<p>Hi all, I'm an international student from N Ireland in the UK (however, I am an Irish citizen), and I am wondering what my chances are of getting into Yale or Princeton (ED) would be. I'm asking as I am no expert on US Admissions!
Stats:
GCSEs: 10 A* and 1 A
AS results:
AAAA in Biology, Chemistry, History and Mathematics
Predicted A-Level results:
A<em>A</em>A<em>A</em>
ACT (+writing) composite: 35 (on second attempt)
SAT II: haven't taken yet, plan on taking Math II and Chemistry</p>
<p>EC's:
Head Boy/Head Prefect of a large all-boys catholic state school
Most senior member of the school's student council (student gov)
Volunteering in: hospital, local special needs school, dementia care home, church
Peer Mentor - guide all newcomers to the school
Founding member and senior editor of the school's annual magazine (ie yearbook)
Member of school's debating team
Play 1st Flute in the schools senior wind band for 7 years
Play rugby with the school
Pope John Paul II award for catholic community service and parish work
Did 3 day work experience with a team from CERN who came to the UK, as well as in the hospital
Won a UK-wide biology prize</p>
<p>I know my EC's in particular are not earth-shattering, but I want a realistic view of how much of a chance I would have getting into either institutions!!</p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>P.S: I have an extremely good relationship with all three teachers who will write my recommendation letters who are really keen to write about me, so they will be glowing :)</p>
<p>Write a killer essay, get the ECs UP!!! Decide what you want to major in and focus on it. Nice jobs on the ACT. Volunteering and leadership is excellent, keep it up and figure out how many hours you have been volunteering. I actually live near Yale and have ties to Princeton so I sorta know what’s up haha. Is your school big for a catholic boys school, or is it actually big? Do you play rugby on a JV, or Varsity team and how many years playing?? Flute is great, see if you can figure out what your unweighted/weighted GPA is. Debate and Yearbook are fabulous, you are the captain in both? </p>
<p>Most importantly, figure out what you want to major in, not what pays well or what others want you to do, but what you actually love doing.</p>
<p>If you love your job you never work a day in your life.</p>
<p>You are an upper class, white, male… from a catholic school… being international helps but the UK isn’t too uncommon. So do what you can to stand out and keep it up. Study for the SATs!!</p>
<p>Hi thanks for your quick feedback!
I’m not 100% certain on all of the terms you’ve used but I’ll try my best! I am going into my final year of secondary school - so yeah that would be a senior.</p>
<p>I’ve only played rugby over the past year at a non competitive level.</p>
<p>I am the captain of the yearbook ‘committee’ I suppose you could write!</p>
<p>Also to clarify, I am not what you would consider upper class at all - my family income is less than £50000 (<$80,000) /yr and I’ve an older brother who is at university in Ireland here. My father is a teacher and my mother has a part time caring job. So I would be applying for quite a significant amount of financial aid. </p>
<p>My school has ~1600 pupils so it is above average overall, but very high for a catholic (state school) institution. </p>
<p>In terms of GPA, we don’t use that at all here, but my unweighted would probably be a 4.0 and weighted around a 4.9 (I believe this out of 5.0?). </p>