<p>Guys, i'm kinda frustrated right now cos of the ECs iv com across on this forum. Its not fair on Nigerians as we dont have the chance to partake in most of these activities. As a student, I have tried my best to excel in all the most difficult courses I offer in school. I'm in the top decile in my class. I have also gone for several competitions (olympiad stuff-both nationally and internationally). I am the secretary of the Science Olympiad club in my school. I took the SAT this October and had an 1880. But I'd be retakn during January probably hoping for >2200. Supposing this works out, guysss pls wat r my chances..
+i just took d subject tests by novemba 7. It was kinda cool as i'm expectin a >2200. Pls hit me on my chances.</p>
<p>If you are competing in national and international olympiads (presumably in math and the sciences), nobody is going to feel bad for your lack of extracurricular opportunities. Most of the people here would gladly trade half (or all) of their activities for a spot on any of the US Olympiad teams.</p>
<p>That being true, wat r my chances?</p>
<p>No matter what, your chances are always going to be slim. But they’re slim for everyone. It just depends what Yale are looking for. Do your best on the SAT, work hard on your application. And then keep your fingers crossed, that’s all you can do.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about ECs. If you look through the stats posted by people on decisions day you can see a lot of people with gigantic lists of ECs get rejected. Colleges don’t want to see that you can join every single club available, they want to see your PASSION for something. If you are only in one club but are passionate about it, then that’s better than being in fifteen clubs that you don’t really care about.</p>
<p>Similarly, colleges will appreciate that as an international student the opportunities available to you will be different than if you attended a regular American high school. They won’t be judging you in the same ways because they will know you have a different background.</p>
<p>They look at your application in context. That means if you took advantage of every opportunity, then you’re fine. And I agree with christiansoldier. Take half my ECs, I’ll take your international competitions. No tradebacks.</p>
<p>gues i’d leav it 2luck…is there anyway i get help on my essays. lyk websites,tips…am kinda “lost”</p>
<p>A lot of people on here are very open to reading and critiquing essays! When you’ve written a first draft, make a post asking for people who would be interested to read it and give you feedback and then you can PM/email your essay to people. But don’t post the essay right on here though.</p>
<p>thanks…i’d get back to you guys then</p>
<p>I wouldn’t trade any of my ECs with an International competition because then I won’t be 100% genuinely me and I just cannot bear steering away from the true self…but if we are talking strictly on chances of being admitted, then yes int’l olympiad helps A LOT and the “half” statement holds true.
I think you need to ask yourself whether you have taken fully available resources to become a great scholar / thinker / leader / creator…most importantly, a person. Even in the international pool Yale will take each case individually. For example, in China SAT 2200 is (almost) a bottom line for a Yale applicant this year (personal personal opinion) because Chinese are becoming good in SATs, but the same score may rock in some other countries…so what I am saying is that presenting the best of yourself is the right choice, and don’t really compare to any applicant whose situation is drastically different from yours because that wouldn’t be fair. Hope I help! ^_^</p>
<p>Sure…i understand. Thanks for the help</p>
<p>Sure. Glad to~Good luck with January SAT. I guess you are applying RD then?</p>
<p>djgemma, I completely get what you’re saying about the lack of ECs. I’m from Nigeria too and anytime I come on CC I end up depressed and convinced that there’s no way I’m ever going to get in anywhere. I think your experience in national and international competitions is great though, I wish I had something like that. I’m also homeschooled, so I haven’t been able to join any clubs or anything. Anyway, all the best.</p>
<p>djemma: As an international student, you’re in a very competitive pool. Even though you didn’t have a lot of clubs and competitions to participate in, colleges do appreciate innovation, activeness and leadership. For example, Nigeria’s a 3rd world country with a lot of impoverished people. Did you participate in community service? Are there NGOs or groups you could have worked with? Maybe you could start a charity or volunteering group for kids to participate in. Or maybe you could write articles in newspapers and magazines about pressing issues. There’s always a lot to do. As long as you’ve made the best of all the opportunities available and worked your hardest, you should have no problem. Best of luck!</p>