Currently a junior, Chinese-American
Sat around 1470, probably can earn perfect/near perfect score on sat essay
Unweighted gpa 3.5
9th grade Ap World-4
10th grade Ap Hug, Ap US History-both 5s
11th grade Ap physics, Ap Literature, Ap US Gov, AP Macroeconomics, AP Statistics, Ap Capstone, AP European History, AP Calculus, probably going to get all 5s except for physics
12th grade Probably Ap Calculus BC, Ap Capstone,
I’m going to take Math 2 Sat subject test- probably going to get good score
Going to major in PPE-Politics, Philosophy, Economics
Extracurriculars: Assistant operations manager of MusicMDs-a nationwide group of high school/college students volunteering by playing music to sick patients in hospitals
Young Republicans Club, National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society,
Performed in Carnegie hall in 7th grade to raise money from kids with autism
Also volunteered as a youth counselor in Boys and Girls Club, a summer camp
Varsity track and Field in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades, run 52 second 400m
Likelihood of getting into top universities like oxbridge, lse, ucl, kcl?
Likelihood of getting into top American universities?
Is taking 2 APs next year enough? I already am taking lots of APs
Note that Cambridge has HSPS, not PPE, and that you can only apply to either Ox or Bridge (not both), and that additional written work and/or admissions exams are required for either.
UK won’t care about your ethnicity.
None of your ECs (except Young Republicans) will be at all interesting / relevant / considered. Young Republicans will be interesting only to the extent that it shows a generic interest in politics.
SAT “around 1470” and “probably” perfect score on essay implies that you haven’t taken it yet. 1470 is the minimum for Oxford. Cambridge wants a “high” SAT. Neither Cambridge nor LSE look at subject tests.
If your APs run as you expect, UCL / KCL will likely find your stats enough for an offer. Any offer from LSE and OxBridge will almost certainly be conditional on your CalcBC result.
There is no way to game Oxbridge: if you get all those 5s this year, get a good TSA score have a strong PS an interview offer seems reasonable, but after that the interview is make or break.
If you have the choice, AP Comp Gov is actually useful for the 1st year politics modules.
I also forgot to mention I am a member of the model student senate in school, where we mock the senate.
I also forgot to ask about my chances in imperial college london
LOL. I am pretty sure that you don’t mean mock as a verb (‘to tease or laugh at in a scornful or contemptuous manner’), v. an adjective (‘not authentic or real, but without the intention to deceive’), but with students, who knows! “Model Senate” like “Model UN” is a well-understood construct.
In general, Cambridge is less welcoming to US applicants, but PPE at Oxford gets the highest number of US applicants so there is a lot of competition from other people with US qualifications. FWIW, in the 2016/2017 application cycle 605 of the 1983 PPE applicants were non-EU internationals; they received 175 of the 705 interview invitations; and 53 of the 274 offered places. Note that in that cycle a total of 450 non-UK/non-EU students were admitted (across all courses - about 14% of the overall offers), of whom 180 were US domiciled.
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Yeah I think it’s like model un. Also, is it good to mention I go to the #50 ranked public high school in America because my 3.5 gpa and 75/150 class rankings looks bad
Your biggest problem is not the GPA but whether you have a teacher in a relevant subject who will write a reference (which requires a lot of work because it is not at all like a US college recommendation) saying you are their best student in the last decade. That’s the standard Oxbridge are looking for when they are admitting about one student from each US state on average. That seems pretty unlikely if you’re in the middle of the class.
hey dude! im an american applicant to HSPS and I just got invited for an interview at Cambridge yesterday (I’m so happy you don’t even know!!) so i feel like i might be able to help out a bit. I would have 4 main things to say:
first, on GPA. don’t worry about your GPA, Cambridge honestly barely barely look at it. the only two UK schools that i would say minimally care about it are St. Andrews because it’s admissions is so americanized and LSE which requires at least a 3.7 GPA so maybe take a pass on LSE. I had a 3.7uw and i felt pretty unsecured about that but in the end that part really didn’t matter too much.
second, on APs. your APs are great, but unlike US apps, your scores matter a LOT LOT LOT. id say if you get 5s on all your APs except maybe one or two 4s this year that would help a lot. Oxbridge and most schools don’t count AP Capstone so forget that. i would most def say if your goal is the UK, take a lot of APs senior year, which is what I’m doing. As mentioned above, AP Comp Gov is always great for PPE/HSPS
third, on SATs. THAT is where you really really need to spend a lot of time. to be brutally honest with a 1470 you won’t even be considered at Cambridge and you will most likely be overlooked at Oxford. I honestly haven’t heard of anyone with a sub 1500 get in. That’s only thirty points though so I think it’s really really feasible, but definitely try to get it up. you don’t need a 1600 but a score in the 99th percentile, preferable above 1520 but anything above 1500 works.
lastly, on extracurriculars. this is super important (if anything, please remember this) in the UK, any activity you do that is not related to your course does not mean anything. like, at all. not considered. dont even put it in. so Carnegie Hall, Track, helping at Autism camp, music in hospitals, music manager… any of that, unless you plan to apply for music or sports, it literally means zero. I’m sorry to be harsh but I’m saying this because you are a junior so you still have time to fix this. (it would probably be a problem as a senior lol). what you really really need to do is demonstrate interest IN YOUR COURSE (ie. ppe if that’s what you want to do). usually debate, mun, investing, politics activism all of that is mildly helpful (def spend a few lines on it, maybe a few sentences) but what i heard that Oxbridge specifically looks for is further reading. that can be by doing a research project (either with a prof or just on your own - you really dont need to have insane connections, just had a topic i liked so i just wrote a paper independently- or it can just be done by reading a lot and talking about those readings in your personal statements. for the US all your current activities certainly help, but if your aim is the UK, i would shift your time towards that and good SATs and AP scores, that’s what really is going to matter in the end.
