Hi, I’m an international student and I looove everything I’ve heard about Vassar so far and it’s pretty much my number one priority. However, I’m worried my stats aren’t strong enough to counterbalance a rather weak/sporadic ECs list, and I’m not sure my being an international student would help any. I’m hoping to major in either English or economics.
Most importantly, I am Super Cool and Quirky. (As one can probably tell, seeing as I had to explicitly say so…)
STATS
IB Predicted Grade: 40/45 (for my midyear report I’m on track to get at least a 41, with a 6 and 7 in Lit and Math SL, respectively)
New SAT: 1480/1600 (780 verbal, 700 math; I’m hoping to crank my math up to at least a 720 this November, but nevertheless I’m operating under the assumption that I don’t)
SENIOR YEAR SUBJECTS
- High Level: Literature, Psychology, Theatre Arts
- Standard Level: Math, Spanish Ab Initio, Chemistry (I have no idea why I took this instead of Biology. Certainly my predicted Chemistry grade of 5 has no idea either. Regardless I enjoy the challenge and feel most appreciative of science through this class, which I rarely am)
ECs
My extracurriculars are relatively wide in breadth but lacking in depth. Here are the most recent ones/those of some note…
- Jazz dancing, cheerdancing (both in my junior year, won most outstanding dancer awards for each)
- Singing (I’ve been doing this for about eight years cumulative since I was three, and have won a few contests/awards)
- Musical theatre (lead roles in a school production and a theatre company workshop production, respectively)
-Correspondent for the junior edition of the most widely read newspaper in my country (2011-2013)
AWARDS/RECOGNITIONS
- First place in a feature writing competition sponsored by an international edition of the second most circulated newspaper in the States (2016)
- outstanding student artist and honors at art school, plus regular academic honors
- First place in a fanfiction contest featuring Korean pop singer Kim Jonghyun… hahaha
- Featured in a documentary essentially titled “Child Genius” (would that it were accurate) aired on the leading TV network in my country
SCHOOL CONTEXT (if this helps any)
-I’d like to think my high school is one of the top five international schools in the country… I might be wrong. The most recent batch of IB graduates who’ve gone to the States (that I know of) are at Georgia Tech, Emory and University of Chicago.
I was a writing major for two years in my country’s national high school for the arts (every year the school holds auditions all over the country for incoming freshmen and only accepted five students for the writing major.) It was a boarding school with a free-spirited though rather insular environment, and I thrived there (I eventually left to pursue the IB program.) I am hoping to mention my time at this particular school as one of the reasons Vassar appeals to me (as in, both are small environments that strongly encourage excellence,) and I’m wondering if this would help any. Or would assuming too much about Vassar’s environment based on what I’ve read on the internet be detrimental?
I’m considering Early Decision as I’ve heard this may boost my chances, although I do wonder if I may be beyond boosting. In which case, as an additional inquiry, I’m also wondering what any of you might suggest for other schools to apply to (although rest assured Vassar is my favorite hippie LAC of them all.) I would also be endlessly grateful for any suggestions on adding some extra gloss to my app.
** P.S. Additionally, I’m told I shouldn’t state anything that would make me identifiable, but I’d be happy to share either my country/any of those ambiguously described publications and networks if that would be of any help, plus anything else anyone would like to know!
P.P.S. This post is ridiculously long and if you’re reading this I thank you for your time.