How lenient will Ivy schools be with my SAT scores - currently 2050 - and perhaps slightly less EC than American students?
I do lots of volunteering, played on sports teams for numerous years, am a prefect voted for by peers and teachers, done extended projects, biology residential courses, other residential action courses and some other bits and bobs.
Will they be interested in me adding to their diversity?
It’s already extraordinarily difficult for kids in the US to get into Ivies with near-perfect SAT scores and dozens of insane ECs. It’s going to be almost impossible for an international student with a 2050 to get in, unfortunately. Diversity can only carry you so far.
Out of curiosity, what exactly is your motivation for wanting to go an Ivy in America? There are plenty of great schools in the UK, no? Also, if your aim is to get to the US, why not aim for a good flagship state school?
If you are a white privileged British student, you offer no diversity. No, you won’t get a pass for your SAT and lack of EC. Would you consider yourself a candidate for Oxbridge?
What would be your best advice then to up my game at all? I’m hoping to improve my SAT scores yes.
And I am thinking of Oxbridge too. But I want to go to America for the experience and I’d find it more exciting than staying in England. I also prefer the liberal arts system.
There was a student a few months back who posted on this forum who was accepted to Middlebury. He was from Spain with an SAT score in the 1900 range. So it is not impossible.
Very few UK students apply to US schools, so the diversity factor will be appealing to some schools. If you can get your SAT scores up a bit (2100 range) you should be in decent shape.
Do you need financial aid? Very difficult to get financial aid for internationals at most schools
Internationals applying to tippy top schools are expected to have great scores, not just good scores, if you are aimed at Oxbridge with maybe 5 top A levels, then sure, it is worth a crack. A recent thread with a poster with 3 A levels was a bit of a head shaker for me. I would say that 2100 is way too optimistic, I think higher, a UK education should in essence be better than the USA, you are in FT school from 4 yrs old, kids here may not start until 6. SAT or ACT is not enough of a cultural issue for an English speaker to use as an excuse for a lower score. Try the ACT though.
If you want an American experience, open your wallet and drop a tier or two. Lots Of unis would love a full paying brit. Remember you are paying for at least one extra year for a standard degree here.
Here are the Smart colleges in America list by Business insider. http://www.businessinsider.com/smartest-colleges-in-america-2014-10
Thanks for the advice. Financial aid isn’t an issue no. But I don’t think 5 a levels are necessary, 4 sure but I think 5’s a bit extreme. Oxbridge accept people with 3.
And whilst I will try and and improve SATs as much as possible, remember I’ve only be doing them for about a year, rather than Americans who I’m guessing have been practicing for a lot longer (just an assumption).
Am going to apply for no ivy too, but why not aim high.
Competitive students will rarely do more than one SAT prep course, most of which are a few hours a week over 2-3 months. It is true that not having experience of standardized testing is a disadvantage, but capable students get past that pretty quickly.
If you haven’t already, try the ACT (get a book or do some practice tests online). Some people ‘get’ the SAT better, others the ACT, and US colleges won’t care which you submit. The important thing in prepping for the ACT is getting to know the test and how it works well enough that you can work at speed.
Sadly, you are not diversity for the hyper-competitive schools, and based solely on SAT & ECs it looks very improbable that you would hold their attention very long- but you may have aces that you haven’t shown here.
I would love to know what your A-Levels are. I am from america, but very interested in schools like Oxford and Cambridge. Please let me know.
The Ivies receive a huge number of apps from the UK and other English speaking nations. This thread, like so may others, is starting to focus on stats. You have to offer the full presentation these colleges want to see. That’s in the various ways you challenge yourself, the resilience you can show, how you think and have some impact around you. Just making it though the high school years is never enough.
So go back and look at what you have done, what it represents about you. Look at what the elites say they look for and the sorts of students they brag about. Look at a sample Common Application (and the supplements, if possible) and consider how you will fill those lines, answer those questions, what the reviewers will see come through about you.
English Lit, Geography, Chemistry and Biology - they like traditional subjects