I’m an International Student from India who is starting 11th grade this year. I have the following Choices:
Cornell
Brown
UPenn.
Dartmouth
UCLA
Berkeley
Caltech
Here are my Grades and EC’s till June 2015( what i have did and what i plan to do)
Gender: Male
Age:14 (Born in 2001)
Nationality: American
I Dont Require Financial Aid
1.Learnt and Practiced Taek-wondo for over 5 years from Class 5 to Class 9 with a Yellow Belt
2.Came 3rd in the Inter-School Debate Competition and won multiple medals in 2014 in Class 10
3.Was the Class Leader and Monitor of his 10th Class in 2014-15
4.An Active Member of Mathematics and Photography Club in 2014-15 in Class 10
5.Got Selected for the Inter-District Science Quiz in 2015 in Class 10
6.Got 99 Percentile in the PSA Exam conducted in 2014 in Class 10
7.Played for his School in the U-14 Inter-State Cricket Tournament in January 2015 in Class 10
8.Have written scripts for Teachers Day & Annual Day skits and Participated Actively in Class 10
9.Got 3rd position in Intra-School Painting Competition in 2014 in Class 10
10.Represented his School in the Intra-School Carroms Competition in 2013 in Class 9
11.Have worked in an Government (Thatichetlapalem) for the needy children for 5 months from 2014-15 in Class 10
12.Worked at Shubham Bookstores as a Cashier in 2015 during Classes 10th and 11th
13.Worked with Several musical instruments such as Guitar and Tabla for 3 Years till Class 9
14.Cleaned the streets of Vizianagaram during Holidays which got published in a Telugu Local Newspaper ‘‘Varalu’’
I’ll also take many other EC’s later this year.
Class 9 - 6.8/10 (Slacked Off)
Class 10 - 9.6/10 (Got 0.4 Reduced Because of Adding of Class 9 marks) (Got a letter from Principal stating I got CGPA 10 in 10th Grade only)
Class 11 - Expecting around 93-95%
SAT 1 : 2270/2400
SAT 2: I Will take it soon expecting around 2300
My School does not give APs
Excellent Essays according to my English Teachers
I Know Spanish,Persian,Urdu,Telugu and Gaelic if that matters
School Ranked Top 5 in India
Can you all please grade me and suggest any improvements to go to the Colleges i mentioned? Please I desperately require your inputs. I’ll definitely grade you back. Please help me 
All of the schools you listed are very, very competitive, and many qualified students don’t get accepted because there simply aren’t enough spots for all of the extremely well qualified students. As a result, there’s no good way to “chance” you. I would suggest, though, that you add a few schools that aren’t as highly competitive, just to play it safe.
Do you think the fact that i wrote an article for Bleacher Report (B/R) would make it better? what do you think about my chances if i go for ED? do i have a good chance?
Just curious, but is Persian the same thing as Farsi? As of now, I think you’d have very slim chances at all of the schools you listed.Your SAT is there, but you need to continue working on improving your gpa because your freshman year it seems your gpa was pretty low. A lot of the things you listed as ECs are rather inconsequential and might even be better left off your app. You need to form a hobby or passion and stick to it. Colleges don’t care about a laundry list. You’ll still have time to improve, so I would focus on building up meaningful ECs over your junior year.
@giraffeeinatree yes persian is the same as farsi. do you think i can get into one of these schools if i get around 95% in both junior and senior year?also can you suggest some meaningful ECs? also what if i join USA in junior year? im sure GPA would start afresh and i can get around 3.9-4 GPA?
You have listed very competitive schools which will be much harder for you to get into because of your international status and over represented minority. The international pool tends to be very well qualified with perfect test scores and grades being the baseline and with incredible national and international recognition in their fields. Your list of extracurriculars are sincerely nothing to brag about and I would urge you to remove the grand majority of them from your application as they neither show any depth in character or really any form of accomplishment. Invest more time on the activities that you truly feel passionate about and let this be reflected on your leadership positions accordingly. Your gpa freshman year may be your kiss of death but if you work incredibly hard junior year, you may stand a fighting chance. I really urge you to consider schools that you could get into or have a good chance of doing so as you currently stand the prospect of being rejected from every single one if you were to apply. Either way, here’s the chancing you asked for. Remember that this would be a completely different result if you weren’t in the international applicant pool…
Cornell: Reach
Brown: Reach
UPenn: Reach
Dartmouth: Reach
UCLA: Low Reach
Berkeley: Low Reach
Caltech: High Reach
@Homeless2Harvard what if i go to USA next year (junior year) will it enhance my chances because i can do so as my parents live there? i also am sure that Indian CGPA will not be added so i can start afresh?
I wouldn’t be the best person to ask about this as I know very little about changing from international status to national. I would suspect that if you moved over, it could enhance your chances dramatically but again I do not know enough about this to determine whether just moving will place you in this local applicant pool. Best of luck.
All the colleges you named seem to be within reach. I’m an Indian applicant too. Chance me back?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18251749#Comment_18251749
You might be able to get into Cornell, but I honestly feel you’re not in great shape for most schools listed. Keep in mind that Indians are at a disadvantage as many of them apply and they tend to have similar qualifications. Your application looks good but there will be thousands applying with applications just as good, if not better. I think you should consider schools like UMich, Wake Forest, UVA, NYU, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Williams. These are prestigious schools where you have a better chance of getting accepted. Best of luck!
All the schools you mentioned are reaches for most students. I suggest you add some less selective universities (ie. UVA, Michigan, UNC, Duke). You have the stats to get into any school, really, but every school you mentioned is so highly selective that it’s tough. They want someone very balanced: good grades, school-sponsored sports, member of clubs, etc.
I think all of the schools mentioned are low reaches, and international students are hard to guess. My opinion is to add some safety schools. And just wondering, a junior born in 2001?
Its hard to tell because you’re only 14. Things change and factor in heavily in the upcoming years. You sound like a good candidate so far. Now I think UPenn/Caltech/UCLA are easiest for you. The more difficult ones would be Dartmouth/Brown. The others I think are just in between. Good luck!