<p>.... aaaaand of course my mom gets home and announces that out in Brea (which is about an hour east of Downtown L.A.) there is another large fire. I look from the south-east facing window of my house, and indeed there is another huge cloud of smoke working its way westward. This one I am more concerned about because my boyfriend (and numerous folks from his school) lives out in that area. All SoCal cross-country teams have their Prelimination round out there, too, so I wonder if they cancelled that due to smoke.</p>
<p>Hey everyone! </p>
<p>What other colleges are you guys applying to?</p>
<p>I feel like I have way too many "reach" schools and I'm really not sure where I stand in terms of being a competitive applicant or not (I guess we'll see when that Brown deferral/rejection/acceptance comes in!). I live in Italy and not many people from my school have applied to schools in the US, so it's kind of difficult for me to judge where I stand. Any fellow internationals on here?</p>
<p>Have you guys been working on other applications? I know that would be the sensible thing to do, but I just can't be bothered lately.. Brown is the only thing on my mind! Looking at past years' ED applicant statistics is so scary.. gahhhh. I can't decide whether I want Dec 11 to come or not. </p>
<p>Well I hope everyone's senior year is going well & good luck with Brown and all your other apps!</p>
<p>ciao, come stai? :)</p>
<p>parlo un po' italiano perche studio la lingua per 3 anni. io anche ho molti scuoli del "reach" come harvard, yale, nyu, columbia, e princeton.</p>
<p>I guess taking Latin for 5 years does help. I can totally [small exaggeration] understand Italian! OMG AWESOME! haha</p>
<p>Ciao! Sto bene, grazie. Parli bene l'italiano! Pero' Anch'io non lo parlo perfettamente -- abito a Milano da 8 anni, ma sono nata in Svizzera.. my mother tongue is actually German, not Italian.. so it's a little less awesome ;)</p>
<p>Oooo those are some prestigious schools! Good luck! Right now I know I'm applying to Brown, Penn, Tufts, U of Chicago and Boston U. Let's hope choosing five schools isn't being overconfident...</p>
<p>Whoa latin.. my school doesn't offer latin, we can only choose between French and Spanish, and Italian is (obviously) required. I wish we had something more exotic :(</p>
<p>I think we all wish we were applying to 5 schools and not 10. I could make a 5-school list, and I don't know why I didn't. Mine would be: Brown, Yale, Berkeley, CMU, and Rice. But then there's always UChicago and JHU and Wash U. I have no idea. Which is why I'm applying to all of them plus a few more UCs. o_o</p>
<p>UNLESS Brown decides to make my workload that much easier and just accept me already! <em>nudge nudge</em></p>
<p>Fire update: this is what L.A. looks like when there's a SoCal wildfire. I took this photo from my deck looking westward. You would be able to some UCLA buildings and Santa Monica (and maybe the ocean!) on a really really clear day. Downtown is southwest (to the left) of this view, but there's a hill in the way so you wouldn't be able to see it. </p>
<p>Moral of the story: avoid LA. Hahahaa.
LA</a> smoke fire Pictures, LA smoke fire Images, LA smoke fire Photos, LA smoke fire Videos - Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting</p>
<p>I don't know why, I know Brown's not all about test scores and stuff, and I would be a pretty good candidate for going there and everything, like the perfect change-the-world type, but that 26 on the ACT has me bummed out. Has anyone ever done better on the SAT than ACT? </p>
<p>Or does anyone know someone who got into Brown with lowish ACT scores?</p>
<p>Home sweet home :)</p>
<p>Obstinate, I did wayyy better on the SAT. My ACT was a 26 too (i took it sophomore year though and never took it again, ha!) and my SAT was way higher (took it 3 times).</p>
<p>I feel the same way about the whole "reach" deal. And at the same time, I'm not sure if I can even count my "target" schools as targets. Like, numbers-wise Wellesley and Tufts would be targets for me, and NYU a safety, but I keep thinking, am I really so good that I can call these really great schools targets and safeties? It just doesn't seem right to me. I mean, I don't want to be pretentious or stuck-up and assume that I'm likely to get in at a certain school. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?</p>
<p>Hi there talkslikejune - another international student here.</p>
<p>In Malaysia, the US is not a popular place for higher education, and most people end up going to the UK or Australia. Even so, roughly about only 2-3 students from the entire country are admitted into each Ivy, respectively, per year. (Usually 5-6 get into Cornell). The student placement office guy at my school keeps going around telling people to try for JHU and Rice, since they're "easier to get in", but... :S</p>
<p>Based on the chance threads in the forum, I think I'm probably at the low end where ECs are concerned. I could say that over here the system is such that we don't have much time for ECs and are not encouraged to do so, and I could hope that the admissions officers 'take that into consideration'. But that would be putting the blame elsewhere. Also...I have been discovering little mistakes here and there in my Brown app, which convinces me that I may not even be waitlisted.</p>
<p>And yes, I should be working on my apps to Cornell, UPenn, Rice, Tufts, JHU and CMU, but my mind draws a blank when I get to the "Why ____ University?" question.</p>
<p>ashf09: I totally know what you mean! In terms of, for instance, SAT scores, I would consider BU a safety and Tufts a target but I know they're considered relatively difficult to get into so I don't feel all that comfortable labeling them that. I kind of feel like the post on the front page of CC applies to me: "Study: Many Teens Overconfident, Have 'Wildly' Unrealistic Expectations". I guess there's no way to really know until our decisions start coming in...</p>
<p>clep: Hey there! One of my best friends is from Malaysia! I've always wanted to go there! </p>
<p>My school is similar-- people generally stay in Italy or go to the UK. My older sister went to Cambridge U so my family doesn't really have any experience with the US school system. My school's college counselor does help but I still feel a little out of touch...</p>
<p>I have the same problem! My EC's are pretty mediocre when compared to those of some of the other people on here. I basically only have sports and guitar, and some weak volunteer work. Here in Italy it's not really that easy to volunteer anywhere outside of my actual school (and helping out at, say, school activities isn't very impressive). It's also impossible to find a job here if you're underage and I'm sixteen so that part of my app is blank. </p>
<p>I am finding so many mistakes in my app as well! In the short answer section, whenever I typed ";" it changed to "S", so it looks like I had some kind of spastic typing problem. Also, I'm undecided but I left the entire Possible Academic Interests area blank (thought it was better to be honest because I really don't know), and looking back that seems really foolish. Also, Commonapp didn't send my teacher recs even though they were submitted on Oct. 27, so they weren't sent until Nov. 12 (which makes me last on the pile?). Does that even matter? I'm getting so anxious now! I wish I could have my app back and fix everything! One minute I feel super confident and the next I feel completely hopeless.. :(</p>
<p>I do hope you get to come over here someday! :) </p>
<p>I had one really stupid mistake - I put the graduation date for my school one month later than the real one, and I just realized it. I'm going to fax Brown a letter requesting to amend the information; I hope it's not too late to do so. And I didn't put a topic for the Common App personal statement in my essay file (I picked the free topic question). Is that going to screw my app?</p>
<p>Ditto about the super confident/hopeless thing, although I've always leaned more to the latter. :(</p>
<p>Hmm.. I don't think that will be a big deal, don't worry! :)</p>
<p>I am refusing to look at my application in fear of finding any mistakes. But I'm worried about my counselor rec/ secondary school report since she said she sent them before the deadline but the still aren't received on the website.</p>
<p>From the Brown Website
Brown</a> Admission: Tips on Applying</p>
<p>" Don’t be alarmed if you receive notice that an application item has not been received. There is always plenty of time to have, say, a duplicate recommendation or transcript sent. Almost all of the tens of thousands of documents we receive each year make it to the applicants’ files safely, but if your application is temporarily incomplete because of a missing item, rest assured that you will not be at a disadvantage. Simply provide the document needed as quickly as you can. It is better to send a duplicate than to worry and speculate as to why it had not yet arrived at its destination. </p>
<p>"Keep in mind that it takes time for documents to be received, recorded, and added to your admission file. Even online submissions may take several days before they can be recorded on our tracking system, especially near deadlines. Allow plenty of time before you become concerned that an item does not appear as “received” on the online system.</p>
<p>"Make copies of every portion of your application, and ask your recommenders to keep copies of their forms and letters. This will make it easier for you to provide duplicates in the event that the original item becomes lost."</p>
<p>Perhaps, you should send a duplicate? (If it's not too expensive, with priority mail) Don't be afraid to call them, either. I have when there were problems with a missing sentence on my app, and the lady was really helpful.</p>
<p>just got a call about my interview :)</p>
<p>I found out that Commonapp failed to send one of my files when I called the Brown Admissions Office about my missing documents, so don't hesitate to contact them just to be safe.</p>
<p>OMG exciting! I wish I could get an interview :(</p>
<p>Yeah if its not up tomorrow I am planning on calling.</p>