Chance me please - I have no clue :S

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>Hoping to go to one of the following - syracuse, u of illinois, northeastern, GWU, ucal berkeley, NYU, UPenn, Washington U in St Louis, Dartmouth.. [Universities are in decreasing chance of entry, i think..]</p>

<p>Hoping to study either economics or politics. </p>

<p>Currently studying at University of Western Australia
- double degree of -
1. Arts (65% average<em>)
Majs: Advanced French, Politics
&
2. Economics (67% average</em>)
Majs: Quantitative Economics, Economic History
*Marks are from previous semester</p>

<p>Went to top high school and achieved a final mark of TER90.05 (top 9.95 of the state), and was generally top 15% of my classes.</p>

<p>Grades
- Ancient History B (70%)
- Art B+ (76%)
- Applicable Mathematics A (85%)
- Chemistry C+ (64%):-(
- Literature B+ (78%) </p>

<p>SAT (1st attempt, didn't study.. so I should get better marks next time):
Reading 600
Writing 640
Math 600
Total: 1840</p>

<p>Subject tests
French 680
Literature 600
History 620</p>

<p>ECs
- Tennis honors from winning inter-school cup, continue to play at a high level
- Have won giant slalom ski races, also achieved level 2 instructor
- School prefect
- Mentor for younger students at school
- Was public speaking captain of my house
- Fluent in french (after 6 months living in France)
- Volunteer surf lifesaver for 3 years. </p>

<p>I also play lots of instruments, write and paint.</p>

<p>Work
- Was a tennis coach for 4 years
- Ski instructor for the past two winters
- Worked as an intern for an MP in the British Parliament
- Worked as an intern for African Governance Initiative in London </p>

<p>Good rec's from jobs held.</p>

<p>Not applying for financial aid.</p>

<p>Are my grades not good enough? Or can I redo the SATs, and, assuming I get much better marks, have a good chance of any of my choices?</p>

2

<p>I think your grades and stats are too low for:
berkeley, NYU, UPenn, Washington U in St Louis, Dartmouth.</p>

<p>I think you would get into Northeastern and U of Illinois… not sure about Syracuse but worth a try.</p>

3

<p>thanks! </p>

<p>i guess i’ll retake sat and see what happens :)</p>

4

<p>You’re in a good position - many schools love International students who don’t need financial aid. Look around, the US has a gazillion good colleges/universities. But certainly raising your SATs will make a difference for a shot at the more selective schools. By the way, have you tried the ACT? You may do better on it than on the SAT.</p>

5

<p>i havent done the act. should i prioritize it over retaking sat?</p>

6

<p>It’s your call - schools take both, but they are somewhat different (check out the many ACT vs SAT threads on this site) and some people do better on one versus the other. </p>

<p>Before you decide to tackle the ACT, you should check into the admissions requirements of the schools you’re interested in: many require additional SAT subject tests and if you’re pressed for time, you may want to concentrate on those instead.</p>

7

<p>sure, thanks. i think i might do sat again considering ive already done it once… i think it’s an ‘AND/OR’ for sat and act at those unis but ill double check</p>

<p>anyone have any suggestions for</p>

<p>vanderbilt
wesleyan u
boston u?</p>

8

<p>Of these three, I think maybe BU is closest to being a realistic choice. Wesleyan in particular is very selective - many of its students are Ivy League-caliber - and in comparison to them, your grades and SATs are quite low. </p>

<p>Do you know the websites collegeboard.com and princetonreview.com ? Both offer search features where you can put in your stats/interest and they will ‘match’ you with schools. They also offer good information about freshman grades/scores so that you can compare how you stand versus the other candidates. Also, ask on the Parents Forum on this site: lots of experience there, and lots of knowledge about different types of schools. Good luck - and don’t give up. Like I said, there are many fine schools in the US that would accept you and offer a very good education.</p>

<p>Also, don’t forget that there are many excellent public universities where being a full tuition paying International student would give you an advantage. I am thinking in particular of University of Wisconsin at Madison; University of North Carolina; University of Texas, Austin; University of Colorado, Boulder; University of Washington, Seattle</p>

9

<p>Have you thought about playing varsity tennis? It’s true that your grades are low. But, it’s not too late to get your standardized scores up a little bit. Aussies and New Zealanders sort of present a set of considerations all their own; the fact that you are so far away and there are not many of you. I mean, the fact that you’ve even heard of Wesleyan works in your favor. I have no doubt that you’d “fit”; you just have to prove that you can do the work.</p>

10

<p>@katliamom, i have been using those sites, but i feel they not very well adapted for international transfer students as there are much fewer of us. i guess i was hoping for more personal feedback on this forum. everyone here has been very helpful and i thank you all for your responses. as i am v. interested in studying abroad i’ll continue to research into my ideal list of colleges which is now: UIUC, BU, Syracuse, U Virginia and (last choice haha) rutgers. because it’s it new jersey. i went there once, it kinda sucks. </p>

<p>@johnwesley, i do plan on playing varsity tennis, any recs on places that like tennis players? ive been trying to find somewhere where they would want a good international tennis player. on the “fit” factor - that’s entirely the reason i plan to transfer. university education in australia is of a high calibre, however, university life is uninvolved and, essentially, quite dull. i live off campus and i rarely have the chance to involve myself in campus activity. </p>

<p>i guess it’s times like these when i wish i had a clue of what i wanted to in high school and got good grades in subjects i liked… live and learn…</p>

11

<p>also, sorry about throwing in a heap of selective schools into the mix - i guess i was just hoping that my unusual circumstances (good ecs, interesting background) might temporarily blind the admissions board into accepting me into their school. if you never ask you’ll never know!</p>

12

<p>really, post your stats on the Parents Forum and ask for advice: those people really know a great deal about the nuances of the US education system.</p>

13

<p>Even though it is true American universities generally love international students who don’t need aid and if you’re applying as a transfer with aid as an international student your chances are close to nil, I happen to have met one international student who transferred to bennington with a pretty good aid package. Also 20509591, I will be applying for a transfer too and these are the universities I’ve chosen, mostly becuase most of them have an open curriculum and ususally no gen ed requirements, so you might want to look into them.
Bennington
Beloit.
Amherst
Brown/cornell (maybe)
Mt. Holyoke.
Colgate
Colby-sawyer (maybe)</p>

<p>My stats
Sat 1 Math 710, CR 740, W 800 (2250, first and only attempt)
Sat 2 Math levels 2 740, Chem 800, bio 780, phys 760 (two attempts. Gave chem again to bring up score by 50 pts.)
High-school transcripts not so good. Since we aren’t given a GPA, I can’t provide one here but I would get Cs, Ds and occasionally Bs. This was because I was way too much into extra-curriculars so I self-studied for all the classes I missed and had my own scheme of study. I got 7as and 2bs in my o levels and 3as 2 bs in my A levels which is a decent result.
I too have a question to put here- how much does the high school transcript matter? The grades for your exams taken in school, as opposed to external exams like O and A levels and the sat. I believe it was my inconsistent, and frankly, terrible school grades that got in the way when I applied as a freshman.</p>

14

<p>thanks. i think we’re in the same boat when it comes to mediocre high school transcripts. i find it irritating - competitive schools where students are marked harsher generally have better students, but i could be on a par with someone who went to a school where they were dishing out As like they were going out of fashion…</p>

<p>your sats are pretty good, you shouldnt have too much difficulty!</p>

<p>also, your list is pretty good, but i might struggle to get into holyoke. ive heard the ratio is pretty good for blokes though…</p>

15

<p>Your grades are not good enough. Your chances are slim at top universities or LACs.</p>