Chance me for Columbia ED, Vanderbilt, UChicago, HYPS

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m an international student from a really underrepresented middle eastern country (there is no one from my country at most of the ivy leagues ). Also I know that a profile isn’t fully complete without the essays, but I would really appreciate if you could provide me with an idea of where I stand based on these stats alone .

Stats:
SAT: 1550
ACT: 34
SAT II : 780 Math II 720 Spanish (idk what happened there)
IB predicted: 45/45

Honours:

  • Finalist for prestigious linguistic essay competition held by Cambridge University
  • Finalist for John Locke Institute Essay Competition by Oxford University
  • Regional/International debate champion x2
  • Champion at international debate tournament held at Yale
  • School department awards in various subjects
  • Regional and national soccer champions x3

ECs:

  • Portuguese + Spanish translator for TED and Khan Academy: I translate math videos and TEDtalks from Portuguese/Spanish to English and vice versa.
  • Founder and leader (along with UNICEF) of a non-profit nation-wide organisation in which expat high school students give back to the country by supplying state school students with educational supplies and assist with their education and learning English; recognised by my country's government and ministry of education.
  • President/Founder of my schools first 'Spanish Club' and first ever language related organization
  • Founder/President of my school's National Honour Society (first one ever established in our school and country!)
  • Sole author of published research in Hispanic and Luso linguistics, published in the International Journal of Linguistics and recognised by the biggest university in our country for 'outstanding achievement in conducting research' (also youngest published author in that particular journal)
  • President for my school's 'Students Against Discrimination' club: we focus on helping underprivileged workers in our country battle everyday issues
  • Research assistant in the Modern Languages Department at the biggest university in our country and assisted with the conducting of research in Arabic-English linguistic relationships.
  • Captain of Forensics Speech and Debate team; competes in national and regional tournaments and teach young debaters the proper forms of debate and language
  • Captain of JV/Varsity Soccer- been in the the team for about 5 years and have captained for 3; led my team to consecutive national championships and one international interscholastic championship.
  • TEDxYouth@(name of my school) head organiser and ex-speaker.
  • Spent a month in Costa Rica taking Spanish classes at a local university and living with a Spanish-speaking family and only communicating in Spanish, while also helping in a local school and teaching children English.

(ALSO I AM NOT GOING FOR FINANCIAL AID)

Please provide me with my chances for especially Columbia ED

2

So far, so good, but these are very tough schools to get into. Be sure to keep some safety schools in mind.

3

Sharing @ucbalumnus’s very helpful post:

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2095312-generic-chance-answer-for-super-selective-colleges.html

fwiw “under-represented country” is not a hook.

Also, listing that you spent a month in Costa Rica taking Spanish classes is perfectly reasonable (many students do similar things), but emphasizing that you were “communicating only in Spanish” makes me wonder why that’s a big deal for somebody whose language skills are so proficient that you are a Spanish (& Portuguese) language translator for TED & Khan level work.

4

@collegemom3717 oh i didnt think of it as a hook in fact i thought of it more as a disadvantage bc adcoms might not be familiar with my country or the standards associated with my country.

Regarding the month spent in Costa Rica, this was in grade nine when I first started teaching myself Portuguese and Spanish. I am now almost a senior and I’m confident about my language proficiency in either of the two languages to the point where I want to put it to use in translating videos such as ones in Khan Academy and TED (I’ve been translating for about a year now and have been learning Portuguese + Spanish for about five).

Thank you for your feedback! I really appreciate it!

5

@coolguy40 of course! these are just all my ultra reaches! My safeties are schools like purdue, CU boulder, etc.

6

Can you afford up to $55,000+ per year? That’s how much Boulder would cost.

7

@katliamom yeah im automatically given a scholarship from my government if im studying overseas which will cover my whole tuition and give me some allowance

8

Wonderful! Then there are many universities around the US that will welcome you with open arms :slight_smile: