<p>Redroses, the article you provided contained an outdated information now. Notice that it was published in April 14, 2010 – that was more than 4 months ago. The site I provided contained a more accurate data and was updated only in July 14, 2010. Notice the numbers are higher as the figures have been readjusted. </p>
<p>Furthermore, the article you quoted was just estimation. It says it will adjust to satisfy the 20% combined OOS and International Students enrolling in Cal for this fall. But the actual data came out just this July and the 50% admit rate that it says in the article you provided did not actually happen. Here’s the actual data:</p>
<p>…
She is an insecure college chancer whose main object is to post inflammatory chances everywhere.</p>
<p>Would you guys like some examples?
But his SAT is way above the average which can balance GPA. Not to mention that UCs are very anxious for more full pay OOS students. It would be hard to see you not getting into Davis, Irvine and…
No, the tip is not minimal. Top colleges get scores of applications from major cities and affluent suburbs. They get few from rural areas of less affluent states. They want representation from every…
3.It’s unlikely you’d get a cent unless there is a very unusual situation.
Do you have any safety schools?
The top UCs are reaches. HYSCB are unrealistic… </p>
<p>To me, she seems like a parent who is thinly disguised under a “college counselor” who worked for “20” years.</p>
<p>Oh well, this woman doesn’t even know how to spell Naviance.</p>
Top school in country- bad. (competition within your classmates,… no?)
SAT I: 2220 750/770/700 - Will be retaking, hoping for 2300+± bad. Since you are ORM international
SAT II: Math 2/Bio-M/Chem - Not taken yet, taking this upcoming test- Hope you do well!
Applying for Financial Aid- Meh.</p>
<p>School Results:
Predicted A-level Grades: possibly AAAAA for Bio, Chem, Math, Econs, General Paper / H3 Pharmaceutical Chemistry: Distinction- A-level grades are great, but how is your transcript?
Rank: Top 5%- good.
After this threshold (SAT+SATII+Courseload+GPA) I think you are within the range.</p>
<p>Co-curricular Activities:</p>
<p>Computer related:
Chairperson of the Computer Science Club (11th and 12th Grade)- 11th and 12th only? :(</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- Good.</li>
</ul>
<p>Science related:
Awarded a Gold Medal in the Singapore Chemistry Olympiad 2010- Wow!
Represented my school in the Singapore Biology Olympiad 2010- Meh.
Did you apply for ICho?</p>
<p>Performance and Cultural related:
Was part of the Chinese Drama Club in my school- Part… now is this a resume-padder, or did you do any significant work with this club?</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Good academic awards, but don’t include the “dean’s list”… meaningless.
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)
^nice!
Others:
Organised Walks of Life and guided interested students around natural heritage sites in Singapore- Meh. Kind of random
Piano (Grade 8 Merit from ABRSM)- Meh.
Avid photographer (also part of my school’s photography club)- Meh.</p>
<p>Schools I am applying to:
Stanford- reach
Harvard- reach
JHU- match
UC Berkeley- match/reach
UCLA- should be easy.
Cornell- ED Here!!</p>
<p>RML, thanks for the suggested schools. I will consider applying to those that you have mentioned. Hope I do get a couple of schools from my original list though haha.</p>
<p>Facebook, thanks for that detailed analysis of my list of achievements. Didn’t know what might be useful or not. I was in the training team (around 20 people from the entire country) for selection to represent Singapore in the ICho, didn’t get selected though.</p>
<p>Thanks all once again! If there are any more comments, I would love to hear them!</p>
<p>tankhm- My concern is that you need some sort of an adjective to describe you.
And your ECs need to back up that magic word.</p>
<p>It is an exhaustive list; yet, it is not coherent. It seems (let me stress the word SEEMS) like that you just did C.S to pad your resume.</p>
<p>So in order to avoid being seen like that, cut some useless community service hours that don’t go with the flow of your application.</p>
<p>Other than that, “I was in the training team (around 20 people from the entire country) for selection to represent Singapore in the ICho, didn’t get selected though.”</p>
<p>I don’t know how stiff the competition pool is, but DO mention.
That means you were in final 2nd round, right?</p>
<p>Best of luck, and hit me up if you need more help.</p>
<p>RML,
One of my HS classmates got into Berkeley and it was a little over 10 years ago too; he’s very good at math and I think he might have made the Olympiad team for Hong Kong (not sure since I left HK two years earlier). However, he had no EC other than math competition and his English was mediore. He had less than 8As in HKCEE (anyone with 8A or above would have been named in my school). In the past, students that got into Ivies usually had 8/9/10 As. Getting into Harvard/Stanford was pretty rare even with 10As and even though my school was one of the best in HK.<br>
I also knew this other guy when I lived in the Bay Area. He didn’t do so well in Hong Kong A-level and came here for a community college. He transferred to Berkeley. Also, Berkeley’s TOFEL requirement has always been 550-575. All of these things seem to indicate to me that Berkeley admission is not as hard as you were thinking.</p>
<p>Why not apply to MIT, CMU ( School of Computer Science ), Gatech etc. since your interests lie in Computers mainly ? You are a pretty strong candidate.</p>
<p>I may end up being sorry but I’m going to chime in here.</p>
<p>I’ve run into both RedRoses and RML on other threads and I don’t think either of them are ■■■■■■. I like the posts of RedRoses that I’ve read. I think facebook’s characterization of RedRoses in post #22 was really unfair, especially in light of the evidence that he provided. I didn’t see anything wrong with any of the posts RedRoses apparently made on other threads, not one.</p>
<p>I think RML is overly enthusiastic when it comes to the topic of Berkeley, but I think he comes by it honestly and he is entitled to his opinion.</p>
<p>RML – you asked RedRoses to provide evidence of her assertion that 50% of internationals are admitted to Berkeley and she did exactly that. Instead of acknowledging that she did exactly what you asked he to do you berated her for using outdated data. Data that is 4 months old is not outdated. You may have data that is more recent and so should be taken to be more accurate but that doesn’t mean data that is 4 months old is outdated. We should use your statistics of 22% of internationals are accepted to Berkeley as the accurate measure. This still backs up what RedRoses said, which is that Berkeley has a high rate of acceptance for internationals.</p>
<p>@tankhm – Since you singled out facebook and RML and gave them thanks it makes it look like you are taking facebook’s advice and are going to ignore RedRoses. I hope that isn’t the case, she is just here trying to help. You also are ducking the question of whether you need financial aid or not. It isn’t just idle curiosity that makes people ask, it makes a big difference in the advise people will give.</p>
<p>Since you didn’t know that Berkely and UCLA didn’t give financial aid to internationals maybe you also don’t know how the financial aid at the other schools on your list works. It’s based on need, if you don’t need it you won’t get it. That means if you can afford it then you will be a full pay at any of the schools you are looking at.</p>
<p>@Pea real sorry for the late reply. Have been caught up with a couple of examinations that I have to take this few weeks.</p>
<p>Re Redroses, I apologise if I seem to have ignored her comments. I already did acknowledge that she gave me great advice about the colleges that I am applying to and after which it became a flurry of statistics between RML and her.</p>
<p>Re financial aid, I am (according to my parents) able to afford the education without the aid, albeit at the expense of my younger sibling. I come from a family with 3 children, my older sibling is in a local university and my younger sibling is only in 7th grade. My parents have told me that they are able to afford my education, however, I know that they are only saying that to make me feel certain about my future education. I will need the financial aid in order to lessen the financial burden on my parents.</p>
<p>@Redroses my apologies if it seems that I ignored your advice and highlighted the rest. I sincerely thank you for the advice you have given me and will take that into account when I apply to all the colleges I have listed above.</p>
<p>@facebook thanks once again for the detailed comments on my list of achievements and the advice you have given. I’ll take into account the comments and edit that list accordingly. Will drop you a note if I do need anymore help. Re the ICho though, the selection pool of 20 was whittled down from an initial population of at least 400 students. The top 20 were chosen to attend a centralised training programme, after which the top 4 were selected to represent Singapore.</p>
<p>@ivycollege I have considered applying to those colleges but decided against it because I want to do something different with my further education. Computers are a side interest for me, just so happens that I was able to translate my interest into membership in a external school activity.</p>
<p>Thanks all once again. And my sincere apologies if I have offended anyone by my actions or inactions.</p>
<p>Redrosses’ proof was invalid because it was not a real statistic, but estimation. Any school has its own estimation and could be over 50%. When Redrosses claimed that Berkeley admits 50% of all international applicants she should show correct and real statistics that would support that. But that’s not what she gave.</p>
<p>Sam Lee, sorry for not being clear. I was ONLY talking about the admit rate for Berkeley at my time which was notorious, hovering only around 6 or 7 percent. Maybe Harvard gets the better applicants. If that’s true, which to soem extent it is, that was justifiable given that it is HARVARD. Harvard admits also get more hypes… But I can remember that a substantial number of very talented kids have also wanted to study in MIT or a top West Coast school such as Stanford or Berkeley. Of course, things have changed now. As you can see Berkeley’s admit rate for international applicants have risen to 22%, something very unusual for a UC school.</p>
<p>You have a good profile but you have to play your game well. If you want fin aid, apply to the need blind ones, those with merit scholarships and generous LACs. If not, you can get into many good/prestigious schools.</p>