<p>SAT I (breakdown): 2360 (790 CR, 770 M, 800 W)
SAT II: French - 770, Lit - 780, World History 790
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): My school does not have GPA, although besides grade nine, I'm a straight-A student. I did poorly in maths and science in freshman year, although I excelled in other subjects especially during my second semester. See, the thing is, in Australia our main or most important years of study are 11 and 12. High school in Australia begins in grade seven and our final year twelve results are not at all affected by how poorly/well you do in years 7-10. Hypothetically, you could fail year eleven and STILL get into whatever choice university as long as you do well in year twelve. So, I really hope admissions officers, especially the Ivies considering how many Australian/international applicants they receive, realise that though in America, grades 9-12 are vital in a good overall GPA, in Australia the only year that really matters is 12 which is essentially why I didnt buckle down as much during grade nine.
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A (although were a class of 350 students and Im pretty sure Im in the top ten. I couldnt tell you if I was first or fifth.)</p>
<p>Subject Course Load: Furthermore, my school also doesn't have any IB or AP courses available. I currently take Advanced English, Extension 1 English, Extension 2 English, Advanced Maths, French, Extension French, Modern History, History Extension, Biology, Economics and Ancient History. NOTE: That's 18 units of study, the absolute maximum that is allowed is 14, but I was given special consideration because of my test scores/enthusiasm.
I've completed a few months of work experience at the largest children's hospital in the state and will be getting a recommendation from a highly respected professor and really likes me. My recommendations from my teachers will definitely be amazing. I'm assuming my counsellor rec will be pretty good -- she knows about the crazy amount of work I do.</p>
<p>Extracurricular: Debating Team, Youth Club Museum of Modern Art, Social Justice (president), Chess Club (founder), Book Club (founder/co-president), Concert/School Band (saxophone), Peer Tutor, Model UN, Public Speaking Competitions, I've been overseas for history competitions and essay writing competitions (Turkey, Japan). Additionally, Ive won a few national/state essay competitions. Bronze Duke of Ed Award, I went on exchange to France for a few weeks in my sophomore year. Oh and Ive also been playing tennis since I was in freshman year. Also, I love art; my main medium is photography/sculpture/film so Ill be submitting a portfolio. </p>
<p>Job/Work Experience: Research centre at children's hospital, worked at a bookstore and a department store for a while, also worked for a little while as an assistant at my mothers medical clinic.</p>
<p>Volunteer/Community service: Anglican Retirement Village for 100+ hours, Youth Club Museum. Ministers Award for Volunteering.
My estimated HSC mark (which is kind of like Australias SAT) is in the late 90s 98-99.95, with the highest possibly mark being 99.95. </p>
<p>Essay: I think my essay will be concerning how I want to take my degree in psychology/international relations/history to educate and help students in Afghanistan that are in desperate need of education. How I want to be involved in building an education centre where children as young as five up till 30 can become more learnt in maths/English/Farsi/science/history/geography etc. It sounds kind of iffy right now, but basically how Ive come to realise through Social Justice Group/parents/research how children in developing countries such as Afghanistan dont have the resources to attain an education like someone from Australia or the US and how westernised Ive become due to being able to rely on a successful education system, food and water always being accessible and luxuries like phones and televisions. Ill also be talking about a competition I won in my sophomore year called What Matters in which I talked about social inequality in Afghanistan which was really cool to write and sparked my enthusiasm in my culture. Im incredibly passionate about learning and social equality so I hope this comes across well in the essay and I dont sound insincere. </p>
<p>Ethnicity: Middle-Eastern? Typically I check "Other" on application forms. I dont consider myself Asian, though technically Afghanistan is a part of Asia, and Im not Hispanic, White, African American or apart of any other ethnic groups that are usually listed.
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $400,000+ (My parents constantly waver in their support for me studying abroad, so Im not sure if Im applying for financial aid or not)
Hooks: I guess the fact that I'm Australian and applying as a first generation US college student.<br>
I do realise how difficult it is to get accepted into college in the US, but studying in Australia is always a back-up option. My top choices (in order) are Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Brown, Penn, Dartmouth, Cornell, Chicago, NYU, UC Berkeley, Northwestern, Northeastern and MIT. Of course, a lot of these decisions had in part, to do with the prestige of the colleges, but I have done my research on all of these places. Im confident in each and every one of these colleges and I truly believe I could hone my academic/sporting/musical abilities in any of these institutions. (Though Yale is, and always will be my first choice).
Obviously these are all pretty big reaches, but taking in my application as a whole lets say hypothetically my essays and supplement and my short responses were amazing, my recs were incredible... would you accept/defer/reject me from these colleges? I know you guys arent admissions officers, but if your automatic thought WAS to defer/reject me, how would you suggest I build upon my application? And even if you were to accept me, is there anywhere you would suggest needs improving?</p>