Desperate European student needing help to assess chances to top Universities

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi! I really need some help to figure out how big, or small, are my chances to enroll in one of America's top universities. I'm planning on focusing in philosophy, international politics and law. </p>

<p>These are the colleges that I'm considering:</p>

<p>Yale - Harvard - Stanford - Berkeley - Columbia - Georgetown - Dartmouth - Brown - UChicago - Princeton - Washington St.Louis - Northwestern - Wesleyan - Williams - Amherst - Duke - Cornell - Penn - Rice - Vanderbilt - Emory - UCLA - NYU (all suggestions are welcome, as always!)</p>

<p>My stats:</p>

<p>Age:19</p>

<p>Graduated: May '10, valedictorian with a 1.0 Abitur average and honors in the field of Science, since I was the school's best student in every scientific subject, although I also ranked #1 in every humanistic studies class.</p>

<p>School: German School of Oporto (from Kindergarten to Gymnasium) - it's a German state-funded bilingual Gymnasium in Portugal's second-biggest city, Oporto.</p>

<p>What have I done since then?: Studied/ying Medicine at Portugal's top med school</p>

<p>Languages: Portuguese, German, English, French, Spanish (every single one fluently), Italian (basic knowledge), Latin (basic)</p>

<p>SAT scores: 793 Writing - 796 Reading - 754 Maths
SAT Subject scores: World History 798 - US History 790
TOEFL:119</p>

<p>Extrac's:
President of the GSO Student Government for 2 years
Member of the School Counsel for 2 years
President and founder of the Student's Association of the German Schools of the iberian Peninsula
President and founder of the Student's Association of the International Schools of Oporto
Class delegate for 5 years (don't know if this counts, but it is relatively important in my school)
Member of the GSO varsity volleyball team
Member of the GSO middle school basketball team
Coach of the GSO middle school basketball team
Active at my local parish for about four years - I've been doing some work with homeless people and I'm also a monitor at the local Catholic Youth group - we have about 400-500 kids over there, it's the biggest religious group for teens in Oporto.
Participated in the Schleswig-Holstein Model UN
I was responsible for an initiative on Health Awareness at a primary school from one of the city's poorest neighbourhoods.
Founding member of the Debating Society of the GSO
Played the violin for about 7 tears
Played tennis for about 6 years
I'm also thinking of doing a summer internship at the EU or at the International Court of Den Haag (don't know if that is possible, though)</p>

<p>About my Abitur:
I graudated with a 1.0 - my grades are extremely high in the humanistic field. I had the highest possible grade in every single history semester, in all the others my average is about 14.something or higher - 15 being the highest possible grade in the German system.</p>

<p>Scholarships:
For my valedictorian status I received a scholarship, which is essentialy a free-pass for an internship at any German firm.
When I was 16, I got a scholarship from the Robert Bosch Stiftung to pursue a Bachelor in Engineering at the University of Heidelberg and procede with my Abitur studies at the same time. </p>

<p>Recommendation letters:
History teacher, English teacher, Philosophy teacher, German teacher, Headmaster.
My headmaster has said, that the German ambassador was very interested in writing a recommendation letter. </p>

<p>Financial Aid:
Needed. My parents earn about $160.000/year, but they have a big mortgage in their hands and due to their financial capabilities and my country's financial outlook (Portugal is in very very very deep s***), my parents simply cannot afford paying more than 10.000-15.000$ year. I'm going to sell my car (worth about 30-35 thousand euros) and do some work at a local hotel as a bag carrier/receptionist to see if I can make some extra money. I'm also looking at the Portuguese Harvard Club for some kind of financial support.</p>

<p>About my background:
My father's a surgeon and my mother's a lawyer, both have very humble origins (first in their families to conclude the 12th grade and to pursue college studies. Both enrolled at the best schools in their respective fields.) They're not fluent in any foreign language, but they knew, that the GSO is very demanding and provided an extremely vast palette of subjects (I took everything from Physics to Arts).
I was pushed towards Medicine, because of my very high grades in the scientific field and, also, because of my social surroundings. After one year and a half of Med School I decided to pursue my dream, which is to attend an elite university in the United States, so that I can deepen my interests and enrich my personal life with one of the world's best educational experiences. I also love the fact, that most US universities want to develop the entrepeneurial side of their students and their leadership qualities, which fits me perfectly, since I want to work at an international organization figuring out ways to improve international relations, political systems and society as a whole. </p>

<p>So, how do my chances look like? Do you have any suggestions? I'm looking forward for your answers, thanks for your help!</p>

<p>"Abra</p>

2

<p>Your stats are quite impressive actually.</p>

<p>If you REALLY need NEED-BASED financial aid, don’t even plan on applying to:
-UCLA
-Berkeley
-NYU
They only give merit-based aid, and this won’t be enough to pay your entire expenses (although I’m not quite sure how much financial aid you need…) Oh, and NYU…they barely give any aid to internationals. Sorry.</p>

<p>I actually find your ECs quite good. Definitely try to get that internship! </p>

<p>Also, do you have any awards?</p>

3

<p>Are you making your SAT scores up? SATs are reported in multiples of ten. You can’t have a SAT score like a 793 in reading.</p>

4

<p>^Yep, good point.</p>

5

<p>No, I was trolled by a friend, who wanted me to post my doubts here on CC…he didn’t know my exact SAT scores, so he just put some approximated numbers (he doesn’t know how it works) based on my number of right and wrong answers, according to my prediction :P</p>

<p>These are my true SAT scores:</p>

<p>SAT: Writing 790 - Reading 800 - Maths 760
SAT Subject: World History 800 - US History 800</p>

<p>Sorry for the mess guys, but we were all victims :P</p>

6

<p>On the awards, nope. Here in Europe, there is a lack of competition, or at least in Portugal, for students with my type of interests. </p>

<p>Still, I have the valedictorian and I ranked #1 all-time in my school (110 year old Gymnasium, the most demanding school in Portugal - only 20% reach the Abitur phase) </p>

<p>I’m also hoping to draw some extra attention based on a letter from a diplomat, but I don’t know if that would be accepted(?).</p>

7

<p>You have to look for merit aid if your parents can only pay $15K. Most of these schools only offer need based aid, and on a salary of $160K dollars or Euro, they would be expected to pay considerably more. Mortgages and expenses dotnt count in their assessment. At HYPS you might have a chance of paying close to that if the salarynis ni dollars, but not at any of the others. At most need based privates you’d be full pay or close.</p>

<p>For schools generous with merit aid for internationals, read up on the intnl board.</p>

<p>I’m also a bit confused about whether you’re applying as a dressy en or transfer. Hopefully it’s freshmen, because there’s much more money than there is for transfers.</p>

8

<p>Waverly,</p>

<p>thanks for your comment! </p>

<p>I’m applying as a freshman. My parents won’t pay, much more than that, but the rest of my family is probably going to help out. My car and my summer jobs will be good enough for over a year of school+living expenses. </p>

<p>If I get accepted at Harvard, I’ll probably get some financial support from the Harvard Club of Portugal, since they help out people with financial aid needs.</p>

<p>I’ll hope for the best</p>

9

<p>^ How does this Harvard Club of Portugal “help out people” with financial needs? Isn’t that a club just for alumni?</p>

10

<p>Are you applying for fall of 2012? If so, you have missed many merit scholarship deadlines, which for colleges that do offer merit scholarships, are earlier than the normal deadline. . And most of the colleges on your list dont offer merit scholarships.</p>

11

<p>How come you’re 19 though? Did you take a gap year?</p>

12

<p>It is, but one of the goals of the club, at least here in Portugal, is to:</p>

<p>“Develop conditions that support the admission of Portuguese applicants to Harvard University, namely organizing open sessions and promoting the creation of attractive financial conditions for potential applicants”</p>

<p>Currently, there are no Harvard undergrads of Portuguese nationality, which increases my chances immensely (I’m not quite sure, but I’ve been told, that if I do get in, I’d be the first Portuguese citizen, or at least the first 100% Portuguese citizen, to attend an Ivy as an undergrad.</p>

<p>My parents also have some connaissances in there and they’ve (guys from the club) said that they were willing to help. No need to say, that the most prominent members of this club are extremely wealthy people…</p>

13

<p>xcherrybombx,</p>

<p>Nope, I concluded my Abitur at age 17 and I’m currently attending the Oporto Med School.</p>

14

<p>I think you are good to go for most of these schools. You may want to concentrate on your “hook,” however. Yet again some kid wanting to study medicine with some internships under his belt is kind of run of the mill at these schools. Kids who are fluent in 5 languages, much less so: therefore, you may want to build your hook around politics, language, UN, international relations, etc. etc., with the medicine part taking a back seat as a “minor.” You will find that, in particular, Harvard is looking for Portuguese majors, so that right there might be an area of your application that you emphasize. You have so much in your background that it is hard to figure out what you really can “contribute” specifically to a university. Universities love the whole globalization thing these days, so again I come back to your languages being the true hook here, not medicine.</p>

15

<p>^ GuyfromPortugal, if you’re attending Med School (as a freshman?) you have to apply as a transfer student. Sadly, it’s much harder to get in as a transfer, but not impossible. You should apply as a sophomore, or later as a junior. You cannot apply as a freshman, contrary to what Walvery said, since you already have college credits.</p>

16

<p>I’m a Med School sophmore, but I’m dropping out. So, technically I’m not going to transfer. At least in European schools and Portuguese private universities, I would qualify as a freshman. I have people saying, that I’d qualify as a freshman, since I’ve never done the SAT’s (those scores were my first scores), never applied to an American school and I’m dropping out of Med School. </p>

<p>I’ll check out the web to see what I can find, thanks for the heads up ;)</p>

17

<p>Well, I just put medicine in there to explain my situation. What I want to focus on is international studies, philosophy and law!</p>

<p>I come from quite an unusual background and I’m quite unique in my educational path, I guess.</p>

<p>My family is Portuguese to the bone, nonetheless I was educated at a German School from a very early age (4 years). Unlike most students who attend international schools, I have no dual citizenship or legacy. </p>

<p>During school, I was, almost literally, in Germany and I was in Portugal at home. </p>

<p>As someone who is focusing on international studies, having a letter from the German ambassador to Portugal is also a nice plus.</p>

<p>The languages are definitely my biggest “hook”, since I speak all of them at a native-like level and I have absolutely no accent. Last time I flew to the US for campus tours, they thought I was British. I had to show them my passport, so that they’d believe me. Same thing happens in Spain and France. </p>

<p>I think, that the fact that I aced my SAT Subjects in World History and US History shows that I know a thing or two about what I’m going to study…</p>

<p>Well, I’ll hope for the best!</p>