International Applicant

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm a Canadian high school student in gr 12 who is hoping to go to (a good) university in the US. I've only started looking into going to the US over last summer (ie: 3-4 months ago), when I learned that it is actually possible for me to even think of attending an US university. This is because my school is extremely laidback (read: ****) for just about everything (academics, sports, you name it), and I'd say only 30-40% attend university at all. As a result, there was no information for me from anyone in my area regarding applying the US until someone I met a while back got into an Ivy last year. I started contacting her and realized it is possible for me to apply (at all).</p>

<p>Here's an example of happens in my school:
For the rehersal of a show, one of the teachers shows up drunk and completely screws up.</p>

<p>My situation is thus:
-My school has sent 1 person to the US in the past, oh, I dunno, 40 years? (university of <random state="">) Yes this is a crap school</random></p>

<p>-my average sucks ballz because my school emphasized that we only needed to do well in gr 12 and only for 6 courses, so. That's the way it is up here in Canada, we only need 6 courses to get into university. Thus, for my 6, I have ~ 96% ~ 3.84 GPA, however, factoring all the classes from gr 9 and up, I probably have 3.5 at best. Also, in Canada, we get 85 for A-, 90 for A and 95 for A+, and only in maths, sciences can we get higher. </p>

<p>-I'm probably top student in my extremely nonchalant class (out of 60 people!). This is just a guess since my school doesn't rank to my knowledge.</p>

<p>-I've volunteered, and I have done stuff around the school
-To clarify, I founded a Math club, and started the first AP course curriculum at my school among other smaller things</p>

<p>-I'm into math and sciences, consistently place number 1 in my school in Math contests from UWaterloo, but not exactly "uprising" (ranked nationally in top 50 in gr 9 math contest due to sheer luck, but can only pull off top 5% now, at best)</p>

<p>-I'm ORM (over represented minority, aka asian male)</p>

<p>-I figure I can get ~2300 for SATs if that helps (2 more weeks of prep then we'll see)</p>

<p>-I have plenty of extracurriculars, but not sufficient distinction in them
-I play piano well enough to get a job doing so</p>

<p>-Teachers don't love me incredibly, although the principal likes me</p>

<p>-reading the other post about the importance of Foreign Lanugages, I'd like to mention that because I come from Canada, je peux parler francais, aka I have 4 years of French</p>

<p>Any thoughts on my chances, tips for applying, any insights into the US university application process will be highly valued as I can't get much out of my community/school/friends.</p>

<p>By the way, I'm looking for Caltech, Stanford, and Cornell
If not, I'm off to UWaterloo! ~5k per year costs for the win!</p>

<p>I would post in the international section, but it seems no one looks there.</p>

<p>Thanks to anyone who replies</p>

2

<p>good luck on your 2300.</p>

3

<p>So… what do you want to know, comrade?</p>

<p>May I ask which province you reside in?</p>

<p>From the information I was able to extract from your post, your chances at Caltech, Stanford, and Cornell are poor. If you don’t get a 2300, they’re practically zero.</p>

<p>You do, however, have a good top 6 average. I’m sure you can get a nice scholarship at Waterloo and attend the school practically for free (that’s if you get a major scholarship).</p>

4

<p>Dude, your activities and stuff sound awesome. I mean, like starting a math club and AP course and stuff? Colleges might make an exception for you. :)</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the replies, I hope I can use the hook “I’m noticeably different in my dedication to math science etc from everyone else at my school” to get them to notice me.</p>

<p>BTW I’m in Ontario.</p>

<p>but seriously, “comrade”?
and Waterloo’s not that bad when you think about it, but it’s not the same :(</p>

6

<p>What’s wrong with comrade? :slight_smile: People can speak (or type) however they want, right? :P</p>

7

<p>Yes, comrade.</p>

<p>Canadians of the intarwebz, unite!</p>

<p>That’s not a hook. </p>

<p>Based on your top 6 scores you’re a pretty intelligent student. If you had played the U.S. admissions game more you might have stood a better shot. Realize that you need SAT IIs for those schools that you listed.</p>

<p>Yeah, it’s not the same. I’d never be ashamed to go to a Canadian school, though. Personally I intend to be an econ prof. so by the time I get my PhD no one will give a rat’s ass where my BA is from.</p>

<p>You remind me of many seniors in my town who are just now discovering the fact that the United States has some superior schools and are intending to apply to them… but are pretty clueless. I should start a support group!</p>

<p>But yeah, don’t even take the SAT. Your GPA is a more important factor and already you’re out of the running in my opinion. I don’t mean that in a bad way. You’re a shoo-in at any Canadian school, be happy.</p>

8

<p>thanks for the advice comrade :slight_smile:
I suspected that I had no chance from the beginning of when I started looking at other people’s applications online.
I’m gonna do the SATs anyways, cause I already signed up, and the process costs ~$70 and all that.
I’m not ashamed to go to a Canadian school, I really just wanted to challenge myself, but it looks like it would have been better to start ~gr 10. I guess it’s better this way too since I just realized there’s no way I’m getting out of debt after going to the US. </p>

<p>And that support group sounds like a really good idea. I definitely would have benefited,
seeing as most of my information came from the interwebs.</p>

<p>Oh, btw I wrote a research paper during summer before gr 11 if that helps.</p>

9

<p>I think you’ll end up at Waterloo. top US colleges won’t overlook the weaker grades the first three years because they don’t count at your school. The type of students they accept are those who are so self motivated, they would have done their best work regardless.</p>

<p>These schools have no shortage of top Canadian candidates and an over abundance of Asian ones–so if your whole package from grades to recs-- don’t show someone who loves learning and excelled throughout HS, a top US college won’t happen.</p>

10

<p>^ Yup.
10 char.</p>

11

<p>LOL I got 2290 on my SATs in Oct… sooo close</p>