<p>Hi!
I am from Sweden and am applying to Columbia U and Upenn.
I just took the SAT today. I'm expecting ascoer around 2000 (the critical reading section went BAAAAD)
Anyways, I am a straight A student, I will get two really strong recommendation letters from two teachers and my extracurricular activities are:</p>
<p>Class representative of the students' council
Treasurer of the Amnesty club
Member of the Christmas formal, graduation cap and yearbook committee
Member of the school's volleyball team</p>
<p>I used to play the piano and my sport is corsscountry.
Do you think that i'll have a good shot at Columbia U and Upenn?
Would appreciate the help!</p>
<p>Oh, and I forgot to mention that i volunteer as a tutor every thursday :D</p>
<p>International admissions are super competitive, especially if you need financial aid.
Your grades are great, but your ECs and projected SAT are unremarkable. Don’t pack your bags.</p>
<p>I am an international student from China. I think it’s OK for the CR score of an international student to be a bit lower, but you have to show something unique you can bring to Columbia’s community as an international student. Also, how about your SAT2s?</p>
<p>I don’t think there are many students in Sweden applying for Columbia, so you are kind of minority. This benefits you a lot. Unlike Chinese :(</p>
<p>Also, I think your ECs are pretty good as an international student because AO knows that international students tend to have weaker ECs compared with American students.</p>
<p>If you can write great essays, I think you have a decent shot.:P</p>
<p>thanks for the help!
I’m chinese too, but have been living in sweden for the past ten years or so.
I’m taking the SAT II in december in math and physics, and I think they’ll go better.</p>
<p>Wow! It’s amazing. So where are you from in China. I am from Hangzhou.</p>
<p>I’m from Nanjing 
Yeah, this is really cool ^^
Where are you applying to i the U.S?</p>
<p>What does that mean "Where are you applying to i the U.S? "</p>
<p>Oh, i was wondering which school you are applying in the U.S. :)</p>
<p>Oh, sorry. I am applying to Columbia(ED). U Chicago, UVA, Middlebury, Carleton, Grinnell and several other LACs. Maybe I will also apply Dart or Brown.</p>
<p>How about you? Where are you applying?</p>
<p>Cool I’m apllying to Dartmouth and Columbia too 
Besides that, I’m also applying to princeton, NYU, Upenn and MIT</p>
<p>Cool! I was wondering what is your mother tongue. Chinese? or Swedish.</p>
<p>tomzhang, is it true that Ivy league universities or any other US universities for that matter understand that international students tend to have a lot less ECs compared to students in the US? If it is, then that’s just splendid!!
I from India but currently living in Singapore. No one in this country seems to have the astronomical amounts of ECs or achievements I see in this website. Yet many still get in these world renowned universities.</p>
<p>“Also, I think your ECs are pretty good as an international student because AO knows that international students tend to have weaker ECs compared with American students.”</p>
<p>ooh so lets say you’re living in Asia (I’m living in Brunei) and would that mean a whole load of impressive ECs would look even better? I’m not a very good test taker but my grades, ECs, recs and everything else are great so do you think that’ll sorta cancel out an ‘okay-ish’ SAT score?</p>