NYU has always been my dream school. Ive applied to other colleges (Amherst, Hamilton, Pomona, U of T) but NYU is the one that I really want to go to. Ive applied Early Decision 2 to NYU Gallatin and have requested financial aid. I applied regular (obviously) to all the other colleges and have requested financial aid in all of them.
My personal background:
Im an international student but Im also a US citizen
Both English and Spanish are my first languages, but I can also speak French and am planning on learning (self taught) Russian this summer.
Ive lived in 3 different countries and have a very multicultural background
I currently work as a waitress at a coffee shop (first job, colleges are unaware of it however because I just started working since the legal working age in my country is 18)
Im planning on studying a mixture of literature and creative writing and minoring in history
My family situation: My parents got divorced when I was 8, I live with my mom, brother, and step dad but also visit my dad. My dad is now remarried and I have a step-sister with severe autism.
Academic Background:
I have a 4.0 GPA (In my country, an average of more than 17/20 is equivalent to a 4.0, and I have an average of 18.1/20)
I took the SAT and got a 1400 (kinda low in the US but high where I live considering that we don’t have any SAT prep classes here)
I just finished the International Baccalaureate DP (Bilingual Diploma). I achieved a total of 39 points (HLs: 7, 6, 6)
My academic situation is very particular since I randomly improved a lot. I went from being an average student to being a top student in a month (this was in 10th grade) and have stayed at the top ever since.
Was awarded a prize for “excellent work in mathematics” (we don’t really have many prizes at my school)
Community service: fundraising for a charity that builds stable homes for poor people in my community, teaching english to spanish speaking 8th graders, helping young underprivileged children with academic and emotional problems, played with underprivileged children to help them have a bigger role in my society
Theater: was member of the backstage team for one of my schools plays
Participated in MUN
Established a blog to help other IB students
I am currently working on writing my first novel. I have also written some short stories which I posted online.
I have a passion for reading and writing and history!
First, be aware that you have a much better chance of getting in to NYU than to Amherst or Pomona - NYU is much, much less selective than the two of them are. I think it likely you will be admitted to NYU, and probably to Hamilton. Amherst and Pomona are less likely (but they are possible because you are a very impressive applicant). I don’t know anything about admissions at Toronto.
Unfortunately, NYU is absolutely terrible for financial aid, especially for internationals. If Amherst or Pomona admits you, they will give you full financial aid. NYU will not do that. I hope you understand that - I’d hate to think if how disappointing it would be to be admitted and not be able to afford to attend.
Very nice, @thelesswebecome. I think these schools will pick up on your passion for academics – and that should carry you through to an offer at more than one of them.
Depends what country you’re from and if you need financial aid, but overall I think you will most likely get into NYU ED2 as long as you don’t need any financial aid as an international. Hamilton is also likely. Pomona and Amherst are reaches.
@ap012199 : In principle, superscoring should be reversed (standardized) by these colleges for the purpose of reporting to external organizations. Therefore the above ranges (#10) should be non-superscored.
@thelesswebecome : Colleges will look at your GPA in the full context of the standards of your HS. In this sense you may be better at interpreting your true achievement than we can be.
The average SAT/ACT doesn’t say much for a school like Amherst or Pomona, which turn down around 9/10 applicants, including many with high ACTs (Pomona turns down 75% of people with a 34-36 ACT). I remember in one of Amherst’s profiles where they actually took a higher percentage of 27-29 ACT students than 30-33, which is probably because of their high commitment to socioeconomic and ethnic diversity, and I’d wager Pomona is the same.
NYU has a 3x higher acceptance rate, and from my experiences, they seem to be most interested in test scores and grades, compared to the more holistic LACs. I think you’ll get into NYU.