Could it happen?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I'm a Saudi student, currently attending a college preparatory program in Saudi Arabia. I will be attending University of Washington this Autumn. I was admitted to the Computer Science and Engineering department, which far as I know is one of the top 10 computer science schools in the nation so I'm happy about it. However, I wish I was allowed to apply to other top-ranked schools, but my full-ride scholarship program had a list of computer science schools from which the scholars had to choose, and UW was on top of that list so I gave it a shot.</p>

<p>Gladly, after having a really long discussion with the coordinator of the scholarship program, I've managed to persuade him into letting me apply for other top schools as a transfer.</p>

<p>I was considering to attend an Ivy school, Stanford, or maybe CMU. My grades and scores are as follows:-</p>

<p>-HS GPA: 3.71 (top 5% of class of 2010). The college prep. program's GPA is 3.87, if that is of any importance.
-SAT scores: 560CR 770M 530W
-TOEFL score: 113/120 (most top schools, including Harvard, ask for a minimum of 100)
-We have a test in Saudi that is similar to the SAT, called Qiyas. I got 92.87% on that test, which puts me in the top 1% of test scorers.
-EC's: President of the student council in the Eastern Province, founder of the robotics and artificial intelligence club at HS, a member of the Saudi Cancer Foundation, an administrator of Nesma online gaming servers, a high member of Mawhiba foundation for giftedness and creativity, and many others.</p>

<p>In my UW personal statement and short essay, I wrote about injustice and misfortune in my life as a Saudi from a family with limited income, attending a public school where an English teacher would spell the past tense of "sleep" as "sleeped," and being prejudiced because of my last name, Alghamdi, which was associated with many terrorism acts around the world (Alghamdi is a famous family in Saudi, with easily over 300,000 members. Not all of us are bombadiers). I concluded my essay with how I seek education with passion, which allowed me to learn English and sciences all on my own in a difficult environment that attempted to suppress me. (Side note: I also clarified that not all Saudis live in a suppressive environment; it was only my misfortune.)</p>

<p>I would like to hear what you guys think about my chances in getting admitted to a top school.</p>

2

<p>Your chances will depend largely on your college GPA, so it’s hard to chance you at this point. However, I can say that your SAT scores are probably too low if you want to transfer to the Ivies as a sophomore transfer. Even if you apply as a junior transfer, they might still be too low. So if you want to stand a chance at transferring to the Ivies or other top schools, you should definitely retake the SAT, aiming for at least a 650 in every section.</p>

3

<p>One of my friends was admitted to MIT this year with an SAT I overall of 1760 (he got triple 800 in Math 1, Math 2 and Chemistry of the SAT II though). I think most schools overlook the SAT CR and W scores for international students, but it would definitely be in my benefit to score higher. It should be easier to score over 650 during college, or so I hope.</p>

4

<p>I also forgot to add a couple of things to my ECs. During summer of 2008, I attended the Research Science Institute program offered by MIT while being sponsored by the Mawhiba foundation. I also attended a summer program at Brown University the following summer.</p>

5

<p>My apologies. I just noticed there is another section completely for “what are my chances?” kind of questions.</p>

<p>Thank you transfers2010 for your response! :)</p>