<p>I'm currently studying in an Asian country that goes by the UK GCE A/O Level examination style. In other words, I take 4 subjects (+2 mandatory subjects) over 2 years of junior college. Currently I take Physics, Chemistry, Math and Economics.</p>
<p>My stats are as follows:
SAT1: 2100
GPA: 3.5 (based on the above subjects)
I intend to take SATII next year, probably Physics, Chemistry and Math.</p>
<p>ECs:
Shooting (my passion for 6 years, been in the school team for 2 years)
Research attachment at a research institute on high performance computing
Ran my own business on network consultation for SMEs
Piano (currently up to ABRSM Grade 7)
Local Linux support group</p>
<p>My ECs don't look very strong, but a major part of that would be because my training for shooting is 5 days a week and pretty intensive when competition season rolls around. In addition, I have to help out at my parents' office after school</p>
<p>Please rate my chances at:
Stanford
MIT
Caltech
UC Berkeley</p>
<p>I'd like to take either Physics or Computer Science at these unis.</p>
<p>Very distinctive statistics. I would say to take the SAT II's ASAP and score exceptionally well on all of the ones you are taking since the schools you want to go to are obviously science/tech based. It'll give these schools more of a foundation and grasp at your academic abilities. Your shooting extracurricular is very distinctive, so don't discount all your ECs- they look pretty interesting and show dedication to your desired fields (compsci, etc.).
Your GPA seems lower than what the schools want, but you might have just calculated it for the CURRENT classes you are taking. Calculate it for all the classes you have taken over your entire high school career. You are taking classes under the british system, so that's very different from our GPA system anyway and the GPA system might not work very well when transposing another country's grades; I'm not sure if the GPA is the best indicator of overall academic success for people taking another country's curriculum. Your SAT score could be higher- 2100 is slightly low for some of those top top tier schools you want to go to- but then again, I'm not sure if english is your first language so that could be a big factor. </p>
<p>I say you have a fair chance at Stanford, MIT, and Caltech, just like any other top applicant, but nothing can be certain. Being international is certainly distinctive, but I dont think that I'm too quialified to judge you academically (e.g. GPA-wise) since the British system and American are incompatible to a certain degree. My opinion on UC berkeley is below. </p>
<p>On another note, UC berkeley rarely accepts out of state students with 7% of the class being out of state students, not to mention international kids. If you are going into the computer science field or science, I also recommend Carnegie Mellon university and the University of Chicago. They are excellent in computer science and physical/biological sciences, respectively. That is, of course, if you don't want much financial aid- you are severely limited at CMU and I'm not that sure about U chicago, but I do know being a fellow international that the schools below the ivies in ranking suck at giving aid to "our kind".</p>
<p>I acknowledge that my SAT1 is pretty low, which is why I'll be retaking it and aim for a score of 2250+. (Yes, English <em>is</em> my first language)</p>
<p>For my subjects, I'm scoring a AAAB, which is quite worrying, I must admit, when compared to other students. :(</p>
<p>I dont think anyone can say you'll be rejected from EVERY single one of them. If you look at Gaffe's post history, you'll see he's kind of a downer and thinks everything is useless. Although I might have to agree on the Berkeley thing, but that's just cause they have too many californian residents going in.</p>
<p>Your ECs are all right, but if you think you can get into those schools without top academic qualifications, you're probably in for a nasty surprise.</p>