<p>I'm a junior from Taiwan, and I'm planning on going to the US for college. Because I attend a regular Chinese high school (the best girls' school in Taiwan), I'm not all that sure about my chances. I've browsed several websites and am an avid collegeboard.com reader, but I have almost no other references. Here are my stats and I hope I can receive a bit more information here.
SAT I: CR: 800
Writing: 780
Math: 800
SAT II: Literature: 790
I plan on taking Math 2 and Physics in June and I have confidence in both (well, to a certain extent)</p>
<p>My school doesn't have GPAs but I rank about twenty in a class of 1300</p>
<p>I don't have a lot of ECs (there aren't many to have in Taiwan I think), but here they are:
Writer of the school newspaper
Piano 10 yrs/violin 4 yrs/guitar 1 yr
Won several awards for literary works and competitions
In charge of classroom decoration for two semesters( this is a big deal in my school)</p>
<p>I know my ECs are weak but I hope to make up with my SAT scores, high school performance and application essay. Just how important are ECs anyway and will admission officers overlook their importance due to the little opportunities I've had to enlarge my EC list in Taiwan? I'm going to apply for Early Action this November. How are my chances?
Thanks~</p>
<p>ECs are extremely important. Grades and SAT scores can only do so much. Once applicants reach a certain level, they are distinguished by ECs, essays, recommendations, etc. Good luck! And great job with your scores...they are great, especially for an International student!</p>
<p>Thanks a lot...this really means a lot to me. : ) I guess I'll try my best to increase my ECs, but I find that a lot of the ECs going on in my school are really different from those in the US.
BTW, does ethnicity matter much? I noticed many people mentioned their ethnicity when asking for chance evaluation. I'm a Chinese female. Does that by any chance improve my chances?
Also, do you think admissions officers will consider the fact that I wasn't educated in an English-speaking country to be complimentary? Because, you see, I have to juggle a highly demanding Chinese-school-course with my preparations for the SATs and can't take any courses that will help me in subjects like English Literature. I mean, I've had to self-study the whole way. Does that mean anything to an admissions officer?
Thanks a bunch and please reply. I really need all the information, opinion and experience I can get! Best Regards.</p>
<p>Yes, they will definitely take into consideration the fact that you were not educated in an English-speaking school. For you to have earned such stellar scores on the Verbal and Writing sections is very impressive! Being Chinese will NOT give you an advantage. There are many qualified Chinese applicants from the mainland; indicate that you are Taiwanese...it should be slightly better.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips and encouragement!! But I have to agree with Purest Awesome. What's AI??
Another question: How do I calculate my GPA? I had straight As all three semesters (high school begins with the 10 tenth grade in Taiwan), but as there are no 'hard' or 'easy' courses in my school (everyone gets pretty much the hardest work load there is), I don't get any 5.0s. Also, I've seen some GPAs that go up to 12. What's that about?
Will adcoms consider the rank of my school? Its a really competetive high school that enjoys some international recognition. Will that mean anything?
Thanks for telling me I might have a chance! I've read some really impressive stats and ECs on CC and am a little freaked out. Your encouragement means a lot!</p>
<p>Wow! Someone from First Girls School! Wow, you have higher SAT scores than me (well mine aren't that great) and Taiwan isn't primarily english speaking, wow, mindboggling, congrats.</p>
<p>Through my exchange I was stuck in Kainan Vocational Highschool, a bit different in academic prestige than First Girls heh heh. Then again I'm a guy so I couldn't exactly be put there anyway (They could've at least put me at the National Taiwan Normal University Associated Highschool (ShiDaGaoZhong) gahh)</p>
<p>If you got straight A's just put down your GPA as 4.0 Unweighted. The colleges will figure it out from there. Hopefully they know what the education system is like in Taiwan as there appears to be a ton of applicants because they don't have enough interviewers to interview them all.</p>
<p>As for ECs... I don't really know what you can do outside of school. Whats your intended major? If you've decided I'd reccommend pursing anything related to that, be it an internship or some school project. Your ECs show passion. So it's best to pursue (in my opinion) ECs related to your intended major.</p>
<p>Thanks, jpburton5150! Ni Hao! Did you enjoy Taiwan? I'm so glad there's someone here who knows about Taipei First Girl.
Speaking of interviews, do I have to have one? I know that, technically, I don't, but will it be helpful if I do? I'm sure there aren't enough alumni left in Taiwan to do interviews. Maybe the mayor of Taipei? Ha ha~ After all, I do go to the same high school his daughter, wife and sisters went to.
As for major, I'm inclined to Comparative Literature, but am also very interested and quite good at physics. My ECs are almost all Literature-wise: I've won about ten literature awards inside of school, am a staff writer for school's award-winning newspaper (actually it's not a newspaper but a book that issues every semester), recieved an award for school's science fair, have published a short story, recieved a prestegious scholarship for English, was a member of the school's guitar club in sophomore year, and am an avid writer despite my hectic school schedules. I have a real passion for writing and my teachers, both Chinese and English, think I am talented. I hope to play up my knowledge of Chinese Literature and my compotence in both English and Chinese. By the way, do you think, from your experience, that the importance of Chinese is acknowledged in the US and will my background be advantagous?
Thanks a lot :-)</p>
<p>Nope, no interview, I think I might've liked to have one but I'm really undecided. The other exchange student I know didn't have one either. Actually, I had my would-be interviewer in the States contact me, not realizing I am in Taiwan, but that whole initiative pretty much delineated (can I use that word? haha) down to "unnoficial" e-mails. Then again I'm not a true international applicant.</p>
<p>As for Chinese being acknowledged that kind of a confusing situation, but I sure hope so as I'm banking on it a lot for college admissions. In the past couple years there's this HUGE buzz about how China is growing in all the media but we'll just have to wait and see if educational institutions follow suit. Man, Taiwan is a hoppin' place too, every forum I frequent has a fair number of people from Taipei, crazily unproportional to the rest of Europe I think, or maybe it's just psychology.</p>
<p>PS: I've been making the rounds at these highschool "Proms," (I'd say parties though). I went to the one at ShiDaGaoZhong (NTNU associated highschool) friday night and there were a bunch of First Girls there. Is Taipei First Girls having one seeing as how there aren't any guys? </p>
<p>Hmm... literature is a toughy to get "involved in," maybe you could start a literature group outside of school or organization for the appreciation of literature... I'm just brainstorming though. If I were a physics major in America I would most certainly try to get experience in lab work, I don't know if that's as easy in Taiwan though.</p>
<p>Anyways, I think you are brilliant, to pull all of that stuff off that you've already accomplished you must be insanely good at time management, if Harvard only realized how insanely you all have to study even to get INTO Taipei First Girls.</p>
<p>ok, you clearly did exceptionally well in and out of school, NO ONE on this forum can tell u your chances into harvard bcuz at the end of the day, only the admissions office can tell you that...i recently got into dartmouth and swarthmore but i didn't ask 'oooh, what are my chances for dartmouth'...or something to that effect, bcuz i really did not know. </p>
<p>however i do wish u all the best of luck with harvard, it's competitive, there are thousands of kids just as bright and creative as you are, so hopefully something about you stands</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies, guys. Savoirfaire, Why especially from China/Taiwan? Becuase there are so many applicants?
I know there are thousands, even hundreds of thousands of kids whose performance are the same as or superior than mine. I hope I can find my 'stand-out' quality and let it shine.
Anyway, thanks for the tips. Best of luck to everyone who's applying!!</p>
<p>jpburton: So you're still in Taiwan? I thought you'd already gone back to America. Hope you enjoy your student life here! :-)
Thanks for all the encouragement and I really appreciate your tips. I hope Harvard can, in some way, understand the toughness of our school and Taiwan's educational system. Maybe I can write a note to tell them or something?
I wish you the best of luck for whichever college you wish to apply or has already applied. (Which is?)</p>
<p>Tons of Chinese people apply from everywhere, and most of them are highly qualified. Competition for Chinese applicants within the U.S. is already tough, and for international students, it's even tougher. Good luck with everything; you'd be an inspiration to all if you're accepted.</p>
<p>rockao... it is not only in taiwan where the education is tough. im from singapore, and the education here for sure aint any easier.... your lack of ecs is abit shocking, but if u want to highlight your propensity towards the chinese culture, there aint any tangible efforts to show for it.. </p>
<p>For those who asked (if it hasn't been answered), AI = Academic Index. It's the product of a formula comprised of GPA, class rank, & standardized test scores. Ivies still use this in some fashion. Serious candidates for Ivies are usually in the 7-9 range. CollegeConfidential has a calculator for it on one of its pages -- if you know your rank & all. I'm sure some 6's still get in because of compensating factors & all -- like athletics or rarefied accomplishment in e.c.'s.</p>
<p>Michele Hernandez described it in her book, "A is for Admissions."<br>
(P.S. I'm not her publicist or PR person, LOL) That's just for your info.
:-)</p>
<p>Thanks, epiphany. I didn't know that. Maybe I'll try out the calculator.:-)
To scandal-less:
Wow! You're from Singapore? I understand your system is way more tough than ours. Yeah, I know I don't have outstanding ECs (no where close, actually) but I do have some accomplishments that high-light my propensity towards the Chinese culture. The ECs listed above aren't really all there is. I haven't had time to go through all my past activities, and only listed from the top of my head. Perhaps when I've finished listing everything it would look slightly better (I hope).
BTW, does your school teach everything in English? Just out of curiosity.
Thanks, everyone, for your replies. Best of luck for whatever you're aiming at!</p>
<p>I know this is a Harvard Forum, and I do plan to apply for Harvard EA come what may, but...what do you reckon on my chances for Stanford, UPenn and Columbia? With my current stats, ecs, decent essays and hopefully brilliant recs, what would be my 'match' schools? Liberal Arts Colleges included. Thanks. I'd really appreciate your replies.</p>