Please chance an international student

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am a Chinese student applying as an international student and I have never studied in U.S. for long (I don't know whether a two week program may take into account).</p>

<p>My academic performance has been the best in my school, with a graduate class of 535 persons. My highest rank is 1#, while the lowest one 2# (just for fun: average rank 1.5#)</p>

<p>But problem comes, although my academic performance is excellent in school, since English is not my native language, I didn't do well in SAT test. The best one is 2010.</p>

<p>So here is my basic information: And please notice that I'm applying as an international student, so maybe the situation (maybe the requirement) will be different from students in U.S..</p>

<p>SAT: CR 680, WT590, MA740 (2010 in total)
I will be taking SAT2 next month and I estimate that I may get three 750+ or even 800
TOEFL:104</p>

<p>My school is an ordinary school for Chinese College (which means we do NOT have any honor program or any AP course)
GPA: 91.5/100</p>

<p>ECs:
-I have been in robot club as the leader and I have won several 1st places in regional (states and cities) robot competitions. And I won a 1st place in one national competition.
(time: for about 3 years)</p>

<p>-I have been working in a Chinese Academy of Science as lab assistant for 3 years (but I do this during the summer vacations which usually last 1 to 2 months)</p>

<p>-I found a student financial aid foundation in my school to help students in poor financial condition but not poor enough (a big irony in China) to apply for financial aid provided by government (there's no organization will provide such financial aid to students in my school). And so far the foundation have helped out 4 students, reducing their economic stress. ( for about 2 years since I founded the foundation)</p>

<p>-I am a fan of remote control model planes, I make planes from flotsam and something similar but I have been neither awarded nor taken part in any competition (since there is no in my region) ( for many years)</p>

<p>-I am a active member of a club which provides help to blind children in Tibet, China.</p>

<p>-I am the president pianist for accompaniment of a choir in my school and we won several regional 1st places.</p>

<p>-In my city, I volunteers in an organization that provides physical and mental aid to autistic and amentia children. (For 3 years)</p>

<p>------------------- boundary with no name : ) --------------------</p>

<p>I want to attend a college that provides lots of research opportunities for undergraduate students and I am a natural science nerd. (PS:I don't like economy or politics)
I would like to attend a school focus on basic science such as physics (my favourite), chemistry and/or biology.</p>

<p>My basic school list:</p>

<p>UPenn (seems that I never have chance......)
Carleton College
UChicago (EA)
Cornell (I plan to ED)
Rice
CMU
U Mich- Ann Arbor (EA)
Georgia Institute of Technology (EA?)
UIUC
UCSB</p>

<p>(My parents will pay for my tuition, so I don't need to apply for FA(seems that U.S. students always pay for themselves?))
(and due to I am a Chinese student and my parent say they don't allow me to attend a school without a top 50 rank......)
My dream school is Cornell and UChicago, but if both of them admit me, I will definitely go to Cornell, so ED plan for Cornell is fine.
I just wonder what is my chance to get into Cornell if I ED it, but with such sucking SAT....
I will retake the SAT in NOV but I don't know whether I will be able to submit it for ED ( but for UChicago, they say yes).</p>

<p>All tips and comments will be appreciated. As for chance back, I will do my best to chance back, but due to I'm not a U.S. citizen, my comment may not be accurate.</p>

2

<p>This is why I resent the education in China, people there are soooo obsessed with prestige and grades, they never consider anything else. You should really improve your English before you consider going to a “top 50” US college. Stuff like “I volunteerS,” using “due to” in the wrong place where “because” should actually be, and saying “economy” instead of “economics” can really be problematic. Not trying to be a meanie here, but ask your parents to be more open-minded (which is a lot to ask Chinese parents to do) and focus less on the prestige of schools…</p>

3

<p>Anyway, thanks to @andrewsun1994 for your points.
(I typed too fast(for the volunteerS)…My grammar really needs improvement)(but it seems that I cannot edit my thread any more…)</p>

<p>I am trying to improve my English through a bunch of reading and writing.
I am wondering what is my chance to these schools, because there have been students admitted to these schools with similar standardized test scores. Furthermore, I want to know: what is the main criteria of academic performance? (I know scores will never guarantee or rule out admissions)</p>

<p>By the way, I resent the education in China, either.
However, I am much better than the rest of my classmates (really, if you ever had a chance to come to China, you would see students buried in books (practice books, neither novels nor literature), just for the college entrance test which is the ONLY thing that determines whether they will be admitted. Seldom traditional “good” Chinese students have a lot of ECs)
You may never imagine the intensity of our homework.</p>

4

<p>

</p>

<p>Write about this in your Cornell admissions essay. Admissions officers hate students who do nothing but study for endless tests and China is the king of endless testing. You need diverse and interesting interests to get in, and I think this might do it.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for snipers’ advice. (king of endless testing…lol)</p>

<p>I will write about it, since I am really proud of those flying planes by my hands.</p>

6

<p>There are international students who have been admitted with the same SAT score that you have , BUT if you can get that score up consider retaking the exam .</p>

<p>I think your EC’s are good enough . Corenll is the easiest ivy to get in so you may have a chance . </p>

<p>Write a really good essay (( If I were you I would write about the planes thing OR the foundation the you founded at your school for helping poor students )) and get really good rec letters and apply anyway , you won’t know until you try . </p>

<p>Best of luck (:</p>