would provide a significant boost at these colleges. Clarity on that and whether you are full pay or expect significant need-based aid would help commenters to give advice.
It’s very tough to get admitted for US students and even more so for internationals, so don’t get your hopes up too far. But if I had to bet on whether you’d get into one of these colleges vs into Oxford then I’d say that your profile probably looks better to US colleges.
Having said that, you do need to try and understand the differences between the city and deeply rural environments of a few of these schools. I have a hard time picturing most of the British students I know at Dartmouth.
URM only matters for US citizens and green card holders. Even if other factors provide a boost, which I doubt, it would still be insufficient to overcome the anti-hook of being international
Your stats are perfectly OK for US schools. They aren’t looking simply for the most academically accomplished applicants in the world. Other things are far more important.
I don’t do chances, particularly to schools with single digit acceptance rates. It’s a parlor game IMO. My post was simply to correct erroneous info.
You are certainly qualified. But so are 85% or more of those who apply. Nobody here knows what the AO wants in any given cycle. It’s certainly worth applying, but ensure you have other options as well. Good luck.
Your A level grades will be the most important. But note that the US admissions system is not setup to interpret “predicted” scores. So they’ll focus more heavily on your GCSE. And the “C” will stand out.
Since the A level results aren’t released until August, this puts more emphasis on your SAT score and GCSE. Admissions readers at the big colleges will understand your situation and take it into account.
Overall I think you’re in the ballpark, but a lot of other factors come into play: financial aid, URM status, etc. Far from a slam dunk.
We typically assume single digit acceptance rates for international students.
If you need financial aid, assume less than a 1% chance.
You have selected very tough admission schools. That’s the mistake that many international students typically make when applying to US colleges and universities when they only target top 20 schools.
Why are these schools so competitive?
Limited seats, excellent student candidates with similar stats/grades/ activities and letters of recommendation.
The US has about 45K high schools (brick and mortar); each school has a valedictorian and salutatorian. Picture each of those students applying to the top 10-20 schools.
There are only so many seats and a handful of students get accepted to the top 5, from various regions of the US.
The public universities are funded by their state taxes such that seats tend to go to the children of the taxpayers.
Lots of federal and state funds go to universities for academics and research.
The recipients of financial aid-grants/fellowships are designated for US citizens and green card holders as required by federal funding.
Then, add all of the international students who only apply to the top 20 schools.
and then add all of those who need financial aid to attend a US university. The budgets are finite and the costs of attending are crazy ridiculous, $$60-$80K per year for many of the top 100 schools.
The universities try very hard to create diverse campuses with students from everywhere, who “fit” their core values, but there are only so many spots. A number of US students aren’t able to attend a university for a myriad of reasons like costs, logistics, competition, etc. There are never any guarantees for admission for any students, domestic or international.
All you can do is apply widely to a variety of places that are affordable and where you would have a good chance of admission. Right now, you could look at the Midwest and South US universities, or schools in the UK.
(but this is a lot more taken than the usual amount IMO).