Chances-International Student

<p>I want to study Computer Science at an American Ivy League or any good technology institute. How much weight is place on A levels and GCSEs, what SATs would I need to take, what are the average scores in these SATs and what would I need to get, in relation to this average, to stand a good/better/decent chance?
In conjunction I will be researching, but any input would be great.</p>

<p>Maybe I should include some info so I can be “chanced”.
GCSEs
4 A<em>s- English, Chem, Physics, Maths
5 As
A Levels (predicted)
A</em>A*A</p>

<p>Hello,
well A-level and GCSE are totally different.
I used to study in England and did the first year of GCSE so I know well about the British system too. And my sister did A-level in boarding school too and she goes to a pretty decent college in New York right now.</p>

<p>I know a person who went to Brown University (which is Ivy League school) with 4As on A-Level.</p>

<p>A-Level is considered in the US but do not think a-level and gcse would play a bigger role than applying from the us. and honestly, i dont think GCSE is not that important (although im not too sure)</p>

<p>US schools dont give out conditional offers like UK does.</p>

<p>Being international student, you will need to take TOEFL or IELTS but you can be exempted if you score 650 or above in Critical Reading of SAT (not every school but many school does it)</p>

<p>Many and most US Schools use this application form called Common APP (although schools like UIUC and Georgetown don’t use it) which is like UCAS.</p>

<p>However, UCAS only requires one personal statement and its much easier.
If you use common app, which will be released the first of next month, you need one main essay like personal statement and many individual schools require their own supplement essays.</p>

<p>And there is no limit to applying, but make sure you can finish the supplement essays too. </p>

<p>By the way, if you want to go to top schools, scores dont just get you in. They will consider your extracurricular activities, class rigor, work expereince, essay, hooks, and etc… It is a lot different from UK.</p>

<p>For SAT, if you are applying to top schools you will need to get 700 per every section (Critical Reading, Math, Writing) to be competitive. Above 2250 would not hurt you.</p>

<p>For Computer Science, I would recommend Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Stanford, Texas Austin, UIUC, Wisconsin-Madison, USC, UNC, Cornell, Georgia Tech, Princeton, and Vanderbilt.</p>

<p>I am not too sure about why i wrote so make sure to double check.
Wish you a good luck.</p>

<p>Cheers for the reply- very informative. I had a look on the MIT website, and it said something along the lines of every entrant needing to study five out of six courses, for a year, which included Maths, Science etc.</p>

<p>Does this mean I would not be able to specialise in Computer Science in the first year?</p>