Need help choosing safeties!

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hi everyone! I'm new here! Loved this website so far!</p>

<p>I'm a Thai native studying in Singapore. No problems with my English though TOEFL iBT 114 and IELTS 8.0. I'm just worried about the low intake of international applicants.</p>

<p>Planning to do a chemical engineering course.</p>

<p>Currently taking IB HL Maths, HL Physics, HL Chemistry, SL Economics, SL Mandarin ab initio, SL English A1</p>

<p>My stats aren't that great and I'm not sure which unis should be my safeties/reaches.</p>

<p>SAT: Crit reading:620 Maths:800 Writing:640 (I'm taking again in Oct. HOPING for a better score)</p>

<p>SAT2: Math 2:800 Physics:780 Chemistry:800</p>

<p>IB predicted grade of 44.
My school doesn't rank but I usually hover around the top 10% (class size:~400)</p>

<p>ECs: Interact Club (a club committed to volunteerism and community service) Executive Committee Member
A few other leadership posts but basically nothing flashy.</p>

<p>What do you guys think? How high should I aim?</p>

2

<p>what's your GPA? Your GPA will tell us a lot more than your testscores/EC's.</p>

3

<p>I thought you could only get a maximum of 42 in the IB?</p>

4

<p>^42 Points for classes...and then extra points for great extended essays or Theory of Knowledge projects.</p>

5

<p>OK then, I'm assuming that a 44 is a fantastic score.</p>

<p>Anyway. Do you need financial aid? If yes, how much?</p>

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<p>No I do not need financial aid.</p>

<p>And I'm not sure how the GPA system works because my school does not have the GPA system. From what I read around CC the IB marks cannot be translated into GPA. And yep 44 points is quite a fantastic mark. I hope I can achieve it in the real IB exam!</p>

<p>I'm currently looking at Carnegie Mellon, Ann Arbor, U of texas at Austin, Berkeley, UC San Diego. Would love to enter Stanford though. Any chances?</p>

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<p>any help would be greatly appreciated!</p>

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<p>No fin aid? I think you have great chances at Michigan, CMU, Austin and UCSD. Berkeley gets a bit reachy though. Things will look a lot better if you bump the SAT up into the 2150+ range. Anyway, I say you have quite a fair shot at those four places. Oh, remember to apply early at Michigan!</p>

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<p>hmm thank you so much! what if i request fin aid? Would my chances drop a lot?</p>

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<p>You betcha. I don't even think CMU offers aid for internationals.</p>

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<p>Yup they don't. Thank you so much tetrisfan!</p>

<p>One last question - how high should I aim my SAT scores to be to have any realistic chances in Stanford/Berkeley?</p>

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<p>2200 would be awesome, but I'm sure a 2100 wouldn't be thrown out either</p>

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<p>how good your SAT score must be would depend on how many years you've studied in Singapore. If you've been here for say, maybe 2 or 3 years tops, then they wouldn't expect your English to be at 700+ for SATs. I know quite a few PRC scholars who got into Princeton with barely 2100+ too.</p>

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<p>well I've been in Singapore for 4 years. Just retook SAT in October. **** scared waiting for the result now. lol</p>

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<p>CalTech (California Institute of Technology), Harvey Mudd College & MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) may be of interest to you. Although CalTech has only about 900 undergraduate students & Harvey Mudd has slightly over 900 students, the education is possibly the best in the world. CalTech has a 3:1 student teacher ratio. Of coure, none of these schools are safeties. Your original list is reasonable.</p>