Good scores, good GPA, many APs... BUT NO ECs.

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>This is not my stats, it belongs to one of my friends stats who is currently a senior and he is REALLY REALLY good on any classes. He came from Thailand and started studying junior here. </p>

<p>His junior's GPA is 98/100 (ranked 1 or 2 in a class of 500), he already took 4 AP's test with all 4s and 5s (AP Computer Science 4, AP Cal BC 5, AP Physics B Mec 5 and AP Physics B E&M 5) and this year he also loaded 6 more APs (AP Statistic, AP American History, AP Lit Composition, AP Comparative Gov, AP Economic and AP Human Geography). I don't know what his final score will be, but his first quarter's grade is already 97. His SAT is somewhat around >2300 (take Junior) and his Toefl is >110. </p>

<p>Sound stellar and incredible, right? Ok so the only problem is HE LITERALLY PARTICIPATED IN NOTHING. No clubs, no sports, nothing. (The closest thing he had done is to volunteer in a Race and an Art Show, but that's mandatory for every art classes). He immediately got back to his dorm after class to study all the time. So that's the problem here. He already get rejected from UChicago ED, unexpectedly. So he started worrying about what kind of schools he can get in with nothing to fill in the "Extra curricular activities" or "Community service". It's already January now, so deadlines keep approaching. Any advice, Confidentialers? He wanted to go to a physics or engineering school.</p>

<p>P.S: It seems that he may only afford around 40k-60k/year.</p>

2

<p>“He already get rejected from UChicago ED, unexpectedly.”</p>

<p>Was he aware that UChicago is heavily essay/EC focused, more so than most top schools?</p>

3

<p>University of Chicago isn’t the best place to study engineering.</p>

<p>What about Stony Brook, Minnesota, Rutgers, Purdue, Ohio State, and other schools with respectable physics and engineering but not too high selectivity?</p>

4

<p>A place like Ohio State would probably offer some serious scholarship money too.</p>

5

<p>^^</p>

<p>I agree with the above…Apply to those state schools. they won’t care about ECs. They’ll accept him based on stats and the ability to pay.</p>

<p>I don’t think OSU will give him merit. The deadline was in Nov for the scholarship app. If the school does award him merit, the max amount for an int’l is $4k per year…not much.</p>

6

<p>where did he apply?</p>