What Are My Chances and What Else Should I Pursue

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Can you believe it's April!? Junior year is almost over. I'm asking two types of questions in this thread. What do you think my current chances are? And what else would you guys recommend for me to do? I'm always looking to pursue new opportunities. </p>

<p>Home-school/online classes in grades 9 and 10. I didn't take any honors or APs (but I should have). Good grades.</p>

<p>11th grade (right now) I go to a great public school. 2 honors classes (English/World History) and the rest average. </p>

<p>GPA: around 3.7?</p>

<p>Next year I am finally taking AP classes: AP Psychology, AP US History 2, AP English 12, Physics Honors and Pre-calculus regular.</p>

<p>Taking the SAT this June and I expect to get around 2000. When should I take the ACT and SAT II's?</p>

<p>Here's what makes me stand out:</p>

<p>Founded an online business, built a website and made $10k profit from age 14.</p>

<p>Studied abroad in Japan during sophomore year for 4 months.</p>

<p>Debate (hopefully varsity senior year).</p>

<p>Model UN </p>

<p>Tennis</p>

<p>Participating in the RYLA leadership training program this May.</p>

<p>Want to pursue volunteering and will be doing more and more especially during Senior year.</p>

<p>I didn't really have the opportunity to register for AP classes until Senior year. This is what I'm most worried about. I'm also unsure of the process. I need to have a mental picture of what to do when and right now SATs are on the top of my mind. I have no idea about the ACT, SAT IIs, APs, college deadlines, international college deadlines, etc. </p>

<p>I'm very interested in pursuing International Relations and will be applying to colleges overseas as well (England, Japan, Hong Kong, etc). What do you think and what do you recommend?</p>

<p>What do you think of these schools? What should I do to be more competitive: Harvard, Georgetown, Yale, Keio University (Tokyo), University of Hong Kong, Cambridge University (England), UCLA, Columbia University, Stanford, University of Hawaii Manao, etc.</p>

<p>I love to travel and these are some of the schools that look fantastic. IR is probably the major I want.. Thank you so much.</p>

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<p>bump bump bump</p>

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<p>The University Of St. Andrews is the best IR school in the English-Speaking world, but I go to a British school, and I think that personally a lack of APs will not not get you into any top-tier British unis. They only allow APs as a substitute for A-Level grades(British equivalent of APs); other classes really mean nothing to them. Cambridge/Oxford will quite easily turn your application down; as their approach is far less holistic.</p>

<p>BTW if you’re looking at IR in the UK, then LSE and St Andrews would be far more suitable than Cambridge, which doesn’t even have an IR programme.</p>

<p>Universities outside of the US also don’t look very much at extra-curriculars; so this doesn’t bode well for you.</p>

<p>I live in South East Asia, so many of my schools matriculants go to HKU…and they also put a lot of focus on academics there.</p>

<p>2 Honours in 11th? This would only work for you if that is THE MOST RIGOROUS course your school can offer. If you had opportunities to take a much more rigorous schedule, but you didn’t, Georgetown/Yale/Whatever is not very realistic for you. A high, high, high reach perhaps. They DO look at apps holistically(ECs etc), but it is almost an assumption and expectation that most people applying there have fabulous grades, so this might be a “first-stage elimination” sort of deal.</p>

<p>I’m also a prospective IR applicant, if that helps.</p>

<p>If you’d like me to offer more advice on applying to British schools, I’d be happy. I’m as much of an expert on this as you’ll find on this American forum.</p>

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<p>It’s not as if I just didn’t take AP courses, I didn’t really have an opportunity to do so. Especially during 9th and 10th grades taking homeschool/online school courses. Doesn’t Harvard actually prefer the diversity of a home schooled student over a High Schooler? Let alone the diversity of Homeschool/public High School and even a studying at a Japanese High School student. </p>

<p>Again and you’re right, this is what I’m worried about. I will take about 3 AP courses senior year, and that’s it. My GPA is still good and I am trying to get it above 4.0 everyday (my GPA has been great from Freshman year). I know other people who didn’t take APs until senior year (and obviously getting at least a 3.8~ GPA Freshman through Senior) and it’s not really a problem for Harvard (or am I thinking with too much exaggeration?) How much of an issue is this? Nothing that can be done now though…</p>

<p>The University Of St. Andrews looks great. Thank you very much for recommending it. It seems a little intimidating to study in the UK for an American however. I dunno why but I have this uneasy feeling. Although I’m NOT that uneasy for Singapore, Japan or Hong Kong; it’s just a feeling I have with Britain. Any other international universities (i want new experiences)?</p>

<p>I’m still unsure of what else I should do to raise my chances for Harvard. When should I start applying (such as international universities)? <b>Any advice would be very appreciated. Just post anything!</b> Thank you</p>

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<p>I lived in Singapore for a while(5 years), and the only school that has any respect there internationally is NUS. They also put a major focus on academics. But with 3 APs, you should JUST make the cut for an American applicant.</p>

<p>“3 or more AP subjects with grade 4 or better in all subjects” is what is required by the National University Of Singapore for admissions consideration. This DOES NOT mean you will get accepted, but this just means they will consider your application. </p>

<p>For UK Universities(and former British territories like Hong Kong, Singapore etc) you may want to refer yourself to
[UCAS</a> - Tariff tables](<a href=“http://www.ucas.com/students/ucas_tariff/tarifftables/]UCAS”>http://www.ucas.com/students/ucas_tariff/tarifftables/)
This is a collative table of the “worth” of all the popular educational programmes in the world, sorted with UCAS “points”.</p>

<p>You can find the AP page here
[UCAS</a> - Advanced Placement Programme - US & Canada](<a href=“http://www.ucas.com/students/ucas_tariff/factsheet/app]UCAS”>http://www.ucas.com/students/ucas_tariff/factsheet/app)</p>

<p>The average applicant to Cambridge/Oxford/U of L has around 720-800 UCAS points. By doing only 3 AP exams, you can have anywhere from between 360 and 60 points, depending on which subjects you took and what you scored in them. A 5 in “Group A” subjects like APUSH and Calculus will get you 120 points, but a 5 in “Group B” subjects like Studio Art or Micro will get you 50 points.</p>

<p>Since you seem very interested in universities in Hong Kong, Singapore, UK(ones that only recognise AP test scores - not GPA), my advice would to work REALLY hard this year. Take MORE APs, and self-study APs a whole lot more. For IR, you should be taking AP exams in:</p>

<p>World His
Euro
English Lit
English Lang
Comparative Poli
Your 2nd Language
Micro Econ + Macro Econ</p>

<p>If you get 5s in all those, that should give you 750 points - well within range for a reasonable admissions to these countries. If you plan to go overseas, you might as well quit all your Non-IR related extra curricular activities. These universities all mostly just require 3 years to get a BA - this is because you declare a major and start with that major in the first year. In your applications, they want you to show you have dedication to IR(your major) - so any activities you do that don’t have anything to do with it, you should quit them and spend more time on getting more APs or IR experience(more MUN, perhaps?). They really wouldn’t care about you playing tennis unless you were good enough to play for the college’s team. Making $10k would be an impressive claim if you were applying to business or economics - but not so much IR.</p>

<p>If you’re determined to get into a good overseas university, you should take a gap year and load up on APs and a more IR-centred resume. Just remember: you’ll be graduating the same time as everyone else - since university only lasts 3 years.</p>

<p>Also, just a heads up: most reputable IR programmes only accept students who are fluent in at least 2 languages.</p>

<p>This is all scary, I know. But with some hard work and dedication, you can definitely make it.</p>

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<p>Thank you very much for the information, especially UCAS points. I found some really helpful programmes on there. I think I may be able to get some points with language ability as well. I’m about conversational in Japanese and almost fluent in Russian. A little more Spanish/Italian study and I guess I can count that as well. I love languages.</p>

<p>“3 or more AP subjects with grade 4 or better in all subjects.” I’m really worried about this. The AP test is in May and I will only start taking AP classes senior year. So this means that I will receive my AP test results AFTER I’ve already applied/been accepted or rejected to a university! Does this mean that my APs won’t even matter? The only results the University will see when I’m applying is that I’m taking these classes senior year. </p>

<p>I was planning on also taking the AP World History exam but due to this fact, is it worth it? I would take it after I’ve already applied to Universities.</p>

<p>The AP courses you mentioned above are one of my favourites and I would have loved to take them. So I guess this does verify that IR is for me…</p>

<p>My plan is to apply for early decision this September to American colleges (Ivies/Georgetown/Stanford are my priorities). How and when should I apply to these international universities? I’m not sure which ones have English language IR programmes but these are what I’m considering:</p>

<p>Tokyo University (I’m pretty sure they don’t teach in English but I just put it here to emphasize that it’s my #1)</p>

<p>Keio University (Japan)</p>

<p>Kyoto University (Japan)</p>

<p>Hong Kong University</p>

<p>National University of Singapore</p>

<p>St. Andrews (UK; I’m not sure how good the location is, if it’s not urban I’m not going :)</p>

<p>Seoul National University (again, unsure. Just stating that it would be exciting to go there)</p>

<p>Honestly, I really hope that I would get into the US universities I mentioned above. What other advice for US Universities? Thank you!</p>

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<p>St. Andrews is not too urban. More like small-town. Suburban I guess. It’s like a medieval castle in Scotland with one of the best golf courses in the world.</p>

<p>For the purpose of APs, this is how it works. When you apply, tell your teacher to give you a “Predicted Grade” for the AP test (hopefully this should be all 5s) and then send this off to the university. </p>

<p>Then, they will see your scores and make a “conditional offer” to you. They will give you a score to aim for; for example “5555 in 4 AP Exams”. This means that you are “accepted” so long as your final grades are the same/better than your predicted grades. </p>

<p>So when your final AP scores come out, you will send those off, and if those fulfill their “offer” you’re in.</p>

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<p>That’s not really for me. I guess I have a good list of universities to apply to anyways.</p>

<p>Another EC I’ll be doing is helping relief aid in Japan this summer. I’m working for a plane ticket right now as I have friends to stay with in Japan. </p>

<p>What do you think of these ECs and my GPA/APs? All else I can do is try to raise my GPA even higher and make sure it stays that way.</p>

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<p>What are you doing and what Universities are you also applying to?</p>

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<p>GPA is irrelevant to them. They judge your application primarily by:</p>

<ol>
<li>Your SAT and AP test scores</li>
<li>Your personal statement(like an essay sorta)</li>
<li>Your teacher recommendations(called references)</li>
<li>(for more selective universities) An interview</li>
</ol>

<p>Now this interview is not like a US college interview. They will have a professor that teaches your declared major, and he will test your knowledge on IR by asking questions and there will be a written aptitude test administered by the university. He will ask you “Why do you want to study International Relations?” and you must have a very good answer.</p>

<p>The Personal Statement must also concern international relations, not your own personal life story like many US colleges want.</p>

<p>Apart from that, its pretty much the same as the US.</p>

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<p>Thank you for clarifying that.</p>

<p>What about US Universities and Ivy League? Since I’m from the US I’m most likely to go to one of these. What are my chances here? What exactly is the process compared to that and how should I raise my chances? Thanks.</p>