Hey everyone,
so I haven’t concretely found any forums about german international applicants. Here are some facts about me: I am currently a junior at a german school in Munich, I took the SATs and had a score of 1910, took the subject SATs and am waiting on my scores. I have a german grade GPA of 1.3, which is about a 4.0 and I have many extracurricular activities. One big disadvantage that I have, is that there are barely any school projects, school sports teams, or awards you can win in germany so I don’t have a great award or competition record. I do work as a paramedic, am the youngest EMT with training in our division, do alot of voluntary work, am a student council member, a soloist in our choir and am one of 12 students in the early studies college program at the university of Munich. As my englisch is not perfect, i am having difficulties with the SATs. My school curriculum does not correspond very much with the US one, so the questions and topics covered are quite different. I would like to apply for undergraduate admission to Yale, Columbia, Harvard, Upenn, JHu and Northwestern. I know my SATs aren’t great, but it has been a long and difficult path from where I started to where I am now. I know it is hard for you too judge, but I would appreciate a realistic estimate, on if I might get into a great university. Thanks and sorry for any spelling mistakes!
Greetings!
Will you get into a great university? Probably. Is it one of the ones you specifically mentioned? Almost definitely not. Internationals face a higher level of competition at those schools for fewer spots and your SAT scores are just lackluster compared to your peers at those schools.
Thanks for your honest reply! I have one more question concerning this: I have been recieving many emails from universities. Over collegeboard, I can submit my interest towards being notified by universities who are interested in me. What do these emails really mean for my chances at getting into the university?
Those emails mean nothing or at least from what I’ve heard. I think colleges use those to get their applicants up. I’ve been getting them too from Ivy League schools even though I’m not an Ivy caliber student don’t read into them at all.
If you really want to come to US. Look for schools that are realistic. Ivy League schools in a relative sense have declined dramatically over the past 25 years. Or put another way, dozens of schools have caught up. Keep an open mind and you will find a school that works.
How do you define “great university”? Arguably there are many “great universities” beyond the few that you have listed; you just need to find the one that suits you.
Regarding your test scores and grade point average, here is a website that might be helpful: http://collegeapps.about.com/od/sat/f/goodsatscore.htm. As one of the other posters suggested, however, your SAT score is probably too low for the private schools that you mention.
Instead of focussing on the private schools that you listed, perhaps you should consider applying to very good public universities: http://collegeapps.about.com/od/collegerankings/tp/top_public.htm
Finally, consider what you are interested in studying in college, and try to identify schools that are strong in those academic areas; it may not be the ones you are asking about, but universities that nevertheless are “great.”