Chances for Australian student to Stanford, UCB, UCLA, Yale, MIT

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi everyone at CC</p>

<p>I'm a male high school student living in Sydney, Australia, Australian citizen (middle eastern ethnicity)</p>

<p>My profile</p>

<p>GPA: no real equivalent in Aust, but we have rank -
Rank: 2/125
SAT I: Math: 770 Writing 760 CR: 750 Total: 2280
SAT II: Math Level 2: 780 Biology E: 770</p>

<p>I go to a selective school, which is a school where you have to pass an exam to enter, don't know the equivalent in US (it'd be nice if someone informed me on this)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Student Representative Council President
Da Vinci Decathlon Team, State finalist
Australian Sustainable Living Competition finalist
Australian Biology Olympiad Exam, High Distinction, finalist
National Mathematics Competition, High Distinction
National Science Competition, High Distinction
National Geography Competition, High Distinction
National Economics Competition, High Distinction</p>

<p>Part of school Rugby 1st Team</p>

<p>Community Involvement:
100 hours Bowden Brae Retirement Village</p>

<p>Thought up and organised the Schools-for-Schools program, where high school students visit local primary schools, to help primary school kids entering high school in answering any questions they have about high school.</p>

<p>Could you please state your opinion of my chances, plus any advice on how I can improve my chances. eg. higher SAT, SAT II, etc.</p>

<p>I am applying to the following colleges:
UC Berkeley
UCLA
MIT
Yale
Stanford (dream school)</p>

<p>Thanks for everyone's help and I hope you all get admitted to your dream schools.
Soroush King,</p>

2

<p>most of those are reach unis for u (i.e. small chance you'll be admitted). do u have any idea who u will be competing with to get into those unis. out of an already self-selective group, further selection is made to admit a small fraction of international students. btw, forget MIT, stanford, yale and berkeley(international). you wont get in.</p>

<p>UCLA is probably the easiest to get in out of all of those. even so, you are still the "typical" international candidate. i suppose this is a match for you. however, put in some safety schools just in case.</p>

<p>good luck :)</p>

3

<p>@anonamous
g mate, thats not very true. Why wouldnt he make MIT, Stanford, Yale and berkeley if he's international. In fact, I think the fact that he's Australian is a big help to make most of these schools. I wasnt anythin special myself and I made MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Wharton, JHU, NYU and got waitlisted at Harvard and Yale.
In fact, his SAT 1 scores are better than mine.</p>

<p>Look, achievements do look impressive, but from all the other students who made MIT and Stanford, i can tell u that SAT scores arent very important. Its all about ur passion, and how well u can portray it in your essays. Even if you only havea few ECs, just make sure u are able to display your love for them and exactly how they have helped build u up.</p>

<p>There is NEVER a set criteria for big universities. I know people with 2390s and 2400s who didnt make some of the universities i made, and they werent even international.</p>

<p>If you are still not content with our ECs, its never too late to enroll in activities u wished u were able to do. These universities aren't lookin for the brightest student. Instead they are lookin for the students who can handle their workload and still keep themselves involved in their passions.</p>

<p>Good Luck</p>

4

<p>Thanks Sidfromaus, it's always encouraging to see an aussie get into the "big name" universities.
I was just wondering, did you talk about anything particularly Australian or international in your essay? And also, what did you write for the GPA, coz we don't really have that here, at least in NSW.</p>

5

<p>my teachers used my ENTER as my final GPA and i also submitted my semester results from years 9-12. I didnt calculate a GPA, i just left it to them. A lot of schools don't have a specific GPA, instead they give grades for each subject.</p>

<p>Its hard to tell u what to write in terms of essays, coz they are REALLY looking for stuff that comes from the heart and is authentic. DO NOT BRAG in ur essays. Try and impress them with your ECs only when they ask you to list them. In your essays, try to show your humane side.</p>

<p>I'd rather not send my essays, well atleast not yet, because i really don't think they will help you. Instead, i can guide you and help you with what you should write about.</p>

<p>Do NOT worry about your SAT 1s...they are better than mine. In fact, the first time i did the SATs, i only got 1980, and each of the universities i applied to know that, because they get the results from all your tries. I do however think that you should redo your SAT 2s, especially your Math2...because you should get a 800 in math 2, since they allow i think 4-5 wrong answers for a perfect score. Stanford and MIT have median math scores in the 770-800 range.
Which school do you got to?
PS: do not reiterate much of your application ie. you do not have to explain the australian education system because each school's admission panel is pretty damn informed.
any other qs?
You could have a look at my Chances thread, but i wouldnt recommend it. I had a look at some other international chance threads and was disheartened to see that my competition had better SAT scores and GPAs and sometimes involvements. Turns out, a lot of them didnt make half the big universities i did, so admissions are never score based. But i guess i could provide a better benchmark for you. Also do keep in mind that many of these universities take either 0, 1 or a maximum of 2 students from the Australia and New Zealand region. For instance, i know at MIT, melbourne itself had 10 applicants, and i m guessing Australia had about 30 odd applicants. They only chose one. So competition is rigorous, but its not as satscore/ec/gpa based as people make it out to be. If u write a decent essay and show that u are som1 who really wants to use his education for good, then you ll have a better shot than others.</p>

<p>OMG! its so hard to explain. JUST DONT worry about SAT1s at all. do the SAT2s if u have time, but moreso, just keep involved in wht you love.</p>

<p>you can add me on MSN for more qs: <a href="mailto:sidforeva@hotmail.com">sidforeva@hotmail.com</a></p>

6

<p>Thanks ALOT for the advice Sidfromaus . The good news is I haven't actually taken the SAT IIs, I just used an average of all my practice test marks. Since my marks have gone up gradually, I might still achieve an 800 Math IIC (I'm using the barrons test prep book, which I'm told is considerably harder than real thing).</p>

<p>I'll work really hard on my essays, and since I am in school holidays right now, I'll write a few practice ones in the next few days and send them over to you when I feel they're good.</p>

<p>And that's great news about the GPA, because I believe I will have a very strong UAI (99+). Only problem is we don't receive it in time for the UC Berkeley and UCLA deadline, but I can still use it for the other colleges.</p>

<p>Btw, just fyi, i go to Normanhurst boys selective HS, in Normanhurst in north-west sydney.</p>

<p>Thank you for the MSN address, I will add you if I have any more questions.</p>

7

<p>Berkeley's acceptance rate for internationals is ~10%. I think the others' will probably be similar.</p>

8

<p>Well i know that MIT had an international acceptance of 3.9% so i m guessing stanford and yale will be along those lines too. I m not sure about Berkeley - i actually missed their deadline due to pure laziness.</p>

9

<p>so did any of you people encounter trouble applying to US colleges? I'm from Melbourne and i would dearly love to get into yale but apparently "it's impossible." and for any aussies out there who do go to a top college, please tell me exactly how awesome it is because I'm dying to get in. i haven't even taken my SAT's yet, any suggestions?</p>

10

<p>if ur from melb...id be happy to guide u...
heres my email: just talk to me on msn...
<a href="mailto:sidforeva@hotmail.com">sidforeva@hotmail.com</a> :)</p>

11

<p>as for suggestions, yes...take the SATs before its too late!</p>

12

<p>thanks, i will do that. i'm in year twelve right now, so i'm applying for september next year (fall.) i have registered to take them. should i be allowing time to retake them in case i stuff it up? :)</p>