Do I stand a chance at Dickinson? (EA or EDII)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dickinson College
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<p>Im from an indigenous tribe in Borneo, and a minority group in Malaysia. Didn't grow up in a city, and had a different growing up experience from some of you guys here. i received a government scholarship to study abroad in a foreign country four years ago, and fortunately was exposed to the idea of US education. do help me out over here.</p>

<p>Im currently on a gap year and will be applying for the class of 2015. Im also a first generation college student. (my family had some troubles at home, thus i couldn't attend college this year)</p>

<p>Test Scores:
SAT 1
1470 (CR+M) 2080 (Total) 690-780-610 (CR/M/W)
SAT 2
Maths 2- 800 Chinese- 800 Physics - 760</p>

<p>Academics:
Cambridge GCE A Levels Grade: Maths A Geography A Physics A Economics B
Final year grade: Maths A Geography A Physics B Economics D (No GPA or school rank)
11th Grade: Maths D Geography B Physics D Economics E
10th Grade GPA 3.57 out of 4.00 (distracted by year-round business research projects)
9th Grade GPA 3.78 out of 4.00
*the most rigorous course load at a top high school in the nation</p>

<p>Archery (11th-12th Grade) School Captain
-Represented school in various National level competitions
-Best: National 1st Position in Team Standard Recurve for National Inter-school Championship
Judo (8th-10th Grade)
-Represented school at Inter-school competition
-Bronze for individual event at inter-school competition
Badminton (till 9th Grade)
- Second place for Men's Under 14 doubles in State competition
- Borneo Badminton Cup (top 8 Men's Under 14 Doubles)</p>

<p>Work Experience:
- English translator of Malay Guidebook: Indigenous Community Building (10k words), and several articles on Borneon native communities from Malay to English, vice versa.
- Research assistant on Indigenous Land Rights and GPS Mapping
- 3 months outfield assignment in collaboration with Raleigh to build gravity water feed system equipped with pioneering filtration in a remote village, Borneo. Facilitated the Project Managers from cambridge university and france with a team of 16 global participants aged 17 to 24 from US, UK, Holland, Ireland and Scotland.
- Service auditor at a consulting firm, doing clandestine inspection of service standards in high-end retail stores. Conducted interviews and phone surveys with employees to assess corporate service qualities. Data analysis of gathered project materials together with graduates and professional adults.
- Other odd jobs such as doing sales at Singapore formula 1 grand prix, private tutoring and waitering.</p>

<p>Awards:
- top12 for a national business competition by a university with teams from India, LA, Singapore. and another recognized national business competition. (a year-long project)
- Research project on human geography was nominated finalist at another national competition.</p>

<p>Community work:
- also a big part of my ECs. Had volunteered overseas at Maldives, Indonesia and Singapore at various occasions (on sponsored trips with recognized NGOs)
- initiated a few community work as well during high school</p>

<p>Essays: Matured writing, would say they are rather good. My counselor says it speaks a lot about who i am. I also wrote an extra letter detailing my experiences during my gap year.
Recs: Pretty good i hope. And my counselor is pretty experienced and well known among the deans for some colleges.</p>

<p>Weakness:
- probably my SAT1. my reading and writing are terrible. takin again in october, last chance!
- dont really have much awards in the academic field, like the many science olympiad winners i've seen on CC.</p>

<p>Currently my plan is to apply for FULL FINANCIAL AID to Vassar via EDI - can contribute about 4-5k per year. But dickinson college is definitely lingering in my thoughts, and I would like to know my chances of getting in. Im considering between EA and ED II for dickinson college. (or should i try EDI?)</p>

<p>And does dickinson give out financial aid to international students to such extent?</p>

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<p>i would say you have a fantastic chance. not to give you false hope, but it seems like you would definitely be admitted. i don’t know much about financial aid, though. You should also check out Middlebury, which is a similar “type” of college but is ranked academically better and loves foreign students.</p>

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<p>kmags93, Middlebury is a cut above Dickinson academically (not really a similar type of college in my opinion, and I have a kid at Dickinson), so likely would not give as much financial aid.</p>

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<p>Wow. You guys are still giving credence to “rankings” by some magazine? Dickinson and Middlebury are most definitely similar types of colleges. One is in Vermont, the other in Pennsylvania. Is one a little more difficult to get into? Yes, but that doesn’t make them dissimilar. They are both respected LACs.</p>

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<p>Actually, Middlebury is known for giving generous fin aid to international students.</p>

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<p>Plainsman, not looking at the rankings. Looking at the SAT score ranges. Agreed that both are LACs, so similar in the respect. But OPs writing score is below the 50% range for Middlebury, and his CR score is just slightly below the 50% point. At Dickinson his CR is at the top of the 50% range, and his writing is at least in the 50% range. He could very well be admitted to both schools, but generally schools are more likely to give aid to students at the high end of their range.</p>

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<p>Is Dickinson test optional like Middlebury? If Dickinson isn’t, then I image that comparatively Middlebury’s scores are disproportionately high.</p>

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<p>Dickinson is test optional…but one must check if reported figures include those enrolled (who are sometimes asked to submit scores AFTER admitted for recording purposes)…I recall that Dickinson reports all scores after enrollment…no idea about Middlebury</p>