Chance Italian Student

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey, I am an Italian student. I have just applied as an international freshman to a few colleges and I’d like to know what you think about my chances. I chose Physics as major.
I won’t need financial aid.

Average grade in Italy: 7.8/10
I attend a liceo scientifico, which is kind of an AP high school with extra emphasis on math and sciences. Grading system is different, 5 is fail, average grade for a good student is 6/10. 8+/10 is equivalent to U.S.grade A+ (100). Same courses for all five years of high school: math, physics, science, Italian lit, English lit, Latin, philosophy, history, art history. School doesn’t rank.

I spent my Junior year in Austin (TX) as an exchange student. I got straight As in every class. I took two honor classes: physics and precalc.

UW GPA during exchange year: 4.0

Sat I: 1840 (740 Math, 550 critical reading, 550 writing)
Its crap, I know.

Sat II: 800 Math II, 770 Physics

TOEFL: 110/120

Educational prep. programs:

  • Student exchange program: I lived for one year in Austin. I was host by a volunteer American family.
  • Cultural exchange program: summer school of English in Dublin for two weeks x 2 years.

Volunteer and community service:

  • Volunteered at a soup kitchen for homeless (60+ hours)
  • Volunteered at an autism center ( 65+ hours)
  • Refereed kids basketball games ( 30 hours)
  • Volunteered for a Church’s pumpkin patch (12 hours)

Extracurricular activities:

  • Guitar courses and played in a metal band (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
  • Swimming training sessions (9th, 10th, 12th)
  • Played competitive basketball for my city’s team (9th, 10th)
  • Soccer team (11th)
  • Chinese course (9th)

Awards and honors:

  • NHS (only foreign student in my American high schools NHS chapter)
  • Selected exchange student
  • Scholarships awarded by 3M corporation
  • Merit letters from my high school
  • Municipal award for academic excellence

Additional skills and talents:

  • Languages: Italian (first language), English (second language), French (studied for three years during middle school), Latin (studied for four years in high school), Chinese (just basics, I took a 1 year course for beginners).

Good essays (one about my past struggles and the other one about my love for philosophy and physics and how they relate)
Good recommendations. (one is written by my English teacher in Italy, one by my American host dad and one by the director of the most prestigious university in Milan, who knows me well)

The schools I have applied to are: CU Boulder, UCSB, UT Austin, UCLA, UCB.

Thank you.

2

up

3

UCLA/UCB: Reach
UCSB: High Match

4

CU Boulder: low match
UCSB: High Match
UT Austin: low reach
UCLA: high reach
UCB: high reach

5

You should speak with the international admissions offices. Try to understand how much they’re familiar with Italian liceo. I think you need a letter from the preside of your school which describes the curriculum of the Italian liceo. I assure you there is no comparison (none!) between the breadth and depth of 5 years of Italian Scientific Liceo and even the finest US prep school. This needs to be explained if they aren’t familiar with the curriculum. If money isn’t an issue you could apply to small, private colleges that are often more accustomed to international students at the bachelor’s level compared to the large state universities who get many international students at the masters and PhD level. The closest equivalent to the Italian Maturità are the UK A levels. International baccalaureate (IB) is inferior by one year. Good luck and send the liceo’s program to them.

6

You’re pretty much a shoo-in at all but UCB and UCLA, but even there you stand good chances. Do let us know.
:slight_smile:
(You may have wanted to apply to a few strong LACs like HarveyMudd or Pomona)