French high school student / USA

Student Lounge International Students
1

Hey everyone , i’m currently a senior in a french high school in france . Since my junior year i decided to apply to american universities , and i was wondering , what are my chances ?

Standardized test : I already know that for most universitiesi need to take the ACT or SAT , and the SAT subject tests , but i was wondering , do i have to take the toefl ?

My GPA : French GPA is really different from the american GPA , actually , our GPA are on a scale from 1 to 20 .
i’m currently in Scientific stream , or serie .
Grades during junior year :
Maths : 19
physics : 19
biologyand earth science ( geology … ) : 17
french : 18
english : 19
History and Geography : 19
spanish : 18 ( could get more )
sport : 15 ( i’m not really good at sport)

My ECs :
Founder and president of the MUN club ( 2 years )
Founder and president of the computer science club (3years ) ( first student-led club of my high school )
President of the Math and Physics olympiad team
founder and tutor of a physics tutoring website ( in english , writing some AP physics courses for international students )
Youth ambassador of france
Young ambassador UNICEF
european space camp
Yale young global scholars program

My awards :
arrived 2nd at the European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad
arrived 1st at the national physics olympiad
INTEL ISEF finalist (twice)
part of the team france at the international physics olympiad
some piano awards
some school awards .

We also have a class rank where i’m the first in every subject except sport

Prospective major : CS or aerospace engineering .

My bac de première grades are :
French : 18 ( ecrit) and 20 (orale)
TPE : 20 ( worked on food in space station and how work space stations … )

I also made a list of universities that interest me the most (in order of preference) :
Stanford
Harvard
Yale
princeton
NYU
Carnegie Mellon University
cornell
brown
dartmouth
duke
georgia tech
williams college

i think that’s all , so could you guys give me your opinions , some informations , advices and maybe my chances to get into the universities of my dreams as an international student ( i need financial aid ) :slight_smile:

Thank you everyone !

2

I can’t judge your grades because I am not familiar with the French system. You certainly have some good EC achievements. But without test scores (you will probably take the SAT), no one can chance you. Each college will have its own requirements for whether you need the TOEFL or how to get that waived, so check their websites. If you have not taken any SAT test yet, you are quite behind for applying this year.

3

well actually , i took the tests but did not revised AT ALL for them ( i didn’t have time ) so got 29 ACT and 600 at sat subject tests … what do you think ?

4

With those scores, your list of schools are all reaches. Sorry. Plus, as an international candidate, finding financial aid will be tough unless you can find schools to fit your stats.

Additionally, will you be seeking a degree in Aerospace engineering to use that degree in your country? I ask because in the US, you won’t be able to get a job in aerospace without a Security clearance which requires US citizenship. So if you are planning on using aerospace in your country, then you should be okay.

5

You have very high grades - but to be a competitive candidate at any of the schools you listed, you must have significantly higher SATs and/or ACTs – especially if you need financial aid.

6

No chance anyplace on your list with those scores, sorry.

7

well i would like to study computer science but yes i consider aerospace engineering but that’s not sure at all . I know that my scores are quite low but i thought that with my awards and grades maybe … what ever , thank you for your answers , i was also wondering , do you know some safety schools that i can apply to , where my chances are higher ( and where financial aid is available for Internationals ) ?

8

i’d like to apply at UCLA , uc berkeley and uc irvine but financial aid is not available for international students so … :confused:

9

As an International student, safety schools are schools in your home country. Definition of a safety school is that is affordable, high acceptance rate and you are willing to attend. None of the US schools would fit that description.

10

https://educationusa.state.gov/ Read through everything, then contact the counselors at the Advising Center in Paris https://educationusa.state.gov/centers/fulbright-paris They will be able to tell you where students with grades and test scores like you have been admitted in recent years, and whether or not those students received any financial aid.

11

The UCs are still a reach with those scores. You could try schools with no name prestige like Trinity College in Conneticut. It does not require test scores. If you are female, try Smiths or Mt Holyoke. But even that is a stretch. Full aid is unlikely. Really, it’s extremely unlikely you’ll be accepted anywhere.
But I agree with Gumby, within France you would be an exceptional candidate for national scholarships. Good luck.

12

thank you so much ! well i took twice the ACT and sat subject tests and reveiced my scores just yesterday night , i got 33 ACT and still waiting for subject test , do you think that my chances are still low ?
Thank you again !

13

i took the ACT in october !

14

With a 33 ACT and if you apply for CS (not engineering), your odds are rather good.
Don’t submit your SAT results.
What exact scores did you get for the SAT Subjects?
(I would like to mention to any student reading this that going into a test without prep is stupid and a colossal waste of money).
Your grades are exceptional, as you well know, as are your EC’s. Definitely include Smith (equivalent to a “grande école”, but beware that it’s more political than, say, l’X, as it is a women’s college, ie., a college designed to empower women.)*
You could also apply to URochester, Bowdoin, Skidmore, Carleton, HarveyMudd.
I think you’d be a perfect candidate for HarveyMudd actually.

Is your school an international school? Are they used to sending applicants to the US?
Because, often, French schools are completely off the mark with recommendations and kill their candidates’ chances. For instance, “good” is a high compliment in France. The fact the SSR list has “very good”, “excellent”, “outstanding”, and “top few” above “good” tells you how differently it is perceived in the US.
Did you read examples of good essays?
Those should NOT look like anything close to a “dissert”. They must NOT be general and they MUST use “I”.
A good website is “essayhell” :slight_smile:
Go to tumblr and check out the blogs by AFrenchie36 and FrenchYalie.
Also check out this blog - the student there got a CS internship alongside students from UC Berkeley, UChicago, and Stanford after his junior year.
https://usafrenchstudent.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/

*yes I know this is a simplification but the topic isn’t “women’s colleges”.

15

My school is not an international high school … So for them it’s all new to send a student in the US , my counselor really likes me and i had the opportunity to read 2 lines of her recommendation , it was honestly amazing ( she said that i was the smartest student in the high school and some other stuff that i didn’t have the time to read ) . Thank you for the blogs and websites it’s really helpful ! for the teacher recommendations i asked my english teacher who loves me and my computer science teacher . For the essay , i know that it’s very different from what i’m used to write , it’s why i decided to talk about something quite personal ( i had OCD during my freshman year of high school , and i talked about my fear of failure ) . Honestly i don’t really know if that’s a good idea to write about such a topic , what do you think ? actually i said that being afraid of failure made me have OCD and ironnically making me fail in front of this disorder , but i also said that OCDs helped me to create a software ( microsoft imagine cup semi finalist … ) . By the way thank you for the information about harveymudd i didn’t didn’t konw this college ! in fact , i’m really interested in dartmouth , moreover , they do not require sat or act but just TOEFL and predicted bacccalaureate scores. I also had the chance to meet a princeton student ( not international) that reviewed my essay , but honestly i don’t know AT ALL if my essay is great or not .
About internships , i also had the chance to do a summer internship at yahoo uk last year ( very great experience )
Thank you again for everything !

16

For the student websites, read everything and ask them questions.
On tumblr there’s also MyCollegeJourney but it ends with choosing a college between those that admitted him.
AFrenchie36’s blog is the best kept. AFrenchYalie has “ask a question”.
On this website, look for @Irising, whose profile is similar to yours.
HarveyMudd is VERY hard to get into but sounds like a great fit for you, after Stanford.
Did you apply REA there?
Another issue will be how much your family can contribute, as how much financial aid you need will be a factor at many universities including Stanford.

17

I wanted to but didn’t because my counselor forgot my transcripts and some other stuff ( i was super mad at her ! )

18

i will take a look at harveymudd , sounds like a great college !

19

You should really try to buy one of those books: Princeton Review’s Best Colleges, Fiske Guide, INsider’s Guide to the colleges (amazon is pretty quick)

20

i will definitely buy the princeton review book ! thank you for everything ! :slight_smile: