<p>I recently applied to Harvard SCEA and was deferred, so I am quite worried about my chances of getting into the other schools that I have applied to. Any help will be appreciated! Objective:
[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2250 (CR 700 M 800 WR 750)
[</em>] SAT II: MathII 800 Chem 770
[<em>] Unweighted GPA: 3.95
[</em>] Weighted GPA: N/A
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Around 10/500 at the beginning of this semester but then school canceled ranking system
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc BC (5) Physics C (5) Psychology (5) Chem (4) Microeconomics (3) all self-studied in junior year APUSH (4)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): Chem SL 6
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: All AP (2) and IB classes (2 SL 2 HL)
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with distinction, National Math Competition 2nd place in China[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>Subjective:
[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student government (president from 4-10 in China), Math activities/competitions, art (hobby/leadership position/won a few school awards) STEM-related program ( total 7 months, was team leader during summer residency) Theater/drama ( Director/script-writer/actor for school plays, won a few school awards) +some other things
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: Internship at an university's college of chemical/material engineering<br>
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: tutored a hearing-impaired middle school student in all subjects + key club/NHS stuff
[</em>] Summer Activities: Johns Hopkins CTY / Internship listed above
[<em>] Essays: I think the common app one was pretty good 9/10, other essays overall are 7-8/10
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: one might be pretty good, one might be decent (waived)
[<em>] Counselor Rec: probably decent (waived)
[</em>] Additional Rec: probably decent (I've only known my teachers/counselor for 1 year :( )
[li] Interview: The one with Harvard was pretty good </p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]</p>
<p>Other
[ul]
[<em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): WA
[<em>] Country (if international applicant):
[</em>] School Type: public, around 500 in my class, sends around 10-20 to top 20 schools
[<em>] Ethnicity: Asian
[</em>] Gender: Female
[<em>] Income Bracket: Around 25,000
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Nothing I guess. I moved around a lot and lived in China before I moved to the US at the beginning of my junior year. I lived in the school dorm during sophomore year so didn't get to do many extracurriculars (can't get off campus, no clubs etc)
[/ul]
Applying/applied to:
Harvard (deferred)
UChicago
Cornell
WUSTL
UC Berkeley
Northwestern
Emory
USC
Tufts
UCSD
UW</p>
<p>I applied to many top schools because I need quite a lot of financial aid, but I do kind of regret applying to UCSD since it probably won't offer me a lot of aid even though I would love to go there. I am just posting this to ask my chances for these schools and if I need to add more match/safeties. Thanks!</p>
<p>Well, then that is a problem. The universities you apply here in the US will not know what you did in China. They will only see what you did on your junior and senior year here in the US. How are they even going to know what you did in China in the first place, and most importantly, why would they care? </p>
<p>Oh really? Well, that is quite a bummer for me. But what about the international applicants? They didn’t do anything in the US. How are the universities supposed to evaluate them? </p>
<p>Most of those international students come from China. They come from wealthy families, so their parents “pay” whatever elite university their kids desire enough in donations to “bend” the rules. If your family is part of the 1% of China, then simply have your parents donate money directly to your school of choice and hope for the best.</p>
<p>Otherwise, your best bet is to go to community college and get a 2 year A.A degree there, then apply to those universities as a transfer student. It will be much easier for you in cost as well, since community college is much cheaper than universtiy tuition.</p>
<p>@plum19 Please don’t pay the slightest amount of attention to what this buffoon above me is saying. </p>
<p>“They come from wealthy families, so their parents “pay” whatever elite university their kids desire enough in donations to “bend” the rules.”</p>
<p>Complete and utter BS.</p>
<p>“How are they even going to know what you did in China in the first place, and most importantly, why would they care?”</p>
<p>People from around the world apply to top colleges, and get accepted. I live in Bahrain, and last year one of my friends got accepted to Harvard and Stanford, one got accepted in Brown and the other got accepted into MIT, Duke, Penn and Tufts. They all did their ECAs in Bahrain, a small island in the Middle East that @masterchief1994 has probably never even heard of.</p>
<p>“Otherwise, your best bet is to go to community college and get a 2 year A.A degree there, then apply to those universities as a transfer student.”</p>
<p>Please, don’t apply to community college with a 2250 in SAT and 3.95 GPA. Please, just don’t.</p>
<p>“Your stats do not shock me, it’s kind of what I expect from your kind.”</p>
<p>I second what @GodMode is saying, the prior “advice” you received is ridiculous. Ignore it.</p>
<p>Just because you were deferred from Harvard, I don’t think that warrants worry about the other schools you applied to. Be confident and hope for the best. I think you have pretty good chances at all of these schools </p>
<p>Don’t listen to the original idiot, nothing (s)he is saying is even close to the truth. As far as your chances go, you’re stats (while very good) are average in the eyes of such prestigious schools and it doesn’t help to be part of an over-represented minority (White, Asian, etc.). That being said, high reach for Harvard, UChicago and Cornell. Mid-reach for WUSTL and Northwestern. High Match for Berkely, Emory and Southern Cal. Match for Tufts. UW and UCSD are shoe-ins.</p>
<p>PLEASE completely disregard the replies from MasterC above. Whether intentional or not, his post #1 is particularly demeaning and inappropriate.</p>
<p>Your grades and scores are excellent. You were deferred at Harvard, not rejected, which speaks to the quality of your accomplishments. So try not to worry too much. The issue is not the quality of your work, it is the intense amount of competition at the most elite schools. You are somewhat top-heavy on reaches, and a more even selection of reaches/matches/safeties would probably be preferred. But you have some matches in there and you will come out okay. Waiting is the hardest part!</p>