<p>Hi,
So I am a british student in london and i only had opportunities to do extracurriculars in year 13(senior year). I did play basketball in year 10 and 11 (grade 9 and 10). well here are all the things i have done/ achieved in my senior year:
1) Nuffield research placement- 200 hours of research in imperial college london in a month about 4 to 3 days a week
2) CREST Gold award for scientific research awarded for scientific project done on nuffield research placement
3) Cambridge chemisty Roentgenium award ( awarded to top 0.8% of students) science competition plus invited to residential camp at cambridge
4)Scout leader- 150 hours leading 10- 14 year old scouts 2 days a week helping them do numerous acivities while also training in first aid and leadership
5)Neuroscience residential course completed at villiers park at cambridge took about 3 weeks.
6) Cadet leader - >200 hours helping young cadets do numerous activities, training in first aid and developing leadership. Pretty nice experience really.
7)High sports leadership award- a program you pay for in which out get qualifies to coach elder and young children in sports, also developing leadership skills(includes demonstrated leadership).
8) Community volunteering leadership award->100 also a program making you qualified in volunteering.
9) Volunteering for two months at hospital and for one month at mental health. total about more than a 100 hours( I also helped my brother out who is currently staying at a mental health clinic, trying to be as supportive as I can he suffers from Narcolepsy and schizophrenia hopefully he gets out soon and leads a normal life.)
10) Played basketball for 2 years with school team against schools from other countries around the world( we took third place at one league and won a sportsmanship award).
11) General(Boring) volunteering including fundraising and event first aid slightly less than 100 hours. I did however work for causes I like for instance cancer research.</p>
<p>As you can see i really didn't do that well all these activities except basketball I did in my senior yea. So would uni's think i am not geniune? </p>
<p>My grades are good got 4 A* at Alevel and 8A*, 3A's and one B at GCSE. Really happy about my SAT's got 2280 in my first sat ever although studied only like six months. Also sat subject tests are good 800 in chemistry and 780 in Maths 2.
Here are the colleges i am applying to plus acceptance rates:
St Lawernce university Neuroscience/pre-med R.D: 48%<br>
Williams college Neuroscience/ pre-med E.D: 42%
Skidmore college Neuroscience/pre-med R.D: 42%
Wesleyan Neuroscience/pre-med R.D: 24%
Trinity Neuroscience/pre-med R.D: 30%
Dartmouth Neuroscience/pre-med R.D: 10% E.D: 32%
RD: regular decision
ED: early decision</p>
<p>PLEASE chance me sorry for the long post. Plus any advice would help I am asking for financial aid so that could be a factor however my family can pay at least like $3000-$5000 if that helps. Parents divorced by the way if that helps. Also black/middle eastern minority in UK if that helps. Thanks</p>
<p>Also don’t be too worried about pre med got that covered my father says he would pay me all the costs ($240,000)
We can either sell a house or save money. The acceptance rate for internationals is about 13% so thats good enough for me as I could pay. Hopefully anyway don’t worry about that. Thanks</p>
<p>If you applied ED to Williams you should have your letter by now. What was it?
Because it you were admitted, everything else is moot, you’re required to attend there (lucky you).</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 I didn’t apply this year taking a gap year before applying. Had to turn down Imperial, UCL, King’s and Edinburgh for the us. But hopefully will be worth it. I think my EC’s are pretty weak so i am going to spend a year trying to boost them. Any advice?</p>
<p>You can easily reapply to UCL, Imperial, King’s and Edimburgh next year.
Trinity, Skidmore and St Lawrence your odds are pretty good, for the others it’s a crapshoot, it’ll help if you’re full pay except at Dartmouth. You should apply to Cornell too, as well as Dickinson, Holy Cross, and Hamilton.</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 do you think the fact that I did my EC’s in a year effect my chances? Plus be honest are my EC’s up to standard? should have done the god damn science Olympiads. That would have increased my chances right know I am just an academically strong international asking for aid bet they won even know what A levels are or what the awards I won actually are. Come on there has to be something I can do to boost my chances maybe more community service? I don’t know much about the us system plus my sixth form had no clubs, I once told my maths teacher I wanted to start a maths club he just looked a me like I was mad and laughed. “Why do you want a maths club FOCUS ON YOUR EXAMS!!” so you can see clubs aren’t common here unless you go to a big private school that can afford it.</p>
<p>A Levels are well-known. However your counselor will need to explain what the awards are, what percentage nationally get your grades, etc.
You can just continue with what you’re doing, trying to go with the highest possible level. Internationals aren’t held to the same standard as Americans because 1° school days tend to be longer in other countries (many high schools have classes that end between 2:30 and 3pm so that students can be involved in activities or go to their part time job). 2° laws make it possible for 16 year old students to have jobs (and even 12 year olds can have paper routes, etc.) 3° schools don’t emphasize clubs or may even actively discourage them as they are a distraction for high performance on national exams. Your counselor will just have to indicate what the situation is for your country and specifically for your high school. At the same time, most competitive colleges will expect you to have done things on your own, created a club, joined a town or community group, volunteered, etc., throughout your high school years.</p>
<p>Well my attempt at forming any club ultimately failed. My 4 A* put me as first in my class and and among the top 10% in my A levels. I have done lots of community work/volunteering. Also this may be embarrassing but my sixth form doesn’t have counselor and do you know how I can find one? I am currently going on an international volunteering trip where i travel to countries around the world in africa and south america to try and raise about 2000 pounds($3200).Also maybe more volunteering and hospitals and health care. I am going to repeat this again I HAVE ONLY DONE EXTRACURRICULARS IN ONE YEAR!!!. Does that mean i have a lower chance of getting in.</p>
<p>You can’t change the past. It is what it is. What do you want us to say? You couldn’t do clubs before, you’re doing some now, and hopefully working on your SAT/ACT’s. It’ll affect you in comparison with students from your own country. If they have fewer than you, better for you; if they have more, less good for you. Since you don’t know who will apply from your country, stop thinking about this.
And of course it depends which universities you’re applying to - at least half the public flagships and virtually all directionals wouldn’t care less about your EC’s. It only matters at universities where selectivity is world-level (top 10 universities/LACs) and there you better be in the top 3 in your country if you want admission and funding, or for competitive scholarships at other universities.</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 You mention liberal arts colleges that are extremely selective would see EC,s as a major factor? in total I have lots of EC’s and there wouldn’t be a huge amount of uk applications to LAC’s may be only the top ten but even that’s stretching the probability of a student in the uk applying there. Another thing is that would I only be compared to applicants from the UK and not from Europe or everyone in general? Is there a fixed Quota for each country? Plus is it the amount of EC’s that you do or the quality since I have EC’s in which I have shown two year commitment. Are all LAC’s extremely selective when it comes to internationals asking for aid and plus some college consider ethnicity of applicants whether they are international or not. Can I apply through extenuating circumstances in the us? None of the sixth forms I attended had clubs and no there was no way I could do clubs before I would have to be in a big private school as you know the UK system is different than the us. Comparing me to the same standard as us students DO I HAVE A SHOT AT TOP LAC’S???</p>
<p>Plus i didn’t have my whole high school experience in the uk from year 1 to year 10 I was in different developing countries which had little to no EC’s to offer at school they weren’t even fully english programs. I moved back to the UK at year 11 so therefore I only had three years for EC’s. There is no way in hell you can start a random club in the UK without being in a considerably big school. The schools that get most people to top ivies are winchester college which have math clubs, astronomy clubs every freakin club you can think of and average of 40 percent go to HYPS, MIT and Caltech but here’s the catch tuition at that school is $52,000 there is no way i could afford that you have to understand only rich people can afford top schools here in the U.K. These people won’t even apply for financial aid. Anyway I am not saying there isn’t top competition from UK students but in the UK they would often apply to imperial, UCL and oxbridge while those that go to the US apply to HYPS, MIT, Caltech, Berkeley and maybe from the LAC’s williams and Amherst. They would have little interest in places like skidmore, trinity college and definetly no interest in st lawrence. But nonetheless I think I fair pretty good given that I come from a crap public school where only 1 % of students pass with ABB. Do you think I would fair well against other internationals applying for aid at top LAC’s?</p>
