I’m a student from the UK who has just started year 12 (or junior year) and up until very recently had not considered studying abroad. However, I found that the comparative freedom of the US higher education system is potentially more appealing to me than the more restrictive system here in the UK, so am thinking of studying abroad.
The most daunting thing I’ve heard about American college admissions is the extracurricular activities required; starting a nonprofit or undertaking world-changing research in a lab seem like the average activities of an American applicant and, although that’s likely an exaggeration, I know I can’t match it. in the UK, there is much less of a focus on extracurriculars (probably because universities place very little weight on them in the admissions process), so I feel somewhat out of my depth.
Therefore before spending any time doing in-depth research, I wanted to see if I would actually have a chance of acceptance at any top US university with these grades and extracurriculars:
GCSEs/iGCSEs:
•maths- A*
•English language- A*
•English literature- A*
•biology- A*
•chemistry- A*
•physics- A*
•Italian- A*
•Latin- A*
•history- A*
•art- A
Extracurriculars:
•piano- grade 8, 10 years (play in recitals 1-2 times per year)
•flute- grade 6, 8 years (play in recitals 1-2 times per year)
•flute group (basically an informal orchestra)
•art class (outside school), 9 years
•medical society
•debating society
•biology society
•world literature society
•have participated numerous times in my school’s poetry evening (competition in which top poems in the school are chosen & read out by those who wrote them)
•managed and organised my house team in a whole school inter-house art competition
•charity shop volunteering
•1 day english masterclass at cambridge
•1 day medicine masterclass at cambridge
•mentoring/tutoring a younger student in biology and chemistry
•regularly attend lectures (at universities and schools) related to biology, chemistry, medicine and english
•currently undertaking a biology/medicine related EPQ
Not yet completed:
•applying for long term volunteer positions at a hospital and a care home
•applying for a life sciences summer school at warwick
•entering biology, english & medicine essay competitions
•considering entering poetry competitions
•considering setting up a chess society
•applying for a short term pharmacology lab work experience placement (however, unlikely to be successful as am outside catchment area), researching other lab placement opportunities
•applying for work experience with a GP and with a consultant
•will likely apply for a school prefect position later this year
Your grades and ECs are just fine and will be competitive. Next step is to be sure your standardized test scores are high and that you take SAT II subject tests depending on where you are applying. Also be sure that your family can afford US tuition. Financial aid for international students is very hard to come by.
Thanks, that’s really helpful & reassuring.
Finances have been worrying me so I was alarmed upon reading that, but (sorry if I’m wrong, I’m very uninformed about the whole process and might be missing something) after a brief google search it looks like lots of top schools do provide at least some financial aid to students?
Harvard:
International students receive exactly the same financial aid as Americans. In fact, approximately 70 percent of our students receive some form of aid, and about 60 percent receive need–based scholarships and pay an average of $12,000 per year. Twenty percent of parents pay nothing. No loans required.
Columbia:
Columbia admits a large number of international students who apply for and receive a substantial amount of financial aid. We guarantee to meet 100% of all admitted first-year students’ demonstrated financial need for all four years, regardless of citizenship.
Columbia’s admissions application process is largely the same for all students regardless of their citizenship or country of residence.
The average award for international students who apply for and receive financial aid is $66,350.
Williams:
Nearly 60 percent of Williams’ international students receive financial aid from the college and their financial aid awards average $60,000 annually.
The acceptance rates at these schools is very low, even lower for international students. But yes, if you were accepted, these are some of the schools that do offer aid to international students. You’ll need to shoot for 1500+ on your SAT and 750+ on all your subject tests. The higher the better.
Be sure to have matches and safeties in the UK because those schools are reaches for everyone.
Yep, I’m only really considering the US if I can get into a college where I would receive a significantly better education or somewhere I would both have the academic freedom that you don’t get in the UK and the better job prospects & student experience. Otherwise, the extra expense doesn’t seem worth it.
I’ll be sure to apply to matches and safeties here, and UK institutions (especially those outside of London) tend to have far higher acceptance rates than those of a similar calibre in the US: Manchester University, arguably one of the UK’s best universities, has a 71% acceptance rate, Sheffield’s is 86% and Newcastle’s is 92%. These are all fairly top-notch UK universities.
Hopefully, if I do decide to apply to uni in the US, I’ll at least have some luck in the UK.