maybe Yale????

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>well im new on this post but i really need your help right now because as iv finished my junior year ill be applying to college soon. I realize that no one really knows when it comes to admissions and all of that but im really pretty nervous about it all and could use some one else's vision and opinions ( my mothers' is really not working for me anymore lol) so i guess on with my stats…</p>

<p>International female student ; Lebanese nationality but lived in many different countries because my father is a diplomat and i move around all of the time, currently in Armenia</p>

<p>Just moved to a Very small and newly founded international school- full IB diploma candidate( Eng, Bio, Hist, and econ all HL and French and math SL tok as well)</p>

<p>Rank : 1/7...ya my grade is minuscule</p>

<p>we don't get graded on the American a-f scale but we get grades on a scale from 1-7 one for effort and one for achievement (the 1-7 is based on the ib scale btw) but the teacher comments are very weighted as well. my grades this year were pretty good all 6s and a few 7s, and the comments were great.
sophomore and freshman year i had the hardest courses, honors and what not and a 4.0 as well ( that was in a different country and school so they used the gpa system)</p>

<p>SAT's- well im def. retaking in October but the first time i took it i did really badly with a score of 1250 (old sat), iv studied since and will some more over the summer and think that i can do much MUCH better, i think the writing section will be at least a 700+. </p>

<p>SAT 2's- Bio: 720 and Spanish w/ listening 780 , maybe I will retake the bio because I have learned looaadss more since and take the lit one as well ( after ib eng hl with myteacher lit seems like it would be a piece of cake)... </p>

<p>EC's ( in a nutshell)
- ballet for about 10 years or so, danced in the cairo opera house for about 2 years until i moved, do tons of recitals, choreography for childrens ballets, some teaching for little kids etc...im very serious about it and go for about 6 hours a week. The past two summers were mostly spent preparing for big shows or helping my teacher with the smaller classes and also helping her prepare for her presentation for the doctorate of ballet approvals
- Basket ball for at least 7 years ( on JV and varsity since grade 7, was first co captain for a year then captain for the past two), MIP a couple of times, athlete of the year once, letters, and various other awards of the likes. participated in various tournaments internationally and locally, played with a club for a short while till I moved to Armenia now I just play on the school teams.
- Soccer : roughly the same as with basket ball yet less awards and i never played soccer with a club
-Volley ball but just for fun, nothing too special
- Student council: first i was a grade rep for 2 years, then this year got elected vice-president and next year ill probably be president, also this year I wrote the constitution for our student council and got it approved as well
- MUN: participated in many conferences (including THIMUN and other international ones), chairing, leadership roles etc.. also, this year me and a teacher started the club in our school and we will be traveling to thimun next year and ill be the ambassador of our delegation
-speak 4 languages pretty fluently : Arabic, English, Spanish and French (a little bit of Russian also although very badly)
- I take religion associated classes and do activities of that sort every saterday
- lots of community service hours spread out over different activities im not sure how many but not like over 300 hrs..
- iv done a lot of poetry writing and won a couple of contests, the biggest one was a nation wide one by HSBC and i got a really expensive cell phone as lol , also the director of the school wrote me a letter of commendation and I was in the newspaper.
generally i write a lot of short stories and some get published in random unknown magazines because those are the only ones i can ever manage to reach living in the places that i have . Currently im in the middle of writing a book about my country hopping experiences. im hoping it will get published because i think its rather interesting ( I THINK) but probably not before I apply to college, maybe tho...?
- o and if it counts im always participating in our schools recitals, concerts , plays etc.. i really take a part in everything that happens and prolly the teachers witll mention tht in their recs
- also i write for the school newspaper occasionally, but it just started so its not very organized and well led, maybe next year the teacher in charge will let me take over tho
- amnesty international for 2 years</p>

<p>AWARDS ( also in a nutshell)
- in the past iv got a large amount of athletic awards, in both basket ball and soccer
- student of the year, language awards, and similar ones for academic achievements
- poetry awards, and writing awards</p>

<p>i think my teacher and councilor recs will be really great because we are a small school and the teachers know me very well . i even have some teacher recs from my old school and might just attach those because they are really good
Also my essays will surely be very personal and creative, as I guess that is just the type of person I am….!HOWEVER ill be applying for fin aid.. ya as an international that's a biigggg factor or so they all seem to b saying!! </p>

<p>I REALLY want to go to yale, pton or u of chicago , do u think i have a chance? but also schools like williams, colgate, cornell,northwestern, gtown, brown etc.. ( i obviously do not have my very final list yet but would not want to apply to more then 6 or 7) would be good however financial aid would be my biggest concern, so id end up deciding accordingly. anyways I NEED ALL OF THE SUGGESTIONS AND IDEAS THAT YOU CAN GIVE- so u know im allll ears!!!! im thinking ill probably major in international relations but im pretty much undecided till now….
ya so thanks in advance</p>

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<p>so your grades are qualitative(teacher describes performance)? BTW Yale and Princeton are HUGE reaches.</p>

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<p>The competition for internationals needing financial aid is fierce. You need to look at schools where your stats would put you at the very top of their range. If you can improve your SAT score, I would look at schools like Grinnel and Smith.</p>

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<p>o ok thnx...any1 else plz?</p>

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<p>well, what bout u of chicago, williams and gtown ? would those still be too impossible? ya i guess our grades are kinda qualitative</p>

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<p>ok i know its long but 143 views and only 4 replies ( 2 of which r mine) come on plllzzz</p>

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<p>If you plan to continue ballet, and hope to use it as a hook, Smith is your place. Lots of internationals receiving aid as well. There is a 5-College Certificate in International Relations that brings together the best faculty from all 5 (Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire, UMass.)</p>

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<p>what is the 5-College Certificate? ya ill think about smith...but i was thinking tht my writing and languages was more of a hook then ballet... thnx</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.fivecolleges.edu/sites/international/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.fivecolleges.edu/sites/international/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Both languages and writing are very big - they also house the 5-College Poetry Center, and have very robust departments in languages (especially the European ones, between 2 and 3 times the size of those at Williams.)</p>

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<p>o wow thts really cool thnx</p>

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<p>I think you are really going to need to apply to more than 6 schools. You are one of those people that could go either way at many places (largely due to the SAT - since your grade is small it becomes very important and your scores are VERY low right now for the Ivies/ Williams). I say as is Yale and Princeton are out. I recommend applying to 10-11 schools, it will be worth every penny and evenry minute of your time. Add Middlebury and Dartmouth, drop Yale and Princeton in my opinion.</p>

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<p>well im going to retake the sat, as i STRESSED before; in October and im sure ill do way better i mean how many ppl whose first lang. isn't English get perfect on their first try...? practically every one improves and all id need is like a 200 - 300 point imp. or so. i had a not so bad verbal score but a dreadful math one. im taking an extra math course these days, so hopefully tht'll do something as im pretty mathematically impaired in general. but anyways what do u think my chances at Grinnell , u of Chicago or Amherst would be. also id apply to Dartmouth but i was told that it gives almost no aid to intels, while yale gives a lot...
well thnx</p>

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<p>With a 200-300 point boost it makes a big difference! If you can get a 2100+ then I think Yale, Princeton, etc is with reach for sure!! Grinell is pretty close even with your current scores, so a boost will get you in Assuming a 2100 I think Chicago is a pretty sure bet, and Amherst a slight reach, but very well within range.</p>

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<p>did u think i was even considering applying to some place like yale with a 1250??? thts crazzzyyy....so ya thnk you anyways!!</p>

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<p>well anyone else pllzzzzzz?</p>

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<p>i think, if you stress the ECs - and your uniqueness, you have a pretty good chance at Chicago. They don't really care about SAT as much as the other schools (i.e. HYPS).</p>

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<p>how do u think i should stress those things in an application?</p>

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<p>bummppp pllzzz</p>

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<p>Amherst and Williams are big reaches also. For those and HYP, you need to be thinking about 2200+ with good rank and ECs. Many, many internationals apply to those schools. That is your competition. Mini gave you some good advice on Smith. Add Mt Holyoke and Wellesley, maybe Scripps. Rice would be a good reach.</p>

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<p>how do u think i should stress those things in an application?</p>

<p>the essays. Chicago is famous for its quirky, weird essays. They place a lot of emphasis on these, and don't even require SAT IIs. (And if you're an intl student in a country that doesn't offer SAT, they won't care that you don't have it - essentially, SAT is pretty minor factor here. 40% of admitted students are in the 1400s anyways, so if you can get there, it'll be good - that's for old btw, dunno what it is new). So write quirky, unique essays that stand out and emphasize that you've gotten from your ECs; I think the intl MUN is a good one, ballet...try to streamline your ECs. Don't have so many; show concentrated effort in max. 3 areas.</p>