Chance Me for Some Top-Tier American and Canadian Schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Okay, just a little background: I've been a casual reader of this site for a while now, just looking at the answers to other people's questions that are similar to mine mostly. Now I have a more specific question for myself, on whether I can get into the institutions in the USA (Undergraduate) that I want. Good, constructive answers would be appreciated.</p>

<p>General Information:</p>

<p>Year: Senior this Fall.
Age entering college: 17
Ethnicity: African-Canadian (Born in Nigeria, West Africa)
Location: Canada (I go to the top public school in Western Canada)
Class Rank: School doesn't rank, I would probably gaurantee top 10%
SAT: Not taken yet (When answering, assume a 2100+ score, I never score lower on practice tests. Will be taking it in October)
SAT II: Math II and Chemistry (Will be taking these in November on the same day, expect a 700+ based on practice)</p>

<p>Grades</p>

<ul>
<li>Freshman Year Grades: N/A, these are not put on transcripts where I live (Alberta) because high school starts in grade 10.</li>
<li>Sophomore Year: Essentially straight As, marks ranged from high to mid 90s.</li>
<li>Junior Year: First semester I basically had straight As, with one 89% (we do percentage GPAs here) and one 87%. Second semester I fell off a bit, with all my grades in the high 80s; which is why I'm making this thread haha. </li>
<li>Senior Year: Unknown so far, I'm going to work WAY harder than I did in the second half of my junior year and shoot for straight As.</li>
</ul>

<p>Honor Level Courses: I'm in the IB Certificate program because I had a teacher in grade 9 for Humanities who decided not to give me a recommendation for Social or English IB despite having high 90s in both her classes. The IB Classes I do take are:</p>

<p>IB French A (IB 10, 20, 30)
Pre-IB Science (Pre-IB 10)
IB Biology SL (No HL offered) (IB 20, 30)
IB Physics SL (No HL Offered) (IB 20, 30)
IB Math SL (Couldn't fit HL into my schedule because I'm taking all 3 sciences) (IB 20, 30, 31)
IB Chemistry HL (IB 20, 25, 35, 30)</p>

<p>I only started taking IB exams this May so I don't know any of my scores out of 7 yet, I felt good when writing them though so I expect to do well.</p>

<p>Extra-Curriculars</p>

<ul>
<li>Club Basketball for about 5 years (Equivalent of AAU in the USA)</li>
<li>Varsity Football (Sophomore and Junior years, will likely play as a Senior)
Community Basketball (9 years)</li>
<li>Royal Canadian Air Cadets (For 3 years, attained the rank of Flight Corporal, Cadets is a great leadership program)</li>
<li>Patti Falconer Acting/Modelling Agency (Received many scholarships to acting schools outside Alberta, that I was unable to attend because we won't move. I also received an offer of a lead role in Like Mike 2 the movie; but was unable to participate because my parent's were not around for me to go to Vancouver for the casting. I was 12 or 13 iirc.)</li>
<li>Debate Club, never won anything significant </li>
</ul>

<p>Awards:</p>

<ul>
<li>Honor Society (All of High School)</li>
<li>Alexander Rutherford Scholarship (National Scholarship for Academic Acheivement, received for all of high school)</li>
<li>(My school doesn't do Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude or any of that stuff so it's not really something I can beef up my resume with).</li>
</ul>

<p>Work/Volunteer Experience:</p>

<ul>
<li>Refereed basketball for 2 years. Paid about $13 per game.</li>
<li>Calgary Women's Show: Packing gift bags for thousands of attendees</li>
<li>Helped paint a bridge and do a garage sale for a Women's Shelter in Okotoks</li>
<li>Vacation Bible School Crew Leader at Church for 2 years</li>
<li>Volunteering every Sunday at church for 6 years as a youth leader, teaching younger kids</li>
<li>Tech Management Leader at Church</li>
<li>Miscellaneous other things that I could bring up if I had my resume handy haha.</li>
</ul>

<p>The last thing I want to say is that I'm well respected around the school by teachers, and I'm a good writer so the essay and teacher recommendations shouldn't be a problem. </p>

<p>Speaking of the essay, if anyone has any suggestions as to what to write about that would be appreciated. I haven't really experienced any hardships to be honest, other than a very aggressive series of bouts of abuse with my father during my junior year. I guess I could make a sob story and use that as an excuse for the dropoff, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.</p>

<p>Hook:
Recruited Athlete: Perhaps?
URM: Yes
Legacy: No </p>

<p>I don't know if this matters, but I will be the first person in my family to go to university in the United States or Canada. That includes grandparents, uncles, aunts, and their extended families</p>

<p>Schools I'm considering:</p>

<ul>
<li>Harvard (USA)</li>
<li>Duke (USA)</li>
<li>Princeton (USA)</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins (USA)</li>
<li>New York University (USA)</li>
<li>California (USA)</li>
<li>Penn (USA)</li>
<li>MIT (USA)</li>
<li>Stanford (USA)</li>
<li>Texas A&M (USA)</li>
<li>McGill (Canada)</li>
<li>Toronto (Canada)</li>
<li>Calgary (Canada) [This is definitely a fallback, I want to move as far away from here as possible lol]</li>
<li>British Columbia (Canada)</li>
</ul>

2

<p>BUMP. Need answers please :)</p>

3

<p>With a relatively low [predicted] SAT score and only a modest amount of IBs, coupled with the fact that you are an international applicant, Harvard, Duke, Princeton, Penn, MIT, and Stanford will be very significant reaches. JHU, NYU and Texas A&M are much more feasible.</p>

4

<p>@Billabong. I took IBs in every single high school course except for two. How does being an internationaly applicant make it more difficult for me to get in? My predicted SAT score is no lower than 2100, I have never scored lower than 700 on any individual section of the test. Even so, how is 2100 a low score?</p>

<p>Did you even look at my ECs, general information, and work/volunteer experience or GPA?</p>

<p>Tell me what scores I would have to have to be a “low reach” or “match” for the schools you said would be “significant reaches” please. Not everybody that gets into those schools has a 2400 and a 4.0 UW GPA.</p>

5

<p>Okay.</p>

<p>American universities are reserved primarily for American students, similar to the way the Canadian schools are reserved primarily for Canadian students, and, to a lesser extent, the way state schools are predominately filled with in-state applicants. The fact that you are a Canadian citizen looking at schools in America sets you back enormously; when those schools are in the highest echelon of institutionalized learning, you need to be one of the best applicants in the world. </p>

<p>Go into this forum and look around for threads made by other international applicants. You will see that they each have outrageous amounts of achievements (i.e. International Math Olympics medalist), flawless grades, 2250+ SAT scores, and may even come from very humble backgrounds. But, you will also see that the general consensus among CC posters is that HYPMS will still be big reaches. Why? Because, unlike American applicants, they aren’t just competing against kids in their school or state, but in fact against every kid in their country. How many international applicants are there at HYPMS? 50? 100? Do you really think that you are one of the best applicants in the world? </p>

<p>That aside, even an American student with your stats would most likely be rejected from HYPMS. A 2100 SAT score is equivalent to being in the 25th percentile, meaning that 75% of all accepted students will have a superior SAT score than you do. </p>

<p>You play football and basketball, but unless you are nationally ranked or are being considered as a recruit, this won’t add much weight to your application. And keep in mind that work experience is almost always ignored by admissions officers.</p>

6

<p>I’m not going to score 2100 on the SAT, my score will be 2250+ like the others mentioned. I’m also a URM, and I am a recruited athlete.</p>

7

<p>Hopefully you do end up doing that well on your SATs. However, in this case, the benefit of being black is going to be negated by not being an American citizen. A good amount of all international applicants are in fact URMs. </p>

<p>And I’m curious as to whether or not you understand what it means to be a recruited athlete, because if you are indeed good enough at basketball and football to have be scouted by HYPMs, there is really no reason for you to be posting this thread, as your chances of admission are guaranteed.</p>

8

<p>I didn’t get scouted by HYPM, I’ve been recruited in Canada. Not sure if that means anything.</p>

9

<p>Bump 10char</p>

10

<p>BUMP PLEASE need more input.</p>

11

<p>dang, Billabongboy9828 just treated your life Nosike</p>

12

<p>Nosike, you come here just to get an ego boost? Why don’t you leave? We’re all going to tell you that you have NO CHANCE. Let me tell you a little story. My father was one of the first Chinese students to be allowed to come to this country. He was born during the cultural revolution; his father was persecuted by the PRC, his family was split up all across the country. He, like so many of his generation, was born in crap, lived in crap, but excelled nonetheless, attending Yale University and earning a PhD in molecular biology. I make no claim to such a legacy; I am nowhere near as motivated or capable. But look at you. You want us to treat you like the best. You’re not. End of the line.</p>

13

<p>Eh shut up you aren’t worth a dime.</p>

14

<p>I’m not here to get into a flame war, nor am I here to appease to your wishes. You may not be from America, but here, we believe that all people may express their opinions.</p>