Chance an international student from Europe

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics

  • Gender: Male
  • Race/Ethnicity: White
  • Residence: Switzerland
  • Income Bracket: need a lot of aid
  • Type of School: Swiss public high school
  • Hooks: skipped a year and a half of hs? recruited athlete for some d3s? went on a year abroad in the US

Intended Major(s): Differs a lot from school to school, but mostly business, philosophy, international relations

Academics

  • GPA (UW/W): freshman: 5.2/ 6 with absolute hardest coursework
  • As a sophomore, i went on a year abroad in the US and got no credit for the grades I got because my swiss high school let me skip my sophomore year. I was so dumba nd asked my counselor to send my grades anyway. I was a senior in the US and got a lot of personal problems during this year including covid. (GPA 3.571W)
  • Junior: back in switzerland: 5,5/ 6 (with an easier math level course because i had skipped the sophomore year curriculum)
  • Senior: 5,7 / 6 (let’s gooo!)

• Honors classes: not sure if it counts, but i took several senior year courses when i was in the US although i shouldn have been a sophomore + 2 dual enrollment

• APs: 0. not offered in Swiss high school and did not do them in the US because i did not speak english well enough

Testing:

• SAT: 1520 (720W/800M) I got a perfect writing and math but 320 in reading.

• TOEFL: 110

• Just obtained official certificate of B2 in italian (equivalent 80 score on toefl)

Extracurriculars/Activities

List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

  1. Tennis: Competed at regional and national level. Top 76 player in Switzerland for my age. Winner/finalist of tournaments in Switzerland, France, and USA.
  2. Created a tutoring non-profit for low-income students. Led a team of 9 tutors and coached students. Published a prep book.
  3. Ballboy: Officially trained ball boy for tennis tournaments.
  4. Internship and part-time job: I manage the marketing, customer relationship, and administration of this Swiss start-up.
  5. NGO internship: Organized events and worked with donors.
  6. Micro Content-Creator: Created various social media pages that revolved around cultural exchange.
  7. Helped represent my exchange program across Europe during meetings with exchange students, virtual events, and seminars. I strove to inspire peers to go on exchange.
  8. Theatre: Followed theatre classes and played lead role in different plays
  9. Gardener and Dog Sitter: Cared for 20+ properties during summer break.
  10. Tutor: Provided in-home and online academic tutoring for high school students in various topics, ranging for Mathematics to English to French to the SAT®.
  11. Piano: Followed private lessons for many years. My sanctuary!

Essays/LORs/Other:

Math: 10/10 because my teacher absolutely loved me and can talk about how i self taught ap calc ab and bc because I did not feel fulfilled in my easier math class.

Counselor: 10/10 explains my journey through high school and swiss grading scale

Philosophy: 7/10 I had a good relationship but i do not know how the letter might be

Host family: 10/10 Amazing letter in which they talk about how I impacted the life of my host family and how I always stay focused on my pursuits. They talked about how I never say no and my ability to adapt to them shows that college life is gonna be easy for me.

Tennis Coach 10/10 because it shows values and character

  1. Summit nominee — selected as one of the two out of 2000 ambassadors worldwide to represent my exchange program
  2. inspire Competition, 2nd place: Achieved 2nd place at a competition, whose mission is to inspire future exchange students to choose my exchange program.
  3. Awarded prestigious full-ride scholarship to study in the US for a full year.
  4. Summa Cum Laude/ Certificate of Excellence: awarded to the top students in each graduating class at my high school. I obtained it throughout high school.
  5. NHS / Mensa

Essays

I do not want to rate. I talked about how having a sick family member influenced me but how I always try to view the positive side of things. Seems cliché but it was inherently personal as I talked about my own vision of the American Dream.

Video portfolio

Talked about the best moments of my exchange year through a memory board

Schools I’ve applied to

Harvard

Yale

Princeton

Wharton

Columbia

Cornell

Dartmouth

Brown

Stanford

MIT

Caltech

WashU St louis

Urochester

Georgetown

Babson

UChicago

Emory

Washington and Lee

Occidental College

Connecticut College

Hamilton

Williams

Tufts

Rice

Duke

Vassar

Oberlin

NYU
Notre-Dame

Tulane

Let me know your thoughts, and if you feel a great match between any school and me. I applied to many schools because I 100% hope to go to the US, but I already got 2 full scholarships (1 US and 1 Europe)

I was most scared about US not knowing our grading system. I got so upset when some unis told me my 5.5 GPA was not enough last year. (coach from wash and lee sent a pre read which did not came back positive), and high school in Switzerland (public) is extremely hard and time-consuming with other 12 subjects that we study each semester.

2

Where did you get your scholarships? Were you being actively recruited by any schools on your list? That often requires an ED application.

You are an accomplished applicant but most of the schools on your list are reaches for most applicants. Most are also need aware for international students, meaning they use the fact that you need aid to help determine whether or not to accept you. Additionally, many top schools in the US are overenrolled for the class of 2025, which means fewer spots for the class of 2026 because of the need to manage resources.

If you are happy to attend one of the schools where you already have a full scholarship, that’s great! You already won! You may get a few more acceptances but you also may not.

3

You have good accomplishments, but that’s definitely a very tough list of schools. As @helpingmom40 mentioned above most are need-aware, and they have limited aid for international students, which is going to make it a lot harder.

If none of these work out (I hope they do, but you need to consider the worst case scenario as well) - do you have a school in Switzerland or elsewhere in Europe that is affordable and where you have assured acceptance?

Also, a quick note about your “hooks”. Being a recruited athlete is certainly a big hook, but a year abroad in the US - resulting in a 1.5 gap in your high school years isn’t.

Good luck.

4

You have applied to some great schools for two of your stated academic interests:

Note that most of these schools do not offer undergraduate business majors, however.

5

Being a recruited athlete is a big hook but it’s not clear if you are one or not. You mentioned getting a pre-read from one college that didn’t work out but not if you’ve had any positive results. Being a potential recruited athlete at one college doesn’t give you any advantage at another that didn’t recruit you.

This list is very reachy, especially for an international student that needs big financial aid. What colleges have you already been accepted to?

6

Hey there. Thanks for the reply. I consider my year abroad as a hook because my high school let me skip my 2nd year of high school. Normally, students have to repeat the year, but because my grades were high, I did not have to be a sophomore. And for the extra half year, as a junnior, my high school allowed me last year to stop early again because of my grades, so I had the chance to focus only on ECs!

I have guaranteed admission and full scholarship to T10 in Switzerland and 2 full scholarships as a back up, so I do not think I need other plans for now :))

7

Yes, that it is right. I do not know what I want to study but applied to the Huntsman program, NYU, and other business undergrad schools

8

I got a full ride to one school in the US and the top 7 business program in the world for undergrad.

I think the pre read came back negative because Wash and Lee have very few international. Most kids go to preppy IB high schools and that uni definitely had no exposure to the Swiss system. Absolutely nobody in Switzerland gets a 4.0 GPA because we have no grade inflation—actually we have deflation—so even though I was probably at the top of my class, they did say that my grades were too low.

9

I got one full ride in one of the top 10 business programs in the world and another one at a lower ranked uni in the US (applied rolling admissions).

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10

It’s not what you consider a hook, it’s what the SCHOOL wants. Typically, it means you bring something that fulfills a need that the institution has: you are a recruited athlete, you are a legacy, your family donated enough money that the new library is named after you. It can also be expanded to cover that you have won world or national awards of some sort or your parents are famous/politicians/rich.

4 Likes
11

I am wondering whether the pre-read was done by an athletic coach. I am not familiar with pre-reads. A coach might not understand how grading is done in Switzerland. The regular admissions staff at top universities in the US most likely do have someone on staff who understands how grading is done in Swiss high schools. Thus how you compare to other students in you high school and in the same system is what is likely to matter.

That being said, I do think that you have quite a few reach schools, and that your situation is relatively unique. That makes it very difficult to predict your chances. I think that you just need to apply and see what happens. Best of wishes with this.

12

thanks a lot, that is what everybody has told me. I guess I am just in this period of excitment and anxiousness, so I will let you know how it goes. Best of luck to your two girls.

13

I see…

14

Full ride meaning total cost to attend…tuition, fees, room, board, transportation, books, discretionary spending money?

Or what?

15

Why does this matter so much to you?

16

It should matter to you! If your awards are tuition only, you are still going to have a huge bill.

5 Likes
17

If you got a full ride to a top 10 b school - or to a lower school in the US and you need aid, then why are we having the discussion?

And why would you be snark to @thumper1 who asked a perfectly reasonable question.

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18

Students typically do 'Chance me" threads after applications as a way of reassuring themselves that it’s going to be all right- but just like scratching a rash, it just makes the anxiety worse.

The bad news: I predict that you will be rejected by at least 80% of the schools on your list, and it is not implausible that you could be shut out entirely (either via rejection or inadequate financial aid).

The good news: it doesn’t matter! b/c you have 3 good offers in place already, and you can only attend one!

The advice: CC will only exacerbate your anxiety- go do more active things to keep you busy until April- then come back and tell us how it went. We will be happy to celebrate with you!

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19

I have other reasons to want to go to the US. U was not being snark, just answering honestly a question I found irrelevant

20

Why do you predict that? and yes and no. It is a way to reassure myself but also one to see how otehr people would think I match with some schools.