Hey there! I am an international student currently in her first semester of the Cambridge A Levels. Due to the complicated education system in my country, educational levels are as follows: primary school, secondary school, college THEN university. Hence, I am now in college and will be applying next year. My target schools would definitely include the Ivy League, and I am pondering whether or not to apply ED to U Chicago or Amherst College. So far, I have no stats on my A Levels but am performing relatively well in Psychology, Economics, and English Literature with only an average performance in Mathematics. I hope to major in Economics or something related and was a top student in secondary school (consistently top 20 out of 400). I have yet to sit for the SAT and the SAT Subject Tests. My ECs are as follows:
Secondary School
Sub Editor for the School Magazine
Part of a team for a national video competition on the environment (4th place)
Assistant director for the school drama team (2nd at state level)
Treasurer then Vice President for the Music Club
Auditor for one of five sports houses in the school system
Organizing committee for school level wushu camp (martial arts)
Earned 3 basic level certificates in wushu (martial arts)
Treasurer for the Librarian Unit (recognized student body under the school system)
External
Scholarship recipient for the Kennedy-Lugar YES Program funded by US Department of State (exchange year to USA, was very active in school’s drama club)
Planning to participate in journalism program under the national newspaper (currently applying)
Currently (college)
Active in Model United Nations (attended one available conference out of two under the school and planning to participate in their organizing committee for the college’s MUN Conference next year)
Active in Performing Arts Club (interviewing for Vice Secretary and signed up to be part of their publicity team next year)
If there is anyone who could advise me on what else I can do to be an outstanding candidate it would be deeply appreciated!
I think me and you are in advantage since this whole ‘GPA and school grades’ thing doesn’t apply for us.(mostly)
However something you’ll notice at most schools here is that they want traditional subjects , and something that goes like this : 'Atleast one subject from Social science/Sciences/Arts" etc(and apparently economics/bus is not considered traditional)
I recommend that you take a science like chemistry or physics.(ALOT of them require atleast one science)
Pretty much most of them scare away from people taking non-traditional subjects.
So all in all , unlike , most look for more well-rounded students while most universities in the UK look at your A-level and sometimes GCSE.
But in here , they’ll also look at your GCSEs , Your recs , Your extracurriculars(you can get away without any in the uk) and your subject choice and how well rounded they are.(So choosing Accounting , Math , Business and Economics as AS/A-level isnt that well rounded I guess)
Did you take O’Levels or IGSE’s? If so, which ones and which grades did you get?
For A-Level, Economics, Maths, and English Literature would be the three I’d keep (no need to take Further Maths). If you can keep 4 A-Levels it’s even better for the level of colleges you’re aiming for, but only if you can reasonably expect 3 A’s out of the 4.
Without SAT &SAT Subjects, or ACT, it’s hard to tell you anything.
Definitely aim for those schools, but if you apply EA to UChicago and ED to Amherst, and don’t get in, you’ll have to change your list of schools.
I would advise you buy The Princeton Review’s Best colleges OR Insider’s Guide to the Colleges OR Fiske Guide PLUS Colleges that change lives. And start reading.
I took the standardized national examinations in my country before moving on to A Levels. I took Chemistry and Physics for the national examinations (for a total of 10 subjects, 9A’s and 1B) and decided that science really wasn’t my thing, hence the decision to move on to the subjects I am now taking.
Pay attention to MYOS1634’s suggestion about reading up on the colleges. They are very different, but all of them require you to take classes outside your major. Some have a lot of requirements (UChicago and Columbia cores, for example) and some relatively few (Brown is the usual example), but all have some version of language, quantitative and writing requirements. There are other obvious differences- for example, some are in cities, some in suburbs, some pretty rural- and less obvious ones (is sport a big part of student life, for example).
Also, be aware that Econ typically has a strong math requirement (UChicago wants at least multi-variable calc and linear algebra), so if you are finding math a challenge you might want to take a closer look at that element.
