Chances in US and Canadian Unis

Student Lounge International Students
1

Hi !
I am an international student hoping to study at either one from- Georgia Tech, UIUC, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, Cornell, Purdue, Penn State, UT Texas, Texas A&M, UofToronto, UBC, Waterloo or Mcgill for computer Engineering. What chances do I have considering the following profile.
SAT 1: 1420 ( RW: 660; MATH: 760)
SAT 2 PHYISCS: 730 but not needed for the schools
GPA: 4/4 for all 3 years of coursework (12th grade results won’t be out before application deadline)

EC:

  1. Lead Guitarist of the school rock band performing at National Competitions for 2 years, finishing 1st and 3rd respectively. Also performed at an even that had schools from foreign countries.
  2. Leader of the school Cricket team, the most competitive sport of my city. finished a close second from a pool of around 75 teams. Also won 3 trophies in different competitions.
  3. Designed a motion detection rover for disaster and calamities/ security . Won the best project prize at school’s biennial science exhibition. Designing included experience with circuits and coding.
  4. Volunteer work of over 60 hours by being part of school’s social service club and also on a personal level, providing meals for underprivileged every 6 months.
  5. Also participated in olympiads and other national competition. Won a gold medal at National Cyber Olympiad but way back in 2013.
  6. Learnt to code in QBasic, C++, Visual Basic, Arduino IDE. Also have my own blog talking about technology.

Other:
Asian, parents can afford the weird costs.

2

UCLA, UCB and UCSD recommend 2 SAT subject tests since you have Physics, I suggest you consider Math 2. Although they are only recommended, to be a competitive applicant, you should really consider them required.

UCSD looks like the most likely of the three UC’s you listed. Your SAT score is on the lower end as a Computer Engineering major for UCB and UCLA. Your EC’s are diverse which makes well rounded outside of school to your benefit. Write some outstanding essays and you do stand a chance at all the schools.

Best of luck.

3

Thankyou for your advice. I have taken math 2 and scored 650 on it. since its a terrible score I would rather not put it but if do will it hamper my chances? Also, if I choose a different major in engineering will I have better chances at ucb or ucla?

4

Can you retake the Math2 test?

5

No… is it that necessary?

6

For the Canadian schools, you will need chemistry and calculus. I agree with MYOS1634 that a SAT2 score in Math 2 would be very helpful. Have you checked the universities’ websites to see if you need TOEFL or IELTS?