International for Harvard EA and other Ivies...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’ve made some small changes to some details for privacy’s sake, but everything important is present. Please be honest with me!

Demographics and intended major:

  • Male, Asian
  • Small European country
  • English major with minor in economics (subject to change)

Schools:

  • Harvard EA
  • Regular: Yale, Princeton, Amherst, Stanford. (First three mainly because I need financial aid, and Stanford because if I get into Stanford I’m willing to pay full price lol. Originally considered also putting MIT and CalTech but decided it wasn’t worth it since they don’t exactly accept a ton of English majors)

Academics:

  • (old) SAT: 2370
  • SAT IIs: currently awaiting results on Math II, History, and Literature; assume 750+ on each
  • GPA: 4.00 UW. I don’t think my school does weighted GPAs.
    School does not rank (outside of Valedictorian etc, but that won’t matter until next year). Assume top 1-3%.
  • There isn’t really a “most rigorous course possible” in the curriculum I’ve got since you can theoretically take as many classes as you want, but I’m probably top 5 in the school for course rigor this year. My counselor has told me that a certain type of class I’m taking this year is equivalent to AP - if that’s the case, then I’m taking 8 AP subjects this year.

Awards:

  • came first (out of about 20,000 people, almost all of whom were a year older than me) in last year’s arguably most competitive language arts examination in the country. Got to meet the Prime Minister!
  • various run-of-the-mill school scholar awards; first in the year, second in subject; stuff like that. Also some minor school community awards, like getting “best writer” for the school magazine multiple times.
  • my team came second in the international finals of an academic/community involvement competition in 8th grade (technically part of highschool here), in which I was the lead writer and creative director. I’ll be mentioning it on my application but won’t be giving it much precedence since it technically falls outside of “last four years”. (If you have advice on how I should handle this particular award, please tell me!)

ECs:

  • school Prefect (basically the definition of an institutional leadership role, with some community service thrown in)
  • Student magazine (4 years, editor for 1 year, several “best writer” awards)
  • part-time retail job, 15-20 hours per week. Worked for just over a year but quit a couple of weeks ago because of academic obligations.
  • 100+ hours volunteering; worked at a thrift shop, tutored some kids in private and also for the school, etc.
  • several clubs (academic council, charity group, yearbook, graduation committee, etc.)
  • several premier academic teams (olympiads and various regional competitions, mostly)
  • I could potentially be a published writer soon. I recently submitted a poem to a nationally well-known yearly writing anthology for teens and have been told that I stand a very good chance of publication.
  • premier lawn bowls team. Yeah, not kidding. I joined last year purely for kicks but managed to come second in a regional competition. It’s a relaxing pastime, I guess.
  1. am I competitive for these schools?
  2. does being Asian but going into language arts instead of STEM help my chances? I've received mixed answers so far.
  3. one of the main reasons I want to go to a US college is actually because I have a fascination with US culture, want to live in the US, and see college as the most convenient way to achieve this goal. This means I'm willing to go to a less-than-top college as long as they are generous with financial aid. Are there any such schools? It seems like all the deep-pocketed schools are also the "best", which I suppose makes sense.
2

Bump. I noticed I didn’t mention a few things:
Counselor rec - pretty average, I guess? Not for lack of trying. “Knowing” your counselor isn’t really a thing here. He just summarizes our grades and achievements.
Teacher #1 - 10/10. He’s only known me for a year but he loves me.
Teacher #2 - 7/10.
Essay - 10/10. Very confident about this one. I do need to trim it a little, but everyone I’ve showed it to has responded very positively.

3

Bump. Anybody? :frowning:

4

As an international, your odds are likely 3% or so. You’re competitive, or your odds would be closer to zero.
Note that if you can be full pay at Stanford you won’t get financial aid anywhere.
What’s your budget?
(The fact you were willing to consider Caltech for English means you haven’t actually done sufficient research. Do you have a Fiske guide? Or perhaps access to niche or Princeton Review’s Best Colleges?)
The best programs for English are actually Columbia, UChicago, Kenyon, Hamilton. Pomona, Williams, Haverford, etc. are going to be good too, but it doesn’t help your problem, which is selectivity.
Obviously the universities you listed are excellent too but it’s virtually guaranteed you won’t get in, and after spending all that time on applications wouldn’t you want to actually get in somewhere?
To diversify a bit: look into Case Western, Colby, Georgetown, Denison?
With your test scores, you could aim for merit scholarships. Some are automatic (the most famous one is UAlabama, because it’s a guaranteed full tuition scholarship and access to the Honors College), but there are lots of others, such as Miami-Ohio where you could reach out to @evelynne1996, who is currently majoring in English and got a full tuition scholarship.

5

I agree with MYOS1634 - I highly recommend not going to Caltech if you know you’re majoring in English. Caltech is pretty much intended for STEM students; if anyone does get a major in English here, it’s as a secondary major just because the student really likes taking English classes. Also, you’d have to take a bunch of required math/physics/etc. courses, which you might (possibly) not be too keen on taking if you’re an English major.