Hey! I am an international student and really anxious about admission decisions which are only a few days away! For the past few weeks, I have felt incredibly insecure and reasonably so. I really disliked the idea of chance posts, but I really want to consider this seriously in order to plan for college. I am considering applying to a few European schools in case things are not likely to work out. For one, the Harvard and MIT interview processes for students of my country are selective; they are initially waived but offered to some upon evaluation in late Feb and early March. I am still waiting but nothing has come up. I read somewhere that it may be either because you are already accepted or rejected or your application is still under review. The latter sounds unreasonable and even the former a little so because I haven’t known a single person from China/Singapore/India who got into Harvard without an interview. So I am in a mental fix and this is an outpour
So, here it goes.
Schools I applied to
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Penn
Cornell
Dartmouth College
Caltech
MIT
Vanderbilt
Tufts
Stanford
Duke
Rice
Williams College
Amherst College
Middlebury College
Vassar College
Johns Hopkins Univesity
Income: $25000-$30000
Prospective Major: CS/Physics
Scores:
ACT: 33
SAT Subject Test Math II: 800
SAT Subject Test Physics: 800
SAT Subject Test Chemistry: 800
APs (forgot to self-report on CommonApp and MIT application) : Chem: 5, Physics C Mechanics: 5, Physics C E&M: 5, Calculus BC: 5 [We are supposed to take APs in China, but did that to skip out of introductory classes]
School:
Rank: Top 1%
Recommendations:
Counselor: My school principal wrote a recommendation letter for me instead of the school counselor. Must be very good because she was enthusiastic about it. Has known me very well throughout high school. (probably 9/10)
English: My English teacher showed me her recommendation a few days back. It was glowing, full of anecdotes and personality. (10/10)
Physics: My teacher has known me forever as a student. Probably the person who knows me best! I haven’t seen the rec, but she has a reputation for writing amazing recommendations. (probably 9/10)
Other Recommendations:
From my research mentor (President of the Polish Academy of Sciences), a social activist and a representative of the national government (related to my activities). All should be positive and additive as they all know me very well.
Main ECs:
Research Fellow, Polish Academy of Sciences - Submitted a project in applied mathematics to the Academy and was awarded an all expense paid month-long research stay to expand on the project. It was computational physics.
Research Fellow, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and Dutch institute for Fundamental Energy Research (EuroFusion)- with the computational modeling of materials and plasmas.
Intern, Chinese Academy of Science and Brookings-Tsinghua Center
International Astronomy Olympiad 2016 - Bronze Medal
International Physics Olympiad Camp 2017
International Chemistry Olympiad Camp 2016
Volunteer at an Old Age Home - Conducted monthly art events for giving opportunities to young artists, volunteers, and musicians to engage with the elderly.
Volunteer at an orphanage - Raised money and created learning tools available to orphanages through an online charity match and funding platform.
I do a lot of art. Sent in an art portfolio along with a research portfolio to MIT and Yale. Sent only an art portfolio to Harvard.
President, School Student Council
President, Science Society
Member, Quizzing Society
I also realized that I forgot to mention my internship along with APs to MIT. I couldn’t find space for some other things too. Should I consider updating them now? It is only 5 days to Pi day Tau time
Thank you so much for your time! I really appreciate your kindness!
I hope I get Harvard, Stanford, MIT!
That really frightens me because the need-blind ones are really tough to get into any road and those easier to get an admission to would move me down the priority list for needing financial assistance. Let’s see! What do you think, though?