Chance me for Harvard and Stanford? How to get rid of the boring déja-vu side?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am planning on applying to both this fall, as an undergraduate. </p>

<p>Reason behind my interests behind both colleges:
Harvard: Need-blind and full need financial aid for international students. Amazing teachers: I took two MOOCs courses organized by them, Justice course and a Computer Science course on Coursera, and I LOVED how energetic the teachers were.
Stanford: full-need financial aid although need-aware for international students. I am in love with the innovation and the entrepreneurship spirit it aspires? </p>

<p>ABOUT ME -
I currently live in the United Arab Emirates, and previously in Morocco.
I speak French, English, German and Arabic.
I attend a french private high school whose courses are considered as challenging. The high school is well-known and recognized as one of the Top 10 in the country. </p>

<p>ACADEMICS-
I've got a GPA of 4.0 ( on a 4.0 scale )
IELTS score of 7.0 ( on a 9.0 scale) </p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES-
-Founder of Humans of Abu Dhabi ( inspired by humans of New York, a bit of middle-eastern version ) </p>

<p>-Founder of Science-it, which is designed for creative thinkers to share ideas or their childhood desires ( for example flying or space time traveling ) and then people can comment on possible procedures to make it happen and when a not so irrational procedure is suggested, science it contacts sponsors for them. You can find us on <a href="http://www.science-it.mozello.com"&gt;www.science-it.mozello.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>-Founder of SalamShalom, which is created in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: SalamShalom urges readers not to take sides in the conflict but to understand both sides. SalamShalom shares both sides' opinion on issues ( takes information feom the Israeli Defense Force webpage and the Free Palestine webpage ). Visitors can also leave their opinion on how we might be able to solve the conflict. You can find us on <a href="http://www.salamshalom.mozello.com"&gt;www.salamshalom.mozello.com&lt;/a>. When I can't find the information I'm searching for on google/books, I used to ask university professors, who kindly provided them to me. </p>

<ul>
<li><p>Photographer at the Maths.en.Jeans annual reunion- Maths.en.Jeans which is kind of a math organisation for students to work on mathematical research and work on their ideas with a group of students who worked on the same subject in another establishment of the same city. In the annual reunion they present what they have done throughout the year. ( why didn't I participate? It was full when I heard about it but I really wanted to assist the presentations so I applied as a photographer ) </p></li>
<li><p>Online course learner . I gained several online courses certificates. In edx, justice certificate by Harvard University. In coursera, Calculus One certificate and Technology&Ethics both by Ohio State University; philosophophy certificate from the university of Edinburgh; Economics&Banking certificate from Columbia University, in Udacity, College Algebra certificate, introduction to Physics certificate and Introduction to Psychology certificate all from San José State University.</p></li>
<li><p>I attend many lectures New York University of Abu Dhabi organises, attended the fourth reunion of genomics&systems biology, and will be participating in a competition they're hosting for Cyber security awareness week. </p></li>
</ul>

<p>-Volunteer at aides-aux-devoirs : I help my classmates study for tests and do their homework </p>

<ul>
<li>I also worked as a promoter for English Institute, which basically consisted of having a stand in the mall where I give people papers about the institute and explain them what the Institute do, which is to give preparation courses for IELTS, english courses and "business english. </li>
</ul>

<p>I haven't taken the SATs yet, planning to take SAT I and SAT subject test ( Math level 2 and Physics ) this october. In the online practice test, I get the following average scores for :
SAT I : Maths: 790 CR 680 Writing 710
SAT II : Physics : 710 Maths : 790 </p>

<p>What do you think about me as an applicant? Am I a boring deja-vu or do I have any chances? What would you advise me of doing to improve my application? What should I highlight/avoid talking about? </p>

2

<p>Stanford and Harvard are extremely competitive but you definitely qualify and have a chance of getting admitted. However, there are many students that have a better resume than you that get rejected as well as many who have a worse resume than you that do get accepted. It’s somewhat diverse. I think what sets people apart from each other is the essay portion of the resume. Try to make your essay amazing and certainly not cliche.</p>

<p>Take a look at the stanford student profile VERY veryy very competitive. so much that it’s a little funny:
<a href=“Page Not Found : Stanford University”>Page Not Found : Stanford University;
Try to get perfect SAT scores.</p>

3

<p>Thank you for all the helpful information! Very helpful. I will try my best to get perfect SAT scores. I’d be curious to know what a “good” resume is :slight_smile:
Thank you for your time! </p>

4

<p>A lot depends on your SAT scores. Your ECs are pretty good but they do not look like something done out of passion. While you do have a chance at both the schools, do look at other schools too as the odds of getting into any one of the above schools are close to zero.
Also try to get near perfect SAT 1 and 2 scores.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

<p>Chance back?
<a href=“Chance an International! will do the same back - Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1665159-chance-an-international-will-do-the-same-back-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>I agree with the other posters. It would be best to retake the SAT, and aim for a 2300+. It is pretty easy to improve- I started at a 1600 on practice tests and broke 2300 on my real exam. Put heavy focus on the Critical Reading section- there is a lot of good advice on how to improve it on college confidential.</p>

<p>Also, try applying to some more American colleges. I know that Stanford and Harvard are very nice, but there are many other good colleges in the US too: namely, MIT, Yale, Columbia, U Chicago, and even UC Berkeley. If you are going through the effort of studying for the SAT, might as well submit a few more applications :)</p>

<p>As for chances, I would say you have around a 20% chance for both Stanford and Harvard. I would suggest applying SCEA to Harvard (better chances + your extracurriculars seem like a better fit), in which case you would have around a 35% chance of admission. </p>