I’m a sophomore and here’s how I planned for it to go during my last high school years. If everything goes as planned, how would you chance me for Ivys and other top ranked colleges ?
Country: Sweden
School: Private French school
Country of origin: Syria but born and raised in Saudi Arabia
Gender: Female
SAT: 1500/1600
SAT Essay: 6 6 6
SAT subject tests: Math II 800 and Physics 800
Unweighted GPA 4.0
French GPA: 16/20
NO APS
NO RANK
NO AWARDS
Extracurricular:
-Activist in “Djurens Ratt”, Swedish organisation for animal rights (have been a vegan for 3 years so far)
-Started a math club to help young elementary students
-Blog on cycling
-Cyclist with club
-Cycling Race (no rank, you just have to finish it) 300km long!
-MUN school : just participation
-Research paper exhibition (nothing special)
Seriously though your academics are okay for international students, enough to make it past the cut though I’m not sure abt the standard being changed for International students
Your EC’s are very mediocre - you don’t have any significant awards.
First, if you can raise your SAT by 60+ points, maybe do it if you have time.
Also, MUN is not very unique. So is doing research. so is tutoring. You need to do something with these passions to make them unique.
“I plan to write about my struggle with anorexia and recovery.”
Is there another topic you can possibly write about? I understand how powerful and important this issue has been for you, but it could be a serious red flag for colleges. Anorexia is one of the hardest mental illnesses to treat, and also results in more deaths than any other mental illness. You do not want admissions officers thinking about whether or not you are solid in your recovery or whether you may relapse and even die during your time at college. Unfair, but true. If it were me, I would not discuss anorexia at all. Use your essays to show them why they should admit you, not why they should be worried about you.
@pieguy54321 The thing is I live in Sweden but I’m not Swedish, all academic competitions here are held in Swedish hence I’m not eligible to participate –my Swedish level is quite basic. That’s why I can’t have any awards here. I’ll try to up my SAT but I suck at time-management, most of the points I miss are because I didn’t have enough time to do all the questions.
Is my cycling not unique? Like if I write an essay about how passionate I am about cycling and how much I love the sport, etc. ? What about being an advocate for animals rights and taking actions? (Like being an activist in the streets, showing videos, holding lectures, etc.)
And so you’re saying that with a 6 6 6 on the essay I have a high chance? @Ihateadmissions
@rustytatertot123 I’m not sure if I’m going for law but definitely not for scientific subjects so yeah I guess it would be more appropriate to take a history subject test since I suck at literature…
What are the individual scores? What service in your community? If it may be law, maybe you get involved with an advocacy group outside school. For people.
Top adcoms are looking for what fits their college community, the attributes. Recovery is important, but not a trait they look for. Nor vegan. Learn what you can about what they do value in applicants. The activities and essays need to show that.
That said, Syrian, raised in Saudi Arabia, going to a French school in Sweden could offer lots of interesting angles. But you need to learn enough to settle on what and how to show it in a way that is relevant to the colleges. You’re a soph. Set the essay ideas aside for 2 years. But enhance the activities, the balance, depth. as well as breadth.
Cycling is unique, but I feel like MUN, and volunteering really isn’t. With all due respect I’d have to disagree with @lookingforward shooting for top colleges like top 10 doing MUN with only participation isn’t enough to stand out considering they prolly get hundreds of applicants who have done MUN. Even more who have done tutoring/helping kids (though maybe not to much who started something of their own). To stand out with these activities in MUN you have to be one of the best delegates who has at least won some awards, and for tutoring, I think starting it up is a good thing but you need a little more.
IMO you’d have to do something with these activities to make them stand out and be unique. Cycling is really good (I never said that wasn’t unique) but the thing is, like lookingforward said, you need breadth and depth; meaning you need to be well-rounded with a spike/being really good at something you enjoy. To me, breadth appears with your various activities, but depth doesn’t, which is why I say you need to do something with your activities to stand out.
We’re joking about getting a 6, 6, 6 on the SAT essay btw.
Pieguy, you misunderstand. For a humanities kid, MUN is great. It reflects OP’s interests. Would you tell a stem kid lots of others do robotics, that makes it bland, to you, a rising junior?
OP does not need some title. And cycling is great but getting into a top college is NOT just about “unique.” You misunderstand, I think. Kids stand out by the quality of their apps overall.
My understanding of the post is that some of your stats are “intended”. Have you finished your freshman year of high school and are about to start your sophomore year?
Your intended stats are typical of the large majority of applicants at the top schools. Some of these schools accept quite a few students based on things like legacy status, athletic ability, and URM, which hurts your chances a bit but will be partly (not entirely) offset by the fact that a few applicants to the top schools are not quite as strong as your intended stats. As such, if everything goes as you hope, then your chances at the Ivy League and top US schools (Stanford, MIT, …) are probably pretty close to the percentage of applicants that are accepted at each school, or slightly less.
If your stats stay as hoped, then you will still need to apply to some schools that are more likely.
I do agree that cycling is probably a good thing to write about. It is an accomplishment that most students will not have. However, predicting how admissions will react to essays is not my strength.
When you are living in a different country/culture, adcoms would want to see what you have done with that opportunity? As an example, my daughter lived in another country for 2 years while in high school. As a ballet dancer, she took some local dance lessons. She also focused on photographing many local events (included her portfolio in the application). She was going to be pre-law, so she was in MUN, wrote many essays about local social political/economical issues. She tried to demonstrate her adjustment to the new environment and how she embraced the new culture.