Hi, everybody. I would be pleased to hear your opinions on what I am about to say.
I took the SAT only once.
I got 740 on math
I got 650 on language and critical reading, I think this is somewhat good considering that my mother tongue is Spanish and I attend a school where English was spoken.
In Peru, my homeland. My highschool final grade (2012-2016 yes, we have 5 years of HS) was 18/20 which equals A plus in the American system. That is a very hard grade to get. The passing grade is 11 and I have never failed a course in my entire life.
In 2016 and 2015 I got 18,65.
During all highschool, I got the 9th place (2011-2016). I was a kid in the first 2 years and I didn’t take school seriously enough. my grade were 16 and 17 consecutively.
In 2014, I got the 2nd place of my CLASSROOM (32) and the 7th place of the class (124)
In 2015, I got the 1st place of my CLASSROOM (32) and the 2nd place of the class (124)
In 2016, I got the 1st place of my CLASSROOM (32) and the 1st place of the class (124)
I believe that as an international applicant, I have a pretty strong extracurricular profile.
I have won the regional basketball championship of lima (capital of Peru) playing for a club
I ended in 4th place in the inter-school basketball tournament
I have won the national WRO (It is the Asian counterpart of the first lego league) and traveled to Doha, Qatar to represent my country
I have been in the chess club, math club and something called “school of leaders”
I have participated in 2 MUNs, I got a verbal commendation in the 2nd one and 2 weeks ago I was invited to one of the international delegations that there are in my country.
I have been named classroom delegate
I classified to the regional stage of the national math exam (Peru)
Your profile is amazing. It’s GTech’s loss!
You WILL get into a college.
GTech is a state school, meaning its first duty is to its state residents then come students who are useful to the college, which can be defined in many different ways. Then American candidates from other states that GTech feel will enhance their profile.
Then only internationals. BTW would you have needed financial aid? That alone could explain the rejection.
I was planning to major in economics. What worries me is that I thought that georgia tech was a safe. My other choices are far more selcetive (notre dame, dartmouth, northwestern)
Anything with less than 25% acceptance rate is a reach for everyone, and if you need financial aid pretty much nothing is a safety unless you meet the automatic admission/automatic scholarship criteria.
@Rod0000 Sorry to hear about your disappointment. Criteria for international students are different as most US colleges save space for their own students from the state that funds the college. At Georgia Tech, I think the state legislature mandates a certain percent of students be Georgia Students, as the school is funded with Georgia resident taxpayer money. Even private US colleges can and do limit international students to a certain percentage of the total enrollment. MIT limits international students to a strict 10% of the undergraduate freshman class for instance. Graduate schools always take way more international students than US undergraduate programs. . You should look up the number that each of your private schools admits, to get an idea of the difficulty. You are competing with students from all over the globe that wanted admission to Georgia Tech and I know American students rejected at GT with an ACT of 36, including Math ACT 36.
Notre Dame admits students who have lower math scores than Georgia Tech tends to, although your math scores look good to me.
@Rod0000 Georgia Tech is not a safety for anyone, anymore. It has become as selective as (notre dame, dartmouth, northwestern). It is always a good idea to apply to a wide range of schools (and not all top 20 engineering schools) if you want to have options when it’s all said and done. Realize that you are competing with students that have the similar credentials and they can fill 4-5 freshman classes with the numbers that apply!
I thought I would be a business major like my dad (who went to Tech’s business school), but I got a 42 on my first AP Macroeconomics class, so that’s not happening more hahaha
I had very similar grades on new SAT to you Rod (720 reading, 680 math), ahve a 3.96 GPA, am ranked 57 of about 680, and have taken all of the AP S.Studies and Language Arts classes. I also feel like I have a lot of very good extracurriculars. However, it’s surprising that I was waitlisted rather than denied because of my lower Math SAT and the fact that as a senior I am taking precalculus. All of my grades ARE very high, but my math class level is a few steps under most applicants.
I think whats been holding me in place at waitlist rather than denial is the fact that I’m an in state applicant, my Dad is an alumni, my older brother is currently attending, and my twin sister has been accepted. In addition, my recommendation letter came from a Tech alumni.
I feel that having many connections to the school has helped my application tremendously and I don’t believe you had that advantage. If you end up reapplying/transferring in, I highly recommend making contact with an adult with connections to the school (teacher or even a board member). You really do sound like a VERY qualified individual, and I’m sure if you asked the right person they would be more than willing to assist you if you decide to reapply/transfer in. Good luck and dont be discouraged! Wish me luck too, thats all the waitlist really is
