<p>I am a Canadian freshman in the IB program. I was born in India, yet a Canadian citizen, and have lived all around the globe.</p>
<p>I know competition between international applicants is insane in Ivys. </p>
<p>Can anyone please give me tips abotu EC's/ IB courses i should take/Aimed for SATS/ and certain Awards I should try to achieve. (Please keep in mind I am Canadian.)</p>
<p>In addition, I really want to have an internship in a scientific setting later in my highschool career how would I go about that.</p>
<p>And the type of field of want to get into is either (Astro)physics or Pysch.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A great high school (one that is a traditional feeder to the top universities)
matters more than anything else but dont lose hope if youre at an average
high school just be prepared to work harder and more innovatively</p></li>
<li><p>Use your summers wisely to accumulate both international experiences and
entrepreneurial experiences</p></li>
<li><p>Spending money helps, but be careful where you spend it. For instance,
attending the Harvard Summer Program can be a great experience and an edge
in Ivy League admissions, but I wouldnt spend $2000 to have a professional
edit your admissions essays</p></li>
<li><p>Grades make a big difference until you pass the academic bar. At that
point, the marginal effort required (for instance, to raise an SAT score from
2300 to 2350) isnt worth it</p></li>
<li><p>Set yourself apart from those with similar backgrounds. An Asian-American
who excels at math is common. An Asian-American who is a two-sport varsity
athlete isnt, and admissions committees will remember that</p></li>
<li><p>Starting a club is the fastest way to achieve a leadership position</p></li>
<li><p>Prepare your application carefully. In particular, two components that make
a huge difference are your resume/brag-sheet and your essay responses</p></li>
<li><p>Tailor your application for each school. As an example, Stanford values
innovation and entrepreneurship. Demonstrate the entrepreneurism youve
exhibited. Harvard values intellectual depth. Market the college-level
academic work youve already completed, the college-level research that
youve done, any scientific or academic publications, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Depth is more important than breadth. It comes down to a compelling
story. It comes down to a clear spike. Show passion for a specific area (eg,
Science, History, Music) while demonstrating solid performance in the other
key categories (academics and extracurricular involvement)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I was planning to do some sort of volunteer work internationally for the next three years, and I don’t know if this counts but I have had my own web design company and I am a graphic designer and run a custom online clothing shop.</p>
<p>In addition, how would I go about the college research aspect?</p>
<p>And what if the key subject I’m great at - History. Is not the subject I want to pursue. A subject I’m good at but not the best - Sciences/Social Sciences? </p>
<p>Ummm, I would check with Harvard admissions, but I believe they don’t actually evaluate Canadians as international applicants. Canadians clearly don’t file an international application.</p>
<p>Of course, that doesn’t exactly make it easy for Canadians to get into Harvard, but they are not part of an “insane” competition for international slots.</p>
<p>JHS, are you sure of that? I know we don’t file internationally as per the website but my school has absolutely no experience with this. Maybe I’ll call the admissions office.</p>