Please chance a hopeful Canadian, I'll chance back ;D

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi, I'm from a small city in British Columbia, Canada and I'm a incoming senior. I'm considering a few American Engineering schools since the engineering education in the states is unrivaled. My SAT and academic marks are average but I think my extra curricular activities are relatively good. My school has sent a few students to top tier universities but it is mostly average suburban high school. Thank you very much for taking your time and I will chance back =D</p>

<p>SAT:
1st time: (1890) 640 CR 630 Math 620 Writing
2nd time: (2190) 740 CR 730 Math 720 Writing
Should I retake for a higher SAT?</p>

<p>Math 2: (740)
Physics: (750)
World History: (770) </p>

<p>Income Bracket: ~70K (probably applying for aid)</p>

<p>GPA: Honours plus IB in junior and senior year. My school has NO AP courses D:
4.0 (freshman) 4.0 (sophomore) 3.7 (junior) =3.870 total (Unweighted)
Rank: Top 10%
Weighted: Not sure how to calculate from IB</p>

<p>IB predicted score is 39/45<br>
HL: History 6, Physics 7, Chemistry 6
SL: Math 7, French 5, English 6
ToK + EE = 2 </p>

<p>Main Extracurriculars: </p>

<p>Music:
Vancouver Bach Choir (10-12)
Provincial Honour Choir (10-12)
School Senior Band- lead saxophonist (9-12)
New Westminster Concert Band- bassoonist (9-11)</p>

<p>Government:
Vancouver Model United Nations (11-12)
British Columbia Youth Parliament (11-12)
Student Council- Minister of Finance (11) </p>

<p>Math/Science + others:
Engineering Club (9-12)
Reach for the Top team- reached provincials (11-12)
Head of Physics Club (10-12) </p>

<p>Volunteering:
~100 Hours at a Senior Home
~200 Hours at a local children hospital</p>

<p>Awards/ Achievements:
Since I'm from Canada, we don't have that many awards or honour awards like the National Merit or AP scholar which kind of sucks. Most of my awards have been music related anyways. </p>

<p>Performer's ARCT from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Saxophone
Kiwanis Music Festival - Gold standings
Canadian Music Competition- Provincial Qualifier
Canadian Association of Physicists High School Exam - top 25%
Sir Isaac Newton Physics Open- top 10%
Canadian Physics Olympiad National Qualifier
Physics Regional Olympiad- Silver Medal
Numerous other music related awards....</p>

<p>Summers:
Research at Biotrek (10-12) - Bioengineering program for selected students in UBC.
Research at the Canada Heart and Stroke Foundation (12) </p>

<p>Hooks:
None really, no legacies because I am a first generation immigrant. </p>

<p>I'm not sure about picking safety schools but here are the universities that I wanted to try my chances at. I am also not sure about my major but it is probably some form of engineering or natural science. These are ranked in order of preference</p>

<ol>
<li>Stanford (Hey, one can dream!) </li>
<li>UC Berkeley</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>Caltech</li>
<li>Columbia University(Early Decision) </li>
<li>John Hopkins University</li>
<li>University Chicago</li>
<li>University of Michigan</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon University</li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>Duke University</li>
<li>Georgia Tech</li>
</ol>

<p>I know the international pool is going to be extremely competitive pool and I appreciate any comments about my chances or any suggestions about any other good engineering schools. Thank you and I will chance back =D</p>

2

<p>The University of Chicago doesn’t have an engineering program, but its physics and mathematics programs are top-notch, both being almost universally ranked in the top 10.</p>

<p>I think all of the schools you mentioned other than GT are extreme reaches. Of course, your chances would rise dramatically if you didn’t request aid, but by the looks of it, you’ll probably need it.</p>

3

<p>Your SAT is fine, don’t retake. </p>

<p>I’m intrigued that you have CalTech on your list, but not MIT. There’s no problem with it, of course, but it is interesting. </p>

<p>(Edit: I managed to completely forget that you’re international while writing this. Bump everything up a tier.)
For you, GA Tech and UMich are safeties. CalTech is your highest reach, closely followed by Stanford and Berkeley. Columbia is still a reach, but you have a decent chance since you’re applying for engineering and through ED. I don’t know enough about UPenn and UChicago to say but I’d guess they’re reach/low reach. You probably have a decent chance at UCLA, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, and Duke.</p>

4

<p>There are a few schools that are need blind for internationals, MIT is one. However, the acceptance rates for the international pool are already through the floor, so it doesn’t improve your chances much.</p>

5

<p>Thanks Tapper,
Bump >.<</p>

6

<p>to be honest, why go to an American college, you can probably get into McGill and/or University of Toronto, which I’ve heard have GREAT engineering programs</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/752367-chance-me-engineering-colleges.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/752367-chance-me-engineering-colleges.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>U of Toronto does have a pretty good program, I’m probably putting that as my safety though. McGill is better at humanities and not really on engineering.</p>

8

<p>bumpity bump</p>