HELP! Chances to ivies.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>hey everyone. i am from pakistan i was wondering if someone could help me out here. u see i graduated from school, </p>

<p>took a gap year and applied to a couple of unis in the U.S (jhu, middlebury, macalester, and vassar) from where i got </p>

<p>rejected :(. i also applied to LUMS, the most prestigious university in pakistan and got in, but they didn't have biological </p>

<p>sciences. now i am a freshman at karachi university studying microbiology but i just dont see it going anywhere. i really </p>

<p>want to experiment with different science majors to pick the right one and that kind of system is unavailable here. so i </p>

<p>am thinking of applying again which has now become a necessity. transfer is not an option since we don't have a credit </p>

<p>hour system. my stats are listed below. could u look at my list and help me out here.</p>

<p>harvard
yale
caltech
cornell
upenn
MIT
middlebury
rice
williams</p>

<p>SAT 1240 1st try
SAT 1380 2nd try (760 math, 620 verbal)</p>

<p>SAT2 math2c 740, writing 780, biology E/M 750. </p>

<p>(high school).
eng lang. 94
math 90+
chemistry 93
biology 96
physics 86</p>

<p>(college)
transcripts haven't come out yet</p>

<p>ECs
(high school)
member of the prefectorial council
member of the public speaking club
member of the community service club
member of the badminton team
first prize in art competition city wide
first prize in elocution contest school wide
volunteer work in a charity instituition of disabled kids</p>

<p>(college)
*founder, current pesident of the literary society (there never had been a concept of such a society before)
i've organised, managed and given presentations on avian influenza, relativity, artists of the renaissance,evolution and </p>

<p>more are underway. we're also conducting an I.Q test of all students in the dept. and organizing a debate competition.
won a cash prize on my first presentation.
*editor of yearly magazine 'microbia'.
*am single-handedly organizing,paying for, and advertising an exhibition for my comic-book/fantasy artwork, being the </p>

<p>first to give comic books a platform in pakistan.
*i have been teaching 2 'o'level kids math for a year now, and also help them out in biology, add math, chem, and </p>

<p>physics. their grades have really improved over time.
*i also have plans to write two books, but due to the paucity of time they might not get done before i apply.</p>

<p>Olevels
english 83
urdu(foreign language) 95
chem 84
biology 85
physics 88
math 86
pak.studies 72
islamiat(religion) 80</p>

<p>As levels
general paper (writing) 95
biology 93 (highest in the whole school and the only 90+ to our school after 2 yrs)
math 90
chem 89
physics 88</p>

<p>A levels
biology 86 (highest again)
math 89
physics 84
chemistry 82</p>

<p>i took a gap year to give my dad a break from the fiscal burden he had to bear to pay for my high school education, </p>

<p>although my family was against it. the job was intended to help him out financially and to pay for my exhibition. i know </p>

<p>that my scores aren't stellar, but the other stuff i've done (the exhibition, society n stuff) is unbelievably difficult to pull </p>

<p>off since there is no conception of these things here, and there is a hope that these things, and other burdens wouldn't </p>

<p>go past consideration when i apply.
could you help me out in deciding whether or not i should give the SATs again? how many of the above colleges have </p>

<p>representatives in pakistan? what are my chances at all these schools? how do i convey to them the situation/ </p>

<p>difficulties i faced in accomplishing what i have, and abstract qualities like leadership, intellectual curiosity etc, and that i </p>

<p>have done everything uptil now on my own with no external help whatsoever in anything. and any other advice that you </p>

<p>may have will be welcome. just keep in mind that there is not much i can contribute financially to college education and </p>

<p>any safeties etc u might recommend must be generous in giving need-based aid.</p>

2

<p>I'd like to help you but you have to post a couple of things here:</p>

<p>What is your rank in your class--and how large is your graduating class?</p>

<p>Secondly--why no writing score on the SAT? Did you take the test two years ago when they didn't have the writing portion?--because we need to know this.</p>

<p>And you give all those scores 88, 89, 92, 93 etc. but you don't say what the top possible score is. Is the top possible 100, 99, or 95 or something else?</p>

<p>Also, can you explain O levels vs A levels?--do you mean junior year and senior year? (last two years of high school). </p>

<p>Anyway tell us this stuff and we can give you better chances.</p>

3

<p>calcruzer... o levels its like high school classes, and a levels is like ap classes. we take a levels in year 12, and o levels in grade 10 (this is for singapore)</p>

<p>to the op: i think you really have to re-evaluate your school choices a little. be a little more realistic... i mean if you got rejected from midd mac and vassar the first time round, i dont see how its gonna change much this time. your scores put you in the lower end of williams and harvard etc., and besides, you are pakistani. loads of competition from the indian side, people with better grades and ecs... if i were you i would take a relook at the places im applying to, especially if i required financial aid...</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the clarification scandel-less.</p>

5

<p>the grades are out of 100. and yes 1st and 2nd year are of high school. and i was in the top 5% of i dunno how big our class was, but pretty big.
i know i might be over-reaching but i didn't really think getting rejected from the colleges i appled to before would be any measure. although i do plan to give the SAT again, there've been lots of ppl who've gotten in with worse scores. and it's a great deal to pull off the ECs that i have in pakistan. really tough. i really appreciate your honesty, though. thanx.
oh and calcruzer i took the old SAT and the writing score in the SAT 2 is now considered to be the writing part of SAT 1. that's where i got a 780 in.</p>

6

<p>make sure you apply to some safeties.... those schools you listed turn away very many qualified applicants like yourself every year. so it's better to add some less selective ones into the mix.</p>

7

<p>are you going to be applying for financial aid? If so, I really don't know how great your chances are. Although schools say that they don't look at an ability to pay as part of their admissions decisions, i highly doubt that sometimes when internationals come into play.</p>

8

<p>Ignore the conspiratorial theory of vanilea; the top Ivies really are going need-blind when it comes to international students.</p>

<p>As far as your stats and extracurrics go, they're very strong. However, you must know that transfer applicants have an even harder time than regular applicants because of the additional dimension of "why do you feel that you would be able to do more here than where you are?" If you can answer that well, you've got a good shot.</p>

<p>My</a> College Application Profile</p>

9

<p>you have all reaches on your list (they are reaches for everybody). you need some safties and matches on your list. also, some of your schools are kind of strange on your list- for example, someone who would be very happy at cal tech might not be so happy at a school such as middlebury, which is very cold, very rural, and is much more laid back.</p>

10

<p>Is English your first language and do you live in Pakistan full-time?
Maybe you should try TOFFEL (sp?) instead of the SATs, that is, if you never lived in the US.</p>

11

<p>thanx u guys.
but should i give the SAT 1 again. and then will i need to give one more SAT subject test?
nashtynash, i am applying as a freshmen. do i still need an answer for that question then?
husken55, i might not be applying to caltech coz i fear they only want students with sky-reaching credentials in science.
comoseva, english is my first language since i've done the cambridge system. i'm excused from TOEFL. i got the highest in essay writing in the A levels, and an unbelievable score on the old writing exam</p>

12

<p>good chances.</p>