Based on my stats and interests, should I apply to Duke or Northwestern? I don’t want to apply to both. And which one might have a slightly higher chance? Thank you!
108 TOEFL and 2230 old SAT(CR710, Math790). My GPA is 4.0 out of 4.0 because no AP is offered. SAT2 USH 780 (math2 score is not yet available), AP WH and USH both 5(self-study). Average EC, pretty good recommendations and fairly good essays. I’m not really fond of STEM. I’m not sure about my major. And I’m Chinese but I will have 3 years of American high school experience soon.
I already applied to Davidson College as my early decision. I’m now considering my regular decision school list. Actually trying to narrow it down a little.
I now have:
Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Wustl, Boston College, Brandeis, Emory(maybe), William and Mary, Middlebury, Vassar(maybe), Wesleyan, Colby, Richmond, and F&M.
If you are applying as an international your chance of admittance to any of the first four schools and Middlebury are not high even with your excellent stats. I’d probably apply to all of the difficult ones, and weed out the others based on weather, location, airport proximity, major availability, party scene, food, diversity etc. - factors that are important to you. Since you will be paying full price private schools will generally give you a better experience than public ones.
@TooOld4School Thank you. Yeah that’s why I only have one public school W&M which is more like a liberal arts. I do know that it’s very difficult for me to get into any top 20 schools indeed. Are you talking about taking out some of the matches? I’ve also had people told me that my list is a bit reach heavy.
5 reaches is not all that heavy. I’d try to keep my list to 10 or so in total. If you graduate from a US high school you may be considered a domestic applicant at some universities (California & Michigan for example) and qualify for in-state tuition. I’d also check into the public flagship(s) & # 2 university in your HS state for their exact policy. It will be different at every uni so check carefully.
@TooOld4School Thank you but I forgot to mention that I go to a private Christian school so I will still be considered international nevertheless. Unfortunately. The cost for us is truly astronomical at private schools. Mostly 70k a year.
It does not matter if you attend a public or private high school in your state. They are considered the same as far as the university is concerned. Most unis require you to a) graduate and b) attend a certain number of years (usually 2 or more) to qualify. FYI: Many Americans also get charged full rate at the private universities, and also at out of state public ones!
They sound like great people. You are very fortunate to have such a generous family. If you want to stick with more well known universities, U Chicago also has an amazing academic environment, but is more liberal arts focused than Northwestern. It is going to be more difficult to be admitted to, however. You can always save your RD applications until you hear back from your ED school as long as you meet the deadline.
@merc81 It’s simply because the schools have to limit the number of international students to a certain percentage, while there’s thousands of Chinese students who are competing for a few spots. Obviously the selectivity increases drastically. The admittance rate for international students is significantly lower than that of American students, but their standardized test scores are higher.
Vassar has a very beautiful campus, probably the closest in resemblance to Hogwarts (if that’s your thing) among the major LACs. It is far less sports oriented than any NESCAC college, including Wesleyan. Psychologically, it seems closer to New York City than its putative 90 minute train ride might imply. The Vassar stereotype is lots of people dressed in black and smoking French cigarettes. I find it hard to conceive of the same people applying to both it and Middlebury. OTOH, I can see Wesleyan drawing lots of people from either of the other two.