International Chance?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Amherst College
1

<p>I am a Canadian Asian Male student (Asian)
and I would like to study in US for college education, and I would like to receive as much finanacial aid as possible.
I would like to study bio, and I know it is very tough to get in, so I was wondering how I could boost my chance up…</p>

<p>GPA/Ranking: School doesn’t have GPA nor Ranking.
In Canadian standard, all A’s. Had 94.8% average in Grade 11
Doing IB diploma, finished IB SL Bio and IB SL Math (7 in both)
Grade 11 courses:
IB Chemistry 11 - 95%
IB English 11 - 90%
IB Geography 11 - 94%
IB Biology 12(SL) - 94%
IB Math 12(SL) -98%
AB Japanese 11 - 98%
Tok
Summer School Physics 11 - 100%</p>

<p>Grade 12 courses:
IB English (HL)
IB Geography (HL)
IB Chemistry (HL)
AB Japanese (Sl)
IB Physics (SL)
Senior Jazz Band
TOK
(skipped 1 year in math, bio… never took physics IB 11). </p>

<p>SAT I: Math 800, Reading 690, Writing 720 = 2210
I haven’t really studied for SATs, I will retkae in December.
SAT II: Korean 800, Math IIC 800, (will take Bio…expecting 700+).</p>

<p>EC: I will just put what I will put in the commonapp. </p>

<p>Grade 11,12: Established and led International Group for my community …I was in a local Korean newspaper and featured as one of the future prospective students.
Grade 8 - 12: Part of CCM band at my church, played main bass guitar and synthesizer. Also led children’s Sunday programs. (I play 5 instruements…)
Grade 8 - 11: Competitive Club soccer. In grade 9 - 10, I was in the most competitive regional team (metro team)
Grade 9-11: varsity tennis, played some competitive club tennis as well… ranked 100 in the province…
Duke of Edinburgh: Gold Award Qualification.
Grade 8 - 9: Varsity Football, Basketball…</p>

<p>Work experience:
Grade 11 Summer: Summer intern for a local church: Did office works like accounting, led Sunday programs for children, carried out projects like interviweing people and posting their stories on website, (35 hours/week).
Grade 8 - 11 Worked as a janitor for a maintenance company
Grade 11 summer: Tutoring: tennis, English, ESL (7 hrs/week)</p>

<p>Awards
Grade 8 -11: Honor roll with distinction, Certificate of distinction from Math contests (top 25%)
Grade 8: Scholar athlete, multiple sports award, English and Social subject awards, placed 12th overall in regional math contest, 36th in provincial…part of math team finishing 3rd in regionals
Grade 9: Business10 Subject Award, Math 10 subject award</p>

<p>so… .any chance? How can I improve my chances? </p>

<p>Thx in advance.</p>

2

<p>oh yeah.. planning to retake SAT to raise CR</p>

3

<p>Hi fellow Korean :)
I applied to Amherst this year, also as an international student. I will be attending Amherst this fall.</p>

<p>Your junior year grade seems good, but what about your freshmen and sophomore year? Have you been maintaining 4.0 GPA during your HS (well, secondary for Canada) career? If your 9th and 10th yr grades have been as decent as 11th, then your GPA is fine.</p>

<p>As for your SAT, if you manage to bring up to 700~750+ in both verbal and writing sections, which I think you can definitely achieve, you won't be disadvantaged during the admissions process, at least SAT-wise.</p>

<p>But your extracurricular activities are weak, mainly because your description of the activities is quite vague. You said "multiple sports awards", but what kind of awards are they? Were you a leader in any of the sports teams? What did you do for the CCM band, other than working as a symthesizer/guitarist? Have you composed any music? Did you do any community service by going to the nursery/schools and performing with your band? I am asking these questions, because your list of extracurricular activities doesn't give me an accurate/vivid sense of what you have done during your HS career. Your current list doesn't distinguish you from other international students. </p>

<p>If I were you, I would concentrate on one activity that I'm really passionate about, and try to show my passion to the admissions officers as best as I can. </p>

<p>Otherwise, I think you have a good shot.
Also, don't forget that essays play significant role in LAC admissions.
Good luck!</p>

4

<p>two words for miss kim:</p>

<p>Andrew Rubenstein!</p>

5

<p>Thank you for the Great advice!
That was really specific and helpful.
Lol, hopefully I can raise my scores and convey my passion for sports and helping international students.</p>

6

<p>Hey Mr.Chung, you shouldn't reveal my secret(well, not anymore) identity here! lol
Andrew Rubenstein singing the song Grapevine is about the best thing that happened to your a cappella group. harhar</p>