Chance an international student?

Student Lounge International Students
1

Hi, CC
I’m a student at a school in the UK, where I am in L6 (junior in American terms). I am looking at Uni applications, and am considering the US. I was wondering if any of you (brutally honestly) could chance me in terms of my chosen colleges and also suggest things I could do to augment my application?

Colleges: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, Brown, UChicago (I’m not arrogant its just that if I didn’t get into one of these I would feel bad about putting my parents under the financial pressure)

Test scores - I haven’t done the SAT or anything yet. For what its worth I got the top in my yeargroup on a standardised test we did a few years ago.

Subjects I did for IGCSE (some are graded A-U, some are graded 9-1, with A and 9 being the best graded respectively)
English Lit: 9
English Lang: 9
Math: 9
French: A*
Russian: A* (full marks)
German: A*
Chem: A*
Bio: A*
Physics: A*
Latin: A*
Greek: A*

Subjects I’m taking for A-Level
History
French
Math
Russian

Awards: prizes in Biology, Chemistry, English, Russian, Academic Scholarship, Senior Academic Exhibition, Biology Challenge Gold award,

Extracurriculars: Rugby (have played since I was 10), Debating (house team, have won school competition before, done since I was 10), Volunteering at Pushkin House (main Russian cultural centre in the UK), Volunteering (30+hours) at charity shop as part of Gold Dofe award, Editor in chief of house satire magazine, writer for school magazine (hopefully editor next year)

Research: EPQ Level 2 (A*) on the influence of ancient greece on modern computing technology, currently doing an EPQ Level 2 on the causes of increase in strongman leadership throughout the world.Have also won an award in school competition for paper on the connections between The Collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2007 and the belgian congo

Supercurricular: Linguistics MOOC with the university of Leiden,internship at Russian art gallery (doing translation work, website maintenance), mentoring lower years in French, writer for the history journal

Might be worth mentioning that I am applying to Oxford in the UK for PPE (politics, philosophy and economics)

So…what are my chances?

Cheers,
Jacob

2

This is really impressive.

You should also apply to Amherst, Williams, Pomona; UChicago?

At all of them, your chances are very low - internationals, no matter how talented, have 1-3% odds, especially if they need financial aid. Amherst, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT are the only ones that don’t consider your financial need in their decision (and they may end up cheaper than a UK university if your parents’ income is below 75k).

Try to find a Fiske guide to learn a bit more about US universities.

3

Great chance to any.

4

You have perfect grades. Is the US a back up to Oxford? Perhaps save the US for post grad and save your parents the financials. Cal Berkeley has the best rugby and a top research university.

5

Uc’s don’t give any financial aid to internationals.

6

^ Yes suggesting post grad at Berkeley if wanting a serious standard of rugby with top drawer academics.

7

I wouldn’t say its a backup; oxford is probably equally competitive. On a side note, anything that you thought was lacking in terms of my application? Cheers

8

Nothing is lacking. However you’ll be competing with students from around the world with applications as good as yours. You don’t know whether Admissions will be looking for someone like you or not, what the mix will be. They’ll admit a handful of Brits, tops, and perhaps 2 of them will come from a regular state school. NO one can predict one of them will be you.

9

The challenge you’ll have if you want to continue rugby at a level commensurate with your experience is that most elite academic colleges aren’t very competitive. Dartmouth and Cal Berkeley are extremely competitive. Other ivies are improving and some have good support. Cal Poly is very good. My alma mater, Colgate, would also be a good option depending on what you’re interested in studying and what type of school. There are some others but a major question is how competitive you want to be with your rugby.