Chances for Stanford, Harvard, JHU, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Cornell

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey all,</p>

<p>Personal Stats:
- Singaporean, Chinese, Male, International
- Top school in country
- SAT I: 2220 750/770/700 - Will be retaking, hoping for 2300++
- SAT II: Math 2/Bio-M/Chem - Not taken yet, taking this upcoming test
- Applying for Financial Aid</p>

<p>School Results:
Predicted A-level Grades: possibly AAAAA for Bio, Chem, Math, Econs, General Paper / H3 Pharmaceutical Chemistry: Distinction
Rank: Top 5%</p>

<p>Co-curricular Activities:</p>

<p>Computer related:
- Chairperson of the Computer Science Club (11th and 12th Grade)</p>

<br>


<br>

<ul>
<li>Vice-chairperson of the Infocomm Club (10th Grade)
> Led club to the top position in the country, winning the club a fully sponsored trip to Silicon Valley
> Multiple awards at national computing and robotics competitions, including Grand Olympiad ECE LiFoRobo Challenge 2006 - Silver Award, National Software Competition 2008 - Silver Award</li>
</ul>

<p>Science related:
- Awarded a Gold Medal in the Singapore Chemistry Olympiad 2010
- Represented my school in the Singapore Biology Olympiad 2010</p>

<p>Performance and Cultural related:
- Was part of the Chinese Drama Club in my school</p>

<br>


<br>

<ul>
<li>Was part of the Choir in my school
> Section leader
> Participated in multiple overseas choir competitions and won gold in all of them
> Won a gold medal at national judging: SYF Central Judging for Choirs 2007</li>
</ul>

<p>Community service:
- Busked in the Bone Marrow Donor Programme (Buskers' Fest) - 2007
- Organised a concert (Appena la Voce) to raise funds for Grace Orchard School - 2008
- Assisted in an art therapy programme at St. Andrew’s Autism Centre - 2010
- Photographed the SE-ed Project event held at SMU - 2009
(not an exhaustive list for all of the above)</p>

<p>Academic awards and achievements:
- Was awarded the MOE Pre-University Scholarship for 2009-2010
- Was awarded the A*STAR JC Science Award for 2009-2010
- Achieved a Merit grade in the Talent Development Programme (TDP) organised by MOE in 2007
- Achieved a Distinction grade in the Innovation Programme (IvP) organised by MOE in 2006
- Placed on the Dean's List in my school for 4 out of 5 of my subjects</p>

<p>Internships:
- 1 month attachment at the Vertebrate Developmental Signalling Lab in the Institute of Medical Biology, a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)</p>

<p>Others:
- Organised Walks of Life and guided interested students around natural heritage sites in Singapore
- Piano (Grade 8 Merit from ABRSM)
- Avid photographer (also part of my school's photography club)</p>

<p>Schools I am applying to:
Stanford
Harvard
JHU
UC Berkeley
UCLA
Cornell</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>You’d be a strong candidate for Berkeley. You should apply there.</p>

3

<p>LOL, you make me worried. Btw, I think if you apply for aid, UC berkeley/UCLA should be out of your list</p>

4

<p>@RML what do you think my chances are for the rest of the colleges i listed above? Thanks for your suggestion of Berkeley.</p>

<p>@kidloveit nah, why would I make you worried? :slight_smile: Why should i not include UC berkeley/LA if I apply for aid?</p>

5

<p>Because the schools don’t provide students with financial aid :). Btw, many Singaporeans have amazing stats. Many students from my country go to Singapore to study. Do you go to ACS or Raffles?</p>

6

<p>Ok thanks! Yup, I go to Raffles</p>

7

<p>Anyway, I need honest critique about my college choices. Anyone else please?</p>

8

<p>It depends a lot on your admission pool. As far as i know, Singaporean pool is ultra-competitive. I am jealous of your awards and achievements (I mean in Singapore, kids have many chances to do many ECs and take part in major competitions, not like Vietnam). Many Vietnamese students learning in ACS and Raffles have strong academic awards in Science and Math like you. So it is hard to chance but I believe that you can get into one of those schools in your list because Raffles is very famous and you are in top 5% :). Of course you can get into NUS, NTU, SMU with that score; add some safeties if you don’t want to learn in Singapore anymore. Good luck</p>

9

<p>I think you would get into the UCs, but indeed there is no aid for internationals.</p>

<p>For Harvard and Stanford chances are low. There is a ton of competition from Singapore and Asia in general. Stanford is also not need blind to intnls and they get plenty of high stats, full pay candidates.</p>

<p>Decent shot at Cornell and JHU.</p>

10

<p>Ok thanks Redroses :)</p>

<p>I know that UCs don’t give aid but I think I’ll go there if I do get in.</p>

11

<p>OP,</p>

<p>Harvard is extremely hard to get into for international students. But the school give grants to those deserving admits. Stanford is slightly less selective to international applicants, based on anecdotes and previous expereinces of students I know. But Stanford is not as generous as Harvard in aid for international students. Maybe things have changed a bit now. But during my time, that was pretty much the case.</p>

<p>UC Berkeley was - during my time - an extremely hard school to get into for international students. The admit rate for international students was only 6.8%, which was a rate similar to Harvard’s. But Berkeley experiences financial crises and is willing to absorb OOS and International full-paying students now (more than ever), provided that their stats are competitive and impressive. Impressive stats suggest that you are in the top 10% of your HS batch (graduating class) and your test scores are in the top 95% or higher. (I think your stats are impressive.) Today, one in every 4 or 5 international applicants get into Berkeley, so take advantage of that because that would most likely change in a few years as Berkeley has a world-wide name. One thing to hvae to take note so you won’t be misled is that – the international applicants of Berkeley are self-selective. They’re usually the very competitive ones, so almost all of them have stats pretty similar to yours. But basing it on odds, you have a higher chance of getting into Berkeley – now – than Stanford, and most especially, Harvard. I’d say Berkeley is just as hard to get into as JHU and Cornell for international applicants though.</p>

12

<p>Berkeley accepts 50% of international applicants and 25% of those in CA. Enough said?</p>

13

<p>Ladies and Gentlemen, beware of Redroses. She is a ■■■■■.</p>

14

<p>RML,</p>

<p>thanks for the comments. In that case, are there any other colleges that I might want to look at? Perhaps some safeties as well.</p>

<p>I’m interested in Biology, Chemistry or the Biomedical courses.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

15

<p>Haahaha, RML is the Berkeley ■■■■■, pretty much all of his posts are about Berkeley and he seems to have confused it’s requirements with Harvard’s.</p>

16

<p>Redroses, a little more than 10 years ago I was just like the OP applying to several top US schools. I was accepted to all but MIT and Berkeley. I was accepted to 3 Ivies (Columbia, UPenn and Cornell), Duke, Rice, Northwestern, CMU, Bowdoin, Mudd, Hiram College and a few more. And, like the OP, I took my IB in Singapore. The SATs had only 2 parts then. My score was impressive. But then again, it was not enough to get into Berkeley. At that time, the admit rate for international students at Cal was 6.8%. It was almost identical to that of Harvard’s. It was only last year and this year when Berkeley has started to accept more International students. You may not have known this because you were not an international applicant. My comments were almost centered to Berkeley because I am more familiar with the school than most of the schools in the US including those that I have applied to before and gotten accepted. Since I’ve started giving advice to students who’d like to study in the US, only 7 students have gotten into Berkeley out of 51, 3 of them were accepted only last year.</p>

<p>Now, am I a ■■■■■? I don’t think so. I’m not the one who said: “Berkeley accepts 50% of international applicants and 25% of those in CA.”</p>

17

<p>tankhm, I have lived in Singapore for a little over 2 years. I still go to Singapore once in a while. In Singapore, school prestige is important if you are to study abroad. So it would make more sense to enroll in a foreign school that’s highly-regarded and respected in Singapore. Otherwise, the local schools are there for those who can’t hack the best schools in the world. </p>

<p>With your stats, I’d stick with the ones in your list. I’d aim for Harvard and Stanford, then Berkeley, JHU and Cornell, perhaps in that order. The international students at Berkeley have been performing quite well. They usually finish on time and with flying colors. My wife who’s from the Philippines graduated with a degree in economics with latin honors and was absorbed by Citi for offshore office in London. </p>

<p>If you want to add your list, consider Northwestern, Michigan, Rice, UCSD, UCSB and NYU. But I’m confident that you’re going to get at least one or two schools from your original list. Good luck! :)</p>

18

<p>I was a college counselor for 20 years, about half of them in CA. Many of my students were considered internationals. When intnls apply to elite schools, outcomes are even less predictable they they are for Americans. The number from each country is capped, there’s only a small amount of aid and who is in the pool that year is far more uncertain, especially years ago, so your own story is not surprising. One powerful family applicant from Singapore could have knocked all the others out at a school. It’s still this way at ivies.</p>

<p>But today 50% of intnl applicants get into Cal. They are competing with CA public school kids, a very different pool than at HYPS and their peers. These kids have grossly inflated grades and scores that are not impressive among top school stats. Berkeley, simply, is much easier to get into than you seem to understand, especially for intnls.</p>

19

<p>Like I asked you before, show me that stats that say Berkeley’s admit rate for international applicants is 50%. </p>

<p>For your information, here’s Berkeley’s data for International Students.</p>

<p>Fall 2010 Freshman Admissions Data* <a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/freshmen.asp[/url]”>http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/freshmen.asp&lt;/a&gt;
International Students
Applicants: 4,750
Admitted: 1,044
% Admitted: 22%
Enrolled: 524</p>

20

<p>Here you go, will you stop giving misinformation now?</p>

<p>Admission offers from UC Berkeley are accepted at a rate that ranges from 20 percent for out-of-state students to 50 percent for international students. </p>

<p>[04.14.2010</a> - More than 12,900 offered admission after competitive application period](<a href=“http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2010/04/14_admissions.shtml]04.14.2010”>More than 12,900 offered admission after competitive application period | Berkeley News)</p>