I’m an Indian high school student from New Delhi, currently in my senior year. Before I begin, I would just like to list out the schools I would like to apply to:
Prospective Major: Computer Science (maybe maths)
Longshots:
Stanford (Early Action, probably)
Princeton
UC Berkeley
Cornell
Carnegie Mellon
Penn
Other:
UCLA
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
University of Toronto
Georgia Tech
(I will also be applying to the United Kingdom but I understand that this community doesn’t focus on that)
Now, my school follows the Cambridge A Level curriculum and I assume that my GPA will effectively be based off the predicted grades that my teachers will send out in the application. I’ve looked up the conversion and (at the cost of sounding overconfident) if that is true, my GPA would be 4.0 (out of 4.0). These are my subjects:
Mathematics - full A Level (I expect an A)
Physics - full A Level (expected A)
Economics - full A Level (expected A)
Geography - full A Level (expected A)
Further Mathematics - full A Level (at least an A, hopefully an A*)
English Language - AS Level (expected A)
According to a number of forums, an A or above is effectively 4.0 (I could be wrong)
As for my current standing, I just stood first out of a class of 36 in my Junior Year. I also got 7 A*s and 1 A in my IGCSE subjects. I do believe that I have challenged myself adequately to say the least (most people only take 3 A level subjects, I have taken 5)
As for my standardised tests:
I’m taking Math 2 and Physics this May. I honestly do expect 800 from both of them (at the cost of sounding overconfident once again)
And my Achilles heel: SAT 1 : 2040 (I’m taking the ACTs in June. I will give it my all but I can’t say anything for sure. I will try for at least a 34)
ECs/Academic Distinctions:
AMC 12 - I stood first in South Asia (I do believe that this is quite highly regarded in the USA. Please correct me if I’m wrong)
CEMC University of Waterloo Galois Maths Contest - Gold Standard Award (top 4%, it doesn’t get better that that, to my knowledge)
NASA Space Settlement Design Contest 2015 - Honourable Mention
Thames House Captain (essentially leadership and student government)
Thames House Football Team Captain
Amity International MUN '14 - High Commendation
Modern School MUN '14 - Special Mention
Participated in Harvard MUN India 2015
Christmas Carnival 2014 - I was part of a team that raised over $1500 to fund an economically challenged high school girl a degree in Business Administration
I have done over 60 hours of community service, teaching underprivileged children English and Mathematics.
I understand that my ECs with regard to Computer Science are more or less non existent. That’s because there’s very little attention given to it in India. My school never offered Computing as a subject and events such as hackathons simply don’t take place here. I have however managed to teach myself a great deal through the internet. I’ve even completed CS106A on Stanford’s channel among others. But I still don’t have anything concrete. I will be making an app this summer and consider selling the idea to a number of companies here. I will do everything in my power, but I cannot guarantee much.
Aside from improving my standardised test scores, what would you suggest? How many of these colleges (if any) are within my reach? I understand that the process for international students is a little less predictable.
Thanks in advance