<p>Hello, </p>
<p>I'm a rising senior looking at studying computer science in the United States. As very few of my fellow classmates are in a similar position, I would greatly appreciate any advice from you guys. At the moment, I am considering applying to:</p>
<ul>
<li>HYPS </li>
<li>UPenn</li>
<li>University of California Berkeley</li>
<li>University of Illinois Urbana Champaign</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>MIT/Caltech (I can dream, can't I?)</li>
</ul>
<p>Location: Canada
Race: Asian
Gender: Male
Income: Mid-Class
School: Public, though ranked one of the best (and most competitive)</p>
<p>Academics</p>
<p>Class Rank: 1/420
GPA: 96% (no 4.0 scale for us Canadians, sorry!)</p>
<hr>
<p>SAT I: 730 Reading, 800 Math, 690 Writing - Total: 2220 (second try, first time 2020)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 740 Physics, 640 French/Chemistry (easily my biggest weakness; I will retake chemistry this fall)</p>
<hr>
<p>IB: N/A
AP: none.. yet. My school only offers AP courses to senior students, and I'm enrolled in AP English, Functions, Calculus, and Chemistry for next year (four out of the five available at my school).</p>
<hr>
<p>Extracurriculars</p>
<p>At School:
- CS club (Captain)
- Science Peer Tutoring (Exec)
- Math Peer Tutoring
- DECA
- Investor's Club</p>
<hr>
<p>Volunteer Work:
- Local library (~250 hrs + exec position amongst volunteers)
- Summer Camp (~80 hrs + mentor position)
- Tutoring in School (~40 hrs)</p>
<hr>
<p>Other:
- Recruited as a member of the programming team for an iOS application set to launch this fall, directed by a few college students in my metropolitan area
- Wrote, with a few friends, a web-based server for the school board's teachers, through which they can more efficiently book resources (in talks to be deployed)</p>
<hr>
<p>Biggest Weakness: Probably my SATs. At this point, I'm hoping that schools will simply be a bit more lenient given my international status, though that isn't likely.</p>
<p>I realize now that my expectations are probably far too high, especially compared to most of the other students on the forum. Nonetheless, I am planning to apply SCEA to Princeton this fall, with UPenn/Berkeley/Brown being the far more realistic 'reach' schools. Is there any reason to change my mind and apply ED to UPenn/Brown (or another Ivy League)? What sort of essay would I have to write to achieve these goals?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any suggestions and input.</p>