perazziman

Junaid, What I am trying to suggest is that outside the need blinds, one should apply to colleges where one's stats match those in the top 25 percentile. There is not going to be a college which admits 40% and gives generous financial aid to everyone it admits.

It is fine if you want to apply to so many top LACs and Ivy type schools. However, you should have equal number of normal colleges. I think Gettysburg and Skidmore are good choices. You could add colleges such as, Knox, Denison, University of Puget Sound to the mix. Also, perhaps Lafayette.

TheDebater

Hello.
I had A*A*A*A*A*A*A*A*A*A* at my O'levels in subjects namely: Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Additional Maths, Computer studies, English, Urdu, Statistics, Pakistan Studies and Islamiyat.
I had A*A*A*A*AA my A'levels in subjects namely: Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths, Thinking Skills and Urdu Literature.
I have a 2100 on the SAT Reasoning test (800M, 700W, 600R) and a 2360 on the SAT subject tests (800MathII, 780Chemistry, 780Physics).

I have been actively involved in debating and cricket. Won several debates, led cricket teams, and played quarterfinals and semifinals of different cricket tournaments. I have also remained a part of the student govt for 6 years. Have remained the band leader too. I have been the President/Vice President of several clubs at school and am an active swimmer and waterpolo player.

Added to this, I have 400 hours of community service and 400 hours of paid employment behind me.

I am interested in studying a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering in the US.

Kindly suggest me some universities in the US where I can apply with these stats and where I'll get considerable financial aid.

Thanks!

perazziman

The Debater,

If you do not require substantial financial aid from the university then Berkeley, Stanford, UIUC, GIT, Purdue should be at the top of your list. Also, probably Stanford, Caltech, Princeton, MIT if you need aid.

You may also want to explore CMU, Cornell, Northwestern, Rice, Penn, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Brown, WUSTL, Lehigh, Olin, Cooper, Harvery Mudd, Swarthmore, Bucknell, Lafayette and Rose Hulman. Michigan, TX A&M and UT Austin are state unis that have good engineering programs too.

Just as I told Junaid, pick some of the top schools, but be realistic and pick some schools in the middle at which you are in the top 25 percentile if you need financial aid. You have stellar math and science scores. You have taken a rigorous STEM course load. So your chances of being accepted are decent. The swimming, polo and debate etc are good and will make you look interesting. However, I doubt these ECs are good enough to get the bar for admission lowered as a recruited athlete. In fact, if anything the bar is higher for you as an international, as an Asian (Pakistani/ Indian/ Chinese/ Korean/ Japanese) applicant. Other negatives in my opinion, your critical reading score is low. Writing and SAT are just okay. There are probably about a hundred thousand students with 2100s or equivalent on the SAT.

junaid123

perazziman,

The problem with picking schools within my SAT score range is that I have very good scores in math and writing and an absymal score in reading.

M: 760
W: 750
CR: 590

My Math and Writing scores are in the top 50th percentile of Ivy Leagues; however, my CR score isn't even near the 25th percentile of top 50 colleges. So, my best bet would be to increase my reading score rather than short-lisiting colleges on the basis of SAT score charts

PakiRootsian

Hello everyone.

My first post on a forum I've been shadow stalking since the summers, so I believe an introduction is in order.

There shouldn't be any ambiguities about my school, and I live in Islamabad. I had 8A*'s and 2A's in O Levels and 2290 on my SAT reasoning.( 800 Math, 760 Reading, a meagre 730 in writing. First try, haha) My AS grades are slightly more complicated because I gave composite Math( A Level math) and Physics and Chemistry, for a total of 2A's and an A*(Math). I'll finish A Levels with Further Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. I plan on giving 3 SAT subject tests in Chemistry, Physics and Math II in December.
There's about 23 universities on my list, spread across five countries, so I barely have time to breathe these days, but hey, that's senior year for you.
Hope to stay connected here with other people applying from Pakistan. Also would love to exchange essays with anyone who trusts a member with one post, haha.
To sum up: hello!

PrincetonGirl7

I think I'm the only gap year student here who was meant to be class of 2017 but is now going to be class of 2018.
Hi guys.

zonafahd

Hello i want to ask that is harvard and stanford gives good financial aid for international students

perazziman

Junaid, I agree you should try taking the SAT and improve the Reading score.

My son has the opposite problem, always good in CR, but weak in Math.

Beginning of 7th grade SAT 530 in CR (No prep)
Beginning of 10th grade Prelim SAT 67 (equiv to 670 on SAT) in CR. (No prep)
Beginning of 11th grade Prelim SAT 74 (equiv to 740 on SAT) in CR. (home prep)

However, he will be happy if he gets over 700 in math.

He just took the SAT today, so we will know where he stands in a few weeks. He is an avid reader and does not bother with word lists much. My advice would be to do the reasoning section of all the SAT books you can get your hands on.

perazziman

Welcome PakiRootsian. Good scores and grades. Good school too. Where are you applying in the USA?

perazziman

zonafahd,

Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, MIT and Amherst are need blind. Stanford is good too.

zonafahd

But perazziman i think they do not give 100% financial aid, my friend also wants to apply in harvard and stanford with me but she needs 100% financial aid

zonafahd

BluelovexD then i think i should not apply in stanford

bluelovexD

Stanford does not give any aid for internationals?

zonafahd

No one is answering of my problems!

cursingmonk

For those of you who've done further maths, how hard is it really? Is it a lot of extra work?

And can you get books for further maths if you go in the markets and ask, just as you can get them for other A levels subjects?