<p>I am an international(armenian). I am going to apply for financial aid. My intended area of study is Computer Science.</p>
<p>SAT I: will take in December, hope to get 2000+(800 for math section)
SAT II Math IIC: 800
SAT II Physics: 780</p>
<p>GPA: 9.9/10.0
School/class Rank: 1
Recs: excellent
Essay: pretty good IMO(demonstrating interest in math/science)</p>
<p>I have a Bronze medal from International Olympiad in Informatics(IOI) 2009, placed 2nd at national olympiad, also participated in national olympiads in various subjects, especially in math/science. Have a programming experience of ~5 years. Have led my school's intellectuals team to 2nd place in our city. Have graduated from high school with a Gold Medal(there were 31 students who graduated with Gold Medal overall in the country).</p>
<p>i’m armenian too! although I’m from California. Anyway just wanted to wish you luck, hope you make your essays standout especially from the international perspective</p>
<p>A little bit off topic, but I see lots of people here that won olympiads and stuff and they get “woah you won the olympiad - excellent change of getting in!”</p>
<p>Well I never had a chance to participate in such thing, living in Thailand and all, in a pretty reclusive private school - at least academic wise.</p>
<p>How does that affect my chances?
I mean, I got alright SAT scores, not amazing, top 1% of my school, 44/45 IB and I won lots of prizes within my own school - but never had a chance to do anything national or international like a math olympiad…</p>
<p>I have a similar problem. My school doesn’t offer any APs, IBs, etc.(though the normal courses are hard).
And my school doesn’t actively participate in the Olympiad stuff either. I’m the first student of my school(in history) to participate in an international olympiad. There are some specialized schools in my country, which give the opportunities you mentioned. But my school doesn’t. So, I had to do everything on my own.</p>
<p>A medal in an international olympiad is never a guarantee, it’s only a kind of bonus.
So, don’t worry!</p>