International student applying for HYPSM - chance me please!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

GPA - International student but my grades translate to a 4.0 GPA
SAT subject tests: 800 Bio M, 780 Chemistry
SAT: 1560/1600 and 18/24 essay

ECs:
Play squash competitively - play for my county team and represented the county at the national finals (which we won :slight_smile: )

Am an ambulance cadet and have an official first aid certification (which is nationally recognised) so I go out on different duties

Have a Grade 7 Drama qualification that is nationally recognised and am working towards Grade 8 (maximum grade).

Was the Chief Operating Officer and a Web developer for a tech startup creating an all-in-one educational platform to be given to schools for free to give schools a new product to enhance students’ learning: We won a regional award for innovation for our product and company report and our platform is already deployed at institutions in 3 different countries so far!

Have started an investment fund with a friend and made some returns already

I have a lot of science ECs so here goes xD:

  • Did a project on developing a better class of drugs that could be used to treat metal poisoning and heart disease: I got 2nd place in the Junior stream of our National Science and Engineering Fair.
  • Created a patent-pending solution that could be used to treat several degenerative diseases earlier than currently possible: I was a finalist at our National Science and Engineering Fair, award winner at the global Google Science Fair, research was published in a peer-reviewed journal, presented my work to the editors of Nature and have given several conference speeches, including TEDx talks.
  • Devised a novel approach to treat a particularly aggressive form of cancer: presented my research to editors at Nature, given TEDx talks and was winner of the Intermediate stream of our National Science and Engineering competition
  • Created a renewable bioplastic that can sustainably and cheaply purify water in developing and developed countries: winner of National heats of a water research competition and will be representing my country at the international Stockholm Junior Water Prize.

I know that Stanford, Harvard etc. are a crapshoot in terms of admissions but do you think my combination of grades and ECs will at least make me a decent contender? thanks :slight_smile:

2

What country are you from? This matters a lot! If it is someplace unusual like Mongolia then you don’t even need to be smart, colleges will fight for you. If it is Canada, then you are basically applying as an American. However, Canadian schools are similar to US schools so the admissions officers will understand what your scores mean, whereas they might not know the school methods of Uganda as well, and not understand what your grades mean. So if an “F” grade in your country is really good, but the admissions officers aren’t familiar with what that means, you could be in trouble.

That being said, your SAT scores are critical! After all, this is a US standardized test. The admissions officers will use this information rather than your GPA because frankly they understand it better. And your GPA is a lot higher than most people in the world, so you are even more competitive than American students, you are in the top 99.99% of students in regards to your SAT. That is really really important. It is good that you took the subject tests, because being from another country, the admissions officers will use these subject tests to verify that you are actually knowledgeable in those subjects. Since you performed so well, you might want to take some others because you will probably exceed at those and that will really boost your application. Your EC’s are stellar. They represent your goals as well as your achievements beautifully.

In other words, you compared to other applicants are looking a lot better to these schools. I would expect at least one acceptance from a HYPSM. MIT is from my home city and I have to say it is the best of these choices for someone like you, interested in engineering.

Good luck and go far!!

3

I really don’t get it - you are COO this, new drug that, why would you even need to go to college? Do colleges even believe this crap?

4

It seems to me that many international students are CXOs, have cured cancer, and have saved the world. You seriously don’t need to attend HPYSM. They are so beneath you.