I’m a Canadian high school student in grade 11. I have a 4.4 weighted GPA. I received a 5 for AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2 as well as Psychology. I took the SAT once and got 1530. I play tennis in a club. I volunteered at a pharmacy and worked for the government during the federal election by counting ballots. I also play piano (level 9) and violin (level 5). I am founder of the physics club at school which helps students struggling in physics. I’m also in the school MUN club and badminton club. I’m sure that many applicants have similar activities and academic achievements. However, I have one area that I think I stand out in: I love the outdoors (hiking, skiing, fishing). In fact, last summer, I volunteered with the Student Conservation Corps and spent 35 days mantaining trails and managing wildlife at the border of Canada and the U.S (Nothern Cascades) . Afterwards, I was inspired to help conserve the parks in my city so with the help of the municipal government, I founded an organization that gets youth (6–12) interested in protecting wildlfe in their communities on Pro-D days. We have held it on 6 occasions with an average participation of 200 youth and their parents each time. Will this make me stand out to the Ivies or MIT and Stanford?
I’m not clear on the expectations for international students but you sound like you’ve gotten over the hurdle of your application being at least considered (which is pretty much all you can hope for at the schools you’re thinking about). If you show your enthusiasm in a genuine way, I think you’ll be okay!
Your stats are good enough that your application will be considered and your ECs are unique- nice job. Are you looking to go into something environmental-related? If so, that initiative will be really compelling to HYPSM. If not, while it will still look good, it’s not really related to your major so it won’t have as much of an impact.