Chance me? Please and Thank you :)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey everyone! I’m applying for the Fall 2016 intake. Intended majors are either aerospace engineering or physics. I’m financially weak so I have to apply to good unis to have any chance of getting a scholarship :frowning: It would be helpful if anyone with ample experience/knowledge gave me a rough estimate of my chances at these colleges:

UCLA
UDUB
CMU
Cornell
Georgia Institute of technology
Illinois Institute of technology
Northwestern
Princeton
Purdue
Stanford
Michigan (Ann Arbor)
UPenn
Yale
Embry-Riddle
Aaaaaaaand MIT

By the way, I actually applied last year and got rejected for all that I applied to (I applied to MIT, Stanford, Georgia Tech and Cornell)

Nationality : Malaysian
Malaysian High School results : 7A+3A1B (Pretty shite I know… Will this affect my chances a lot?)
GPA : (Converted from A-Level results 3A*1A) 4.0 (I have no idea what weighted and unweighted GPA is so…)
SAT : 2130 (Not sure whether or not to retake - Crit reading was terrible)
SAT2 : 800 for Maths Level 2, Physics and Chemistry

Awards :
Top in the world (full score) for A level Maths
Quite a few choir awards at international, national and district level competitions
Mighty Minds National Champion (General knowledge competition)
Some random essay writing medals (Trinity, UNSW and Commonwealth essay competitions)
High distinctions and distinctions in various academic competitions (euclid contest, australian chemistry competition) (No olympiad medals though)
A few debate championships (but mostly district level so not very impressive)
One football(soccer) gold medal at school level (At least I did SOME sports)
National Space Challenge champion (but that was when I was 10 so it’s kinda worthless)

ECAs :
A-Level Student Council member
VP of debate club
VP of choir
Committee member of English club
Member of various random clubs (Red Crescent Society,
Volunteer at Make-A-Wish malaysia
Actively involved in church activities (mostly worship leading and youth stuff)
Some leadership camps and stuff
Lots of choir performances
Internship at British Petroleum doing data management
Oh, and I self study online (aeronautical and quantum physics)

Extra things:
My essays for UCLA are pretty bad (didn’t have much time to write) but working hard on the rest now
Most of my applications will revolve around Choir (which I love) and Physics/Maths (which I also love)

Thanks for reading! (if you made it this far that is) I really appreciate it.

Here’s a banana in capital letters for the long post : BANANA

2

You won’t get much (if any) aid from most of the state schools.

3

I’m going for scholarships from Malaysian government and companies. Fin. aid would be a welcome bonus

4

Just did some research about GPA. Mine is 4.77 unweighted. I think? I’m honestly very confused. I would really appreciate it if anyone could
a) Chance me (There’s a chance I’ll chance back <- haha)
b) explain to me how on earth GPA works gdi. I took the Malaysian certificate of education and then CIE a-levels.

Thank you

5

I have no idea how Malaysian GPA works but I will try my best to explain how it works here. An A counts as 4 points, a B counts as 3 points, a C counts as 2 points, etc. If you took an Honor/AP/IB class you get an extra point for a C or above. So if I got an A in a Honors English class I would get 5 points instead of 4. Add up all your points that come from A-G approved classes and then divide by the number of A-G classes you took.

6

I read somewhere that A-Levels is an AP equivalent. is this true? Thanks a lot :slight_smile: that clears things up haha. But if the GPA was originally on 4.0 scale, does adding ap grades make it a 5.0 scale?

7

Based on what I believe to be your GPA (4.77 Weighted??)

UCLA= accept/waitlist (cares more about GPA than test scores)
UDUB- accept
CMU- accept/waitlist
Cornell- waitlist/deny (cares a lot about Critical Reading)
Georgia Institute of technology- waitlist
Illinois Institute of technology- accept
Northwestern- deny
Princeton- deny
Purdue- accept
Stanford- deny
Michigan (Ann Arbor)- accept/waitlist
UPenn- watilist/deny
Yale- deny
Embry-Riddle- accept
MIT- deny

8

Thanks for your feedback :slight_smile: I’m not sure what my gpa is. Even my teachers don’t know. I guess it’s up to the admissions officers to determine. Do you think I should redo the SAT?

9

You should retake the SAT if that’s what you’re comfortable with. A lot of the schools are a bit out of your reach with respect to just the SAT score. You say you’re strong in math and physics, and you seem pretty good in chem since you got an 800 on that subject test: Why not take the ACT? It could be easier for you to score higher and increase your probability of acceptance to the colleges on your list.

10

Hmm I see. The norm here in Malaysia is SAT. It’s very rare for anyone to take the ACT. I’ll see if I can find a test centre! Thanks :slight_smile: