Chances for Harvard, Stanford, Caltech, Cambridge, and more?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, I'm currently in Year 11, doing my GCSE's, but after this I will do my A-Levels. I'm from Karachi, Pakistan but I live in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and I go to a British school here.</p>

<p>I think GCSE's are comparable or similar to Honors/AP classes so I will list them :</p>

<p>Mathematics
Statistics
Geography
Economics (Macro and Micro)
Business Studies
Citizenship
French
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
English Language
English Literature</p>

<p>These are the A-Level options I will take next year :</p>

<p>Maths
Physics
Further Maths
Economics</p>

<p>Now, I love Physics and I am pretty good at Maths. Every single aspect of Physics excites me and makes me wonder - from quantum mechanics to astronomy. Therefore, I would love to do A-Level Physics and then do a degree in Physics at university. At the moment, I am aiming for the best Universities for Physics in the UK and USA. These include : Cambridge (NatSci), Imperial College, Harvard, Caltech, Stanford and MIT. As everyone knows, the admission process for such universities is extremely tough - at times impossible. I'm predicted A/A* at GCSE's and hopefully I can achieve those. Then at A-Levels, I will try my hardest to get 3/4 A*'s hopefully. Additionally, I will sit my SAT next summer and I am hoping to get 2200+ at least. </p>

<p>By no means will this be an easy ride, it will be a lot of hard work but the subjects I am planning on choosing interest me a lot so it will be a lot of fun at the same. Other than grades, I also play leadership roles and participate in extra curricular activities such as :</p>

<p>Debate Club (Captain)
Captain of Cricket Team (Was given a scholarship at ICC Cricket Academy)
Work experience at Blackberry (Got a free Blackberry for my efforts)
Volunteered at Red Crescent
Finished Duke of Edinburgh Silver ( Aiming for Gold next year)
Climbing Mt.Kilimanjaro (hopefully) this summer on school trip
Basket ball Team
Tutored kids in compound as a community service ( over 80 hours )
Running club
Model United Nations
World Scholar's Cup (going to Kuala Lumpur for Global round this Year)
Gold medalist for National Maths Olympiad</p>

<p>Furthermore, I try to read books around the subjects I plan on choosing such as A Brief History of Time, Freakonomics, SYNC, and others to develop my knowledge outside the curriculum. However, at the same time, I keep a tight balance between academics and my social life.</p>

<p>Now, I know that over 90% of all candidates for the universities mentioned above will have what I have, however, how can I distinguish myself? Will it be the interview, the essay or other accomplishments that I can make in the next two years? Any advice would be helpful. </p>

<p>P.S I know I follow a British system so let me clarify a few things for people who don't understand it. GCSE's is like Year 9 and 10 in the American education system. A-Level is comparable (but much harder) than AP and a A* in A-Level would be a 5 in AP. Also, grade 11 in the UK is grade 10 in America.</p>

2

<p>Bump. Bump. Bump.</p>

3

<p>To distinguish yourself - Do what you love, best.</p>

4

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1142971-chance-me-neoucom-cincinnati-dual-admissions.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1142971-chance-me-neoucom-cincinnati-dual-admissions.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>Bump. Bump. Bump.</p>

6

<p>we need to know your class rank, essay quality, SAT scores, SAT 2 scores, GPA etc etc to chance you.</p>

7

<p>You can’t expect us to chance you without anything chelsearox listed above, can you.</p>

8

<p>Class Rank : 1/345 ( asked Head of Year)
GPA : I don’t know how to convert fully but I checked on the Cambridge Exam board and an A/A* in all subjects is equal to 4.0</p>

<p>Essay : not done it yet, I have another year and a half before applying to these Universities
SAT : Practice run gave me 2100/2400, but I’ll push this to 2200+ next summer</p>

9

<p>see the SAT is a huge portion.
For harvard you need 2200+ minimum and 2300+ to be realistic.</p>

<p>Your an average applicant for harvard and the like right now. Your an exceptional student no doubt but these schools receive 10,000 exceptional applications each year. Distinguish yourself.
Your cricket achievements look good but apart from that you have to really step up your game drastically. Self study a few APS, have a killer internship. I don’t know what you have to do but you have to do something epic to get into the schools you just listed.</p>

10

<p>Yup, I’m planning to push up the SAT to 2300+. But I got 2100 without any practice so I hope I can get it up-to Harvard standards. As for the internship, I will be working in the Engineering department in the University of Waterloo with a graduate student to get first hand experience. In addition, I still have two years of school left so I can still add to those EC’s and record.</p>