chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>Hi, need your opinion for my chances. I know the international pool is highly competitive, so please consider that too. Any help is greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Asian male, from Singapore</p>

<p>One of the 2 most competitive high schools in Singapore.
SAT: 2290 (C740, M780, W770) one sitting
SAT 2: have not taken. will take MathII and Chem, expecting >750 on each
Rank: HS does not rank</p>

<p>Courseload:</p>

<p>Heaviest workload possible in my HS, and in my country.
Grade 11:
Math A
Chem A
Phy A
Bio C (this is considered to be stellar in my school)
Econ B
General Paper A</p>

<p>Grade 12:
I expect my grades to fall this year, maybe an average of B. but i'm expecting average A on my actual 'A levels' exam.</p>

<p>Volunteer:
Led a nation-wide fund-raiser and raised $40k for a charity.
Taught a web design class in a primary school for 2 month
Selected for tutoring of weak math students in my school
public performance of calligraphy in a local museum</p>

<p>ECs:
local math olympiad bronze
2 year president for an academic club
founded a company that provides webhosting, webdesign services
stanford EPGY
National science fair: Entered 3 projects, received Bronzes on 2
Science research program
presented papers at a science conference
school projects day: high distinction, top project for category
play varsity inline hockey
class representation (elected)
volunteer for interact club
4 years calligraphy
1 year judo
2 year computer club
5 year karate (brown belt, under a very rigorous grading system)
5 year swimming (with many awards)
1 year of self-initiated research project in which i designed a medicine database, filing for patent, but most likely to be unsuccessful</p>

<p>Awards:
Creative multimedia competition -1st place. this is a national web design competition
ministry of education award for leadership
international bronze for calligraphy
various awards for needy students (i come from a humble background)
qualifier for the most prestigious national science talent search</p>

<p>Work/Internship:
1. Spent one summer servicing computers and servers for a semiconductor factory
2. Internship at Legal Aid Bureau: 1 week full time
3. Internship at Centre for Strategic Infocom Technologies: 4 weeks full time, with research paper
4. Intership at National University of Singapore 1 month full time, 2 month part time, with research paper supervised by Assoc Prof.
5. paid Internship at a renowned graduate medical school, 2 month fulltime, 1 month partime. with research paper with NOVEL results <--*(hook?)
6. attachment with mediacorp. i was casted in a local game show.</p>

<p>extra:
1. I'm first generation college student, neither of my parents went to college.
2. I come from a humble background, even by local standards. I cannot attend college without financial aid.
3. I am very serious about karate, i will likely make it my essay topic.
4. i have 2 extra recommnedations: from a scientist and from Children's Cancer Foundation
5. i will send in my research abstracts</p>

<p>What I want to know if whether I have a realistic chance of NW engineering, with FA/scholarship. thanks!</p>

2

<p>
[quote]
2. I come from a humble background, even by local standards. I cannot attend college without financial aid.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>obviously you are an outstanding student and applicant. </p>

<p>my understanding of financial aid for international students is that it is limited, fortunately you are a very strong candidate so i think you probably have a good chance of receiving it. by the way, as per the link i'm about to provide, you must apply RD to be eligible for international financial aid.</p>

<p>an application is definitely worth it in your case in my opinion, good luck.</p>

<p><a href="http://ug-finaid.northwestern.edu/internationalapp.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ug-finaid.northwestern.edu/internationalapp.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

3

<p>great app. very impressed by your myriad of interests. wow. that being said, i hear its insanely competitive for internationals asking for financial aid so I would you have a really good chance at acceptance but i have no idea about NU meeting your need. hope everything works out for the best.</p>

4

<p>thanks for the input. i will likely send in an app to NU. any idea at all how many international students are on FA? and how strong are their apps? i have this idea that schools like NU use their int'l aid to woo HYPMS-standard students. in which case i will certainly fall short.</p>

<p>Anymore input on my chances?</p>

5

<p>u honestly dont think you're a highly competitive applicant? stop being so modest. ur definitely competitive at any school, including that acronym.</p>

6

<p>sure hope you're right. hope i do get a good FA to go to NWU. btw i'm applying next year, but i will attend in 2010. gotta sit around doing nothing while doing my military time. good time to get a break from the competitive academic scene thats stressing me out. think i'll do street singing. on a guitar. haha</p>

<p>anymore input about my chances? have anyone ever known a int'l student on FA personally? are they like super brilliant?</p>