Help me choose safety and match

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, I'm applying to American colleges this year. I already have 6 colleges in common app, one state school, and one Canadian University.</p>

<p>My stats:
Ethnicity: Asian (Thai)
GPA: 3.67 (on a lower side but my school is well-known for its insanely difficult exam =s)
I have no APs, nothing, nada. My education system in my country doesn't allow students to choose the courses.
Rank: My school doesn't not rank in official transcript but I'm among top 10% in the informal transcripts.
ACT: 29 (last year scores, I'm retaking in dec, hoping for 30+)
IELTS: 7.5</p>

<p>ECs:
- Establishing my own English tutoring business
- Model UN (Staff Writer and Delegator)
- School Magazine (Contributing Writer)
- Co-published test preparation for national standardized test (net profit around $6000)
- Debate Club
- Was a secretary in Student Committee
- Been a volunteered teacher for two years for children with disabilities
- Was an intern in pubic sector</p>

<p>Intended Major: Political Science/International Relations
However, I'm also interested in Journalism (I actually want to be political journalist but I'm also aware that I don't have to have a degree in journalism in order to enter the field, but just in case..)</p>

<p>Essays: Not yet finish. It's a bit risky because I wrote a politics based essay like how my political belief affected my life and the treatment I received from people who did not agree with me.</p>

<p>Recs: Glowing (well according to their words). They remembered me quite well despite the class size (~1300 students for senior) One from my science teacher and one from my politics teacher</p>

<p>I'm Thai (don't know if this will help =s) and speak 3 languages fluently (Native Lang, English, Spanish). I can read & write German and Korean. Also, I'm applying from state school in Thailand, the most competitive one in the country (send 10+ students to Ivies every year) and the largest (almost 5000 students for grade10-12).</p>

<p>I'm applying to</p>

<p>Barnard
Fordham
NYU (CAS/Gallatin)
Occidental College
University of Missouri (Journalism)
University of Toronto, St.George Campus
USC (Annenberg is my first choice)
UVA</p>

<p>NYU is my first choice, but statistically speaking, it's going to be high match/low reach for me. Besides, most of the colleges I'm applying is competitive. I need more safety or match schools. Could you suggest me two or three colleges?</p>

2

<p>What can you afford?</p>

3

<p>Oh, I forgot to mention that I don’t need FA and my family can cover the tuition & living expenses up to $70,000.</p>

4

<p>I think Mizzou is your safety.</p>

5

<p>That does change things. Just to clarify, your family can cover $70,000 per year or $70,000 for all four year?</p>

6

<p>@mom2collegekids‌ Thank you!
@gearmom‌ $70,000/year</p>

7

<p><a href=“404”>http://duq.edu/academics/schools/liberal-arts/for-undergraduate-students/academic-programs/international-relations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

8

<p>Apply to American. It’s excellent for your chosen field of study, it’s in DC, it likes profiles such as yours, and the main obstacle (financial aid) is no concern to you. It’d be a perfect match or perhaps even a safety. GWU would be a high match.</p>

9

<p>Ummm… Wow biggest typo ever. I mean public @-) </p>

<p>And thank you for the advice!</p>

10

<p>I’m pulling this advice from a post I read this week on CC: in addition to journalism, do consider a major in politics, international relations, economics, international business, a hard science, peace studies, something that will give you some knowledge of a field about which you might want to write. choose a school with a daily newspaper. get on the student newspaper on your first day at school by volunteering to write a column about freshman week. write often for them. </p>

<p>If you want to be a writer, there’s no work more important than daily writing. I interviewed a Nobel laureate years ago, and I asked him about his routine: he said he starts writing at 8 and goes until noon; then he lunches and returns to writing until 5; after dinner, he reads and researches–6 days a week, and he was doing this in his 80s.</p>

<p>Your English is quite good, I think. Your teachers should be proud. Americans might not have caught that typo, and you didn’t confuse advise with advice. But Americans might have caught “suggest [to] me two or three colleges.” </p>

11

<p>

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=475”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=475&lt;/a&gt; indicates that American sees “level of applicant’s interest” as “very important”. So be careful about using it as a “safety”, at least not without showing a lot of what it considers a high “level of applicant’s interest”.</p>

12

<p>Thank you for you all’s advice! I really appreciate it :)</p>

13

<p>^ at American, “ability to pay 70k” and “multilingual student” trump “interest”, but OP could fill out the “request info form”, email admissions and ask to talk to a current Thai student…</p>