Columbia/Brown/Lehigh/ConnColl/Hamilton?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>im an international student from India applying to:</p>

<p>Columbia (ED)
Brown
Connecticut College
Lehigh
Hamilton
Wooster
Hampshire
Saint Lawrence Uni
Trinity College (CT)
Gettysburg
Kent State Uni</p>

<p>and i'm applying for LOTS of financial aid... </p>

<p>My academic scores are alright. We dont have GPAs here, but according to a formula that I found, mine would be equivalent to a 3.4 GPA.</p>

<p>My SAT Scores are</p>

<p>Crit Reading - 620
Writing - 690
Maths - 690 </p>

<p>But i intend to take it again and expect atleast a 100 point gain.</p>

<p>My SAT 2 scores are</p>

<p>Phy - 750
Math I - 690</p>

<p>Retaking Math 1 and also taking Math 2 in nov, expecting in 700's</p>

<p>My ECs are pretty cool. Here's the complete list, the numbers (___th) at the end means grade level when I did them. Im sorry if its a long read... =/</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>Student Body VP
Organised 9 interschool events
Established 2 societies for the education of the lower staff at school and for the education of primary scholars from lesser schools in the area
Volunteered in 7 places over four years
Lead the team twice for NASA's space settlement contest
Best debator of the school for two consecutive years
Represented my school in LOADS of declamatory activities
Best Writer of the school for 2 years
Wrote a prize winning essay for the Commonwealth Essay Writing Competition(10th)
Write for the yearbook every year
Part of Swim Team
Part of Basketball Team
Been in two plays and in hall management once
Member of 14 societies, lead 2 of them
Represented school in quiz competitions
Directed a music video as part of a competition, stood 4th amongst 75 schools.</p>

<p>I know my recommendations are kick ass and one of my teacher even said he'd mention me as a prospective Cambridge High Achievement Award Holder.</p>

<p>Where do I stand?</p>

2

<p>No shot at Ivies with such low GPA and SAT scores. Maybe a good chance at some of the lower schools on your list.</p>

3

<p>Agreed. Your numbers will warrant an automatic rejection at Brown and Columbia.</p>

4

<p>Even if you had much better specs…</p>

<p>“LOTS of financial aid” to Columbia and Brown as an international?</p>

<p>that would turn out very, very badly</p>

5

<p>The schools that meet need are substantial reaches. The others have little aid for intnls and it will typically go to those with very high stats. Make sure to have strong backups at home.</p>

6

<p>um, i did apply last year and i got waitlisted by brown, but i guess that was like suuuuuper lucky or something…</p>

7

<p>I’m not an expert at chancing, but those who say that you will get an “automatic rejection” obviously have little idea of how the college adcom process works. When I visited Brown and several other Ivy League schools, they said that they don’t weight SAT scores as heavily as things like rigor of academic curriculum and the whole picture and that they don’t base acceptance on an “ideal” SAT score. The fact that you scored within the middle 50 % of Brown admits (and probably the lower 25 % in the CR section) means that you are within range. To listen to these other posters who simply say that you will get an automatic rejection based on your scores and GPA are wrong.</p>

<p>And SAT scores aren’t everything.</p>

<p>If I were you, I would go for it and try your hardest, as I will be doing this fall and winter.</p>

<p>Good luck!!</p>

8

<p>Actually, you are the one “who obviously [has] little idea of how the college adcom process works.” If you will rely solely what adcoms would say at an info session set up for the main purpose of boosting the number of applications, you would be quite naive. Furthermore, for international students, Ivy league schools do take into consideration whether or not there is a need for financial aid and therefore will only bring down your chances further. I repeat my sentiment that at Columbia and Brown you have very little of a shot.</p>

9

<p>You didn’t rebuke anything that I said, so it’s hard for me to give any credibility to your post. Like I said, I’m no expert, but you basically just quoted what I said and said I was wrong. Please elaborate.</p>

10

<p>^There is really nothing to rebuke, in that the entirety of your post is misinformed. While it’s absolutely true that test scores make up only a portion of an application and that Ivy League schools (like Brown) are turning more and more towards holistic evaluation of their applicants, there are still very well-defined requirements for your objective numbers. Now, maybe the weight added between a 2200 and a 2100 is not so different, but when the OP has not even broken 2000 on his SATs, it’s safe to say that his chances of admission are going to extremely low.</p>

<p>Telling him to “go for it” won’t change anything, especially considering how he is an international applicant, which is, by far, his biggest disadvantage.</p>

11

<p>Underdstand that the number on the waitlist is often bigger thann the number accepted. Being waitlisted is not the same as almost getting in.</p>

<p>There are many reasons colleges waitlist applicants-an alum wrote a letter, they want more applicants from your school, they want to see if you’ll withdraw the request for aid…</p>

12

<p>Thank you for the explanation billabong, I see that you share my sentiments exactly. And carman788, the only reason I couldn’t rebuke much you said was beacuse you didn’t say much. So here’s a rebuke for you:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Adcoms want more applications, they do look at SATs plenty and especially with a low GPA it doesn’t help.</p></li>
<li><p>For one to be accepted and to be in the lower range of SAT for the Ivies, one must have a hook that will make it worthwhile to the college for them to accept you despite the low test scores.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I would love to rebuke more but the rest of the stuff you said is a bunch of crap.</p>

13

<p>Thanx everyone for everything… But there was something we all did miss here</p>

<p>A) I didnt just ask if i stood a chance at Brown and Columbia, there was more to the question.</p>

<p>B) The GPA I equated was wrong, and on a more reliable site, my GPA translates into a 3.7 if that helps</p>

<p>C) The SAT Scores I posted were just a first attempt. And someone said they didnt break into the 2000s, they did, even if it was a 2000 sharp. ANyway, i wrote i was going to take the SAT’s again, so hey, don’t butcher me like that on my scores… </p>

<p>D) The ‘hook’, though i dont pretend to know what I would have to do to have one, is that i have done some VERY unique social work (you get really hot opportunities in places like Pakistan). The complete activities list was too big to post, so i just put the highlights on, but i really do have a rather opulent activities list. Im the student body vice president, part of 14 societies over four years and two schools, and have organised the most events, social work, charity, competitions in the last 3 years at my school. My counselor told me she’d put me in the top 2% she’s ever come across, seriously, im not THAT bad… =(</p>

<p>So im really not keeping myself in denial, i really am not, but my SAT scores are gonna be atleast 2150 (ATLEAST) when im done. My GPA is 3.7 to a 3.8, and im probably the biggest extra-cirricular freak you can come across. I know my recommendations were kick ass last year, and this year they’ll be better.</p>

<p>With my excuse for an attempt at a rebuttal, does it change anything you guys have to say, asks the scared and humbled applicant?</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>You backtracked from your original post, in which you claimed that the OP would face “automatic rejection”. This time, you said that their chances would be “extremely low”, thus admitting what I said in the first place - that to say that one would receive an automatic rejection would be false.</p>

<p>If you take a moment to read the post I originally wrote, I didn’t tell the OP he had a “good chance” - in fact, I never mentioned what kind of chance the OP had in the first place! I simply said that any notion that he would receive an “automatic rejection” simply based on his “low” SAT scores (which, as I mentioned, are within range) is incorrect.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Of course colleges look at SATs “plenty” - but the truth is that they weight the rigor of academic curriculum and the entire profile altogether more heavily. To say that they weight SATs MORE than rigor of academic curriculum or the entire profile would be misrepresenting WHAT adcom officials said to BOTH domestic AND international visitors at their information sessions. </p>

<p>And to “assume” that one must have a hook to be accepted in the “lower range” would be foolish by any means. Any person who looks at Brown’s website and sees themselves within range - as with the OP - and wants to go there should apply! As with Columbia and any other college - Ivy League, top tier, or not - in the United States. To say that people with “lower” scores only get accepted if they have hooks would be a disservice to the admissions process and would be misquoting exactly what colleges tell students who apply.</p>

<p>The notion that colleges tell prospective students to apply regardless to increase their desirability and applicant pool is partly correct, but ALL colleges do this in essence. Brown does this just as much as other Ivy League universities do, so it doesn’t increase one’s desirability if every university around them (and especially every other university comparable to them) does the same.</p>

15

<p>Now we’re talking. I completely agree with you that SATs are not nearly as important as one’s academic transcript (and I never said that they were) and now that asbjaved has brought to light a more accurate portrayal of his GPA (3.7 which is quite good), I would say that his chances have significantly improved :slight_smile: I am not trying to discourage the OP from applying as people like him are accepted every year to Ivy league universities but he is asking for a chancing and I am giving an honest opinion. It is unfortunate that college adcoms cannot be straight with prospective students as we put so much time to make ourselves appear desirable to their institutions.</p>

16

<p>carman788, I think that you are not taking into account that the OP is an international applicant. All of the insight that is offered in this thread is in context to the fact that since the OP is applying to a U.S. school and does not live in the U.S., his objective numbers and ECs must be substantially superior to the “average” American student. Of course, you do see people getting accepted to the Ivies with mediocre numbers, but these people usually have some outrageous hook, and are almost never internationals. </p>

<p>And I guess semantically extremely low is not the same as automatic rejection, so that’s may bad.</p>

17

<p>The OPs challenge is an extremely different one than that of most applicants. These schools have extremely limited funds for students from India and large numbers seeking the funds. Those with larger endowments will take a small handful, others will take one or two at most. This is not about being the val of your school and having a 2250. This is about being a top student in your country. The vast majority of those applying from India needing aid will not end up going to college in the US.</p>

18

<p>Its just funny being formally refered to as the OP, when the embarassing truth is I dont know what it means… =D </p>

<p>Well, I know for a fact that Brown takes around 5 people from Pakistan every year, and that would mean every Ivy League school has somewhat the same ratio, and the ones with bigger endowments like Harvard yale n princeton probably take two or three more, so you can suppose there are around 50 people who get into Ivy League schools from Pakistan every year. So its hardly about being the top in the country, and more about being one of the top fifty that apply in a given year.</p>

<p>But soooper thanx for all of the healthy debate. its sort of motivating. There were two things though…</p>

<p>A) I’m EDing for Columbia. They say as an international applicant, its a wise move cuz they only have so many seats for people from a certain country, and they reject most RD’s cuz the ED’s have already taken the seats. And I hear it boosts chances of admission and aid. That any true? I’m so totally into columbia. Should I ED? (I’m sorry if im making you guys do my guidance counsellor’s job. She’s no good…) </p>

<p>B) What about the non-ivies, like Lehigh or Conn Coll or Hamilton? Do i stand any chances there?</p>

19

<p>OP refers to Original Poster</p>

<p>Definitely ED at Columbia, otherwise your chances are extremely slim.
I think you have a pretty good shot at the other schools on your list and should probably get accepted into at least a few of them :)</p>

20

<p>Thanks eak325, the “OP” appreciates all the constant help :)</p>