<p>^holy crap! </p>
<p>I have a question. If I apply ED to a school and am accepted with no financial aid, what are my options? Is there any way that they can offer me a new package after the RD round or something? What are all the possibilities that I have? I am trying to picture the worst case scenario of applying ED somewhere and figure out what all my options are so that I can decide if it is worth the risk to apply ED.</p>
<p>If you apply ED and they don’t give you a good financial aid package, you can appeal to them (fin-aid decisions are released at the same time or shortly after acceptance decisions) Short of that, it can be difficult to break the ED contract, and it may reflect badly on you and your school.</p>
<p>For those asking about EA/ED, if there’s a clear top choice I would definitely recommend applying in the EA/ED round, because it will make your life so much easier. I got into Penn ED so by mid-December I was done with all my apps, and I was able to relax while my friends were scrambling to get apps/scholarships in.</p>
<p>@tomofboston,</p>
<p>You kind of just proved my point… For each and every student that had a perfect SAT section score, or was first in their class, Harvard was a match school for them. The only reason that they would not be accepted was by sheer numbers; Harvard is not big enough to accept all its qualified applicants. Therefore, while they are match schools for certain people (especially with stats that high), the chances of admission are hard because of the number of applicants, not because they are “reach” schools</p>
<p>@ prjiki and thatguy100 : yes yes yes, I posted my stats previously but they kinda changed a lot eversince so here they are again 
And sorry for taking so long to answer!</p>
<p>SAT I (breakdown): 2230 (M:800 W:740, 8 on the essay, CR: 690)</p>
<p>SAT II: French 800, math level II 770, physics 670</p>
<p>TOEFL: 119/120</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA: 94% (Full IB)</p>
<p>Senior class rank: 2/75 (competitive)</p>
<p>Rank at former high school: 1/433 </p>
<p>IB (place score in parenthesis): Predicted 43/45. French A1 HL, English A2 HL, Philosophy HL, Mathematics SL, Environmental systems SL, Spanish B SL</p>
<p>Senior Year Course Load: Full IB (French, English, Math, Philosophy, Environmental systems III, Spanish III) + german first semester and human bio second semester</p>
<p>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
-2nd place in the province at creative writing contest
-Major national prize at Canada Wide Science Fair (best science fair project about water in the country, represented Canada at international competition)
-Canadian representant at MILSET international science fair (one of the 10 participants chosen out of 10 000)
-4th place (overall) at provincial Science Fair
-scholarship from the provincial energy efficiency agency and other science fair prizes/medals
-Canada’s Governor General’s academic medal
-Provincial millenium scholarship for volunteering and leadership</p>
<p>Other awards:
-school awards (academic excellence, math, french, journalism, science, student life)
-nominated for the Personality of the Year prize by teachers
-Poetry contest (school representant at provincial level)
-Regional finalist for other leadership awards</p>
<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Main EC’s are about international issues and writing/journalism (my life
-Science fair project (team project about improving a solar water disinfection method used in Third World countries)
-School newspaper (editor-in-chief)
-24h writing marathon
-lots of Creative Writing
-Yearbook commitee
-Soccer (9 years)
-Ballet (5 years, 3 intensive), </p>
<p>Volunteer/Community service:
-Organized a major fundraising campaign to help 200 children from needing families to get new school supplies for back-to-school
-3 week long volunteering trip to Peru to work in educative kindergartens
-Haiti fundraising at school
-Cancer research fundraising at school</p>
<p>Work experiences:
-Peer tutor
-assistant-cook at a local restaurant
-employed by my school recycling program to raise money for the trip to Peru</p>
<p>Summer Activities:
-Internship at local newspaper
-Traveling to Peru, Tunisia, Sweden and the US
-Working on the aforementionned Science Fair project</p>
<p>Essays:
-One about visiting my math tutoree who had been hospitalized in the psychiatric ward of a local hospital
-The other about going swimming at midnight in Stockholm with kids from 30 countries</p>
<p>Teacher Recommendation: I guess they were probably good </p>
<p>Counselor Rec: He knew me really well so it was very detailed</p>
<p>Financial Aid?: Yes</p>
<p>Intended Major: Government</p>
<p>Country: Canada</p>
<p>School Type: Relatively competitive public school</p>
<p>Ethnicity: White</p>
<p>Gender: Female</p>
<p>Income Bracket: Not enough to pay fully for college </p>
<p>Accepted: Harvard, McGill</p>
<p>Rejected: Yale, Princeton, Upenn</p>
<p>So yeah sorry for the details overload ahaha! Hopefully this was helpful to prjiki and maybe some of you guys!</p>
<p>@viggyram</p>
<p>I guess we have different defintions of “match”. If more than half the applicants with perfect scores’marks etc. end up not getting admitted, that makes the likelihood of admission very low. Hence, Harvard, Yale, Princeton is a “reach” for everyone because even being perfect doesn’t give you a high probability of being admitted.</p>
<p>To me, a match school is one where you are likely (50% +) to be admitted.</p>
<p>^ PERLE very impressive!! : )))</p>
<p>I have a few questions I hope you can answer though!
<p>Canadians DONT need the TOEFL, I know that for a fact. Im also confused as to why Perle took it… its likely that she moved to Canada from another country, and, while she is fluent in English (clearly), the school wanted that verified via a test.</p>
<p>@Starsaligned: Eee thank you so much Actually I was able to confirm the medal on my application because high school ends after grade 11 here in Quebec. Then all students who want to go to college have to attend a pre-college school called ''C</p>
<p>Ha, well, Perle, you’re doing quite well, and had you not told me French was your native language I would not have guessed. </p>
<p>What Im confused about is that you got accepted to Harvard, but rejected from Yale, UPenn, and Pton? Thats odd. Youd think, since the schools are similar, that an admit from one would have another as well. Meh. Congrats anyways, Im really, very happy for you (even if I have to hate your school on principal, ya know, to keep the Yale-Harvard rivalry thing up… the Game wouldnt be as fun without it 
)</p>
<p>And, we now have two things in common: Canadian, and rejected from UPenn! We should start a club :P</p>
<p>Aahaha yeah its a lil weird! At Harvard’s prefrosh weekend some of the kids were debating over which college (HYPS) they would choose to attend and I was like yeaaah, well I dont have that many choices aha! Oh well I guess this shows how totally unpredictable the whole admission process is! And it makes me feel even more lucky about my acceptance since I came close to not making it to any US colleges :)</p>
<p>And yes omg we should definitely start a club! Upenn is weird, I know many people who got into HYP and then got rejected by Upenn. I guess their admission officers arent looking for the same things!</p>
<p>Oh Perle tu es une source d’inspiration Amazing English haha ^.^
Hey I will be able to join your club extra soon because I’m applying ED … and Wharton too LOL. XD</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I challenged English 11 (final exam) so I could take AP Eng in junior year, but I only got 86% (on Eng 11) which is still (barely) an A. Will this harm my chances?</p></li>
<li><p>Will mandatory electives such as PE 9-10, Band 9-10, Bible 9-12 affect my chances (my grades in these are 86-92, lower than the rest, but still A)?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>^ hey peachaso. A BC transcript will list all of your courses including electives, and since they are ALL worth 4 credits each, admissions officers will consider them with near equal weight. I don’t think it will affect you too much because they are still A’s, and in their eyes you are a 4.0, but you would be at a disadvantage to another applicant who has, for example, 95+ in all courses (one of the aspects of the Canadian percentage mark is that it is so fine and easy to differentiate). Anyway, your grades are still outstanding!</p>
<p>@alam:
<ol>
<li>I can never decide whether to ED or EA. One minute, I decide to ED, rather raise my chances of admission, and settle for non ‘HYPS+M+C’; the next second, I think I should at least give all a try and just EA some. After all, it is a once in a lifetime chance… Driving me nuts! Any advice?</li>
</ol>
<p>How big of a shot do you think you have? ED can sometimes tip the balance for borderline applicants.</p>
<p>^yea, and it depends on FA too. Do you need any? If not, ED in a heartbeat after having a 100% idea of where you want to go. People say to visit and such, but honestly you can only learn so much from a visit. Do research online (program rankings, location, cost, chance to do research, etc.). Then if you have a clear no.1 choice and don’t need (or need little FA) do ED.</p>
<p>StarsAlignd is correct…you may be on the edge, but ED can put you over but you need to be 100% certain due to the fact that ED is binding. I myself was thinking about ED’ing…also do you research. For example, after researching I found out Cornell is pointless to ED because the chances of getting 0 FA is high.</p>
<p>Well along with Duke and Rice, Emory is known as the “Harvard of the South” and is part of the unofficial Southern Ivy League. So academics wise, Emory is no sloutch and I definitely encourage you to look more into it. Emory has a 13% international population so it is very friendly towards internationals. Chicago is amazing… there is no doubt about that. Emory, however, was a better fit for me. I absolutely loved it when I visited. All in all, when the academics are comparable (both Emory and Chicago are top 20 universities), the more important factor is “fit”. Don’t go somewhere (unless you have to) thinking that you can learn to fall in love with it. What if you don’t love it? Then you will be unhappy which, more often than not, can lead to bad academic performance. I could see myself fitting in at Emory and I didn’t really get the greatest vibe from Chicago. That doesn’t mean that Chicago isn’t great. Another student may love Chicago but not be a fan of Emory. Plus, I’m going into pre-med which is one of Emory’s strengths. All of these made me choose Emory over Chicago. </p>
<p>Honestly, your outlook on college admissions is not a healthy one. You shouldn’t see it as “settling” for a non-HYPSMC college. There are so many colleges in the US that offer an amazing education and narrowing your sights to just HYPSMC is a bad choice. I may sound like someone who didn’t get into HYPSM but I can tell you right now that I did not apply to a single Ivy League, simply by choice. It’s not that I was afraid I wouldn’t get in. I applied to some colleges that are ranked equal to or higher than some Ivy Leagues (Chicago ranked above some Ivies, Emory ranked similar to Brown/Cornell etc.) I didn’t apply to any Ivies because I wasn’t really interested in any of them. I couldn’t see myself at any of them. Simple as that. </p>
<p>Once again, your approach to the concept of ED isn’t the greatest one. Don’t mind that I’m being blunt. Don’t apply to a school ED because you want to boost chances. You have to apply ED to a school which is clearly your first choice. Reading your posts, it seems like you don’t have a clear first choice yet. If that is indeed the case, I advise you to not apply ED because if you get in, you have to attend. Don’t go to an ED school thinking that you could have gotten into a “better” school.</p>
<p>Btw, if you want to apply EA, there is U. Chicago and Notre Dame among the top colleges. Georgetown and Boston College have EA but they are restricted meaning that you cannot apply EA anywhere else. Stanford and Yale also have Single Choice Early Action meaning you can only apply EA there… but unlike in the ED contract, the EA contract does not bind you to attend if you get in. Also, if you want to apply ED, there is Emory, Duke, Rice, Cornell, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, U. Penn (and some others) among top 20 schools. If you have any other questions about Emory or admissions in general, let me know.</p>
<p>What are some good summer programs for Canadian high school students?</p>
<p>There is the Summer work program (I believe put on through the YMCA??)… you go for six weeks to a various place in Canada (usually Quebec or NB for the French component) and you work and live with a family. The point is to a) make money and to b) become fluent in french. I had a friend who did it, and he said it was an amazing time</p>
<p>You could also do a CEEF Exchange. They offer summer exchanges to Belgium, Luxembourg and other countries. Once again, the point is to become fluent in French and to have a good time (it seems all Canadian summer programs have an emphasis on french learning)</p>
<p>Those are the two that pop into my mind, but Im sure there are others that are sponsored by Rotary or the Canadian Legion Branch in your area!</p>
<p>What about research, are there any research opportunities for high school students? I tried searching it up but none of the programs allowed high school students to join.</p>
<p>Many American students are given the opportunity to research at the Department of Energy or their Community College. I’m having a little trouble finding a similar opportunity.</p>