<p>As a fellow Canadian student applying to the ivies, I can tell you honestly that your chances don’t look too great. Your SAT scores won’t fly with an adcom considering you’re international and the pool is that much more rigorous. You got some nice ECs which will surely give you a boost but they look pretty standard as someone else said from the details you provided. Unless you have an interesting story behind some of your ECs or achievements you haven’t mentioned, I wouldn’t expect too much from HYPS.<br>
Definitely rock the essays and you may have a chance at some of the other ivies.</p>
<p>Best of luck! Are you thinking of applying to any Canadian unis?</p>
<p>I am applying to Wharton, that is my dream school (along with Harvard). Do I have even a 50/50 chance at Wharton (or Harvard)? Meaning that I would make it to the final voting round.</p>
<p>Linda, I am applying to some Canadian unis, such as Queens, Ivey, etc. Which schools are you applying to?</p>
<p>If you think you can get an 800 on two SAT II’s, I would do that over taking the SAT I, unless you are confident you will get at least a 2300 to make a significant change to your score. </p>
<p>Also see if you can have your college office or guidance counselor include that your GPA is in the top 3%. </p>
<p>Finally, in response to your essay topic. Basically explaining why you got involved in ECs will not go. Focus on one EC. Focus on one day of your EC. Focus on one moment doing that EC. Then write about that. There should be very little direct overlap between your essay and your EC descriptions. In the “additional information” section of the common app, write about struggling in English and how it affected you. You definitely want to write a few paragraphs about this but not in your application essay itself, unless the whole essay is about overcoming your struggle of English. </p>
<p>Good luck. I think you are a promising applicant with a good application. I hope this works out for you. And apply to Wharton if you want to go there. Not Penn.</p>
<p>Thanks rb3!
^SAT IIs over SAT I? Sigh…I don’t actually want to retake anything (I hate the SATs) >< but I feel through with SAT 2s more lol. My SAT 2s aren’t really THAT bad are they?</p>
<p>My counselor insists that the school doesn’t rank because of many factors, but on my recommendation he did mention that i was “easily in the top 5% of our scholars”…hope that’s good enough.</p>
<p>My essay kind of explain first about how a book impacted me, then a failure, then a revelation and how I became the person I am now. It spans through out my whole life and I feel that may be a bad thing…but I wanted to show them the whole picture since I actually went through a big process. At this point I’m still really unsure about my essay yet, might make major changes to it.</p>
<p>Yes, I would still apply!!! I agree with Banned that if you put your heart into your essays and it shows, it could overlook many of your blemishes. Show the hardships you have overcame, especially coming from a low-income family and learning English. The people I know who got into Harvard from my school years ago didn’t have great stats, but one girl wrote about being homeless for a week, even though she wasn’t homeless at the moment she applied and wasn’t homeless since many years ago. But she still got in. I, myself am sort of like you - Asian, low-income…except I come from a single parent household and was abused as a child… and I am a guy :)…lol. As long as you got the heart and the determination, not just academically, but if you truly have the heart to excel beyond Harvard in your life, it will show. Don’t worry about it not showing because it will show.</p>
<p>I don’t know, but is my opinion, but I’m guessing the people Harvard is looking for are not the perfect 2400 people, but the people who will go through Harvard and beyond and may potentially change society as it is. It just so happens that those type of people are usually extreme achievers at a young age who get that 2400 SAT, butttttttt not always. Sometimes people who change the world are everyday people or those like you and me who get maybe just a 2100.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is that still apply because Harvard may see something in you that they don’t see in some of the cocky 2400 people - I’m not saying all of them are cocky or heartless - but… you could get in and they won’t.</p>
<p>hmm okay…so life got really busy and I never studied more for the SAT. My retake resulted in a superscore of 2220…does that make ANY difference at all?</p>
<p>A 2220 is great - don’t be discouraged. There are Canadians who’ve gotten in with lower. Just focus on what sets you apart!</p>
<p>If you look at past Canadian acceptees’ stats, you’ll see that some of them have had averages lower than 92%. Plus, there’s the fact that Canadian high schools are more academically rigorous than those in the US. </p>
<p>Pianodude - There are tons of Canadian high schools that don’t offer any AP’s, yet are still considered extremely competitive. Even at schools that don’t rank, students are crazy competitive.</p>
<p>WongTongTong, lol really? I swear those people in the videos don’t look nearly as qualified as the average CCer to me…Am I missing something here?</p>
<p>banned: fatum asked for an honest answer not some sugar coated answer and chelsearox gave her one. you shouldn’t call someone an ignorant idiotfor giving futum what she wanted in the first place. Fatum look in the harvarp 2014 acceptances list on cc and you’ll see that many people had like 2400s and 4.0s and still didn’t get in, and you being international doesn’t help.</p>
<p>I’ve looked through that thread many times, but it’s still interesting to get an opinion other than my own. A friend of my once said that the schools not taking 2400s is good news to her (since she is not a 2400) because they obviously look for other things. But I definitely see your point about the part that even my academics don’t stand out x).</p>
<p>honestly, i’m going to have to agree with chelsearox and lindazhang on the fact that your chances are quite slim, from the info that you have provided.</p>
<p>let’s just focus on the fact that you’re international for a sec. the admit rate for this year is sitting at about 6%, even less for internationals.</p>
<p>and the fact that you’re an asian from canada doesn’t help - it’s a pretty strong demographic. statistically, your SATs are relatively weak for your ethnicity, and your extra-curriculars don’t seem to have anything of note.</p>
<p>and you’re ‘writing’ one of your recommendations?!?!</p>
<p>that being said, i don’t know who you are, or how passionate you are; your facts don’t tell me about the whole package. so, there’s nothing wrong with trying! and i’m guessing that by now you’ve submitted everything anyway, i just decided to put in my two cents :P</p>
<p>I wasn’t worried because of how qualified (or unqualified in Mike’s case ) they were, I was just worried about how nerve wracking opening the email is…</p>
<p>i have the same concern beccaz has: you’re writing one of your letters of recommendation?!
if you’re doing what we think you’re doing, it’s a really dangerous move–it shows a huge lack of integrity and what happens if you get caught? your school will tell your colleges that you cheated on your apps (a sure-fire way to get accepted, right?). and your teacher won’t like you.</p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion guys! My teacher asked me to detail some of the things I think that are good about me, and provide examples. Basically he wanted me to remind him of what I’ve done so he could have an easier time writing my rec. I said that I was “writing” my rec because I thought the practice this teacher used would result in a nicer and more detailed rec than the average ones.</p>
<p>Sigh let us hope for the best…for all of us. ;)</p>
<p>Haha yes! He was clueless, and I loved how he tried to tell his brothers he thought he sent in everything and it possibly “got lost in the mail”.</p>
and they won’t.</p>
</p>