Chance me for UPenn, Williams, Amherst...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi there! I am applying to UPenn, Williams, Amherst, Colby, Babson, U of Rochester, Dickinson and W&J. Can you chance me?? :slight_smile:

I’LL CHANCE YOU BACK!

I’m mexican and I live in a very small town in Veracruz.
GPA: 4.0 (UW)
CENEVAL EXANI II: 1270/1300 (National examination)
SAT I: Just took it
I went to a very prestigious and competitive high school (Tecnológico de Monterrey) and graduated with an Honorary Mention.
Rank: 4/115
My school doesn’t offer any APs or IB or anything like that.

TOEFL IBT: 112/120

I’m on my second gap year

Awards:

A bunch of English and academic awards.
Winner of the Academic Scholarship Award ITESM
Member of the Dance Company ITESM CCV - Winners in the ITESM Dance Contest (Campus level) 2015
Graduated with Honorary Mention 2015

Extracurriculars:

VERMUN 2010 (model UN) - Delegate
VERMUN 2012 - Delegate - Won Honorary Mention
VERMUN 2013 - Emergent Delegate (that means I was good)
VERMUN 2014 - Secretary General (and welcome speech in Italian)
VERMUN 2015 - Board President -in French (and welcome speech in German)
TSUMUN 2014 - Delegate in Tver University’s UN Model (Russia)
Coordinator of the connection between Canada, US, Russia and Mexico for their collaboration as delegates in VERMUN 2014
Host at some of my High School events, in English and Spanish.
Language Fair 2012, 2013, 2014 - Lead role and director of the play (French)

  • Welcome speech in Italian (2013)
    Language Fair 2015 - Director of both plays (German and Chinese)
  • Welcome speech in German and Chinese
    Pedro Ferriz - Conference: Staff
    Member of the Theater Company “Déjà Vu” 2012- Lead role in plays such as “La Casa de Bernarda Alba” (as Bernarda) and “El Gesticulador” (as Elena Rubio)
    CHILDREN CONGRESS 2014 - Coordinator/Supervisor (Congress for special needs children)
  • Created the winning logo

Volunteer work:

SUMMER CAMP “Borreguitos” 2013/2014/2015 (around 115 kids) - Leader of a group of 30 kids.
Tutor - Helped my classmates in all the subjects I was enrolled in during my 3 years at ITESM
Volunteered at various events totaling 500+ hours.

Gap years:

During my 1st gap year I worked as a teacher in a local private school (5th grade) full time (Keystone/Gymboree). I got into NYU but with only a 14k scholarship so I couldn’t attend. I started my second gap year and this same school offered me a job in 3rd grade but I didn’t want to do that and I needed to save more money so I became an au pair and I’m currently in Canada :).

Languages:

Spanish: native
English: 10 years
French: 3 years
German: 1 year
Chinese: 1 year
Italian: 5 months

Work:

German teacher A1 level (July - October 2015) in a Language Center
Teacher (5th grade) at a local private school. (2015-2016)

Recommendations:

1 from my Physics teacher (I bet it’s really good)
1 from my Calculus teacher (I was his favourite student by far so I’m guessing it’s awesome)

Wrote my personal statement about the war in my country and how it has shaped me.

Thank you very much!

2

OK, so you’re obviously very linguistically talented and worldly. That’s good, colleges like that. However, I’m also sure you’re aware that international admits, especially to the schools that you’re talking about, are EXTREMELY competitive. Two gap years is also going to look a little weird, but I like your personal statement. With that in mind, I’ll go down the list.

Oh, and for other people who are going to review, a 1270/1300 on the Ceneval equates roughly to a 1370/1600 on the SAT, 95th percentile, and a 112/120 on the TOEFL is 97th percentile.

UPenn- Unlikely you’ll get in here. While you’ve got pretty good stats, although weaker test scores than GPA, you’d have around a 15% chance if you were from the US, however, you’re not. International admit will significantly drop your odds, maybe more like 10% or under.

Williams - also very competitive, although I think they get fewer international applications than a big ivy league school like Penn does. Regardless, it’s still harder to get in as an international admit, around 10% chance or lower.

Amherst - Also very slim chances here. You’ve got less than a 10% chance of getting in here.

Colby - You’ve got a better shot here, although still not probable. If i’m generous, maybe a 20% chance? I can’t really foresee how much of an impact being international will have here.

Babson - You’ve got a much higher chance here. Maybe about 40%, and even higher if they like your essay.

U of Rochester- Similar chance to Babson here, although maybe just a tiny bit lower. About 35% chance, maybe higher if they like your essay and things outside of your academics.

Dickinson - You’ll probably get in here. Maybe a 50-60% chance, maybe even higher.

W&J - You’ll get in here. Solid safety, 90% chance

All of these could be wrong, because I’m not sure how much a lot of these liberal arts schools factor in international admission. Your essays and background look really good, but your test scores are a little bit below what a lot of these top schools look for. Maybe if your SAT goes really well, you can up your chances. Good luck regardless.

Chance me back?
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1941631-predict-my-results-at-ucs-ivies-engineering.html#latest

3

Hey @waswaswasnt ! First of all, thanks for taking the time to elaborate on your answer! It’s really helpful. As for the SAT, I’m hoping I’ll get around 1450. That’s what I got on the practice tests. If it’s low, I’ll take it again on December. As for the international applicant thing, I actually thing I could use it in my favor. In most schools, I will be compared to international applicants from the region I’m in (Latin America I suppose) and there aren’t that many applicants. At least in Mexico, I haven’t seen many strong test scores or GPAs. Not even good extracurriculars. Also, with Trump winning the election, there won’t be that many applications from Mexico or maybe even Latin America, so that could also help. Btw, my first gap year was intentional but then my family went through a financial hardship and I had to stay for another year. I explain that in my common app.

I got into NYU Stern and tried to calculate my chances from there. I know it’s not the same, but still. I am already admitted to W&J, so you were right. And I have been getting a lot of attention from Babson so I bet you’re also right about that one. As for Penn, Williams and Amherst, I’m really hoping that being international will help me instead of hurt me or my chances.

I just try to keep in mind that I’m not going to be compared with that many kids with perfect profiles and that I do have something else to bring to their university :). And yes, I think my personal statement is quite interesting haha.

Thank you so much for your response! :slight_smile:

4

@pmegmxn No problem. If you think being an international admit will help more than hurt, then great. i’m not as familiar with the international process as I’m sure you are. However, would it look like you’re applying from canada, or from mexico? I’m not sure how that could work, maybe it’s more straightforward than I’m imagining. If that’s the case, then great. I’d expect you get a 5-10% bump in chances pretty much everywhere, especially if you do as well as you’re predicting on the SAT. Good luck.

5

Getting financial aid is tough for an international, but Amherst is full need blind.

6

@ueutyi yes that’s one of the reasons I’m applying to Amherst! :smiley:

7

bump

8

Update: 1500 in the SAT :slight_smile:

9

Update #2: Accepted to Williams, Vanderbilt, Colby, Rochester, W&J and Penn :slight_smile: !!

10

@pmegmxn wow congrats! feel free to reach out if you have any questions about Penn !!