<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>I go to school in Ontario, my average was 94.25% in grade 11 and currently is about 92%.
I take 5 AP courses, and have already taken AP calculus and vectors earning a 5 on the AP exam.
I have a 2290 on the SATs (CR-M-W, 760-800-730).</p>
<p>I am the leader of CS and Debate club, do track, senior orchestra, am about to start a MUN at my school, participate and do well in various mathematics competitions (not international level but participated in the invitational Lloyd Auckland Mathematics Workshop at University of Waterloo in 2011), have about 150 hours community service, attended Shad Valley 2012, led an entrepreneurial venture raising total $1000 involving hundreds of students, co-founded a local non-profit organization to teach music to underprivileged children which has taught over a hundred kids, and won second place and a green initiative award at a University of Laurier entrepreneurship contest.</p>
<p>I would write my essay about my passion for thinking outside the box and entrepreneurship, with a focus on how it has taught me important personal lessons (such as not mixing friends and business).</p>
<p>What are my chances for Stanford University?</p>
<p>If possible could you chance me for Harvard/MIT/Berkeley/Penn?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>You need to find your unweighted GPA on a 4.0 scale. From what I see right now, your ECs have no focus. Try to fix this.</p>
<p>I would say that my ECs are focused around technology/entrepreneurship–I am inspired by Steve Jobs. I want to be able to present an idea in an enticing way to an audience (thus debate) and I think this venture (thus the entrepreneurship) will be technology based (thus CS and mathematics). Track, Orchestra, MUN and trivia club are for fun.</p>
<p>Edit: BTW converting my % directly to GPA (% multiplied by 4.0) I get about 3.77 in grade 11, 3.68 in grade 12, and about 3.65 cumulative
HOWEVER, according to <a href=“http://www.foreigncredits.com/Resources/GPA-Calculator/[/url]”>http://www.foreigncredits.com/Resources/GPA-Calculator/</a> I have 4.0 both 11 and 12 and 3.96 cumulative (from one single 79 in Chinese)</p>
<p>I like it. Make sure you list those activities first, and then your “for fun ones” last—not because they are not important, but because they like to see focus with a little fun on the side.</p>
<p>Being an international applicant is tough and is not reliable. If you really want to go to school in the United States, I would recommend applying to many second tier schools like Carnegie mellon.</p>
<p>This may be tough for you, but at least consider it. $1000 is scrap money, definitely when it comes to hundreds of students. Find a fault that you had when doing this. Talk about the successes you have. Then talk about how you will bring this into college. It will be a stronger essay (sorry for periods instead of list, too lazy to change ;))</p>
<p>Best of luck pal.</p>
<p>Thank you!
What would you say is the weakest part of my application?</p>
<p>I don’t know, just because I don’t know much about the grading system. </p>
<p>-If you actually admit that your $1000 wasn’t “The best thing ever”, you will seem authentic, realistic, and passionate in what you said earlier.</p>
<p>-Your SAT scores are just fine. I know you must hear of Chinese students retaking the SAT after a 2340 or whatever, but you are right in your ballpark.</p>
<p>-I don’t understand your grading system. You need to evaluate this and make sure your college councilor can speak on your behalf on the rigor of the classes you have taken.</p>
<p>That being said, Stanford is a world-class school. That means that it is especially tough for international students. Thus, I really recommend you review some other schools (again at the level of Carnegie Mellon). Keep those ivy-league/world class schools in the US at a max of 2.</p>
<p>Thank you for the help!</p>