Chance an Overseas American? ^^

<p>Grade Level: Junior</p>

<p>State: CA originally; Shanghai, P. R. China now.</p>

<p>UW GPA: 93.1/100.0
School does not rank, nor does it weight GPA</p>

<p>IB Courses:
HL Biology, HL Chemistry, HL English Literature, HL Psychology, SL Mathematics, SL Mandarin B, TOK, EE in Biology</p>

<p>IB predicted scores would be largely in the range of 6-7, mostly 7 except for Literature (which is notoriously hard to get 7 in). TOK and EE should be excellent, so in the range of 40+, probably.</p>

<p>School info:
Small international school; quite new (2 graduating classes so far), so not particularly successful at selective college acceptances in the US (though we have got a Rice matriculant, and a few people at SHJT, Manchester, Tokyo, UCLA, etc.). No honors courses prior to grade 11 (excluding accelerated math), as my school doesn't offer those. No APs either. All juniors and seniors take IB courses, and most sit the exams as diploma candidates (highest score so far is 41/45).</p>

<p>SAT: 2270 superscore, 2250 single sitting
800 CR, 770 M, 700 / 680 W</p>

<p>Will probably retake in June or October to try to get 2300+.</p>

<p>PSAT: 217
75 CR, 72 M, 70 W</p>

<p>ECs:
Conducted a research project into traditional Chinese medicine in collaboration with the Fudan University Dept. of Life Sciences (junior)
2 week intern at biological research company (junior)
Physician Shadowing (junior and senior year)
Volunteer at hospitals and medical centers (2-4 hr/week, junior)
Organized blood drive (junior)
Physician shadowing (4-6 hr/week, junior)
Tutoring - math, science, Mandarin; paid and unpaid volunteer (4-6 hr/week, junior)
Model United Nations - school club, participated in several conferences, student leader of school's delegation junior and senior year (2-4 hr/week, soph, junior)
Babysitting website - set up website to consolidate babysitting contact info at our school (junior)
National Honor Society - founding officer (junior)
Intramural Badminton (1-2 hr/week)</p>

<p>Assume I'll continue activities into senior year.</p>

<p>Honors/Awards:
Honor roll (soph, junior)
Top science student (soph)</p>

<p>Applying to selective research fellowships for this summer (CoH, SIMR, HSHSP, BU, Clark); will hopefully be able to conduct independent research this summer.</p>

<p>Misc. info:
International student (albeit w/ a US passport).
Family moved to China during frosh year, couldn't get into a school mid-year, so I had to take that year off. Skipped into sophomore year, so I'm graduating on time.
Had personal/emotional issues in addition to the cultural shift so grades are somewhat erratic (2 B's, 1 C are excusable under this).
Teacher recs and personal statement should be excellent.</p>

<p>Intended Major:
Biology (general, molecular, or evolutionary), pre-medicine, potentially minor/double major in neuroscience or linguistics</p>

<p>Colleges/Universities I'm Planning on Applying to:
Harvard University (possible REA)
Dartmouth College (possible ED)
Princeton University
Pomona College
Williams College
Swarthmore College
UC San Diego
University of Rochester (REMS as well)
University of Michigan</p>

<p>Chances anyone? Any recommendations as to weaknesses in my application or other universities/LACs to look into? I'm not a huge fan of big schools, so I'm primarily interested in small/medium sized universities and LACs (excluding publics and safeties).</p>

<p>First things first:
The colleges on your list are very different from each other. LACs, such as Pomona, Williams, and Swarthmore, have very different atmospheres from the big universities. If you are not a huge fan of big schools, as you said, then I would recommend you apply to LACs or smaller universities like Princeton. The only way to know for sure which “type” of school is best for you is to visit; I’m not sure how accessible that option is for you as an international, but the feel of a LAC and the feel of a university is quite different.</p>

<p>Second:
Based on your list and your stats, I’d also recommend the following schools:
UC Berkeley
UCLA
Middlebury College
Bowdoin College
Cornell University
Amherst College</p>

<p>I think you have a good resume compared to some other international students I’ve seen on CC–but international admissions predictions are always difficult because there are so many factors in play: the size of the intl. student body already at the school, whether you are looking for financial aid, and how many other internationals apply–just to name a few. With that said, I think you have a good shot at the schools that I listed, including UCSD and Williams. I don’t know very much about Rochester or Michigan so I can’t advise you there, but I was accepted to Williams and UCSD.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>