Hi! I’m an international student and I just want to get a general idea of whether I should apply REA for my dream schools or wait till I get back my grades for prelims.
SAT I: 1530 - math 800, read/write 730 (first try; second time I shaded my ovals wrongly and so I shan’t divulge my results, it was bad)
SAT II(took twice): Chinese with listening (honestly just took this for fun) - 800, math II - 790 (on both tries), literature: 720 second try
I didn’t check my GPA, but it was great previously and ksdjndkjcnk panic attacks happened. I just learnt how to deal with it recently, so I’m banking on my prelims to bring my grades back up.
No school placing available
Currently under the A level system, and taking 4 H2s and 1 H3 (research based)
ECs/ awards (I’ll have to remove some of them and merge others because of the number, but here is the semi detailed list):
peer helper in school (Monday enrichment programme)
member of exco as programme manager in Mental Health Awareness Week 2017
published 2 books - one picture book “fighting BPD” and one autobiography about anoexia recovery. The latter was reproduced (with edits) due to popular demand. The second edition also featured forewords provided by 2 professors from 2 local universities (name shall not be divulged here)
gave 9 talks/speeches/workshops in schools (both within individuals schools and at cross inter-school events), at various external organisation events, and to professionals (Teachers, counsellors, medical professionals) related to the second book
organising team member in student initiated volunteer project to allow underprivileged children access to literature (2018)
leader of 120+ team for youth for causes and raised 13000 in 6 months
part of volunteer and service management programme in 2016 (for business management in volunteer projects)
one of 3 speakers representing graduating batch of VSMP 2016
guest speaker as representative of volunteers at volunteer appreciation dinner YMCA Singapore
initiated a booth in school to advocate for a veg stall
part of a vegan society in my country
founded student association as a bridge between existing resources and students who want to advocate for animal rights in their communities
ambassador for vegan food finds website
vegan food blogger - done collaborations and sponsored products etc
Volunteered at several events to advocate for veganism
leader of a group that got into top 10 finalists in youth innovation challenge 2017
group is in top 4 finalists for a national inter-school business pitch competition
member of entrepreneurship club in my school
part of school orchestra for 10 years total (specially selected through music lesson in primary school so I entered the orchestra earlier)
piano diploma (will likely leave out because no space, but I love piano so will write about it in one of my essays)
total volunteer hours over 4 years of 200-300h (I stopped caring about the hours so I didn’t remember the exact number)
Academic honours: sadly nothing but thinking of putting my business competitions here
Does having my Chinese essays published in school publication for best essays for 3 consecutive years count? Also won an award for Chinese poetry writing in 2016, and Chinese work is also published in a national anthology
So as you can see what I have currently is very EC focused and not conventional. Most of my ECs are also focused on business, entrepreneurship, service etc.
Will probably have to apply for financial aid, with the exception of stanford.
List of interested schools (in order of interest)
Yale (dream school from ever since I was ?? I just love the school in general)
Stanford (interchanged with Yale as my dream school but a little expensive. I don’t even think I have a high chance but yes)
Not sure if work experience helps, but in addition to my ECs I was paid to design a company logo, menu, business cards, and company t-shirt at the start of this year. I also provided private tuition for English, science, math and Chinese 2 years ago.
Also to clarify, prelims are preliminary examinations - basically the exam we take before our actual a levels. H1, H2 and H3 are the different levels of difficulties for subjects we take, with H3 being pretty similar but not equivalent to AP.
Your entire list is composed of reach schools. UNC is not anyone’s safety, especially out of state/country. It’s even more challenging for international students. I would apply to some but if you want to come to the US, look for match and safety schools.
As for when to apply, early decision definitely gives a big boost at some schools but if your grades took a hit, that will be a red flag. If you prelims are similar to APs, those scores won’t be a big part of the decision making. Usually US schools use AP scores for course placement after acceptances.
@momofsenior1 prelims refers to preliminary examinations, which is similar to finals? And has the highest weightage in our final grades.
@circuitrider I left out Stanford from financial aid because my Mother did agree that if I were to get into Stanford she will fund me with student bank loans, and as an international student I’m aware that FA decreases chances quite a fair bit. HYP and Amherst are, as far as I’m aware, need-blind schools. As for the rest, I’m applying under the condition that my parents will not be able nor willing to support me without aid/scholarships.
Sorry for the confusion OP, I thought you were saying your prelims were like AP tests…now I see you were referring to AP level courses.
When will your prelim results be available? I hate for you to lose out on applying early decision but only you know how much of a hit your grades took last year.
For most schools the ED deadline is Nov. 1 so you should have time. Have the rest of your application totally ready to go and make sure your school knows to send the scores ASAP.
In terms of match schools - look at schools with 40-60% acceptance rates for your major where your GPA and test scores match their 50th percentile or better
Safeties - 75% acceptance rate where you are well above the school’s 75th percentile for scores.
It’s trickier for international students, especially if you are looking for aid and it sounds like your family will only fully fund a reach school. Search through some of the threads as this question is asked a lot.
@momofsenior1 Thank you for the reply should I still try for the schools listed here? In particular EA for the top 2. I’ll look more into safety schools. Also wondering if the ECs are strong as a whole?
Assuming your GPA is competitive, the rest of your application seems strong to me and it’s definitely worth applying to some of your reach schools. Just have a balanced list! Good luck.
I agree with @center. I see a long list of schools that you are unlikely to get accepted to. If you do get accepted, then I wonder whether you can afford the schools that you get into.
Have you run the NPC on these schools? Do you know what your budget is? If you take on significant debt to get your bachelor’s degree, do you have any idea how you are going to pay it off? How much can you afford to pay without taking on any debt at all?
Also, guessing your chances is quite difficult without knowing your grades, or at least knowing how your grades compare with others from your high school and from your country.
I am pretty sure that Stanford is need blind for admissions.
@DadTwoGirls nope, Stanford is painfully need aware. Also in response to @Center and @DadTwoGirls , I do have my back-ups. The list itself is not exhaustive (I’m not only applying to US schools, and even within US schools I do have schools not in this list and are much easier to get in and where I’m aware of people who got in with the same academic credentials and less ECs).
In their annual phone call to try to get me to contribute, they have said they are need-blind. However, checking just now you are correct. Stanford’s web page says they are need blind for US citizens and US permanent residents. However, they do consider need for international students.
should I still try for the schools listed here? In particular EA for the top 2. I’ll look more into safety schools. Also wondering if the ECs are strong as a whole?