Studying in the US at top universities has recently been a strong goal of mine due to the general sense of school culture as compared to unis in the UK. I’ve been binge watching/reading related application posts and I wanna know what you guys think about my plans. Here’s some info about me
International Applicant (Malaysia)
Ethnicity : Chinese
Low income (definitely earn below $60000)
First gen (?) my mum has a diploma which is a tier lower than a degree
Currently doing my A Levels in Law Economics and Maths
SAT :
(Haven’t done them but I’m planning to do them this year, these scores are what I plan to achieve)
-1500+ (Normal SAT)
750+ (World History, Maths I)
Extra curriculars :
Model UN
-7 conferences with a most diplomatic award in Kuala Lumpur MUN
Head of Logistics for my school’s upcoming MUN conference
Student Union - Publicist
Economics Club - Liason Officer (might be vp), founding member
Community Service Club - Planning to start one in school so I’ll be President and Founder
Planning to start a student tutoring program in school
Charity project
Planned activities and raised money for Rohingya children in a refugee school
Might be starting a personal charity project soon
Starting an Instagram page that brings awareness to social problems in South East Asia
Raised RM5750 (approx USD 1500) against Modern Slavery for the 24HourRace
Volunteering at tuition projects and street feeding
I have a strong passion for social change in South East Asia especially in terms of education and politics. My aspiration is to one day be a social entrepreneur dedicated to my passion. Do y’all think my ECs show that passion ??
I’m planning to apply to Princeton EA this year but I’m not sure if I’ll be good enough. My other top choices include Penn, UChicago and Columbia.
Also would public schools like the UCs and Michigan be a good option considering that I’m from a Low income background? Based on my knowledge, they don’t offer need based financial aid to int. applicants so it’ll be expensive for me to attend them right ?
All help and advice will be greatly appreciated !! Thanks !!!
What are your grades so far? Will you be predicted all A* for A levels? What budget can your parents contribute, including air fares, books etc? It’s hard to give advice without this information.
You will get no funding from the UCs. There are only 5 or 6 schools in the US that meet full need for international applicants and they are all highly competitive. If cost is an issue then you should perhaps reconsider the UK, which has some excellent universities, as a 3-year degree will cost noticeably less than 4. I presume you will be applying locally as a safety/backup too?
I will be doing my AS in May June this year and A2 in October November. I haven’t done my trials but I’m among the top in my stream so I expect nothing less than an A for all 3 subjects.
My family is actually middle class in Malaysia but even then, I would need at least a substantial amount of bursary to attend a UK University. I don’t think flight tickets and books will be a problem, accomadations and tuition fees will be my biggest financial problems.
I’m really trying to stray away from local universities because of the publicly known quota for minorities and the Malays. Call me picky but I wouldn’t attend a private uni in malaysia either because tertiary education is a big investment and I would want the best possible quality that I can get. Australia is also an option as my Sister currently lives and works there. That being said, if worse comes to worse, local private unis will be my fall back options and they’re honestly easy to get into.
What do you think are my chances into the ivies though ? I know that most of them (if not all) provide very good financial aid packages considering their annual endowments. Amherst and NYU too if I’m not mistaken.
You need to understand that with admit rates around the mid single digits, the ivies are a reach for everyone. No one can tell you you have a good chance even with near perfect grades/test scores, because 18 or 19 other people with similar grades/scores are competing for the same spot. That’s not to say you shouldn’t try - with great grades and ECs you will be seriously considered - but don’t build up your hopes, and be realistic about match and safety schools.
NYU offers very little aid to international students, and they are not needblind for international admissions, so you’d both be at a disadvantage in admissions and almost certainly unable to attend if offered a place but need a lot of aid to attend. I don’t know anything about Amherst. Again, if finances are an issue (and I understand perfectly that a middle class background in an emerging market is not rich by US standards, I come from a similar income level country) then I’m not sure the US is where you should be aiming given that college is so expensive vs others globally. Alternatively, the colleges where you are more likely to get merit aid are not going to be top colleges, so you may have more luck if you set your sights a bit lower. I don’t know about the cost of Australian universities but that does seem like a good option, a few of them seem to be highly ranked globally. Another option is to attend university in Malaysia, do really well, and use that as a launch to a good grad school.
Hm yea I agree that the ivies are a reach for everyone. I’ve actually thought about the Chances of not getting into any of them and feeling that all my work for my ECs went to waste but ultimately, I realised that no matter whether I get into ivies or not, the extra curriculars I planned would’ve given me relevant experience and pushed me out of my comfort zone to further grow me as a person, so at least I have that.
All of that being said, what do you think of my ECs ? Considering my passion and aspirations.
If you are truly passionate about your ECs, you would not feel that they are a “waste” if you don’t get into an ivy.
It’s really hard to judge ECs. Yes you have a laundry list of them, so do many applicants. Some people do tons of ECs, others focus narrowly on two or three in which they absolutely excel. Either may or may not work for a particular ivy. The passion you speak of will come across in your essays…or not. We can’t know that. You may want to target a bit more based on your ECs, for example you don’t mention Georgetown (which is an excellent college of course), which has a strong social justice focus, and some of your ECs might possibly be valued more there than at some of the other names you mention.
Yup I didn’t mean to convey a message that made me seem like I was only doing my ECs for college apps. All of them are things that I have a genuine passion in and I’m sure I’ll have fun doing them too.
Thanks for all your advice ! I’ll still try for the ivies this year along with other fallback options.
One thing I heard about usapps is that your essays really play a huge role in the whole process, how you structure it and what you write about it can really deviate your application for the better or worse. A current Malaysian Princeton student I spoke to also advised me to focus on my essays the most. He also said that the admissions officers know that opportunities aren’t as prevalent in Malaysia (and other similar income countries) when compared to the US so that’ll be taken into account. Not saying that I’m banking on that for my application but how true is that ? So many applicants from Malaysia are rich and have had a lot of oppportunities due to their connections and support, will the admissions officer know that those opportunities aren’t available to everyone ?
You need to have safety schools on your list. Right now, your list is comprised of only very high reach schools that you have little to no chance of getting in. Personally, I agree with SJ2727 with the fact that you should not be looking at US schools. They offer little aid and the international acceptance rate is very very low. Why not focus on Australian or UK unis??? I say you should attend an Australian university and then go to America for grad school.
Also I notice a lot of “planning to” activities in your post. Note that there’s a huge difference between actually achieving things rather than “planning” to do something.
I think I might’ve misrepresented myself abit. The schools that I named are only some of the schools that I will hopefully be applying to, of course I have safety schools too. The reason why I’m mainly aiming for the US is because of the financial aid there, bursaries/aid available in the UK and Aus are pretty scarce.
I’ve also mentioned in my first post that the activities listed are the ones that I will be carrying out In 2019. Of course I know that there’s a big difference between actually doing something and “planning to” do something.
Also how did you assess my chances of getting in ? I mean you can’t just make a statement like that without any actual reasoning.
I’m confused by the way you phrased this vs what you posted in the first post. What ECs have you actually done until now? You surely have done some of that? Doing nothing till the last year of school and then suddenly finding a whole bunch of ECs to do isn’t going to impress any college admissions committee.
Sorry for the phrasing ahah. Basically 4,5,6.2 and 7 are my plans for 2019. I should probably also mention that I’m currently a junior and that my senior year is cut in half because I’m doing the fast tracked a levels.
I guess a more accurate way to title my thread is to ask if I’m heading in the right direction for top unis. That’s what I’m really looking for tbh. Not sure if I can start a new thread with the same stats but with descriptions included. I would do that if I could.
IF you manage to do everything you plan, bearing in mind that some of it is starting late, including expected test scores and get all A*s on your A levels, then you are in the running. But bluntly, I don’t see much that necessarily lifts you above the other applicants with stellar grades/scores and ECs. You are disadvantaged in the admissions process and practicalities by being an international applicant who needs aid (I think you over-estimate what is available in the US). By all means apply, but be realistic that the chances of being both accepted and getting the large amount of aid you need are low. Have a solid plan B, and C, and remember there is always grad school. Good luck.
Mmm yup I totally understand that the ivies are a reach for everyone.
I’ve read that being low income and first gen (I’m not sure if i am) are hooks that a lot of top unis look at but I’m not sure if they only consider those if you’re a US citizen. Do you have any knowledge about this ?
@louisaur You have two major issues. One is that you’re international, and two is that you cannot afford to go to school in the USA without financial aid. So you need to be accepted with full need met, and few universities are need blind when it comes to international students. So it’s likely that the fact that you are needing financial aid will count against you in way that it wouldn’t if you were a citizen or a permanent resident. So being low income may actually count against you as an international student.
That being said - see what programs there are for low income international students and see if you’re eligible. The only way that there is 100% chance that you won’t get money is if you don’t apply. Also, there are many other schools in the USA which have better financial support for international students than the Ivies.
You’re in the UK, though, right? If I were in your situation, I would stay - your chances of getting into a good school, and being able to afford it, are much higher in the UK than in the USA.
I thought you were in the UK since you were comparing the UK and the USA in your OP. In any case, you’d probably need to search by yourself for scholarships and financial aid for international students in the USA (sorry, gotta got to bed). The CC is a good source to verify a lot of that info, and beware of scholarship scams.
Nobody can chance you until you’ve actually taken the SAT and subject tests. It:s easy to plan to get a 1500/750, but much harder to do.
There’s a lot of competition at the Ivies and other top US schools (especially for international students who need aid), so even students with high test scores & GPA have a slim chance of admission. If your stats end up being competitive then it doesn’t hurt to apply, but have some safeties on your list too.