<p>User Name: Elvito
Gender: M
Location: New Zealand
College Class Year: 2013
High School: Private
High School Type: sends some grads to top schools (almost a tradition that the Val goes to Princeton)
Will apply for financial aid: Yes, will need full financial cover and therefore applying to mostly need blind schools.</p>
<p>Academics:</p>
<p>GPA - Unweighted: 3.9ish (unreported)( 2 or 3 Bs in my school career)
GPA - Weighted: 4.9ish (All my classes are weighted) (unreported)
Curriculum: Full IB Diploma. Taking 7 subjects instead of the usual 6. Predicted 7s in all subjects. Anticipated 1 subject.
Class Rank: top 5 students (unreported)
Class Size: 110ish</p>
<p>Scores:</p>
<p>SAT I Math: 800
SAT I Critical Reading: 780
SAT I Writing: 720 E 12
SAT II Math Level 2 (IIC): 800
SAT II Chemistry: 800
SAT II Chinese with Listening: 800</p>
<p>Extracurriculars: (on Common App)</p>
<p>Environmental Concerns Club President
City Youth Council Executive
Table Tennis Captain, 3rd in Nationals Team Event
Basketball Captain, MVP
School Prefect and Captain of Sports
Habitat for Humanity Treasurer
Badminton Captain</p>
<p>Awards:
National Latin Exam perfect score (National)
National Bank Junior Mathematics Competition top 30 in New Zealand in 10th grade (1st in NZ in 8th grade)(National)
Published article in the New Zealand Herald (National)
First in year level at school (School)
High Distinction in the Big Rinto Science Competition (International)</p>
<p>Major: Urban Studies/Planning or environmental science or economics</p>
<p>Colleges of Interest: (roughly in order of preference)
MIT - Urban studies + planning
Dartmouth
Cornell - Urban studies - CAAP
U Penn - Wharton
Colby
Colgate</p>
<p>Recommendations: Excellent
Essays: MIT one is good, the common app one is average, supplements are above average.
Interview: Had MIT one, went fine I think, the interviewer seemed to have the same sense of humor as me.</p>
<p>Hook: Really active in environmental sustainability. Have represented my city in numerous conferences.</p>
<p>Please be as realistic as you can. THANK YOU very much in advance.</p>
<p>U Penn and Cornell Id say still very good chances, but not as certain</p>
<p>MIT and Dartmouth... well, your scores are very good, but your EC's are just average; really sell that hook and you'll have a pretty good chance at them too. I think international will help you overall, but I don't know... good luck :D</p>
<p>You have excellent chances overall. You will get into somewhere great, I'm sure.</p>
<p>But, since you are an international applicant your chances are a mystery to most of us. It's usually a lot harder as an international applicant, but it also depends how many others are applying from New Zealand.</p>
<p>For MIT and Dartmouth/Penn, it's going to be a tough call. I think you stand a great chance at the others.</p>
<p>
[quote]
High Distinction in the Big Rinto Science Competition (International)
[/quote]
HAHAHA me too! By the way, you mangled the name, it's really Rio Tinto Big Science Competition.</p>
<p>Your chances are as good as any, but really every year none or only one person goes to MIT from New Zealand/Aussieland. Sidfromaus used to hang out on this forum quite a bit, he's at MIT now. You might want to ask him for more information. Cornell's like really stingy with aid for international students... So... <em>shrug</em> By the way, what school do you go to? I have a few New Zealand friends.</p>
<p>You should get in everywhere you apply with the possible exception of Wharton (where I expect you still to get in, but it will be a bit iffy only because of the lack of business experience or interaction with businesses). </p>
<p>So I say you will definitely get in to 5 schools, and a probable acceptance at the sixth.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>P.S. Congratulations on moving up your SAT CR score from 690 to 780. As I said earlier, I expected that was the key to getting into MIT (and probably Wharton, too).</p>
<p>A 100 point increase in CR is a gateway to MIT? The MIT adcoms may differently opine on that. A 690 is just good enough. Anyway, you seem to lack drive. There's nothing special in that app really, except for that popular CR score. How deep is your environmental interest? Have you taken independent initiatives? Have you changed something? Just saying that I love my environment isn't good enough, irrespective of your CR score! :)</p>
<p>I realized that I confused you with someone else from Oceania that I had "chanced" earlier--and that you were not the person who previously had a SAT 690 CR score. My apologies for the mistake. I still feel that your chances are the same as I indicated earlier.</p>
<p>and to adrivit,</p>
<p>Please--read what I wrote--not what you seem to think that I wrote.</p>
<p>I was saying that moving one's score up from a SAT score of 690 to 800 if that was the ONE AND ONLY weak thing on the applicant's application would change one's chances at MIT. </p>
<p>Obviously, if you look at Elvito's summary of qualifications, you'll see that he is quite qualified. His one and only difficulty in acceptance relates to him being an international student--and therefore realates to the quality of other international applicants--especially ones also from Oceania.</p>
<p>P.S. My son's former sailing partner is currently attending MIT (he's now a junior)--and one of the other members of his former "study team" was also accepted there (though she is now attending Stanford instead)--so I do have a pretty good idea of what it takes to be accepted at these schools. (I also advised a different student at my son's school who was accepted to MIT just last year, but who decided to accept the offer to major in nuclear engineering at UC Berkeley instead). I think the reason he chose UC Berkeley (besides the obvious cost savings) was the quality of Cal's nuclear engineering program and the fact that he could live on his father's boat in the Berkeley city yacht harbor.</p>
<p>There are many others applying from New Zealand. Quite a lot this year. And I can safely say that my academics are among the top few, however I do not know EC-wise.</p>
<p>I have just improved my common app essay and the teachers who have read it have said that it was an amazing essay and the universities who do not accept me just because of this essay are not worth going to.</p>
<p>@ fiona: I displaced the certificate. Thank you so much for finding that error. lol</p>
<p>@ calcuzer: at wharton I wish to pursue a degree in real estate development, so it kind of links with my ECs. Thank you for your chance. I think you are confusing me initially with Sidfromaus. I actually also had a low CR before...640 for my first time in fact haha</p>
<p>@ adrivit : yes I am a little concerned that the adcom won't see how deep my passion goes. It is only reflected a little in my common app essay and in my not very interesting resume/additional information. Thanks </p>
<p>I have no idea what my competition from Australia is, but I hope they do judge Australia and NZ to be two separate countries :D</p>
<p>@ fiona, i m back
firstly, i really think Aus and NZ are treated as one country.
at MIT, each year only has at most 1 australian or kiwi
also, i agree with most people that you're academicals are satisfactory, but your ECs aren't really captivating.
@calcruzer : I am curious as to why Wharton is a harder shot than MIT for him. Statistically speaking, MIT had a 3.9% acceptance rate for internationals. 2% from Aus and 0% from NZ...in fact, i only know of 1 or 2 other New Zealanders at MIT...one of whom might actually have an american passport so he isnt consider an international.</p>
<p>Jst work hard, you are almost done, and you ll make what you deserve</p>
<p>Yes, but you have to understand that Upenn/Wharton take in a lot of Aussies and Kiwis, especially because they have exchange programs with a lot of schools in aus/nz...
since you don't have much business experience, wharton might be hard, but you can should make their Science and Eng school pretty easily</p>
<p>Does anyone know about Cornell's Urban and Regional Studies program and international admissions for it? I know that they take approximately 25 students worldwide each year, but how many of those are international students? I would imagine 5 at the most? What are my chances of getting admitted into this specific program?</p>
<p>My comments--as you surmised--were based upon the lack of business experience that Elvito has (essentially none). </p>
<p>However, Wharton has been attempting to show lately that they are willing to look more at the well-roundedness of the applicants and less on their business expertise--so when combined with the fact that they do have exchange programs there, I'm thinking that you are probably correct that his chances at Wharton are better than at MIT. And I"m thinking that if he applies as a Science major--and then takes classes at Wharton as well (which almost all the science majors at Penn do)--then his odds are really good.</p>