<p>I am an South African student who will be applying to Cornell (Dyson) and various other Colleges come this fall, and this is my situation:</p>
<p>My GPA (approximate, as we don't use 4.0 scales in South Africa) is 3.8 unweighted.
My SAT score is 1360 (for Verbal 670 + Math 690, I understand Cornell don't look at writing) - I intend on re-writing in October and doing the Subject tests in November.
I do Advanced Program Maths - A student (Encompasses Calculus, advanced Finance... Fairly similar to the US AP)
I am the 1st team Basketball Captain at my school and the most prolific scorer for the season (however, I do not entirely wish to play Basketball at College as SA Basketball is miles behind American Standards)
I play Soccer and am a member of the school Chess club.
I am a member of the "Community Service Portfolio" at my school
I am a member of the backstage crew for school productions
I have a job as a waiter that I have held for 6 months
My Cousin once removed (Father's cousin) is a Cornell Benefactor.
I am in the top 1% of South African 12th graders learners.
I came 1st in an Entrepreneurship Challenge hosted by the Johannesburg School of Finance (A prominent Business University in South Africa)</p>
<p>What are my chances of being accepted to a good US university - preferably Cornell (others being: Upenn, NYU, University of Chicago, University of Michigen...)?
Many thanks in advance. :) </p>
<p>Thanks for the prompt replay, I have already been accepted into 2 of South Africa’s best Universities; University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University; for my first choice courses (albeit provisionally - I have to get a 3.2 gpa for the rest of the school year). As for non reach in the US, the only reason I would study in the US is in order to attend a University better than ones I have the opportunity to attend in South Africa.</p>
<p>Thanks Soze, I didn’t mention that I wrote the SAT with a very limited amount of preparation as in South Africa there are few SAT resources, and I wrote the test during my exam period so I was under the stress of exams. I have already done masses of preparation for my next SAT and hope to get a much higher score. </p>
<p>Also, apart from my mediocre SAT scores, are my other credentials holding me back, and would an American student of the same caliber be considered before me?</p>
<p>Nothing is holding you back.
But please realize that many of these schools still reject the majority of qualified applicants. So for any given school, your chance of admission is not great.</p>
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<p>It depends on finances.
Most of these schools are not need-blind for international students, but are for US students. So if you are not full-pay, I’m sorry to say that would put you at a disadvantage.</p>