Help me get to college

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hey ppl Heeeeelllllppppppppppppp
I'm american/british/iraqi residing in Jordan (yeah I know what your thinking about!!) and I'm a poor little thing thats aiming high, very high. To simplify I wish to get into the following universities:
Ivies-(Dartmouth)
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Northwestern
Boston C
Boston U
Amherst
Duke
Georgetown</p>

<p>and my safeties is (St. Louis)</p>

<p>However there are many obstacles:
1) I'm not from the WOW high schools in Jordan (e.g. ABS, ACS..etc), coz those schools offer IB, AP..etc and mannnnyyy ECs. I come from the Jubilee School(the school that has an IQ entrance exam), thats OK, but the curriculum is the Jordanian one(although it is enriched) (except for English, I take American, british, and other literature writen in english) and A level Biology and 4 advanced courses anually (since 9th grade, e.g. Astrophysics, organic chemistry, Applied chemistry, JavaScript..etc).</p>

<p>2) My SATs :(, there bad in contradiction to my 4.0 GPA, they suck
My SAT 1 verbal: 510 (hellp me)
Math: 700
writing: 610
SAT 2 math iic: 680
chemistry: 720
Biology: 680</p>

<p>However I'm gonna retake the SAT I this fall</p>

<p>3)The students from the prestigious schools mentioned above are applying by BULK to the same schools and my chances aree getting lower.</p>

<p>On the other hand my ECs are:
1) Acadmic stuff (as usual)
2) Science/math..etc activities
3) A lot of Volunteer work
4) Computers (programming, head of the club)
5) Journalism
6) Projects such as MUN, Jubi-Tech (computer exhibition), Jubilee.NET ( a 3 day workshop on school campus on computers)
7) Entrepreneurship class activities
8) theater and drama activities
9) cultural stuff
10) music , Piano+organ, little accordion</p>

<p>So, can someone helllllpppp meeee, I just finished my Junior year.
And if there is someone who is kind enough( who has been admitted to any of my dream universities) to help me with my application, I'd be grateful</p>

<p>Byeezzz Reply soon</p>

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<p>You just finished your junior year... holy crap, then I'm gonna have to give you the crash course.</p>

<p>To improve your CR score, practice CR problems, repeat many times. I did nothing to study but practice CR problems, and look at the explanations for the questions I got wrong for 2 months and my CR score increased from a 580 to a 680 (no joke, it really did!)</p>

<p>For writing, ask your english teacher(s) for a grammar book or get an SAT specific grammar book and study it, and do more of those problems and read the explanations for the answers. To improve your essay score, pick up "Elements of Style," it's a really good book, and/or write many many many essays and give them to your English teachers for their input.</p>

<p>Now for your SAT IIs. You might want to consider taking Math Ic with a 700 on the SAT I math, because the thing with IIc is that since it's the harder test, only the top top math/physics/engineering students take it, and many of them score 750+, so your 680 is a low percentile. As for bio and chem, they're in the same subject area (science) so colleges will really only look at your chem score. You should take another SAT II in a different subject area.</p>

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<p>Do you need financial aid?</p>

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<p>Hi again ppl</p>

<p>thanks for ur help
about the Cr stuff dont think I missed that! I bought the Collegeboard's new SAT book and did all the test I reached a 640! but I donno what happened in the exam. The problem is that I'm applying EA Harvard so I'm not gonna be able to retake the subjects (unless you can find another solution). However, for financial aid I have the FAFSA (for ppl who missed the American citizenship in the first line)!!!</p>

<p>Thnx again any more advice?</p>

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<p>I don't think anyone has ever gotten into MIT with a 700 math. Okay, nobody else seems to be willing to say it so I will. Your list is totally unrealistic and will lead to an unhappy April. You need to get real. The 510 CR alone will keep you out of all of these schools, with a slight chance only at BU because a Jordanian is of interest for diversity.</p>

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<p>Well hi again
thnx suze for the lovely comment..However you may be right abou MIT. Furthermore, I've been speaking to Harvard students and they've been telling me that some people of their class had 1200 SATs and an average of 500 on their subject SATs. SAts are not the most important part of the app. Again, the ECs I have listed are part of the ones I have (I'm a little too lazy to post them!!). And I dont find my app that unrealistic.</p>

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<p>You can retake the SAT subject tests in October and the SATs Novemeber and they should reach Harvard in time. This is what I will be doing for Penn early decision.</p>

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<p>I'm just being honest osmosis, which clearly nobody else wants to be. You did post on the "what are my chances" board. Sure there are 1200's at Harvard, many. There's the captain of the football and basketball teams, 8 US Senator's children, the kids of several billionaires and so on. I could use smilies and tell you to write a great essay because they don't really care about scores or I can hope that with some help and redirection you might actually end up at a school you enjoy rather than like a lot on these boards who end up with no options. Really though, good luck.</p>

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<p>Also, 140 hits and 7 responses tells you a lot of people agree but just won't say it.</p>

<p>I take that back, 3 of the posts were yours and two mine.</p>

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<p>Not being an american citizen though can really help your chances. I have a friend with a 1300 SAT two low-mid 600 SAT IIs, a 2,3, and 4 on three APs, who got into Davidson regular decision because he is no an american citizen. (From India)</p>

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<p>one more thing, he had only a 3.3 GPA. Therefore, if you raise your SATs about 100-150 points which is possible, just buy a practice book and take all the practice tests, you may get into one of those schools ED.</p>

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<p>Drummerboy, I think what we're trying to do is redirect the op to schools like Davidson (though also a reach here) which don't have tons of internationals with much higher scores applying.</p>

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<p>I would have to agree with Suze. Maybe things are different in your country, but SAT scores are a crtitical part of admissions at these schools. You may want to read the Harvard and other schools boards to see the stats of those accepted.</p>

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<p>hey suze you are not right on getting accepted to mit with 700 on math</p>

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<p>I'll say it as well.</p>

<p>Your list is "unbalanced". You include the very top schools with one lonely "St. Louis" at the bottom. That's just not realistic, given today's situation. </p>

<p>There's nothing wrong with having a few schools at the top that are real (even unlikely) reaches. But you need to start looking at some colleges and universities that are more probable in terms of quality and difficulty of admission. If you get into your very top choices, that is great. If not, you'll have strong alternatives.</p>

<p>I am curious why you included St. Louis. What is it about that school that attracted you? If you can figure that out, you can look for other schools with similar characteristics that might be a little easier to get into. </p>

<p>Sure, I can point to exceptions at any school: students who got in with much lower scores than the norm. But there is no guarantee you'll be the lucky one. The whole point is this: lower scores at schools like these are unusual, so everyone talks about and remembers the particular example. Who remembers the kids with solid 750's on the SAT who were rejected? There are also hundreds, even thousands of those.</p>

<p>Believe me, I feel your frustration. I have a S. who has killed himself in h.s. -- has top rank, gps, ap's, ec's, etc plus is a super writer. But because his standardized tests are slightly lower than the top tier, he may end up at a school, which is "lower" than what he might like or expect.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>thank you all
Can sombody help find good matches? I really have a problem with that coz I'm always attracted to best quality :D</p>

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<p>I'm guessing you're female. If so, good matches/slight reaches would be Smith, Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr. These women's colleges are quality schools with "names" but are much easier to get into than comparable coed schools.</p>

<p>Since you seem to like Boston, I'd keep BU and add Northeastern.</p>

<p>You should check out Carolyn's posts on schools her daughter is applying to like Earlham and Beloit. They are quality schools where a 1200 would work.</p>

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<p>thnx suze but I'm actually a guy</p>

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<p>Since you've listed Georgetown, why not try American University as an alternative school in Washington D.C.? Or University of Massachusetts at Amherst in lieu of (or in addition to) Amherst College?</p>

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<p>thnx cami
The thing is I can apply to any other universities but I really would like to go to a prestigious one. I donno if you saw the beginning of my post, I come from a school where I had to undergo an IQ exam(the point is its a copy of the Ivies). Would this help anyway?</p>