<p>Hi! I am an international looking to apply to the following universities for UG studies -
The Ivies(please give chances for all the uni's),MIT,Stanford,UCB,UCLA,Caltech,GA Tech,Duke</p>
<p>I do not have any safeties as I'd rather study in my country than go to any other college</p>
<p>Here are my stats-</p>
<p>SAT 1 - 2230 ( 800M , 700W , 730CR ) (Taking it once again to push for 2300+ )
SAT 2 - Math and Physics - 800</p>
<p>9th - 85% ; 10th - 92.8% ; 11th - 93.5% and 12th mid - 92.2%
Rank - Top 3-4% (class of 350)</p>
<p>ECs -
Qualified for NOI ( The stage prior to team selection for IOI )
Research projects - Published in a international journals and 2 national journals
Won at at Intel ISEF (2nd place category + other small awards that do not matter much)
Have 2 patents to my name
Taught myself C++/python/javascript/HTML/CSS and used it in my projects.
Played football for my school for 8 years also and captained the side ( upto district lvl) and also played for a club
Played basketball for my school (upto district lvl)
Taught juniors at my school to code.( 20 children )
Also worked at an NGO for 5 months</p>
<p>I just participated in a few activities as I only have passion for those and I did not try to do anything just for the sake of getting something on my app.</p>
<p>I can write fairly well and I don't think that essays will be a hindrance.</p>
<p>As for financial aid, I do not require any.</p>
<p>I do know that admission to some of these colleges is nothing short of a crapshoot but still I would like to know my chances.</p>
<p>Woah, great work!
To be honest, you’re bound to be accepted to at least a couple if not most of the Ivy Leagues. They love international students- it’s something they take pride in and, seeing as you’re very accomplished and well-rounded, they’ll be lucky to have you. Your SAT score is wonderful as is, too.
You’ll be fine. Good luck! :)</p>
<p>That guy does not know what he is talking about. Getting into one ivy is hard even if you have perfect stats. Being an international does not help your case either. If you get into the UCs, they will give you almost no money so can you afford them? You may get into an ivy or two but do not get your hopes up.</p>
<p>As an international student, your stats need to be higher and you also need to know that you will be full pay at some of these schools. So when you factor in transportation overseas, you’re probably going to be paying around $65,000 a year. Also, if you cannot be a full pay student, and say you need aid, that will hurt your chance at admissions as well because not all of these schools are need blind for international students. Which brings it back to the beginning. If you don’t have aid, you will be paying around $65,000</p>
<p>Your scores are a bit low but your EC’s more than make up for it. Most of these (MIT/Caltech/etc) are a lottery at times but you have as good a chance as any to get in. A question out of curiosity, where are you from?</p>
<p>I think you should be accepted at all the Ivies but the top TOP ones, they’re always a maybe. Don’t really have much to say to help as your resume is already fine, but it’s well known that Ivies are a crapshoot.</p>
<p>@ooohcollege I do not require any FA…I have already mentioned that.</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats I do know the cost of studies over there and after researching all that my parents and I have come to the conclusion that we will not be requiring any FA</p>
<p>@HvePassion I’m a he not a she!</p>
<p>@thesoxpride10 I am trying to get my SAT scores up but thats all that I can improve right now. As for nationality, I would not tell anything other than the fact that I am an asian for the sake of keeping anonymity</p>
<p>@RacquetSmasher76 I already have a few safties in my country</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who replied. You all were of great help</p>
<p>You have great ECs, so I think you should focus on your standardized test scores. You should take the ACT if you can, because I know that many students do better on ACT than SAT, but then again, it depends on the student. Ivies are going to be reaches because you have to keep in mind that even people with impeccable stats do not get in. I’m assuming your intended major is computer science or engineering?</p>
<p>@curlypanda I have full on 2 SAT sub tests and I am giving the SAT 1 one more time to push my score upto 2300…should I give another SAT sub test? People tell me that once you get over a 2150 on SAT you should not give it again. Are they right?
Yes my intended major is CS along with math</p>
<p>@humblefool Most top colleges require 2 subject tests, and since you got 800 on both, I think you should be fine. 2150 is a decent score, but as you are an international student, you may need a higher score in order to be a competitive applicant. Are you considering CMU? I heard it has an excellent computer science program, but it is hard to get into. Some other schools with good CS programs that I think are matches for you are UIUC and UT Austin, however, I do not know what is the acceptance rate for international students. Good Luck! :)</p>
<p>@curlypanda thanks for the info! And yes I am considering CMU, I just forgot to put it in the list.
As for low SAT 1 score, I am giving it once more to push it up to 2300</p>
<p>A lot depends on where you’re from, really. I think you’re very competitive for the UCs and Georgia Tech since you have a strong profile and are a full-pay international–their favorite type of student–but the private universities on your list all have different ways of selecting international students. Still, most of them compare international applicants from the same country or region to each other. The reason is that applicants with strong math & science credentials and high overall SAT scores are far more abundant in certain regions of the world than in others, yet universities like Harvard, Stanford et al. want to be able to brag that they’re educating future leaders from all over the world (and in different professional fields), not just America and, say, South Korea. If you’re from Korea, China, India or Nepal, I think you need to increase your SAT score to stand <em>any</em> chance of admission to those universities, and even then shouldn’t get your hopes up. If you’re from, say, Western Europe or Latin America, your scores are fine and you should focus on putting together a compelling and coherent set of essays, EC blurbs and additional notes (which you should do anyway). Your profile seems generally strong in the context of Eastern Europe, where even the most impressive science whizzes applying to American universities struggle to get CR and W scores over 700, but it would be more viable if you were applying to LACs, since big-name universities prefer to see a longer list of verifiable achievements from math/science applicants. If you’re from the Middle East, I think you look very strong.</p>
<p>These are my observations based on what I’ve seen at my international school and American college, by the way, but I readily admit I may be wrong or oversimplifying things.</p>
<p>With the caveat that your country of origin is a very important unknown variable, I think you should consider applying to UChicago, which loves moderately competent full-pay internationals. If by ‘the Ivy League’ you mean you’re applying to all eight schools in the Ivy League, I think your profile looks most suited for Cornell, and least viable at Harvard and Yale. Princeton likes your type of student, though I’m not sure you’re impressive enough as a representative of it to make the cut, and in my experience Columbia and Dartmouth tend to accept a distinct type of applicant who’s different from you. Brown and UPenn don’t seem like good personal fits, but they also like full-pay internationals, so I’d call them maybes. (As in, maybe they’ll take a second look at your application, not maybe they’ll accept you.)</p>
<p>I think your chances are actually worst at MIT and Caltech, and I don’t know anything about Duke’s international admissions. You should easily get into Georgia Tech.</p>
<p>@Ghostt First of all, thank you for giving an elaborate answer. Second, I do not understand what EC blurbs and additional notes are…could you explain that?
What kind of people does harvard like? I am super dedicated to a sport, very good achievements in my field of interest plus I can pay full fees( But I dont think it matters, right?)
I thought I had a good chance at MIT and Caltech as they are STEM schools can you tell me why do you think that my chances are the worst at them?
Also what about Stanford?
Sorry for not telling my country of origin but I wish not to disclose that for the sake of anonymity…I’m Asian(thats all I can say on this thread)</p>
<p>PS- I am giving the SAT once more
Also I wish to apply to Harvard and the UCs early</p>
<p>Well, as I said, “big-name universities prefer to see a longer list of verifiable achievements from math/science applicants,” which goes double for MIT and Caltech. Basically what I’m saying is that MIT and Caltech accept only the best of the best (of the best) where international students are concerned, and your math and science credentials, while solid, do not strike me as exceptional in the context of those universities’ applicant pools. Especially not if you’re from one of the countries I listed above (and I guess I should add Singapore to that category).</p>
<p>I have known several IMO contestants and one medallist who did not get into MIT or Caltech, but got into Princeton and Stanford. Being very good at math and science is not enough. You need to be the best, and have something extra on top. (Caltech in particular accepts a very very small number of internationals, and so does MIT compared to schools like Stanford and Harvard.)</p>
<p>I can’t really explain what Harvard looks for in applicants, sorry. I just know you don’t sound like any of the people I know who’ve been accepted there, but you do sound like a lot of people I’ve seen get rejected. I know this is harsh, but it’s my impression.</p>
<p>What I meant by EC blurbs and additional notes are all the places in your application, other than the essay, where you’re invited to make a case for your admission in writing. A lot of people don’t realize everything on your application, from the short descriptions of your extracurricular activities to the file name of your supplement, contribute to the impression you make, and need to fit into or complement the larger narrative presented in your essay(s). Many ‘bad’ applications are simply disjointed applications that don’t make sense when viewed as a single text, or reveal a real personality.</p>
<p>I think your chances at Stanford are small, but you might as well apply.</p>
<p>@Ghostt thanks for your honest reply. While I’m not disagreeing with your opinion stated above, I would like to point out that it isn’t always that case…for example, one person from my college wasn’t an olympiad medallist nor was he an Intel ISEF finalist( I am) and his greatest achievement was a research that he managed to get published in a national level journal but he got into all the ivies except harvard and also other colleges such as stanford,MIT and CMU…sometimes all you require is a bit of luck.</p>