Please Kindly Chance Me

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>[I am new here in CC, it may seem a little bit awkward to use this as my first post here in CC, anyway, really want somebody to chance me]</p>

<p>I’m an international applicant from Hong Kong, China.</p>

<p>SAT I - 1980 (CR640, M750, W590, essay 7), but I am retaking, and hope to get 2150 (CR700, M800, W650, essay 8)
SAT II - Not yet out, but most likely getting (Math2 800, Phy 800, Chem 790)
TOEFL - 112</p>

<p>Academics:
I don't know my GPA, but I got second place in the last examination in a top local school.</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>-9th
Silver award in regional Math Olympiad</p>

<p>-10th
Form 4 Champion of regional / city Physics Olympiad, silver prize among all grades
Silver award in regional Math Olympiad
Silver award in junior national Math Olympiad</p>

<p>-11th
Overall Champion of regional / city Physics Olympiad
Silver award in Asia Pacific Math Olympiad
Silver Medal in International Math Olympiad</p>

<p>-12th
Almost certainly going to the International Math Olympiad + International Physics Olympiad</p>

<p>EC:
School Math Team Captain
School Olympiad in Informatics Team Captain
Careers Prefects
Computer Society Vice-Chairman
Joint-school Math Society President
Game design</p>

<p>Applying to (and financial aid):
MIT
Harvard
Princeton
Caltech</p>

2

<p>Your IMO medal (and potential IMO and IPhO medals next year) is certainly very compelling , but otherwise you seem somewhat one dimensional - with all your achievements in Math and Physics. </p>

<p>I’d say you will get in at 1 to 2 of the above. I guess would be MIT (likely) and Caltech.</p>

3

<p>Oh and do not neglect your essays, SAT scores and other things as well - I know someone who got an IMO bronze then silver and an IOI silver and didn’t get into any of Harvard, MIT or Caltech (didn’t apply to Princeton I think).</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the advice. I am trying to put more emphasis on my personality.</p>

5

<p>Isn’t that an achievement for a math-physics person to get that high score for TOEFL? I mean, you may be a math-whiz and a languages-dummy. That happens most of the time. I know a guy who won an international physics olympiade, he was welcomed by some top Russian universities, aaaand MIT among all of the rest. And he went to Russia, since he wasn’t able to learn English :confused: </p>

<p>kenhungkk, you have awesome universities there, as I know. HKU, for example. Top-20 worldwide. Why that far as the USA is?</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>I don’t think HKU is Top twenty worldwide, but even it is, for math and science, those 4 universities are probably going to make the Top 5 or so.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Well, not exactly because Singaporeans and Chinese who excel in math and science also tend score 2100 and above in the SAT as well - in fact, most of them get 2200 or 2300.</p>

7

<p>Um, go here: [home</a> | Top Universities](<a href=“http://www.topuniversities.com/]home”>http://www.topuniversities.com/) and see it =)</p>

<p>then they’re just <em>geniuses</em>, pure brain ><'</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>I don’t tend to trust that ranking a lot =p. The main problem I have with the THES-QS rankings is that the ranking cannot and does not attempt to distinguish between the top universities around the world. For instance, NUS and Harvard both hit 100 in “Peer Review” score (which makes up 40%) but in reality I don’t think anyone can legitimately claim that NUS and Harvard has the same reputation.</p>

<p>So in the end the universities get distinguished based on such factors as the percentage of international staff in the university - which isn’t very important at all in my opinion. (Not to mention the fact that schools in the US would naturally have less international faculty - they have more talents in their own countries to draw on).</p>

9

<p>Hmm, true.
And what do you think about the Shanghai’s ranking? I mean, Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s one.</p>

10

<p>The SJTU rankings is very clear cut. It measures the research productivity and achievements with a strong bias towards the sciences and engineering. </p>

<p>Of course, research productivity and achievements of professors and graduate students has nothing to do with the quality of undergraduate teaching as well.</p>

11

<p>Well, for me it neither has anything to do, since i’m about humanities :confused:
Research is good and the society needs it, but here, I mean Moldova, the society needs some diplomats more than cute railroads.</p>

<p>/I just love the railroads from their technical point/</p>

12

<p>Why don’t you consider HKU? it is a very good and prestigious university. It also has a good ranking on the THES - QS ranking list (no. 24). Even though the other universities that you wish to study at are good but doesn’t your financial situation play an important role in your decision as well? Wouldn’t studying in a local university help relieve your finances a great deal? As the fees at HKU are affordable for local students. besides , you can also pursue your masters at those universities instead.</p>

13

<p>I’m not sure why the focus of the thread turned to a discussion about the merits of different ranking systems and HKU, but anyway, some points relevant to US Colleges:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>With IMO medals and possibly IPhO representation, I think MIT and Caltech are decent chances, though the dangerously low (certainly for Hong Kong standards) SAT score, especially the low Writing score (7/8 for the essay seems to belie your TOEFL performance), certainly won’t help.</p></li>
<li><p>Unless you can really move beyond being a top mathematics/science student in your application, Harvard and Princeton will be tough to get into. There ARE well-rounded students from HK, many of whom have better scores (though not the same exemplary level in maths and physics), and you must remember that you are competing against them for admission. Not one EC/Award seemed to convey anything more than your being a talented maths/physics student who is interested in comp sci.</p></li>
</ol>