Italian student

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm an Italian student, currently living in Bergamo, near Milan.
I attend one of the best schools in my city, and my grade average in high school is 8/10 (getting 90s or better is very hard, almost impossible in Italian best schools).
Last year I have been an exchange student in Austin, TX, where I attended James Bowie High School. I had a 4.0 unweighted GPA, taking 3 honor classes. </p>

<p>Average grade in Italy: 8/10
Junior year UW GPA: 4.0
SAT I: 2050 (520 CR, 730 W, 800 M)
SAT II: 750 Math II, 750 Physics</p>

<p>English is my second language (that hurts my SAT scores). My first language is Italian. I've also studied Latin for 5 years, French for 3 years, and Chinese for 1 year.
In my Italian high school I've studied Math, Italian, English, Latin, History and Art for 5 years; Physics, Philosophy and Chemistry for 3 years; Biology and Geography for 2 years.</p>

<p>ECs: as I've already said, I was an exchange student (I was selected to be one). During my exchange year I got into NHS (only exchange student in my school chapter).
Since high school began, I've been involved in: basketball for 5 years, swimming for 2 years, soccer and pole vaulting for 1 year, a 1 year long course of Chinese, volounteering (I served at my Church, refereed kids' basketball games and right now Im helping people with Autism and Im working at a reception center for the poor), and classic/electric guitar courses (I'm in a band).
I love travelling and I traveled a lot during my life. I visited almost every country in Europe, I toured the U.S., I went to Africa and visited several countries in Asia.</p>

<p>I know that my scores are not that great, probably because I'm Italian and English is just my second language, and that my extra curriculars are not very original.
However, I'm pretty confident that I can write very interesting and well written essays. I dont know yet about reccomendation letters.</p>

<p>The colleges Im interested in are: Stanford, UChicago, MIT, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UT Austin and UC Boulder. I'd like to study Physics.</p>

<p>Do I have any chance to be admitted in any of these universities?
Thanks</p>

2

<p>The key question for any international student is the following: what’s your budget/will you need financial aid?
That’s the essential element to us chancing you.</p>

<p>Were you selected by the Rotary (with scholarship), or was it like an AFS year abroad?</p>

<p>Are you retaking the SAT in November - I strongly suggest you do, since 800 M + 600CR would put you in range for lots of merit scholarships.</p>

3

<p>I won’t need financial aid.
It was an Italian organization, but I still went through selection.
I’d really like to have a scolarship of course, the problem is that I cant improve my CR. My first SAT was an 1840 (520 CR, 650 W, 680 M): as you can see, although I studied more than 1000 new words, I couldnt improve the CR. Pretty sure I still cannot do it in less than a month. </p>

4

<p>@flieslord When you do not need financial aid, your odds are more predictable as an international candidate. That being said, your stats as well as your overall profile really don’t stand out too much - since I had also been an international applicant applying to unis worldwide, I have indeed seen many cases where the candidates are simply extraordinary - either in academics (IMO, IPho or in ECs(say, fundraising in the entire state, or a proposal to the government that turned into reality, etc.). With your personal information as described in the post so far, I would say:</p>

<p>Stanford: reach-high reach(quirkiness counts a lot)
MIT: High-high reach(nearly out-of-reach…$$ doesn’t matter there, but your STEM attributes do matter a lot;a lot of int’l with IMO/IPhO medals apply to the place and get accepted, so I would say your chances are pretty slim)
UChi: low reach-reach(might be possible, if you can write good essays with the topics provided)
UCB: Reach(Higher than UChi, because stats matter a lot)
UCLA: High match-low reach
UCSD: match-high match
UT Austin: match
UC Boulder: low match.</p>

<p>Try to boost your SAT to 2200+ if you are aiming for schools like HYPS. Also, do consider your major and do your best to match your personal experiences with your intended major on the application form so that your profile will not seem too generic to the admission officers. Good luck </p>