chance me for these schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi, I was wondering if anyone can help chance me in these following schools?</p>

<p>I am an international expat currently living in Shanghai China and attending an IB School
Choice of major: Undeclared Engineering (second choice: Aerospace Engineering)
SAT:
1830 first time, 1870 second time (it is low I know)
550 Critical Reading, 740 Maths, 570 Writing (Essay: 8)
SAT Subject test:
680 Maths level 2
640 Physics
GPA: 3.782 out of 4 (weighted). This figure is a bit questioned by the schools, they might have made a mistake about it, but it’s not likely.
Honors:
Third honor award in sophomore year during one quarter for achieving an average of 90 (A-) in all subjects. (don’t have it with me)
Silver and Gold Medal for the red cross club. (unfortunately I don’t have them with me either, but maybe the club leader could help me prove it, I know her e-mail)
Extracurriculars:
Member of the Red Cross Youth Club for freshmen and sophomore year, elected yearly representative for both years and earned a silver medal in the first year and a gold medal in the second year for my contributions. I was elected as president of the club for my junior year at the end of sophomore year, but unfortunately I moved away to another school before I could assume position. Approximately 3 hours for 35 weeks per year (a total of 210 hours in the two years)
Community service trip to Xitou for one week during senior year, total of 35 hours put into the club, we helped restore a rural village in China. I included it because of the tremendously good job we’ve done. Photos are available for proof
School Prop Designer and Builder for junior year, I helped plan and build props for the school play, providing some service to the institution. 2 hours a week for 9 weeks (18 hours total)
Varsity Soccer, midfielder and defender, junior year, our team came third in the shanghai international school tournament. 2 hours a week for 17 weeks (34 hours total)
Teachers’ Aid in two clubs, Street dance and Drama, where I helped teach the younger students, total hours for both is 28 hours
Self Defense club junior year, 10 hours total
Essay:
Fairly strong, they’re not perfect, but I’m confident about them. I tried to be as creative as I can and incorporate as much of me into them
Teacher’s Recommendation:
Very strong (2 of them from the Physics and Theory of Knowledge teachers)
Counselor’s Recommendation:
Fairly Strong (but the weakest out of all the recommendations). Note: he doesn’t teach me in any subjects)
Current Senior Schedule:
7 IB yearly courses, 3 Higher courses (maths, Physics, and Business/management) 3 Standard courses (English, French , Visual Arts) and one that’s not categorized (Theory of Knowledge)
Decent grades, but they have suffered a little because of overworking and stress from the IB, but are still pretty decent.
Grades from freshmen to junior year are really great, particularly maths and science (which I excelled at)
Other:
Took 9 courses in my freshmen and sophomore year (technically 10 since one course was split between two subject, Internet Technology and Home Economics)</p>

<p>So, what do you think are my chances at the following schools?</p>

<p>MEGA REACHES!
Stanford University
Yale University</p>

<p>Reaches
Brown University
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Pennsylvania
University of Southern California</p>

<p>Middle
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
University of California Berkeley (I think)
Purdue University
University of Michigan Ann Arbor</p>

<p>Safe
Illinois Institute of Technology
University of Rochester</p>

2

<p>I’m afraid your test scores make you unlikely to be considered for your mega reaches, reaches and middles (at least
Berkeley and Michigan) even if you need no financial aid. Look up the Common Data Set for each school and check the Student Profile (section C) for admitted students. </p>

<p>You need to do a more realistic search for schools. If you need financial aid, then that is even more critical.</p>

<p>What are you planning to study? What can you afford?</p>

3

<p>really? that’s very disappointing. However I don’t require financial aid, yes, i would like it (no doubt about that) but if it decreases my chances, then forget it.</p>

<p>My single mother is able to afford without a doubt the full tuition, but since she is my only parent I woud like to lessen her burden, but to have my chances decrease from it is really irritating. My mother is alright with not getting financial aid as long as I can get a better chance into those schools.</p>

<p>I know my SAT test scores aren’t brilliant. but don’t they consider more? is it entirely decided on the SAT? that’s pretty dumb, I’m not an language arts person, I am a math/science person, so naturally I got a much higher score in the math section ( I tried my best on the language section)</p>

4

<p>Most top US schools are looking for well rounded applicants, even technical schools. Your stats, not just your SAT scores, would make even your so called “safe” schools a bit of a reach.</p>

5

<p>are my stats really that bad? this is kinda frustrating</p>

6

<p>Your stats are not “bad” but they are not exceptional either. Of the schools you list, Purdue and IIT would be the most likely schools to admit you. I would call them matches, not safeties.</p>

7

<p>Don’t loose hope. You may still have a chance at those schools cause admissions are holistic so see what happens. Good Luck</p>

8

<p>thanks, btw, I missed listing a couple of universities (I don’t know how)</p>

<p>University of Dayton
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Clarkson University</p>

9

<p>I have a question, if I study really hard and get exceptional grades during my first year at whatever college I end up in, I may have a chance at successfully transfering to one of the mentioned universities? (the middle, reach, and dare I say it? megareach onces)</p>

10

<p>Yes, transferring is pretty much all about college GPA and ECs.</p>

11

<p>@kevint2011 well I’d say you should wait for the admission decision…
no one here will be able to know whether you fit or not…
as you probably already know, there are anecdotes here and there about low SATs or low ECs or even low GPA getting accepted into top schools as well as high SATs, high ECs and high GPAs rejected.
Well I am in a much similar situation to yours (applied for Stanford, UC Berkeley, Boston Uni and Cal Poly) and whenever I ask people I get different replies and different theories…
So just leave it for now, concentrate on the rest of your senior year and just make sure you really have safeties (Universities in your home country or maybe 2-years-Colleges…etc)
Good luck ;)</p>

12

<p>It’s not just your test scores that matter - your grades are more important than your test scores. But most of the schools you’ve listed are quite selective which means you need both top grades and top test scores. </p>

<p>Practice the reading and writing sections and see if you can pull those scores up. If English isn’t your primary language, that would be taken into account as well - are you taking the TOEFL? </p>

<p>Does your mother realize that without financial aid, the bill (tuition and living expenses) per year is around $50,000 for four years? That’s a lot of money when you could potentially attend school outside of the US for considerably less.</p>

<p>What are you planning to study, by the way?</p>