<p>Apologies for x-posting, but an answer really would be nice, and I imagine people here might know more about how they'll look differently at internationals.</p>
<p>I'm hoping to apply to Cornell/Yale/Penn/Brown/Duke/Stanford/Princeton/Amherst/Williams & maybe Harvard (concentrating in philosophy, maybe economics) later this year and was wondering if I could get a bit of feedback on my chances.
Academic:
7 A-levels (MAths, Further Maths, Politics, Economics, English literature, History, History of Art) all at A at As and predicted A's for A2.
3 AEA's in History, Literature & Critical thinking (Supposedly equivalent to 2nd year UGrad)
2390 in the SAT -taking SatII's in june (World History, Maths 2 & Reading)
Highest prizes possible in the school for Leadership, Academic excellence and English Literature.
Academic scholar</p>
<p>Work experience:
2 Weeks experience at Winton capital (top 20 UK Hedge Fund) on the trading floor + 2 Months at the research Office.
Working for a few months at an orphanage in western china next year
3 Months as assistant researcher for my Local MP working from the houses of parliament.</p>
<p>Extra-cirric's (bit thin as I'm a small, private, boarding school - opportunities are thin):
Founder+Chair of Debate Club
Responsible for setting up&running a school election, which I won as conservative candidate
Editor of school newspaper
School rugby team
Public Speaking Champion
Advanced maths club (highly selective)
Well-travelled, and not to touristy places (cuba, north korea etc)
Own philosophy research
Have written literature+had poetry published in journals
A couple of hours community action a week</p>
<p>Glowing reference (history teacher who's a cambridge alumni called me 'the most fluent and stylsh writer [he's] taught')</p>
<p>I think you have a great shot with your SAT and Grade you will have a great shot at Cornell, Brown Duke. I got into Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth with a 2340 last year and around 3.8 GPA so you will be fine. But for likes for UPENN it depends what u major in because College of UPENN is much different from Wharton Business School the acceptance rate is around 10-12% different. But if you want to go to Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford those four colleges are single binded EA schools so you should apply to them EA if you really want to go there. But for regular decision i think you are 80-90% in at Duke, Brown, Cornell and etc and Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford depending on when you apply. </p>
<p>ps: I'm applying to London School of Economics currently taking a gap year interesting huh. If I dont get in I'm will be going to Cornell in fall of 2007. Is is possible if you can MSN me so that I can ask you my chance for LSE???</p>
<p>In my humble opinion, there is so no point in making such a thread:</p>
<p>You know that you don't have any weaknesses --your SATs are almost perfect, your grades ARE perfect, you do have some work experience and this orphanage stuff sounds impressive, your ECs are excellent as are your recommendations-- but you know too that there is never a guarantee for admission at Harvard, Princeton, etc.</p>
<p>But to relieve you: I'd put my whole saving at stake that you're admitted at least to one of these colleges ;)</p>
<p>King Is Here - Add me, <a href="mailto:futurestarwolf@hotmail.com">futurestarwolf@hotmail.com</a>. I've got a Cousin at LSE so would be happy to help.
Did apply to oxford this year, but quite badly ****ed up my interview, have an offer at LSE for Phil+Eco, though it's deferred for back-up. The philosophy 'research' is just a couple of book reviews published in minor journals...not really research. The hedge fund's MD is my Uncle, so that's kinda cheating too!</p>
<p>My application does have a few pretty big drawbacks, so I'd be quite interested in how people feel these might hold me back...MY GCSE's are pretty poor (4A*4A2B1C) though were done in a year due to illness/personal problems etc. All my EC's come from the past couple of years - I understand the Ivies are looking for a long-term commitment. Also I've no foreign languages/sciences...is it worth picking up A-level physics/French?</p>
<p>GCSEs are very important, but if you have clear extenuating circumstances then they will understand (provided your councellor's reference clearly mentions this, maybe alongside a comment stating you were on-track for 8A*s and 2As until you left hand fell off, or whatever.)</p>
<p>ECs are important too, but don't stress over them, for the most part you will be competing against UK applicants, who really don't do all that much compared to their US counterparts. It is also possible to show passion without having done something for the last ten years. For example, i waxed lyrcal about my partnership scheme with a local school (very crappy school!) where I give up a few hours a week to teach GCSE maths to kids who would probably get Bs and Cs with the awful resources they have there. Obviously, I can't really have been doing this for longer that a year, because I myself only did GCSE maths a while ago! Passion is needed yes, but there are different ways to show passion. Don't stress over it.</p>
<p>I wouldnt say there is a huge advantage to picking up another A level, as I said above, you're not really competing against the rest of the world, as such, and so they know UK A Levels are a lot more focus than a high school curriculum.</p>
<p>Also AEAs aren't second year undergrad. They're not even first year undergrad, they're just extension papers designed to look for natural ability alongside academic sucess in the A Level. ;)</p>
<p>i did 7 AS last year, i think to prove some sort of point-i'm not quite sure what though. I also couldnt decide what to give up after GCSEs. Turned out okay though, but over the summer i regained some sanity and decided 5 was really quite enough, so dropped the two extra ASs.</p>
<p>^^ I agree, but the OP is not the first person to post a 'chances' thread, and there will be many many more! I personally think it makes more sense to make a chances thread 18 months before you apply, and then you can actually act upon the comments that advise you to 'get better SAT IIs or do more volunteering'</p>