<p>I just got rejected for two schools that I was confident of getting in (1 EA, 1ED) and deferred for one. Totally freaking out! Help me relieve my stress! </p>
<p>International Student</p>
<p>Statistics:
GPA: 3.5/4.0 (No weighted, doesn't rank)
SAT: 1510 (CR+M) 2120 (Composite), is my writing sticking out too much?</p>
<p>Recommendations:
Pretty strong I believe. Although, many of my teachers see me as a business major and probably wrote as such, I am applying philosophy and/or economics for some schools. </p>
<p>EC:
Pretty good I guess. 2 years military services as a NCO. Co-pioneered a dance club back when I was in high school. 6 months internship with Citigroup. Won numerous business/finance competitions. </p>
<p>Again, I am afraid my business/finance oriented EC and recommendations would work against me for some schools</p>
<p>Essay:
My interests are quite wide but they can be distilled to a couple of segment: Philosophy, Accounting, Economics, Finance, in that order. I wrote an essay that amalgamate them together. </p>
<p>Schools I am applying to</p>
<p>Amherst
Claremont Mckenna
Pomona College
Colgate University
Villanova University
Cornell
University of Virginia
Univeristy of Michigan
Emory University
Notre Dame
UT Austin
Boston College
UI Bloomington
Fordham University
Northeastern University</p>
<p>Please rank them in safeties, low match high match, low reach high reach. I am really freaking out. </p>
<p>You’re screwed 
</p>
<p>Can you take a gap year and apply next year? Work on like your Sat, . Btw colleges know you got the internship by connection ;)</p>
<p>@sharecentury not really. I follow an unconventional education path which is similar to the german apprenticeship program A 1510/2120 SAT is not good enough? Dont some school disregard the writing portion?</p>
<p>OH YA! Self-studied APs, while I was in military, got 3 5s(Micro/Macro Econs, Calculus AB) and 1 4 (Comparative government)</p>
<p>An " unconventional education path", is that supposed to be an excuse? I am not an admissions officer etc but comparing you to other applicants here at CC who got REJECTED ( not even differed ) you’re quite far behind 
Gap year might be the best option for you. I mean you don’t seem to know what you want, your mixing Philosophy, Accounting, Economics, Finance ; you do realize finance economics and accounting are very different from each other? I have no idea how you could even fit in 3 of them, but then what makes me laugh honestly is the fact you add Philosophy, why not politics while your at it and African American studies??? Do you want to like become a library or something? The bets would then be taking an English Major, especially when you consider your weak writing score 
I think the gap year is best, no point wasting all your money applying, perhaps apply to 3 just so you felt you tried, you wouldn’t want to get 20 rejection letters, that will destroy you and your self esteem! Anyway, I didn’t want to offend you or anything I’m just speaking the truth, how old are you? You might be able to take a gap year without it affecting your future career. Get job experience etc, get to work at another firm for another couple month etc.
Hope I was helpful </p>
<p>610 is a low writing score but my guess is your issue is the 3.5 unweighted GPA more than the 610 writing score. Your overall SAT score is pretty darn good, don’t have US average scores in front of me but 2120 would probably be better than 95% nationally. If you were a US student you would not normally apply to most of these schools other than as a high reach. UT Austin, UI you should be okay but in general students would apply to an evenly split mix of safety, target and reach and looking at the information you have provided on your background vs. these schools almost all are reach with a few target schools</p>
<p>@sharecentury hey buddy. thanks for your advice but I happen to know exactly what I want. you may think that finance accounting and economics are rather spatial but trust me, it is not, it all interlinks. How can one do valuation in finance without accounting or economics. Accounting gives one the ability to navigate through the 3 statements and economics, revenue streams and cost structure. Why philosophy then? I am interested in investment management and in IM, process is more important than hard skills. Anyone can discount a cashflow but not everyone can critically think and philosophy provides one with that. </p>
<p>P.S. I am actually applying for the PPE program in Pomona. So yes, I am also interested in politics. </p>
<p>@wje9164be that is a shame. would it help if I provide the school with a description of my education path? Unlike the regular US education system, my school (following the apprenticeship program) grades on a bell curve and my program is one of the toughest to get in. So there is some self selection in terms of competition. </p>
<p>They do interlink in some parts but I hope you do realize you cant fir them in all at once, definitely not in 4 years more like 10 if you work all day and night. Trust me Econ is very different than accounting and same goes with all the others. I never heard of some one who could do 4 majors in different fields. Your University wont even let you enroll in tht many classes tbh. Why don’t you go to a German university considering your from there ( From what you’ve been saying with the bell curve etc they oprob understand it better than here in the U.S )</p>
<p>@sharecentury I see where we diverge. I am not planning on having 4 majors. I am applying to different majors for each school. For e.g. Amherst - Philosophy. Claremont - Accounting. UVA - Finance. I am of course going to double </p>
<p>I am not applying german because it is german. I told you that I seek critical thinking and that is why I am applying primarily LAC, and if not LAC, plans to major in philosophy. Germany does not have that, very rigid thinking.</p>
<p>Are you asking for financial aid? That would make every single school on your list high reaches, and not likely for you.</p>
<p>If not, what you need to do is to organize the academic courses that you have taken and see how they fit into the applications. Regardless of what unusual path you have taken, you need to cover the academic requirements listed by the schools. Pick a selective school, like Amherst and see what they are. You need the subjects as listed or close to it and cannot substitute other education , be it economics, accounting, business, basket weaving for them. You need the math, English/language, history, science courses. No way around this without very special exception like being some successful celebrity, or scoring very high on AP, SAT1 and 2 tests showing mastery of those subjects.</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse Thankfully my parents are able to afford without financial aid. And yes, I fulfilled all of the criteria in my secondary education. I also took AP Calc AB, Micro/Macro, Comparative Government, SAT 2 World history, Math 2. Self studied. </p>
<p>Given this, what do you think are my chances with the schools listed?</p>
<p>AP are 5s and 4. SAT WH 650, Math 2 800</p>
<p>So you are an non traditional student? DId you go to a school after secondary school? Because that may put you into a transfer student category. If you have a full slate of academics, including the sciences, and did not go to a college or tech school with higher ed standing, yes, it would give you some chance at those school where your SAT scores put you into the top 25%. Otherwise, your chances are low. You might want to look at Columbia School of General Studies and other programs for non traditional students.</p>
<p>Yes it would help but that type of explaination is best if it comes from your school profile or guidance counselor. The challenge US colleges will have is understanding the context of your high school education. What the colleges really want to understand is class rank and if some form of selection has gone into being admitted to high school at all. They are looking for smart, capable people and class rank is a much better indicator than GPA. In the US probably about 30% of high school students have a 3.5 or higher. Forty years ago it was probably less than 10%</p>
<p>@Wje9164be My school doesnt rank but I am probably in the top decile if we are talking school wise. But my school doesnt rank so is there a way to communicate this?</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse yes it is a tertiary school, a trade school. But in my country it is considered to be high school level as students have a choice to continue their education traditionally. Some of my friends got into UMich, Brown, MIT, so i suppose it is recognized.</p>
<p>In the US every school will provide a profile showing basically how difficult the curriculum is and student outcomes. Your school should have something similar that admissions officers can refer to . Ask your guidance counselor for a copy of what they send colleges in addition to transcript and recommendation</p>
<p>@wje9164be ohh thanks! Shame I didnt get this earlier! </p>
<p>@Wje9164be assuming the curriculum is difficult, do you have a ballpark estimate to the probability of getting into schools i mentioned? </p>
<p>Assuming top decile or quartile. </p>