<p>(Kind of) Brief stat:
I'm from the midwest, and Asian. I'm applying as an international student.
*ACT: Sending two scores, a 29 with writing and a 32 without the writing.
*SAT II: Math IIC-760 Chemistry- 750 (and chinese-800)
*GPA: (UW) 3.95ish. 1 B for AP Chemistry for a semester.
*RANK: Competitive public school. Top 10% (The best you can do at my school).
*EC:
School newspaper (10th-present)=senior managing editor
Speech/Debate (9th-present)
Hospital volunteer (every summer, 200+ hrs)
Principal's advisory (10th-present)
Cheerleading (9th-11th)
International Students' Club (10th-present)=position pending
Mock Trial (10th)
DECA (10th)
*AWARDS/HONORS:
JOURNALISM (my strongest point)-
1. Winner of a national journalism contest in in-depth writing.
2. Highest award (only one in the state) in state journalism contest for in-depth/series writing.
2. "Superior" rating for two different feature writings in state journalism contest.
3. Attended all-expense paid minority journalism workshop
4. Finalist for Princeton University's journalism workshop (about 60 finalists/900 across the nation)
SPEECH/DEBATE (DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION)-
1. State speech/debate comp. qualifier, finished in the top 15 in dramatic interp.
2. First alternate for nationals speech/debate comp. in dramatic interp.
3. 2nd in city wide speech/debate competition in dramatic interp</p>
<p>Schools I really want to get into: Yale, UPenn, Washington University in St.Louis.</p>
<p>MY DILEMMA: Originally, I was set on doing ED for WashU because I really like the school, going there is convenient, I don't have to spend about 200 dollars taking the TOEFL, and I can go there for free, but then I started looking at other schools and I became fascinated with Yale. I'm not sure if I should take a risk and apply SCEA to Yale instead because I would hate to see myself get rejected from WashU (I'm probably not going to get a full ride anywhere else). Also, the application pool is SO competitive for everyone at Yale, especially since I'm applying as an international students even though I've been in the states for 6 years (so I'll be regarded as one of the "contaminated international students"), so I'm really not sure if it's realistic/worth it for me to give up doing ED at WashU and apply SCEA to Yale.</p>
<p>Any help/comments will be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Have you had the money discussion with your folks yet? If you would need financial aid from Yale or UPenn, you would need to see what your prospects would be as an international from both a money and admissions standpoint.</p>
<p>I don't see how the full ride plays into WashU either, unless you're a part of some kind of partnership program.</p>
<p>I think Yale's a wonderful school with great opportunities, but I think the same of WashU. Why does Yale attract you so much, and what does it have that WashU does not?</p>
<p>I won't have to pay tuition to go to WashU because one of my parents work for the school.</p>
<p>I do think both schools are amazing, but I believe that Yale's undergrad programs are generally much stronger than those of WashU and I will have more opportunities there. Also, from what I've seen so far, Yale has the nicer campus/dorms.</p>
<p>If I were you (and I had the opportunity to do so) I would do an overnight visit at Yale as soon as possible to see if it really has the sort of academics and opportunities you're looking for and if it really is that much better than you imagine WashU would be.</p>
<p>Okay, that makes more sense. But of course you realize that free tuition is not the same as "free ride." I don't know the exact amount Wash U charges for room and board, but at most schools it's about $10,000/year.</p>
<p>If you're not sure whether Wash U is right for you, then you shouldn't apply ED. Wash U is a great school, and saving more than $100,000 is something for you and your family to seriously think about. You might want to experience a different environment, though to allow you to grow. There's no easy answer here.</p>
<p>I don't understand why applying to Yale would jeopardize your shot at Wash U. Do they demand that you apply to Wash U ED? Most employee tuition programs do not. Your achievements in journalism are outstanding. Wash U should not reject you.</p>
<p>BillBank -
my son is at UChicago and he could have gone to Case for free, so I know where you are coming from now.</p>
<p>You have a shot at Yale if you can manage to write yourself in. Its not a high-probability event, though. My best advice is to visit Yale and see if it feels right - even if you have to spring for your own airfare.</p>
<p>Would you be able to do graduate work at WUSTL on your parent's tuition waiver if you do undergrad elsewhere? Your folks maybe pretty well tapped out at the end of undergrad.</p>
<p>OneMom: I'm pretty confident that I will get into WashU if I choose to do ED, I will get the free tuition as long as I go there for undergrad. However, I feel that applying regular to WashU can go either way.</p>
<p>WashU will give me half of the tuition there to attend any other school, that's about 17,000 a year. However, I will still need a lot of financial aids if I do choose to go to another school.</p>
<p>My counselor E-mailed the Yale rep. for our school and from the reply, it seems like my application will not be read from the international pool. I'm not sure how this will affect my chance at Yale if I choose to apply there SCEA.</p>
<p>Also, I'm thinking about having a career in business (right now, I'm thinking about accounting, but it can change). Yale doesn't have an undergrad B school, but I heard that big companies still recruit a lot from there (but as of now, I'm thinking of doing accounting, so I don't know if a Yale education is worth it especially since I won't be able to take an accounting class at Yale undergrad). I don't think I have a chance at Wharton, and I'm not sure if I'd rather take some business classes as a CAS student at UPenn without all the benefits from Wharton. WashU's Olin is very mediocre, and I don't know how beneficial it will be for my future career.</p>
<p>Though legally, I'm considered to be an international student, I still don't know how colleges will look at me. I don't think Yale will put me in the international pool because I went to middle school and high school here, but WashU will (since I still have to fill out the international supplement), and I'm not sure about Penn.</p>
<p>Another factor--- both Harvard and Princeton have dropped their early application programs right? So does that mean many more EASC to Yale? And does that mean that early acceptance chances plummet ?</p>
<p>since you are an international, I think Yale would put you in the International pool. How that pool is evaluated, I have no idea. But, I can share with you the experience of our local international, also US educated for middle and HS. Similar stats as you, applied ED to Princeton, but deferred. Accepted at Harvard, Stanford and P'ton in the RD round. Since she was accepted into all three in RD, I can only surmise that P'ton deferred her ED app to compare with the international pool, but that is ONLY a guess. She was rejected by Yale RD.</p>
<p>If I recall, also, one B, so high gpa. All honors/AP. Top 10 in an extremely competitive public HS (class of 550). ~2300 SAT, two 750+ subject test scores. 5-6 AP classes, which is about max for our school since they are limited to Juniors and Seniors.</p>