International. Penniless. Gap year. Desperate. Anyone wants to guess my chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Academic:</p>

<p>• GPA = don’t know. It’s mostly A’s with a few B’s, so it’ll be like 3.9 I guess. School doesn’t calculate one. We operate on the British O and A Level system.
• School type: Highly Selective private, arguably the most academically competitive in Pakistan.
• O Level 9 A’s
• A Level 6 A’s (Taking Further Math as a 7th A level this year, and AS International History as an 8th) [Take 3 A levels= 5 APs as a rough estimate for those who might be unaware of this system]
• SAT Reasoning 2150 <a href="Should%20be%20up%20to%202250%20this%20December">CR 680, Math 710, W 760</a>
• ACT Composite 33 (Probably wont submit)
• SAT Subjects 2400 (Physics, Chemistry, Math IIC)
• TOEFL PBT 653/677
• 2 School based Math Whiz Prizes
• 17 Subject Certificates given to highest achiever in each school exam
• Gold Award given to best three students of the school
• 6 Medals for achieving highest in O level exams</p>

<p>Non-Academic:</p>

<p>• Volunteer work at Orangi Pilot Project(Slum development) Approx 1000 hours over 4 years
• Senior Member of Pakistan Stammering Association- guiding others to overcome speech impediments in a self-help environment being an ex-stutterer myself.
• School Mathematics Society- Vice President, Quiz Organizer, Magazine Editor
• School Computer Society- General Secretary, Gaming Tournaments Organizer
• School Annual Newsletter Editor
• Member of Student Government Body: School Prefect
• Internship at Citibank 1.5 Months (June 2007)
• Internship at The News 3 Months (Part time)
• Internship at Barclays Bank 3 Months
• Casual Squash player
• Learning French </p>

<p>Further Gap-Year Activity: (December to July)</p>

<p>• Helping my chemistry teacher write a book on A Level Chemistry
• Internship with Geo News TV 4 months
• Internship with Spider IT magazine- Editor 3 months (Part time)
• Continuing volunteer work at the Orangi Pilot Project
• Volunteer at SIUT Hospital- 200 hours
• Giving Further Mathematics as an additional A Level
• Solidifying knowledge of French
• Travel with an urban resource centre to compile a report on conditions prevalent in Interior Sindh and rural areas.</p>

<p>Essays: </p>

<p>• I am a good writer. The main essay is about the Pakistani society and poverty along with some social science and marxism.</p>

<p>College List:</p>

<p>• Harvard
• Yale
• Dartmouth
• Brown
• MIT ( I was unsuccessful last year)
• Amherst
• Williams
• Middlebury
• Bates
• Vassar
• McGill (Canada)
• Toronto (Canada)</p>

<p>Any suggestion/advice/criticism is welcome.</p>

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<p>36 views and ZERO replies?</p>

<p>Please people. Pretty please.</p>

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<p>• Harvard - high reach - reject
• Yale - reach - reject
• Dartmouth - reach - very difficult to tell
• Brown - reach - rejected because of aid
• MIT ( I was unsuccessful last year) - high reach - reject
• Amherst - reach -again hard to tell
• Williams - same as above
• Middlebury - high match - probable accept
• Bates - match - probable accept but FA could be a problem
• Vassar - same as above
• McGill (Canada) - safety -accept they dont give aid only scholarships
• Toronto (Canada) - same as above</p>

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<p>i'm not very sure how competitive the Pakistan pool is. Is 2150 impressive for your country? Are you ethnic Pakistani?</p>

<p>I say raise your SATs to 2300, or whatever's considered outstanding in Pakistan - if your country's pool isn't very competitive, then your SATs already put you way ahead.</p>

<p>Also, if you've set your heart on going to the US and need aid, you MUST apply to all the need-blind schools, or you'll regret not trying. Speaking from experience. So include Princeton, too.</p>

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<p>I guess 2200 would be the thing for very highly qualified Pakistani applicants, even though english is a second language. I am sure I can bring my score upto that.</p>

<p>And yeah I am a Pakistani/Indian by ethnicity.</p>

<p>Anyone else please?</p>

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<p>I second screwitlah. Apply to Princeton too.</p>

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<p>dude up your sats. I am indian and i took gap year too. and I think they take south asia as one region, and let me tell you, the competition is INTENSE.</p>

<p>where all did you apply last year? and whats your major?</p>

<p>If you canpush up your sats (and there is no reason why someone with your math and eng skills doesnt) to above 2300 levels, you have a good chance.</p>

<p>by the way penniless seems an exxageration. Seeing that the sats and act and toefl and application fee and courier charges musta cost you more than 50-60 grand last yr, and you are looking at 60-70 grand (or more, if pak rupee is worth less than indian rupee) minimum now for you 10-12 unis. not for penniless people eh?</p>

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<p>I would say your chances are pretty low because of the financial aid.</p>

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<p>Hey,</p>

<p>I guess I'm the only Canadian [International too!] here but I was raised in Cupertino California so I guess I can decently give you a comparison between the American and Canadian schools.
[BTW, I'm in grade 11 and graduating, maybe, but parents won't let me take a gap year because they believe that my intelligence will go down the drain. So you're very lucky!]</p>

<p>You have very good grades and scores and EC's so basically the Canadian schools will adore you. But I must say that UT and McGill are very competitive in foreign languages because hopefully you know that Canada is bilingual. So the more languages the better, and btw, they do not take French [and Spanish now probably] seriously anymore because most people there know or must know the language. </p>

<p>If you can, learn a really rare or uncommon language and that should be enough for any school in the U.S. and Canada. After Mandarin, English, French, Spanish, and Italian I've realized that no matter how poetic I get in any of the languages I'll just be another one of the millions speaking it. So I'm currently learning Afrikaans, and I know that isn't necessarily "rare" but I don't know anybody who knows or speaks the language. </p>

<p>But whoa, I wrote a lot on just languages.
The American Schools are the number one picks for you I guess and if you can get in those, get in those. Screw the financial aid, just think of it as being a budget deficit [no offence!] because really, in the end it really does matter what the name of your school is. You could be straight A's, honors at UT and that wouldn't really stand up to Harvard.</p>

<p>My dad used to work at Harvard [JFK School of Government]and he says that it is very competitive, that most kids/adults look so exhausted just from the whole application process but at Harvard it is very diverse. I'd really love to go to Yale Law and I can't really tell you much about Yale because the only connection I have is that my great great grandfather went there [one of the first Chinese/Asians to go to an American Institution] but all your other choices seem great.</p>

<p>Have you thought about any Western schools? I used to live 20 min from Stanford and that's my only school that I want to attend and now I live 20 min from UBC. </p>

<p>FA wise, I'll say if you went to an American school for 1 year undergrad for the same amount of money you can go to finish your whole undergrad in Canada and have money left over [and watch some hockey games perhaps?].</p>

<p>Good Luck To You! And I hope you get into whereever you want to get into:]</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone. I kinda am concentrating on the schools that give most aid because I really need it (well, not exactly penniless, but even then im pretty broke by US standards and the exchange rates keeps dropping and dropping....), so no south school.</p>

<p>And I am an undecided major. Does anyone suggest any modification to my list? Any others?</p>

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<p>@ abhimanyuk: That is the point. The apps suck up so much cash and then with the current exchange rates Pakistan is having I feel I wont be able to contribute much at all.</p>

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<p>go applying to canadian schools:)
im canadian as well, and im applying to u of t and mcgill next year:)
(as well as harvard, MIT and possibly stanford/dartmouth)</p>

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<p>anyone else?</p>

<p>sorry for bumping, I NEED your opinions you know.</p>