<p>(repost)</p>
<p>gday
so im from Perth, Western Australia. After visiting some ivy's while on holiday in US recently ive had my eye set on them (particularly princeton, cornell, uni of penn), also MIT would be nice.
do you rekon i have a chance?</p>
<p>so heres me in a list:</p>
<p>In yr 12 (senior year), born and raised in Australia but im of Indian heritage.
On full scholarship to #1 school in Perth (about #8 in Australia) (the school happens to be an elite private school which looks nice on apps i spose?)
We dont have GPAs but i rekon the equivalent would be 4.0.
In the standardised state-wide finals exam im hoping to get in top 0.15% of the state </p>
<p>SAT1: (i just did it and dont know my results yet but i think itll be 2100ish. i know its not superb..) a geusstimation would be:
math: 800
CR: 700
Writing: 700</p>
<p>SAT2: (havent dont it yet but im confident ill get 800 in Math2, Physics and high 700's for Chem)</p>
<p>EC's:
5 years of debating (finalist in 1 year)
Public Speaking
Mock Trial
Model United Nations Conference
Selected for Australian National Math Summer School (only select 60 from the country)
5 years of Volleyball (top team for 4 years)
3 years of Soccer
2 years in maths club
2 years learning the drums (in a band kinda)
7 years learning indian vocal music (but quit a year ago)
hobby photographer
Have a steady part time job for a bit over a year</p>
<p>oh and my brother is currently at princeton grad school on full scholarship (i dunno if that makes even the slightest difference. could you tell me?)</p>
<p>We arent super-rich so ill prolly need fin-aid but im quite sure princeton offers it (not sure about the rest. I know MIT is stingy)</p>
<p>so what do you rekon my chances look like?</p>
<p>cheers,</p>
<p>oh maybe i should add; im male (as opposed to ... female =p )</p>
<p>How do you compare with other Aussies?</p>
<p>umm well, i dont know definitively where i stand. i know im most likely in the to 1 percent of yr 12's in Aust.
My school consistenly turns out several (last year 5!) of the top 40 students in the state (about 15000 students graduate each year in the state) and im in the top few in the school.</p>
<p>like i said above; at the rate im going, i can hopefully get a final rank of 99.90 (top 0.1% of the statewide graduating body).
Australia-wide: maybe a hundred people will get a final score better than that</p>
<p>MIT is just as impressed with anythin over 2250 as with a 2400. So you should aim for 2200, having said that, many international applicants made it with less than 2100, even down to 1800.
In regards to princeton, i wouldnt have a clue as to what they want, or what they saw in me. I literally applied just for the prestige. I was praying that I make atleast one GOOD school, and if it was princeton then I would have definitely gone. But it was probably my 5th preference.</p>
<p>The 99.90 TER score is pretty good.
i would like to know where you got your school's rankings from. I have only ever seen one list of school rankings. </p>
<p>PS: i didnt make cornell, so you prob shouldn't listen to me for that one.</p>
<p>Well all those schools are very selective...be sure to look up some schools which offer good merit aid to intls (many LACs do this).</p>
<p>lol yeh k the rankings arent official i admit. but theyre roughly true i think. almost definitely true as far as western aust is concerned.
recent results included bezley award and runner up last year, meh google it if you wish: hale school =p</p>
<p>I don't think you've done enough math/science stuff to warrant admission to MIT. When I think of MIT/Caltech students, I think that all (yes, ALL) students are thoroughly dedicated to the sciences- they do well in fairs, perform well in math competitions, solve Rubix cubes in 2 minutes, etc. etc. Granted, you can apply and see what happens, but if I were part of the MIT adcom, I probably wouldn't see you as a very strong applicant. </p>
<p>For the Ivies and Ivy-caliber schools, though, I think you have better chances; however, just know that as an international, more may be expected of you. Keep a couple of safeties that offer merit scholarships and need-based scholarship so you can study in the States. Good luck.</p>
<p>OMG lol - i do rubik's cubes in 35 seconds (average) - 29 second best time , no joke =)</p>
<p>but yeh i see what you mean, i thoroughly know i have little to no chance for MIT but im just trying for the hell of it, cheers for ur post</p>
<p>^ That might make a nice essay topic :)</p>
<p>^^^^^^^^^^^
lol do u mind elaborating on that idea.
cos i have absolutely no clue as to what to write in my essays</p>
<p>is it more of an essay which sells me and says semi-explicitly "why your school should accept me", or is it more like just describing myself without any substancial reference to the school itself?</p>
<p>did u get ur SAT scores back?? they should be out now</p>
<p>^^^^^
nop lol thats an infruiating story. aprently i fall into this small percentage of applicants whose results have not been processed yet. Theyll be out next friday i believe</p>
<p>not.happy.jan</p>
<p>hahaha...i was in that bracket for my last set of scores too.
for some reason, i dont think many people are gonna get the "not.happy.jan", but i loved it.</p>
<p>Bump (de hump doop bop)</p>
<p>well, here are my pens</p>
<p><em>update</em></p>
<p>sat1 scores:
maths: 780
crit reading: 660
writing: 670</p>
<p>devastating . . . //wrists</p>
<p>hey everyone,</p>
<p>so i got my SATII scores back today, and here they are:
maths2: 800
chem: 790
phys: 770
(should've got 800 in phys, but as you can see i choked. . .)</p>
<p>so, given the SATI and SATII scores, do i 'have what it takes' for my desired colleges? (which at this point are princeton, uPenn, Cornell, Columbia, Williams college, Middlebury, Dartmouth)</p>
<p>on that point,</p>
<p>does anyone know a comprehensive list of colleges which offer (relatively high amounts of) financial aid for international students.
so far i can only find a few:
MIT, Harvard University, Princeton, Yale, Williams College, Middlebury College and Dartmouth College</p>
<p>the bottom line is that regardless of who accepts me, without fin-aid, i wont be able to go - so the way i see it, no point aiming for colleges which dont give aid or have a bad record of giving aid to internationals.</p>