<p>A dismal attempt on my part to make the title rhyme..
Anyway, I'm in Singapore right now so i can't make college choices based on visits. I'd really appreciate it if you guys can help me check out this college list and if possible give me some suggestions or chance me? Thanks very much :)</p>
<p>--Some basic stuff--
Race: Asian (Vietnamese)
SAT I: 2330 single sitting (780 M 750 CR and 800 WR)
SATII: Math II 780, Chem 740 (1st time in Jan, not retaking).
Taking Literature and Physics in November.
Studied high school under the GCE 'A' Level system. Predicted grades straight A.</p>
<p>Intended major: Political Science </p>
<p>Type of schools interested in: middle-sized, like 4000-5000 students or so. I think LACs are a little too small and the UC schools are too big. But then again i've never actually visited those schools so i can really use some perspectives :)</p>
<p>Setting: Urban. I like cities :) </p>
<p>High school only allows students to apply to 8 schools. I can stretch it to 10 schools max.</p>
<p>Okay, here's my list for now:
- Yale (Financial Aid)
- Columbia (Financial Aid)
- Georgetown (maybe Financial Aid)
- George Washington
- Washington University in St. Louis (maybe Financial Aid)
I'd put in maybe 2 more Ivies? Considering: Princeton Harvard Dartmouth (<-- not exactly urbanite) or Penn
I'm considering Amherst for its need-blind policy (although my parents can pay it's always better if i can get some financial aid) and its location</p>
<p>'Safety' right now is American University</p>
<p>That's about 9 schools overall. I still have 1-2 more choices left. Boston College?</p>
<p>Somehow i'm worried that i might feel claustrophobic in LACS.. too small a student body i guess. The only LACs that are needblind to internationals are Williams (too isolated, so no), Amherst and Middlebury. Swarthmore looks pretty good but since i'm only applying for aid and it isn't needblind i think the effort might not be worth it. Plus it's so competitive! lol i guess i'm gonna put Amherst down.</p>
<p>Is MIT like very sciency? since it's a technological university.</p>
<p>MIT is very technical, but it also has the #1 Economics department in the US (tied with the University of Chicago), one of the top 5 undergraduate Business programs (Sloan) and a top 10 Political Science department. Definitely check it out.</p>
<p>You sound just like my younger daughter who's a freshman at Harvard - similar numbers, same interests and preferences. This was her list:</p>
<p>Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Georgetown
Columbia
U. of Virginia
Southern Cal
George Washington</p>
<p>She applied Early Action to Georgetown, hoping that if she got in early she wouldn't need safeties. EA didn't work out, so she then added USC (safety-target) and GW (safety). We realized too late that the deadline for scholarship consideration at USC had passed a week before the EA notification, so it's good that she had other options. Harvard's financial aid was extraordinary; Georgetown's was almost as good. U.Va. was pretty generous too.</p>
<p>There's something intimidating about the word "Harvard".. lol i can feel chills running down my spine right now. They've never accepted more than 1 person from Vietnam per year before (nobody in last 2 years), and this year there's a whole bunch applying :D </p>
<p>Okay i guess i'm gonna give the big H a shot :P</p>
<p>Thanks to everybody who's replied. i'll be sure to look at all the schools you suggested!</p>
<p>@gadad: Just out of curiosity did your daughter get into all those schools? My heartiest congratulations with all her big name acceptances btw (:</p>
<p>These schools require a high level of extracurriculars (or at least something that you're very passionate with). There have been people with perfect grades who got rejected.
Political science... are you aiming to liberate Vietnam as well? ;)</p>
<p>Haha there's a thought! No for now i just like Politics. 'Liberation' of VN will take a lifetime. I don't think/plan so far in advance.</p>
<p>I'd rate my ECA as fair, with a general sweep of science clubs (i know! strange considering i'm applying SocSci), performing arts, student govt and some sports (not big on sports) & international community service. All commitments are long-term (at least 3 years) with leadership in some.</p>
<p>Academic Honours fair, again with a combination of science fair awards (1 international representative, a few national awards), science competition awards, history awards, MUN and some random awards. Singapore is so small so all awards are national :) One international creative writing award. Some notable school honours (like best student in some subjects, both social sciences and sciences). Overall it looks like a long list but there's no like International Olympiads whatsoever.</p>
<p>Personally i'd say the one 'special' thing about my academic honours is that it involves both social science, Lit and science at high levels /: </p>
<p>I hope they're gonna take into consideration that English is my 2nd language & that i've never lived in an English-speaking country beside Singapore, and somehow view my writing awards in a more positive light.. <em>keeping fingers crossed</em></p>
<p>Lol - all awards are national +<em>+ Wish I chose to study in Singapore back then.
You write just fine, from what I've seen so far. As a fellow VNmese, I'm going to worship you now. Seriously. I'm not even close to achieving what you've done. Harvard? 0</em>o.</p>
<p>I take it that you come from one of the 2 big cities in VN? The south one, I presume.</p>
<p>confused_vnese:
gadad's daughter is probably really outstanding but i think being american definitely helps. but i thinkbeing vietnamese is already a slight boost for u haha</p>
<p>I get a kick out of ticking the "national" column for all my awards :D It just looks good, but then you consider that Singapore is tinier than my hometown Hanoi... But much more competitive! must give credit when credit is due :P</p>
<p>@huuvinh: Nope i'm from the north! The beautiful Hanoi with a cold winter. What made you presume that i'm from HCM city? 'cos people from there are more outstanding? haha
Thanks for your kind words (: I was quite surprised counting the number of awards i've had. I guess because they sort of just happened to me. Like the teachers came one day and said, hey i'm sending you for this, and i'd be like, Okay. Well i just hope they're enough to impress the Yale admission officers for now, and hopefully more from other schools in the future..</p>
<p>Just submitted my Yale app about 3 hours ago and now i'm feeling strangely anxious. Like maybe i misplaced a comma somewhere /: Agh and it's gonna take 2 weeks to reach New Haven! I didn't have enough money to spend by speedpost lol</p>
<p>@1234d: I seriously do hope so! haha so far haven't known of any other Viet applying EA to Yale, but i know the competition for Harvard will be especially FIERCE this year lol. Everybody is gunning for Cambridge Massachusetts and they all have 2100-2200 SAT. H hasn't accepted anyone from VN in the past 2 years (and neither has Y actually). If they do this year i doubt they're gonna take more than 1. Maybe 2 max. I'm so looking forward to seeing the final outcome of the battle!</p>
<p>CV - Wow, you write better than 99% of American-born students - even in online text-shorthand. Remarkable! My D was accepted at six of the eight - turned down at Princeton, and declined the waitlist at Columbia. She had some nice statewide honors and awards which I'm sure were helpful.</p>
<p>@OP: It's just like Int. Viet students to write in a "flowery" fashion, as you do ^^. No, I don't consider the Southern people to be more outstanding. That would be flattering myself. I haven't been to the North so I can't really make any sort of comparison. It's that I have seen how crazily the SG students study for their classes (and how batches of them being sent abroad every year). Because of this, they tend to accomplish a lot - similar to you.
I've seen several Viet people go to Yale, but not Harvard. Tell you what, last night I searched for "Love story at Harvard" and actually found a place to watch it for free. It makes me want to go somewhere uber-prestigious now +_+</p>
<p>PS: It's funny how int. students make fewer grammatical mistakes than the natives, lol. I think it's because we emphasize grammar too much when studying English instead of writing essays & speaking, heh.</p>