My son is an international applicant from Barcelona (Spain).
He has a cummulative GPA on his senior+junior year (baccalaureate in Spain) of 9,55/10
He has been graduated with Honors (Matricula de Honor) gived only to one of each promotion
He has the award to the Best Research Work of the High School and it was selected over more than 1500 works from the HS of Barcelona
His SAT is 1980 (R 660, M 760, W560)
SAT Subject Tests Math level 1 750, Physics 760
TOEFL 109 (IB)
Extracurrilar: Tennis Varsity Team since 12 years, Drama/Theater, Painting/drawing
Work: working as model/actor, selected by audition in several commercials, short films and catwalks. working as tennis coach with little boys in the tennis club
Thank you very much
His chances are not good at any of them. His SAT scores are simply too low. While they will understand that English is not his native language, he will be competing against many international kids with scores in the 2200+ range.
Will you be able to pay full tuition or are you seeking financial aid? Most colleges in the US have limited budget for international FA, so keep this in mind as well.
If he can bring his scores over 700 in each section of his SAT, he may have a chance. However, it is important to keep in mind that many colleges have a limited number of spaces available for international students. I’m not certain on Harvard/ Yale/ Princeton’s policy on this is.
I don’t think some of the most selective schools in the US are going to look too favorably on a 1980. Maybe the writing section doesn’t matter so much, but you still have to be able to write well for college…
Gotta give the SAT again
He’s about 300 SAT points away from being competitive and even then he would have a <10% chance at the schools you mentioned.
sorry to agree, set your sights elsewhere
He’s international so I guess his SAT is understandable. He seems to stand out to me. I definitely think HYPS will give his application some consideration even with that SAT score
Sorry, that SAT is too low for all of those schools. Lower your sights.
No, they will not give his application consideration with those SAT scores…
Thank you very much for all the answers. He wants to study a Physics Major. He didn’t study the writing part of the SAT Tests as in Spain they said him it was only important the composite score and a TOEFL >100. He looks closely all the application instructions and he know he have low possibilities but not null (of 25% or more in the Ivies). We are applying for financial aid. He applies as “reach colleges” to Princeton, Harvard, Yale, MIT and Brown U, as “probably colleges” to Swarthmore college, Middlebury college, Grinnell college, University of Rotterdam and NYU, and to “safety colleges” to Stony Brook and NJIT. He has been admitted in Stony Brook but probably they don’t have merit scholarships for international students, and they haven’t athletic scholarship in tennis the first year, so, impossible to pay for it, he’s waiting the answer of NJIT were he applied to the Honors College.
He applied for MIT and the Ivies because they have a variable consideration in the tests that can be considered for an international applicant as use TOEFL+2 Subject Tests in MIT instead of SAT+2Subject Tests, also Harvard considered more SAT Subject Tests than SAT for international students.
He knows it’s very very difficult to be admitted in anyone of them but at a minimum he has tried.
Thanks a lot for your time 
Thank you very much for all the answers. He wants to study a Physics Major. He didn’t study the writing part of the SAT Tests as in Spain they said him it was only important the composite score and a TOEFL >100. He looks closely all the application instructions and he know he have low possibilities but not null (of 25% or more in the Ivies). We are applying for financial aid. He applies as “reach colleges” to Princeton, Harvard, Yale, MIT and Brown U, as “probably colleges” to Swarthmore college, Middlebury college, Grinnell college, University of Rotterdam and NYU, and to “safety colleges” to Stony Brook and NJIT. He has been admitted in Stony Brook but probably they don’t have merit scholarships for international students, and they haven’t athletic scholarship in tennis the first year, so, impossible to pay for it, he’s waiting the answer of NJIT were he applied to the Honors College.
He applied for MIT and the Ivies because they have a variable consideration in the tests that can be considered for an international applicant as use TOEFL+2 Subject Tests in MIT instead of SAT+2Subject Tests, also Harvard considered more SAT Subject Tests than SAT for international students.
He knows it’s very very difficult to be admitted in anyone of them but at a minimum he has tried.
Thanks a lot for your tine
Swarthmore is need aware for international applicants, but guarantees to meet full need if admitted. Unfortunately, he likely won’t get admitted because his critical reading score is so low. If he could take the SAT and push for at least 650, that would go a long way. And he does need to learn how to write in English if he studies here. But the chances of him getting in are not really good. They are far below 25%. For most of the schools here, it’s really more like 2-3% for international students and with a lot SAT, I could only imagine how much lower it actually is. His extracurricular activities aren’t that great. A university looking to admit a physics major isn’t going to be dazzled by his modeling lol. If he has graduated already, that gives him time to work on his English and retake his exams.
Thanks CaliCash, He’s critical reading score is 660. The last chance to do the SAT was the january/2015. He’s actually working in commercials to earn money for the future expenses and as so he put it in the application, and he also wants to do a minor in drama if its possible. Actually he’s doing an internship in a top research laboratory in renewal energies here in Barcelona and he told it to the colleges in his application. Also, he has an excellent academic high school transcripst been the first of his promotion (150 students) with multiple national and regional awards. He write well in english but he didn’t studied the gramma for the writting SAT test, without studying he has a 560 score, but he has 109/120 in the only TOEFL exam for Internationals that he does.
I meant CR+ W. Sorry. The problem with his ECs are that they are geared towards someone who wants to major in something theater related. Based on his activities, it’s seems like that where his passion is. Why would he want to major in physics then?
And I’m not sure if you can really write well in English if you have to study the grammer to write properly. He applied to all of his schools already? He’s trying to study in fall 2015?
Yes he has applied yet. Well, he loves physics, but here in Spain our educational system is very different to yours, so, we haven’t extracurricular sciences related, no AP courses, no Honors courses… he’s brilliant in all what he does, he has 10/10 in all of his assignatures in senior year (Physics 2, Chemist 2, Math 2, Statistics 2, Philosophy, History, and Languages), and he has time to play tennis at a competition level 5 hours/day, and do the Research Work (effect of tobaco smoke on human cells) in his senior year with a 10/10 score. Also, he studied since the 10th grade in the Swiss school here in Barcelona were they did all in German (but anyone in house speaks German), and he had not any problem, He started to study English in the 9th grade and he was admitted in the American Language School in Barcelona in the top level when he was in the 11thgrade. I supose that in the admissions officers they knew about the different educational systems and for this reason he tried. So he loves physics but he also loves philosophy, economics, drama and tennis so he feels more tied to a national liberal arts education than here in Barcelona where the studies are only major focussed. He did the spanish Selectivity and was admitted in the Faculty of Physics in the University of Barcelona one of the more selectives in Spain with a 100% scholarship, but he loves your college focus and he decides to try to get in
He really writes well in English, but he didn’t practice this part of the SAT and you know that SAT characteristics are difficult if you don’t practice them before, but he has a 10/12 in the essay part. He writes better than me, evidently, I’m his mother.
Now his training tennis 5 hours day in the morning and doing an internship as I said before in the afternoon and waiting till mid-end Mç to know what happens, but he’s really nervous about.
@jandro - I’m going to take a contrary stand. If his qualities show through in his application, and he has excellent recommendations, I think he has a realistic chance at these schools, despite his SAT scores. As a non-native speaker, I suspect some schools might be willing to overlook the relative weakness of his CR+W scores if his essays are strong.
For the first four schools, I would say his chances of admission are in the low single digits. Brown would still be a reach and with the later two, being a bit more pragmatic. That said, his scores would still need to exhibit improvement.
well, impossible he has not more SAT exam opportunities, he applies for fall 2015. I make a mistake he applied as possibly to University of Rochester (not Rotterdam such a lapsus). And yes,the last two are absolutely pragmatic, so he has been yet accepted a SB.
Well, really thanks a lot for your answers, all of them, we only know about your college system since he starts the application process and sincerely, now we are totally impressed to learn even over a university system that provides such an integral formation of students by providing them the tools to be authentic leaders in their respective areas.
I’ll tell you the final decissions in 40 days more or less
Good luck to everybody who has applied for fall 2015 regular decision
I totally understand I think he will get into Stony Brook. He is very strong in math and they have a very strong physics program.