AteneoBlueEagles

Ethnicity: Asian(Filipino)
Location: Philippines
School: One of the best high schools in the country... accredited with the highest honor
(number four) by the school ranking organization thingy in our country----
Ateneo de Manila High School.
GPA: 3.6
Rank(as of now): roughly top 16% out of 600 students, it's very competitive.
AP's: My country does not offer AP's
SAT I: haven't taken, I'm gonna take it probably at junior year, expecting 720 or more on
Math, 670-700 for CR and 670-710 for Writing.
SAT II: same as the SAT I but I am expecting 700+ for Math and some other subject I am
good at (biology, chem, physics, etc)

EC's:
Been playing golf for 4 years now, member of the varsity of the school and of the team of my golf course. I have won a number of tournaments (local).

Futsal varsity for the freshman year....it can change to football team next year hopefully.

Been playing the guitar for 4 years now(acoustic, a little bit of electric)

Joining the Debate team.

Academics:
Been an honor student all my life, only disqualified at times cuz im noisy, like my older bro

Part of the semi-honors section in my batch----there are a total of 15 sections, composed of 12 regular sections, two semi-honors and one honors class; each class is composed of 40-44 students.

Regularly accepts subject excellences (a grade of A in a certain subject) in math and science and art....sometimes english; not very often for the others(filipino-local language, AP-social sciences and history combined, CLE-religion)



Colleges of choice (in the USA):

brown
columbia
stanford
berkeley
UCLA
UCSD
Yale--i know, it's absurd
Harvard--i know, it's outrageous
Princeton--......

Intended Major:Biology---Intended Career:Medicine;Doctor

I know being an international exponentially decreases my chances, but I have relatives in the USA who can adopt me and make me a citizen...Im considering studying there for junior year at a private high school, if it WILL HELP(pls tell me your opinions).

***important-----schools here in the philippines are different in schools there in the US in a way that after the 7th grade here, we go to high school already, which means we SKIP 8th grade there, in a way....so would i have a hard time catching up if i study high school there?***

well, what else can i do to increase my chances?

Agneisse

If your relatives are going to legally adopt you and get you a green card by the time you apply (not that I advocate this route) it will help since GC status means you're no longer in the international pool. I'm not sure how you have enough time for that though...

Most important - do you need financial aid? HYP are need-blind, but none of the others are, and I don't think the UCs give need-based aid to internationals.

You need to take the hardest courseload at your school and be among the top students in your school, so work on the grades and especially that class rank - get it (a lot) higher. I'm not sure how ECs work in the Philippines but more activities with significant involvement will help, and also if there are opportunities for say representing the school/region in various competitions take them. Bring up your SAT scores, shoot for the higher end (75 percentile +).

Also remember that you need recommendation letters from teachers - so start cultivating relationships with them, speak up intelligently in class etc. Some unis (I believe Stanford is one) also want recs from teachers in two different subject areas so make sure you have that breadth+depth for good letters.

AteneoBlueEagles

thanks....

more opinions/criticism anyone?

AteneoBlueEagles

bumpppppppp

b@r!um

Does your high school typically send students to the US? If so, which colleges do they attend? And how do you compare to those students?

Without taking the competitive nature of your school into account (I don't know your school so I cannot comment), I would say you are shooting too high. Your highest achievements are local only and your test scores, while competitive, are not high enough to make up for a lack of achievements elsewhere. To put things into perspective: Princeton assigns each applicant two numbers reflecting their academic and non-academic accomplishments: 4 stands for international recognition, 3 is national recognition, 2 is regional, 1 is local, 0 is none. Most Princeton students have a 3-2 rating. You would be a 1-1 or a 2-1 if your high school is extremely selective.

Coming back to the competitiveness of your high school: the very best high schools in the US send a third of their student body to Ivies and Ivy-caliber schools. Being in the top 15% at those schools would be a huge accomplishment. Being in the top 15% at most other US high schools would almost automatically disqualify you from attending the schools you are interested in. How does your school compare to American high schools? I don't know...

My uneducated guess would be the following:

Out of your reach: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley
Reach: Brown, Columbia, UCLA, UCSD
No matches, no safeties

happymomof1

"I know being an international exponentially decreases my chances, but I have relatives in the USA who can adopt me and make me a citizen."

Please consult with a lawyer expert in international adoption before you take this step. It is not a trivial act by any means. If indeed these relatives are planning to adopt you, it may be best to do it sooner rather than later and to complete HS in the US.

AteneoBlueEagles

"Out of your reach: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley
Reach: Brown, Columbia, UCLA, UCSD
No matches, no safeties"

^^brown is actually a reach?...wow, what if i need financial aid?

AteneoBlueEagles

"Please consult with a lawyer expert in international adoption before you take this step. It is not a trivial act by any means. If indeed these relatives are planning to adopt you, it may be best to do it sooner rather than later and to complete HS in the US."

^^how long does the process take?

Agneisse

If you need financial aid, your chances at all non-need blind schools go down even more.

Adoption of a HS-age person from the parents is by no means common or trivial, so this is something you need to talk about extensively with a lawyer. It's the USCIS we're dealing with so who knows how long it will take. Don't expect it to be fast or easy (as in all dealings with US immigration).

liljay527

you have a good chance at all of them if you bring your gpa up to atleast a 3.8

b@r!um

You do know what a "reach" is, don't you? It means that your chances of acceptance are very slim. In order to have a realistic chance, your high school needs to be selective enough so that being in the top 15% at your school would place you at the very top at a regular school, and that you will get positive letters of recommendation. (You say that you have been disqualified from honors classes because you are "noisy". If your teachers say that you frequently disrupt class in their letters of recommendation, no reputable college would consider you for admission.)

Please keep us updated on how things are going admission-wise. Good luck!

AteneoBlueEagles

thanks a lot.

i got a question though, how will the colleges i apply to know the toughness/selectiveness of my high school?

AteneoBlueEagles

@bAr!um

to more about my high school, check this out:

Ateneo de Manila University - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

b@r!um

There are two options:

- The school report that goes along with your application should specify the admission policy and selectiveness of your school. If your school receives 3000 applications for 600 spots, or if it only considers students who were in the top 20% of their elementary/middle school class for admission, that is something that should be pointed out.

- If your school is indeed among the most selective/prestigious schools in the country, and/or if it frequently sends students to the colleges you are applying to, it might already be known to the admissions staff in the US.

Valkarie

It's tough to say, as all admissions are, because there is so much that can be factored differently in each college admission process...
With that being said...

brown reach
columbia reach
stanford reach
berkeley reach
UCLA low reach
UCSD high match
HYP...