Chance me please!!!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi! I am a Romanian student and a junior. I am determined to go to college in the US, however my parents cannot afford the costs,therefore I am looking for colleges that are need-based or need-blind.

New SAT: 1520 - 790 Math, 730 R&W
Sat II: planning to take Math 2 and Physics
Class Rank: 1st
GPA: 10/10

Extracurricular activities:
National Physics Olympiad-9th and 10th grade, Honorable Mention both times
National Linguistics Olympiad-8th,9th and 10th grade, Third Prize in the 8th grade
National English Olympiad-9th grade qualified(first in my region), but chose Physics since they were at the same time
*planning to go to Physics and Linguistics Olympiads this year as well
Regional Excellence Center: Physics-10th, 11th grades
Regional Physics Contest “Cygnus”- 2nd Prize

Volunteering:
My town does not really offer that many volunteering opportunities.
International Volare Music Festival for Young Talents- summer 2015 and summer 2016, Diploma in International Volunteering, I was a translator and group coordinator for the Maltese and English delegations, but I also helped with the organizing of the event.

This year I have signed up for a student exchange program with students from all over Europe. In January I am also planning to attend The National Physics Camp and maybe compete in some international Physics competitions.

I intend to major in Physics. However, I am not sure-considering my need for financial aid-which schools I have a chance to. I have searched online for colleges that offer financial aid for international students and made the following list of colleges I may want to apply to:

  1. Harvard University
  2. Yale University
  3. Princeton University
  4. MIT
  5. Stanford University
  6. Brown University I am aware that they may be high reaches
  7. Amherst College
  8. University of Pennsylvania 9, Vassar College
  9. CalTech
  10. Colgate University
  11. Bryn Mawr College
  12. Denison University
  13. Illinois Institute of Technology
  14. Smith College
  15. University of Rochester
  16. University of Richmond
  17. Yeshiva University
  18. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
  19. Trinity College

First of all, should I retake the SAT and aim for a 1550 or higher?
Secondly, out of all the colleges that I have picked, could you tell me which ones are reaches, matches, and safeties? Also, if you know any other colleges you think may be a better fit for me, please let me know.

2

To answer your questions:

First of all, I would say that retaking your already stellar SAT of 1520 to a slightly more stellar SAT of 1550+ is a waste of time. Instead, write some excellent essays and have teachers who know you well write good recs.

Second, in terms of reach, target and safety, this is what I think. (THIS IS SOLELY BASED ON SAT SCORES SINCE I’M NOT SURE HOW COLLEGES LOOK AT GPAS FROM COUNTRIES OTHER THAN THE US. IN ORDER TO HELP A LITTLE IT, I WOUKD HAVE TO SEE THE STRENGTH OF YOUR COURSES (APs IBs Hs))

  1. Harvard University---Reach
  2. Yale University---Reach
  3. Princeton University---Reach
  4. MIT---Reach
  5. Stanford University---Reach
  6. Brown University---Reach I am aware that they may be high reaches
  7. Amherst College (25th and 75th percentile are 1420 to 1550 respectively so I would say TARGET?)
  8. University of Pennsylvania---Reach (It's an Ivy League. Basically any ivy league is a reach regardless of stats) 9, Vassar College (25th and 75th percentile are 1400 to 1530 respectively so again, TARGET?)
  9. CalTech (25th and 75th percentile are 1520 to 1600 respectively so I would say REACH? That's basically for everyone who applies)
  10. Colgate University (25th and 75th percentile are 1340 to 1510 respectively so TARGET?)
  11. Bryn Mawr College (25th and 75th percentile are 1300 to 1510 respectively so TARGET?)
  12. Denison University (25th and 75th percentile are 890 and 980 respectively so SAFETY?)
  13. Illinois Institute of Technology (25th and 75th percentile are 1210 to 1420 respectively so SAFETY?)
  14. Smith College (25th and 75th percentile are 1320, and 1510 respectively so TARGET?)
  15. University of Rochester (25th and 75th percentile are 1330 to 1490 so SAFETY?)
  16. University of Richmond (25th and 75th percentile are 1290 and 1470 so SAFETY?)
  17. Yeshiva University (25th and 75th percentile are 1180 to 1430 so SAFETY?)
  18. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (25th and 75th percentile are 1280 to 1450 so SAFETY?)
  19. Trinity College 25th and 75th percentile are 1280 to 1460 respectively so SAFETY?)

Based on this, don’t be discouraged but don’t get your hopes up either. Since you are an international student, it will be a LOT (and I mean LOT) more competitive compared to those from the US. Also, your essays and recs should be stellar to rise above the immense competition. (Hence, why they all have question marks.)

3

@Sandy12345 Thank you! As for the courses, we don’t have the option to choose each course and its difficulty, but when entering high-school, one can choose the profile, which for me is mathematics-informatics (basically the hardest one). The most important classes that I have taken are:
Maths-11 years
Physics-6 years
Biology-7 years
CS-3 years
English-11 years
We have on average 15 courses a year, but I have only listed the ones which are relevant for a Physics major.

4

@Sandy12345 FYI…I think your Denison percentages are incorrect.

5

@sschickens They are score percentiles of each college. They are not decision percentages.

6

@sschickens They are score percentiles of each college. They are not decision percentages.

7

@sschickens Sorry I thought you meant decisions but then I realized that was the name of a college!

8

Here is the link to those scores: http://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/colleges/Denison-University-SAT-scores-GPA

9

@sschickens Sorry for some reason the link blurred out. It’s on prepscholar website so check it out.

10

Yes, score percentiles. These can’t be right - 25th and 75th percentile are 890 and 980 - for Denison.

11

Oh. Sorry I might have looked at the wrong information. Prepscholar might be wrong @sschickens @Raluca2899

12

According to Prepscholar.com, “The 25th percentile New SAT score is 890, and the 75th percentile New SAT score is 980. In other words, a 890 on the New SAT places you below average, while a 980 will move you up to above average.”

The predictions might be very old so sorry for the misinformation about Denison.

13

*PrepScholar

14

Ok, thanks. I went into PrepScholar and the numbers are, indeed, incorrect. The average math score is 650, while the average reading score is 34. I suspect that should be 634. The 25th and 75 percentiles are extrapolated from that incorrect reading score of 34. Looks like a data entry error.

15

Yes that appears to make sense. Thanks so much!

16

Being a curious type, I asked PrepScholar about this issue. Here is their response, which I honestly don’t understand:

Thanks so much for writing in to PrepScholar! I know that number may look confusing to you, but it’s actually correct. Since the SAT now combines the Reading and English section into one score out of 800, the CollegeBoard breaks down a student’s English score and Reading Comprehension score on a scale out of 40 questions (because there are 40 questions for each of them on the test).

So, you want to aim to get around 34/40 questions correct on the reading portion of the SAT.

You can also think of this as a 650 on Math and a 670 on the Reading section.

17

@Sandy12345 I was curious why Denison’s scores seemed to be the only school whose scores were seemingly out of whack. I see these percentiles on PrepScholar for Colgate - 940 1060 - where did you get 1340 and 1510?

18

@sschickens For some colleges, I looked at the Collegesimply website and for some I looked at PrepScholar. In this case with Colgate, I looked at CollegeSimply. And it says 1340-1510. I would give you the link if CC didn’t censor it.

19

This is interesting. How could average composite score be a 1410 when the 25th and 75th percentile SAT scores are 940 to 1060?? This was the table from PrepScholar.

Section Average 25th Percentile 75th Percentile
Math 710 670 760
Reading 35 33 38
Composite 1410 940 1060

20

I know. It makes no sense. Sigh.