Chance me? (Canadian student)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello! I’m a Canadian Grade 11 (junior??) student from a suburb of Vancouver and was hoping that you guys could chance me for a few schools that I was planning on applying to. I’m Asian (Korean) from a lower-middle class family & I’m an only child. I haven’t decided whether I want to stay in Canada or not so I wanted this to kind of let me know if I even have a chance at studying at the States. I’m interested in neuroscience and want to major in the sciences or applied math (but I’m not 100% sure yet :/)

Schools I want to apply for are Amherst (ED), UPenn, Williams, Pomona, Swarthmore, Colgate, (reach schools af from here on so idk if I should even bother applying) Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell. If you have any recommendations for unis for me that would be super cool! (I can’t apply UCs because I’m poor)

School Average: 96.6% (Grade 12 academics including Pre-Calculus 12, Calculus 12, Chemistry 12, Physics 12, AP Psychology 12, etc.) / 95.9% including all courses on transcript from Grade 10-12

Our school doesn’t really do GPA but I’ve never received lower than 90% on a course in Grade 10-12.

SAT: 1550 (Crit: 760, Math: 790, Essay 7/7/7)

SAT II: I’m taking Math IIC & Chemistry this June!

AP: My school only offered Calc & Psych last year. Psych (5), Human Geography (4), Chemistry (?), Calc BC (?), Physics 1 (?). Our school curriculum changed so we have more AP courses next year so I’ll be taking AP Euro History & AP Biology, and I’m going to take concurrent studies at a college near my high school for Psych courses.

ECs:

  • Winter Sport (I don’t want to expose myself b/c not a lot of people do my sport): 3 time provincial champion / 2 time BC Winter Games 3rd overall / western Canadian champion 2016 & 2017 (for age class)
  • Violin: RCM 10 & brief orchestra member in Grade 8/9
  • DELF B1 (for French language)
  • Student Council President 2017-18 (member for 2 years)
  • Re-founder of our school’s Key Club (VP last term, Prez this term)
  • Co-leader of small four-school homelessness relief club / non-profit organization (3 years)
  • AIME qualifier 2015 (oops), consistently ranked Group II-V on CEMC math contests
  • Me to We Club Marketing co-chair 15-17
  • Science club, Physics Olympics (didn’t place), Math Contest Club
  • Producing (?): idk if this counts but I cover songs in different genres and was planning to/thinking of submitting an album of self-produced music as an art portfolio? I played lead guitar for a band in grade 9 and I’ve written a few songs.
  • Camps: UW math camp (SIMUW), SHAD (project won best prototype for 2016)

Volunteering: Accompanist for local church since 2013, assistant coach for my sport since 2015
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Thanks for all of your help!

2

Congratulations on putting together a truly impressive resume – your grades and test scores will open lots of doors for you. And your list of colleges is very solid, but I’d just point out that all of those are reach schools for basically anyone. I like the idea of going ED at Amherst. But, for Math, WIlliams may be even better.

Good luck to you in the coming 12 months.

3

Thank you so much! I’m still not sure what I want to major in but I picked Amherst for my ED because they have Neuroscience as a major.

4

Aren’t Canadian schools still cheaper for you? McGill has a neuroscience major

5

Amherst neuroscience is fantastic, and their financial aid is the best in the nation. Good luck.

6

As an international student you are not likely to get much financial aid at most universities in the US. Figure on paying about $70,000 or slightly more per year in US dollars (C$400,000 should cover four years at current exchange rates). If you want to work in neuroscience then you will probably need a graduate degree, which will cost more. You say that you are from a “lower middle class family”. C$400,000 is a LOT for any middle class family. You don’t want to take on any significant debt for undergraduate education.

Probably more importantly, after graduating in the US it is likely to be very difficult or impossible to get a visa to work in the US (unless you marry an American). Also, Canadian companies will recruit almost exclusively from Canadian universities. This was a HUGE problem for me many years ago graduating as a Canadian citizen with degrees from MIT and Stanford. I had made the foolish mistake of assuming that going to the #1 ranked university in the world and doing well in a pragmatic field would be enough to get me a job interview in Canada. This was a big mistake.

Simon Fraser and U.Victoria are very good universities. UBC is superb. If you want to travel a bit for undergrad then McGill is fabulous. Calgary is also very good. All are very affordable for a Canadian, and will give you much better chances to land a good job after graduation.