Chance Me

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi guys! I was hoping I could get an honest opinion on my chances of getting into some of the schools I am planning on applying to :slight_smile: Thank you very much!

Background info- French international student, moved to the US in 2012 (Iā€™m on a visa); studying at an international school (ranked 35th most challenging HS in the nation in 2014) ā†’ courses are in French but are recognized by American universitiesā€¦ I guess I am somewhat of a ā€œspecial case,ā€ because my courses follow that of a French School, but I am studying in the US and thus studying on my own for a lot of things, including SAT and APs (except French and English)

GPA: unweighted 4.3//weighted 4.94
PSAT- 1330 (will be taking the SAT in May, aiming for a 1500)
Junior year courseload: French, AP English lit, honors math, honors physics, honors chemistry, honors bio, history-geo, Spanish
APs I took// will be taking in May: AP French Language (5)// AP English Lit, AP Spanish Language, AP Bio, AP statistics, AP computer science A

ECs:
National Honors Society
Red Cross club
Writer+ Deputy editor in chief of school newspaper
Student council design committee chair
Kickboxing classes, cycling
Autonomous study of programming languages (swift, python, C++) and STEM focused courses (e.g. cellular neurophysiology)
+Volunteering hours, tutoring, babysitting

Summer activities: mathematical research internship in a French university (Lille I), travel, volunteering

Awards/Honors:

High academic honors
Nomination for the national Congress of scientists and technologists award of excellence
Geosciences olympiad
Math Kangaroo
Algorea contest
ā€œBeaverā€ contest
North American ā€œCourses aux nombresā€ (itā€™s a French math contest) finalist
+other minor school awards

Intended major(s): engineering (probably bioengineering), CS
State: California
School type: private
Ethnicity: white (north Africa)
Gender: female
Income: low
Hooks: low-income, 2nd generation college student, immigrant (donā€™t know if those last 2 are hooks)

Other info: Iā€™m bilingual in French and English, have been studying Spanish for 6years and Chinese for 3.

Schools I will be applying to:
Stanford
MIT
Columbia
Yale
UPenn
UC Berkeley
UCLA
McGill
Oxford
+other safeties and matches but havenā€™t decided yet

Thank you!

2

Can you can afford to go if accepted?

Unless you are tax-resident in the EU (unlikely from your post, but not impossible), can you afford Oxford? there is no financial aid. Ditto for the UCā€™s: as an international student you will have to be pretty exceptional to get any financial aid and they are expensive.

Low-income is the opposite of a hook (an anti-hook?!) for an international (and many domestic students)- any school that does not explicitly say it is ā€œneed blind for internationalsā€ will consider the fact that you need financial aid as a factor in whether or not to accept you. And for all schools, the overall acceptance rate for international students is about 10-15% of the class.

All of which is a long way around saying: the ā€˜other safeties and matchesā€™ that you donā€™t really want to think about yet are where you should be putting your focus- b/c they are where there is a 90% likelihood that you will end up. I get it: you are a very high achieving, ambitious student. In all likelihood, you would thrive at any of those schools. But the raw numbers are not on your side and you have done enough science & math to know what that means.

(also, for engineering at Oxford, guessing that you are doing the Science path in the BaccalaurĆ©at or Option Internationale du BaccalaurĆ©at? if so, you need 16/20. Otherwise, you will need BC Calc and Physics (AP scores of 5 / IB HL 7ā€™s))

3

In my opinion you are a very competitve applicant. With a great SAT score, you have a score for all these schools. Remember though, that they are reaches for everyone and you should apply to some safety schools as well. Your resume is impressive, anyway. Please tell me your opinion here http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2071793-what-do-you-think-of-my-ecs-need-your-help.html#latest

4

@collegemom3717 Thank you for your feedback. While my goal is to go to college without putting a financial strain, on my family, I am not trying to limit my options because of money (most American unisā€™ tuition is exorbitant anyways ). Rather, I am looking for more options: scholarships,ā€¦ I am also going to apply to college through Questbridge (https://www.questbridge.org ), which is an organization partnered with many great colleges (stanford, yale, columbia, mit, usc, emory, duke, ā€¦ )that gives out 4y scholarships to domestic and international applicants who get in. Iā€™m not sure about being tax-resident in the EU, although I have a home there, and the rest of my family (cousins, uncles, etc) lives there.

I didnā€™t know that being a low-income international was an ā€œanti-hookā€, but good to knowā€¦ Of course, these schools are extremely competitive, so I will definitely look into more achievable options. I am indeed in the S section (only girl in my class actually hahah), and my average is currently >17,5. From what I know from current seniors at my school and past years, some students in doing the french baccalaureate S section have gotten into UCLA, UC Berkeley, McGill, Concordia,ā€¦etc. Other than that, in the IB section of my school, they have gotten acceptances to Stanford, UC berkeley, USC, UCLA, NYU, McGill,ā€¦ this year

Thank you :slight_smile:

5

@ivystateofmind Thank you! I will definitely be trying to reach a higher SAT scores (will take it in may or june). Of course, these schools are basically impossible to get it (I like to think of it as a lottery system haha), but I will try my best and still apply to safeties and matches. I left a comment on your post!

6

True, but a schoolā€™s being ā€œneed blind for internationalsā€ is insufficient and even irrelevant if you need aid. A schoolā€™s being need aware but meeting full need is a great combination, if you can gain admittance, but there are few schools that meet full need for anyone, much less internationals. Most schools also limit the number of internationals, making admittance difficult.

7

@vonlost Thank you for your response. Yes, Iā€™m sure admission will be difficult, however I was thinking that my background might differentiate me from other applicants? My school is an international/french school, so many students studying in the french baccalaureate have been in the same situation as I in the past few years, and one of my classmate is also french and on a visa, although we are still studying in the US. As Iā€™ve said above, FB alumni have gained admittance to some very good schools nonetheless.

8

Glad to hear that you are working with Questbridge: my guess is that affordability is going to be the bigger challenge for you than admissions (17.5 is pretty impressive, btw). Make sure you rank the full quota (assuming you are going for match to start).

9

@collegemom3717 Yes, I applied to their College Prep Scholars program, and will get the results in late April. I really hope I get in. I will definitely apply for the college match, and will rank as many colleges as possible :slight_smile: Thank you for everything, I will make sure to let you know how everything goes!