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Hi, could you all please comment on my chances? I am an international.

Legacy at Stanford

Test scores:
SAT: Maths 790, Verbal 570 (eckk) <-going to retake, hopefully up to 1450s
SAT II: Maths 2C 790, Physics 790, Writing 680
ACT: 31 (pulled down by the english mark)
TOEFL: 280
Multi-lingual

ECs
Academic:
-won quite a lot of academic awards and book awards.
-1st place in Chemistry Olympiad, and participated in several mathematics Olympiads (Grade 9-12)
-did a chemistry research and was invited to Intel Science competition (Grade 11)
-EPGY Calculus course (Grade 9)
-editor for careers magazine

Sports:
-Division 1 100m 200m sprinter
-locally ranked 2nd in my age group in cross-country

Music:
-playing violin (since 5), viola (since 14), piano (since 5)
-violinist and principal violist in school symphony orchestra
-won in local music competitions
-performed in town halls, city halls locally and in other countries
-Licentiate to Trinity College of London (=2nd year of undergrad music study) in violin and viola
-will be sending CDs to colleges' music departments/music school

Leadership:
-global young leaders conference
-president of community service club, president of zonta z club, president of music group (grade 12)
-school prefect (Grade 12)
-house captain (Grade 12), champion house
-leader of youth group (Grade 9-12)
-committee of maths team, maths tutor, (Grade 9-12)
-Class president (Grade 9-11) etc....

Work experience:
-work with a parliament member (just like the House of representatives in the states, correct me if I am wrong)

Community Services:
-500+ hours at elderly homes, physically handicapped, mentally handicapped, etc.
-organized many community services and projects for my schoolmates
-awarded the outstanding community service award

I have a lot more in my resume, but these are mainly the important ones. Also, I think I will write good essays, have good recommendations from teachers.

What are my chances (I am an international) for the following schools?

(you can rank them)

Stanford (EA)
MIT
Cornell
Brown
Northwestern
WUSTL
CMU
NYU
UCLA
UCBerkeley

Thank yoU!!

By Slipper2002 (Slipper2002) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 10:48 am: Edit

Good list! I think you have a shot at all these with SAT 1450, with your current SAT Stanford, MIT, Brown are unlikely, but the rest you have a good shot.

By Cren (Cren) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 12:15 pm: Edit

thank you slipper2002 for your comment

can more people comment on my stats and chances please?

By Alexandre (Alexandre) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 12:28 pm: Edit

Not necessarily Slipper. Cren is an international student. English is a foreign Language for her. As such, she will be given a "break". I agree that she is a reach at MIT and Stanford. Even then, MIT encourages female applicants. I would say that she has a chance. Brown is no more selctive than NU or Cornell. Same mean SAT score etc... Friends of mine from HS got into Duke, Dartmouth and Brown with ~1350 scores on their SAT (780-800 on their verbal and 550-580 on their verbal). So it is not unheard of.

Of course, if she can raise her verbal by 80 points, she would be in much better shape.

By Cren (Cren) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 09:22 am: Edit

how did your friends get into duke, dartmouth and brown with ~1350 scores! that's like amazing to me because i thought you need to get at least 1450s. They must have some really good ECs, haven't they?

By Alexandre (Alexandre) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 11:05 am: Edit

Not really. They had very good grades and a very strong science base. They all had As on their A level science subjects (Chemistry, Math and Physics) a full year before applying to university and they had close to 800 on their SAT Math. Their only weakness was their SAT verbal (under 600), which was obviously fogiven because English was not their native tongue.

By Cren (Cren) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 07:07 am: Edit

where are you from alexandre? yeah, i'd soon be doing my alevels

By Alexandre (Alexandre) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 07:12 am: Edit

I am from Lebanon but I went to Highh School in the United Arab Emriates.

By Cren (Cren) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 11:15 am: Edit

can more people please give me some comments too?

By Ohio_Mom (Ohio_Mom) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 12:31 pm: Edit

The lower 25% of the SAT range typically includes celebrities, athletes, legacies, URM's, and internationals with a lower verbal score - Cren's profile exactly. I have a question about CMU, though - which college(s) are you applying to? If Computer Science (extremely competitive), Cren might want ad another safety/match.

By Xtheonex (Xtheonex) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 08:09 pm: Edit

Cren, I don't think you should worry too much about your SAT score. Even though your SAT score can be seen as weak, for an applicant to these top schools, your ACT score is pretty high. Your ACT score is at least an avg. at all of the schools you are applying to. Good luck~

By Cren (Cren) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 02:19 am: Edit

probably to HSS at CMU, ohio mum, i don't think i would get into computer science.
btw, do you know how the econ program at CMU?

By Cren (Cren) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 02:19 am: Edit

probably to HSS at CMU, ohio mum, i don't think i would get into computer science.
btw, do you know how the econ program at CMU?

By Slipper2002 (Slipper2002) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 09:57 am: Edit

Alexandre also went to College 15 years ago when things were VERY different. Brown IS more selective than Cornell and NU. Just look at the Stats of the places. Agree that her ACT is better than the SAT, you might just want to send that rather than the SAT if you cant get the verbal over 600. As for the 570 verbal, you might want to try to get this over 1600. I still feel Brown, MIT, Stanford are reaches. Also, 570 verbal is more forgivable for non-native speakers, not people from England. I'm not saying that its not doable, just that an SAT of 1450 would make those three much more likely.

By Alexandre (Alexandre) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 11:01 am: Edit

Slipper the mean SAT score and percent of students graduating among the top 10% of their high school class is pretty much identical in all three schools:

Mid 50% SAT / Mean SAT:
Brown: 1290-1500 / 1395
Cornell: 1280-1470 / 1375
Northwstern: 1310-1480 / 1395

% Graduating in top 10% of HS class:
Brown: 87%
Cornell: 87%
Northwestern: 84%

The only difference is the % accepted. In that regard, Brown is indeed tougher. But the quality of the students at those three schools is identical. Cren's SAT score is good enough...provided she is, as I suspect, a non-native English speaker. If Cren is indeed British, then I agree with Slipper, a 1350 will probably not cut it.

One more point I would like to make. Things aren't so different today. The SAT is easier, which explains why mean SAT scores are higher today. The SAT has changed in two key ways:

1) Prior to 1995, the raw score was turned into a full score with a simple equation. After 1995, the raw verbal score equation was changed by adding 70 points to it in order to make the SAT Verball average equal to the average math score average. Furthermore, the SAT used to penalize students for guessing. Each mistake would cost a testtaker 1.25 points whereas blank would cost a student just 1 point. Overnight, the mean SAT score at universities accross the nation jumped by 80-100 points. But since then, mean SAT scores at most schools have increased by 20, maybe 30 points tops.

Acceptance rates have dropped by about 6 or 7 %age points. In other words, when I was applying,t he acceptance rate into Brown and Dartmouth was 22-25%. Now, it is 16-18%. The acceptance rates into H,P,S and Y was in the 18-20% range. They is now in the 11-13% range. The acceptance rates into MIT and Caltech were in the 20-25% range. They are now in the 13-17% range. The acceptance rate into Duke and Cornell have barely changed.

The only exceptions that I can think of are Columbia, Penn and Washington University. Those three schools have experienced a huge surge in demand in the late 90s and early 2000s.As a result, Columbia's acceptance rate has droped from 30% to 11%. Penn and Washington University dropped from 40% to 20%. But like I said, those are exceptions.

By Cren (Cren) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 11:47 am: Edit

THank you so much alexandre, ohiomum, slipper and xtheonex, you have provided quite a lot of information to me!

No I am not British, and English is not spoken at home neither.

Among the list of schools up there, which ones would you say would be matches? I heard that for many colleges, it's easier to get in through certain colleges/study program of the university, i.e. higher acceptance rate in certain programs/intended major. Is that true? Can you share your view on this?

By Ohio_Mom (Ohio_Mom) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 12:47 pm: Edit

Cren,
I just checked the CMU website, and think you have a good shot at HSS. You can apply to more than one college in the University. A friend that works there said CS cherry picks the apps, and the other colleges get their rejects. Still, with your math scores, you have earned your lottery ticket to apply - so why not if you like the school!

What are you interested in majoring in?

By Madelinemay11 (Madelinemay11) on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 09:47 pm: Edit

Dont' listen to slipper...s/he has no clue what you're talking about. You have a great shot at Brown! You'll be in the top 2% of their applicant pool, since it's mainly liberal-arts centric...so not many sciency/techy guys apply there, which weakens the pool compared to the other Ivies (same is true for dartmouth).

By Par72 (Par72) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 12:23 am: Edit

Might want to apply to Duke.

By Insomnia11 (Insomnia11) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 09:05 am: Edit

i am an international student from Nepal and i wanted to know about my chances of getting into Swarthmore(ED) and Amherst, Williams and Dartmouth for RD.

here are my stats:

Secondary School Report- Cambridge GCE A Level Examination Grades

Advanced Level Physics-A
Advanced Level Chemistry-A
Advanced Level Pure Mathematics-A
Advanced Subsidiary Level General Paper-A
Advanced Level Biology-B

Rank-10/84
*Note- Although I have scored the best possible grades in Cambridge GCE A Level examinations, i.e 4 A's, I have still been ranked 10th because my school considers only the Regular School Subjects while ranking the students. Therefore my A Level Pure Mathematics grade has not been considered in my rank as it was, unlike other subjects, a self taught subject.

SAT 1- 1450( 800 Maths, 650 Verbal)
my verbal is a bit low, may be around the 25th percentile...will that hamper me seriously??because i m an international student, i thought they would consider that low score.

SAT 2 subject tests
Physics-800
Math 2c-770
Writing-640( will the score hamper me??)
*Note- I will be appearing for writing and a few more SAT 2 subjects this November.

TOEFL-283/300

EC are just around average.
and i would also be needin financial assistance and may be will be able to pay around a thousand dollars a year.

so i would be happy to know about my chances of gettin into these colleges. and are there any other colleges that fit my stats?? i would be thankful if u could help.

By Cren (Cren) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 12:02 pm: Edit

Brown and Duke, I heard that they are very selective. I heard that many people with high scores (including maths scores) and great ECs, Essays still don't get in. That was why I did not regard them as the main choices, especially Duke.


Ohiomum, I am thinking of majoring in economics. Do you know if admission officers look for a good verbal score for economics studies?

By Madelinemay11 (Madelinemay11) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 12:32 pm: Edit

"Brown and Duke, I heard that they are very selective"

Huh?? You want to apply to Stanford and Cornell but not Brown/Duke because you've got an easier shot at Stanford/Cornell? If you can get into any Ivy, then there is a good chance of getting into all other ivies...you should apply to Brown!