Chances for HYPMS (International)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Could you guys help me out a bit and tell me what areas I should strengthen to have a shot at HYPS (Yale in particular). Not that I do know how to play the recorder but having nothing to show for it. Also good in Photoshop/After Effects/iMovie (dont know how to state this in my application so yeah, should I send links to movies/photos I’ve made/edited?).

SAT I (breakdown): Haven’t given
ACT (breakdown): 34 ( 34 in every component, 35 S and a 32E)
SAT II: Have to give in October
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): International student, dont have GPAs. Have all As/A*s on my transcript so I guess thats equivalent to a 4?
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): NA
AP (place score in parenthesis): NA
IB (place score in parenthesis):N/A
Senior Year Course Load: 5 A level subjects
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Winner of national debating tournament (as well as various local ones), Honourable Mention in the Space Settlement Design Competition held by NASA, Camp for the top 50 students in math of my country (selection for IMO, camp is next month). Only person in my country in the Triple 9 Society ( high intellect society with a percentile rank of 99.9% but I dont think its an award as much as an accomplishment?)

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Prefect, President (Entrepreneurial Society), winner of various regional/int. quiz, science, math, business/economics, debate competitions including university level(Head delegate in various events), have won 20+ competitions. Also an Executive Member of each.Frequent writer for a newspaper. Founder of schools Economic Society. Editor for the Schools Magazine for over 3 years. Head of IT in various school events.
Job/Work Experience: Worked at ‘The History Project’ still do as well. Quite a big start up from where Im based ( endorsed by Cambridge, Harvard, BBC etc)
Volunteer/Community service: Charity Drives, WWF and a local NGO (worked/helped at orphanages/old homes)Have worked there for over 5 years now.
Summer Activities: Assisting a Professor with his Research Project and community service.
Essays: Still have to write
Recs: One from my further math teacher, the other from my school headmistress/economics teacher. Will be good hopefully as I know them quite well
Interview: hasn’t happened yet
Other: Have some diplomas for French endorsed by the French government for fluency.

Applying for Financial Aid?: Yes
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): 3rd World; South Asia
School Type: Private (most elite institution of my country with various boys sent to the Ivies/Oxbridge every year)
Ethnicity: Brown
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Idk
Hooks : None I guess.

All comments will be appreciated (ill also help in chancing back if needed)

2

The admission rate for all of the universities is well under 10%- for domestic students, and only about10% of the accepted students are international. So, you can calculate your statistical odds, but realistically you can probably chance yourself better than anybody here can: look at the boys who have gone to your school who have been accepted at those universities. Be brutally honest with yourself: how do you compare with them?

3

The recorder is a joke. Little kids screw around with that before learning woodwind instruments. don’t write about it but everything else seems fine. good luck!

4

Accomplishments look great! Highlight them in your application. IMO, you have a great shot (especially because of the national recognitions), even though the ivies are extremely unpredictable.
I think it might help if you emphasise your passion in one particular field (debating?, olympiads?) instead of giving yourself off as a well rounded candidate (jack of all trades).
Chance back, http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1906152-what-are-my-chances-in-duke-vanderbilt-ivies-cmu-nyu-stern-northwestern-ucla-georgetown.html#latest

5

The elite institution bit works in your favor, as would the IMO selection (definitely study hard for that one). I’d say you have a shot at Yale and Princeton. Harvard is trickier to assess, as they can afford to be less predictable in their acceptance of international students — often turning down the most decorated candidates and accepting ones that seem, for whatever intangible reason, “unique.”

Really, though, you know more about the specifics of your situation. Are your stats similar to and/or better than those of other people from your school who’ve been accepted to HYPS? If so, I think you’ll do just fine. If not, try looking into other strong US schools that aren’t quite as selective (Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Berkeley, etc). Best of luck!

6

Thanks a lot guys, will definitely ponder over the suggestions you gave! And Arctic, I’ll be pursuing a major in economics hopefully so I guess I’ll be highlighting my finance/math related accomplishments more. And yup, Ill chance you as well right now!