International Student - Private Girls’ School
Will be applying for financial aid
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/20 in IB, around 6/160 overall
Ethnicity: Chinese
SAT (breakdown): CR 690, M 800, W 800, Overall 2290
SAT II: Doing Chem, Lit and Math II in May
GPA: School doesn’t do GPAs, but IB predicted score (excluding ToK/EE) is 39 out of 42.
Extracurriculars/Awards:
Concert Band (4 yrs)
Symphony Orchestra (3 yrs)
Chamber Orchestra (2 yrs)
Chamber Music Octet last year, group won huge prize at nationals
Different Chamber Music Octet this year
Future Problem Solving (4 yrs)
School Badminton Team (4 yrs)
Peer Support Leader (2 yrs)
School Academic Council (2 yrs)
School Ethics Council
Awards have mainly been academic/music awards at school prize-givings.
Volunteering:
Lead a group that visits a rest home every week
Tutor every week at a hostel for less fortunate students at a local school
Used to volunteer at local library
Do lots of street collections for charities
Summer Activities:
None
I’m hoping for the Ivies, Yale-NUS, NYUAD, Duke and Barnard.
I know I’m extremely lacking in the leadership/awards, does anyone also have any ideas for upping my game in these areas?
^it wouldn’t hurt to include them, I’m obviously joking. For improving your leadership/awards, these improve over time as you would know or as you get better at what you do. Although, you could try apply for leadership positions in the ECs you’re already doing.
Reaching state or national in sport would be an immense benefit, if you’re up to it though.
I’m already a quarter of the way through senior year (live in the Southern hemisphere) so leadership positions/school prefect roles have all been decided and I wasn’t chosen for any position…
Would anything like even organising some music concerts/activities for the resthome I visit help at all? I’m really out of ideas…
Ivies are always a reach for everyone. I would not emphasize your lack of summer activities at all. You have a shot for sure, but all of the Ivies reject students like you (and accept them too) every year. Better put some safeties in there too.
My only other comment is that all the Ivies are all VERY different. Dartmouth and Brown could not be more different. Finding a university that is a good fit for you and has the degree path you want should rank above just getting into just ANY Ivy League school. I recommend that you do some thorough research and find some colleges that you would enjoy attending for 4 years…some might be in the Ivy League, but some very well might not be, and I seriously doubt that all of them will be the 8 that are in the Ivy League. There are some outstanding universities out there that are not in the Ivy League.
I suspect your academics are not up to par. 690 on CR is low and 6/160 with no Advanced course load is to me just outside what Ivies would consider. Hopefully these can be remediated with a good essay. Good luck though.
Also would it boost my academics competitiveness by much if I included that I got a National English Scholarship in my junior year (usually the exams are taken by seniors)?
Regarding Duke, your GPA, curricular rigor, standardized test results, and ECs are not a compelling; moreover, Duke provides very little international undergraduate FA.
