<p>Hi everyone, I am an international student from China who is currently studying at a prep school in New York. As a senior right now, I am considering applying for universities at UK because of the costs and their great academics.</p>
<p>Here are my info:</p>
<p>SAT: 2090 (superscored; cr640,wr710,m740; not high enough cuz I did not prepare for it at all.)
TOEFL: 110
SAT2: 780 in physics
APs: Calculus AB(5), Micro-economics(5, self-studied), Macro-ecnomics(5,self-studied), Comparative politics(5,self-studied), European History(5), Environmental Science(5), Statistics(5), PhysicsB(5)
GPA: sophmore:4.0(unweighted), 4.25(weighted); junior: 4.0(unweighted), 4.33(weighted)
ECs: One of the prefects(highest rank of student leadership) at my school; used to be admission co-president; intern at local Democratic Committee; intern at a info company in China; Dorm council; English tutor at my community back in China
Recommendation letter: I got a very strong recommendation letter from my AP Euro and philosphy teacher who is a PHD; also got a very strong recommendation letter from my bio and faith&culture teacher, I suppose that he is a renowned teacher in his field(biology)cuz he is a table leader in the annual AP bio grading. </p>
<p>The universities that I am applying for are:
1. St. Andrews(1st choice economics and international relation; 2nd choice ecnomics and management), applying through Common App
2. KCL: politics of international economy; applying through Common App
3. University of Edinburgh: Politics and Economic & Social History; Law and Social Policy
4. UCL: Law
5. LSE: Politics and Philosophy
6: The University of Manchester: International Business, Finance and Economics</p>
<p>What are my chances of getting into those universities (conditional or unconditional or rej)? My SAT scores are not that good but I got good grades on APs. I heard that UK schools really care about AP scores, is that true? Will my SAT scores negatively affect my chance of being accepted? </p>
<p>You need to check each university’s individual requirements yourself. </p>
<p>Other than that, the UCL does not admit students with SATs or APs only. Students from the U.S. are normally required to attend an American college for one year before they can transfer to the UCL.</p>
You can only write one personal statement for UCAS, and this will be sent to all five choices. The main purpose of the PS is to show how completely totally and utterly dedicated you are to your subject. You cannot show this whilst applying to such a wide range of courses. You’re going to have to choose a course sooner or later, so you will be much better off choosing now so that you maximise your chances of getting offers. A UK PS is very, very different from a US college admissions essay, so make sure you read up on the differences, and act accordingly. </p>
<p>You should also be aware that
a) UK universities don’t care for ECs and leadership positions in the same way that US colleges do. 80% of your PS should be about why you want to study the subject, with the remaining 20% extra curriculars - and even then, there should be a focus on ECs that are directly relevant to your course.
b) Beyond knowing you academically (i.e. having taught you), the credentials of the person writing your PS is irrelevant. In this case, it’s what you know not who you know. You should give this info to your referee, so that they understand how to write a UCAS reference [Referees</a> | UCAS | How to Write References](<a href=“http://www.ucas.com/how-it-all-works/advisers-and-referees/referees]Referees”>http://www.ucas.com/how-it-all-works/advisers-and-referees/referees) </p>
<p>These are not, however, insurmountable barriers - it just means that you need to focus your attention of the course that you want to study, and decide which two unis you aren’t going to apply to.</p>
<p>With those APs and a relatively low SAT you would need something else that is compelling (that you haven’t told us) for LSE. You should have a good shot at Manchester, Edinburgh and St Andrews (St A’s b/c they will take your US bits into more consideration).</p>
<p>You really need to be applying for similar courses at at least 4 out of 5 places, otherwise you dont look focused on your subject and your personal statement will be very difficult.</p>
<p>Excellent point#2 boomting, I just got rejected from the LSE, I think because my PS was all about studying PPE, whilst I applied to do Gov at LSE, they saw through my PS which was all about applying for PPE @Oxford and the LSE rejected me because…they don’t do PPE. That’s a big problem with the UCAS PS you can’t tailor it to all the #5 choices you can choose, you must have the same subject at each and write one PS which stands on its own for each Uni you apply to. My loss but the LSE will work for Grad school me hopes!..TSA tomorrow here’s studying for it now, another test prep paper!</p>
<p>One more thing. Unis in the UK CAN see which school and course you are applying to. So DONT choose 5 different course. There is a conditional offer system, this means you need to achieve a certain grade before taking you, not like the US which it’s an accept or reject.</p>
<p>No they can’t. They will all obviously see the same personal statement so it would pretty silly to apply to 5 different courses, but there’s no rule against it.</p>
<p>Seconding nordicblue. Obviously, if you apply to 2 English courses at the same uni, they will know that, but otherwise no. That is part of the art of choosing your 5 courses: being able to write a single PS that can be read as fitting each course you are applying to. </p>
<p>Your Stat looks good for St. Andrew, but not sure about LSE. You should also consider IC. Son applied St. Andrew through Ucas and got accepted by both Philospy and Econ Management. He don’t know if he can double major at St. Andrew.</p>
<p>Thank you very much!
But unfortunetely I am now not able to use private message cuz I havent had enough posts…Do you mind messaging me your contact info? Thx!</p>
<p>Also, does when I apply really matter? Like I have a better chance of being accepted if I apply earlier than if I apply later.</p>
<p>If it gives me offer, will it require certain GPA to graduate (some sort of conditional offer)? I asked my counselor to attach my grades on the reference. Is this Ok?</p>
<p>And exactly how competitive it IR in st. A?</p>
<p>So long as you apply by 6pm on January 15th (if applying through UCAS rather than Common App), then your chances are as good as anyone’s. If you apply after that, chances are your application will be auto-binned. </p>
<p>If you are still at school (i.e. not on a gap year) then you will get an offer that is conditional, probably on the basis of your AP / SAT scores. If you get those grades then you’re in, but if not they’ll probably reject you. </p>
<p>Your counsellor is expected to provide predicted grades on the reference - anything else is unacceptable! However, grades that have already been achieved need to go in the education section.</p>