Chances of an international senior for chemistry major at public unis

Student Lounge International Students
1

Greetings,

Long post; please help this really scared, paranoid kid decide on things

Demographics: Underrepresented south-asian country at these unis, male, only child of two surgeons

Doing my country’s national curriculum and CAIE A Levels together (Phys, Chem, Math and Further Math). Predicted straight A’s in national curriculum board exam; AAA*B in A levels. Had 90% overall average in 10th grade public exam (95%+ in the relevant sciences and math). (just for quick info: A levels give me college credit, and are generally deemed more rigorous than their AP counterparts)

Attending my country’s most prestigious high school; ranked 57th in class of 2095. Grades are kinda bad though (lots of grade deflation) (ex students at my highschool get into top unis in my country, and have gone to MIT, Stanford and other ivies).

SAT: expecting >1500 (december 2020), couldn’t reg for subject tests due to weird reasons

Several national awards in Olympiads, went to math Olympiad camp (similar to MOP after the USAMO in the US); did a research project in inorganic synthetic chem; almost made it to the Stockholm Junior water prize team; did an internship on analytical chem by a national institute

Volunteered once in my school science fair. Mentored juniors at school math club. Not much community service or NGO stuffs tbh

Current list:
Dream schools: Berkeley, UCLA, UMich
Reach: UWMadison, Georgiatech, Purdue, UC Davis, Illinois urbana champaign
Safety: some of the better “state” schools (pennstate, ohio etc)

I might sound stupid, but anyways, thanks in advance! Also, do suggest good private unis

2

Berkeley doesn’t accept SAT/ACT scores this year; see: https://admissions.berkeley.edu/freshman-policy

Do you require FA? Public universities rarely give FA to international students, though you might get merit scholarships (very unlikely at Berkeley/Michigan level).

3

In my experience admissions at US schools know quite a bit about the typical grades in high schools in other countries. I however have trouble knowing how to interpret your grades. “Had 90% overall average” would not be top 10% where we live now, not even close. However, it would have been top 1% (barely) where I went to high school.

Whether you need financial aid will make a big difference in terms of what are “safeties”. A university is only a safety if you know you can afford it.

4

Curious as to why only publics - are you full pay? Top privates are likely to be more generous financially. They may also care more that your country is underrepresented. Are you applying to UK unis as well?

@DadTwoGirls , in a British based system, 90% is a significantly better grade than it looks to an American. And agree the schools will be aware of each country’s grading system. Also, to OP’s point about grade deflation at his/her school, if this school does indeed send people regularly to tippy-tops then it clearly has a counseling office that is successfully able to explain the grading system to US colleges.

5

Hi,
People who’re asking: no, I fortunately won’t need financial aid

6

Here’s the weird thing: in my country, you study 9th and 10th grade at a different school, and 11th/12th grade at a different “college” (that’s what they’re called here). The “college” sends people to tippytops and admin is really cooperative. With my previous school though, things are kinda bad. My GPA is around 4.3 out of 5 (unweighted), but I rank 5th in class of 50. Again, this is not the same as American GPA - you get a 5 if you score >80%, a 4 if >70% and so on. That school doesn’t really care about students :disappointed:

However, I have a cool teacher from previous school who agreed to write me a nice LOR

7

Yes, applying to UK unis too - Cambridge, Imperial, UCL, Nottingham and another to be decided. Currently deciding on an interview date at Imperial :smiley:

8

What major? Unless you are looking at Engineering, UIUC and UW Madison are more along the lines of low match/safeties than reaches.

9

Chemistry, and maybe a second major in mathematics