Hi!
long time reader, first time posting
I’m an international student with no guidance besides the internet and would appreciate any tips/ opinions/ help.
id like to know if I have any chance of getting accepted with a not good ACT score (the rest of my stats are extremely strong).
my stats :
ACT:
math 36, science 31, English 31, reading 28. composite 32.
high school GPA:
first in the class, an average of 120/120 (perfect scores in all subjects, the next best student has an average of 113.5). most difficult workload possible.
Extracurricular activities:
National swimming champion (junior European top 20, however not interested in swimming in college)
National schools debating team for the past 2 years (ranked 5 in the last school worlds debate championship)
National choir (perform biweekly concerts with the national orchestra. very selective, 20+ hours a week of training, the choir ranked for the past two years as the best high school choir in the world)
volunteering:
8 h/w in the ambulance service. leadership position.
I plan on majoring in physics.
I know my acts aren’t good enough (but i plan on majoring in physics, not English, and I’m an international), can my ECs mitigate that? is it a must to retake the ACTs? should I retake and apply RD (would really rather not )?
Please understand that international students have a harder time getting in than US students. Are you a top student in your country, not just your school? While Yale does not publish data on students by country, Harvard does and this may be instructive for you. http://www.hio.harvard.edu/statistics. Set the parameters to “Students”, your country and “Harvard College”. Take that number and divided by 4 to get a rough number of students from your country per class. If you want, divide that number again by 80% to get an estimate of the number admitted each year.
A 32 ACT puts you at the bottom quartile of matriculated students based on the latest common data set for Yale https://oir.yale.edu/common-data-set. You say you want to major in Physics but your Science ACT was only a 31. Do you have close to 800’s on SAT Subject Tests in math and science? Do you have any major science awards to demonstrate extreme spikiness there?
Honestly your best shot may be through swimming if your times are on par with current team member times. Otherwise, unless there is some drastic improvement in either the ACT or SAT, I have to say you are an extreme long shot. Your better bet is to try to get your app in better shape by RD time and use your EA/ED shot elsewhere.
Why Yale?–they are not a science powerhouse. Your scores are not strong enough and more importantly will call into question the rigor of your school and your grades. A potential physics major applying to any premier school would typically have much better scores as well as subject tests and AP scores. No your ECs will not mitigate anything. They are just activities
I did take the SAT 2, I forgot to mention in my original post, I got 800 in math 2, 800 in physics and 750 in history.
My science ACT score is low b/c the section has a lot of reading and as an international student, I read slowly relatively to native speakers. (And the same with the reading section. I think I’m most likely to improve the English section, and not likely to have a huge improvement in the reading/ science sections).
BSK, I am a top student in my country, I got the maximum possible score on the matriculation exams.
We do not have AP classes, we have something that’s equivalent to a mini major. I go to a gifted school where most student take 2/3 majors. I never heard of anyone who took more than 5 majors. I take 8 ( including of course physics, astronomy, computer science, math and others), so I think my work load & grades are extremely strong.
I did win a regional science competition, however we don’t have any international competitions where I live.
Thank for the help, I’ll retake the ACT and apply RD.
Any additional advice / feedback in relation to the additional info I provided would be appreciated!
@luci4321 - Ypu sound like an interesting person and a good candidate. You have focussed academic and extracurricular interests and your accomplishments reveal self-discipline, talent and a commitment to achievement. These are all great qualities to have as an applicant. I agree with you that your ACT Science and Reading Scores reflect your difficulty with English (which makes the ACT’s emphasis on speed a real obstacle to achieving a high score). But if you can practice a lot with a clock and get those scores up to at least a 32, and preferably a 34, you should be a very competitive applicant. And if you can improve your scores then I’d encourage you to apply SCEA. Best of luck!
(Reasonably recent Yale international alum here - I interview students too).
I think you have a strong profile aside from your test scores. Do try and retake them if possible, as it’s a shame to add in so much more risk with a weak score.
I think your grades at school are pretty standard for international applicants who stand a chance. Don’t get me wrong - they’re good - but the bar is very high. Every year, students who came equal first in my country academically who also have IMO/IPhO/IChO prizes are rejected. There just aren’t enough places.
I think your swimming and debate makes you stand out though. Swimming does seem on par with students who are recruited for athletics (without knowing your times). The debate team seems like the sort of extracurricular my international friends had. I did have friends who went to worlds for debate who didn’t even end up making the Yale debate team, though. Yale debate is competitive!
Be careful about the essay, because some international applicants (even when English is their first language) write dreadful submissions. The style is very different to what you would have seen domestically.
Though I will add - keep in mind population size and education quality in your home country. In some cases, purely on population, being the best student in your country is like being the best student who lives in these few zipcodes in New York City. In the cases of a small country, it’s not just about being among the best students in your country - it’s about being one of the best in your country for several years and also being the best applicant in your region for a given year.
