Swarthmore Chances: C/O 2014 International

<p>General Things
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: East Indian (international)
Country: India (but living in Singapore for 16 years)
Current Grade: Senior Year (in singapore, schools run from Jan-Dec)
Financial Aid: Not applying for any sort of FA</p>

<p>Grades
GPA: 3.8 out of 5.0
(RISING TREND -> Freshman: 2.5/5.0 Sophomore 3.5/5.0 Junior: 4.2/5.0 Senior: 4.79/5.0)
-Very tough international magnet school specializing in Math & Science</p>

<p>SAT Reasoning Test
SAT Critical Reading - 770
SAT Math - 800
SAT Writing – 800
SAT Composite (M+CR) – 1570
SAT Composite (M+CR+W) – 2370</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests
SAT Math Level 2 - 800
SAT Physics - 790
SAT Chemistry – 780
SAT Biology M - 770</p>

<p>AP Tests
AP Calculus AB – 5
AP Chemistry – 5
AP Physics B – 5
AP Biology – 5
AP Calculus BC – 5
AP Statistics – 5</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities
- Captain: Debate Team
- President: Creative Writing Circle
- Editor: School Yearbook
- Editor: School Newsletter (we don't publish too actively tho)
- Editor: Official Newsletter of Singapore Int'l Mathematics Competition
- Captain: Scrabble Team (placed 3rd nationally in 2007, several individual awards at national level too)
- Head Delegate: Model UN
- Tennis Team
- National Education Ambassador
- 300ish Community Service Hours
- Creative Arts Program (very selective program for writers and poets)
- Research on atomic spectroscopy
- Research on oxygen's behavior on palladium and applications in fuel cells
- Interned at a renowned museum of biodiversity research
- 2 Commendatory Awards @ Commonwealth Int'l Essay Writing Competition
- Gold (Drama) @ Singapore Youth Festival
- Best Delegate @ Singapore Model United Nations 2009</p>

<p>Your list of accomplishments is Swarthmore caliber. However, Swarthmore looks at the whole application package. Letters from teachers will be important for determining the fit between you and Swarthmore. These letters will show the person behind the data, enabling the admissions staff to learn how you might benefit from a Swarthmore education and how you, in turn, could enrich the college experience of others. In addition, the “Why Swarthmore?” essay will be critical. As the admissions representatives read your essay they will be seeking to learn about what you are most passionate and why. They will want to see in your essay how coming to Swarthmore will enable you to feed those passions. They will want to learn from your essay what you find especially compelling about Swarthmore. They are looking for contributions you can make to Swarthmore as well as indicators that you can thrive in the unique Swarthmore environment. The admissions representatives may find answers to their questions deeply embedded in the text of your essay rather than in sentences that begin with statements such as “I want to come to Swarthmore because…” (though declarative statements are of value too). The key to a strong essay is to be yourself and to let your interests, values, and concerns shine through the text.</p>

<p>There might be some current students at Swarthmore who graduated from your HS. I am sure they would be happy to share their expertize regarding admissions with you. You certainly will be a strong candidate for Swat.</p>

<p>The GPA seems on the low side, but I’d assume Swarthmore has some knowledge about your school, so they can figure out how it stands in context. Would a 3.8/5 put you in the top 30%? 20%? Ideally you want a top 10% GPA, of course, but with your other stats I think a top 20/30 would be alright if you had a compelling story, excellent essays, and/or astounding recommendations.</p>

<p>You also have a lot of activities that are all over the place. I’d recommend trying to find a thread that hooks them together—is it a love for writing (why?)? A passion for organizing/leadership (why?)?</p>

<p>I don’t think anything in your post would knock you out of the pool, especially since you can pay. Your stats aren’t high enough to carry you through, though. </p>

<p>(obviously all my opinion)</p>

<p>There isn’t really a common thread running through all my ECs. I’m just committed to a whole lot of activities. As for letting myself shine through in the application, I’ve got that pretty much under control. However, I need to know what’s truly unique about Swat. </p>

<p>My genuine reasons for applying are academic rigor (and the consequential grad school opportunities), a larger extent of faculty-student interactions and the Honors Program. is there anything else that’s distinctly unique about Swat?</p>

<p>also, would it help if my school doesn’t rank?</p>

<p>re: rank — not really. I mean, yes, it means that their judgement can’t be as granular, but they probably have a sense of whether or not your GPA is good for your school. (Maybe not for internationals, but that probably wouldn’t be a good thing.)</p>

<p>As for your ECs—my point isn’t that you see a common thread now, but one of the things you can do to help your application now is sit down, <em>really</em> think about it and FIND a common thread. A story that helps explain who you are and why you do what you do. (My college essay was a long time ago, but if I remember correctly, I wrote about ‘living the literate life’ and used extensions off of that to tie many of my ECs together.)</p>

<p>I’m half international… as in I moved here a few years ago. Your stats are going to put you at the very top of the pool because:</p>

<ol>
<li>You can pay</li>
<li>You have an incredible amount of leadership and brilliance in ECs</li>
<li>Your scores are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. For international students, scores are more important than GPA.</li>
</ol>

<p>Just make sure your essays don’t make you sound too academic/mechanical. Passionate essays and those stats should get you in. I don’t think you’ll run into any other problems. </p>

<p>I have two friends with extremely low stats who got into Swat with a full scholarship just because of leadership. You have leadership and the stats. </p>

<p>Once again, my opinion, but I come from schools that sends about 20 kids to Ivys and at least a 100 to top schools.</p>