100%Tuna

Stanford! Wow! *faints* Good stuff, mann! "Enjoy" your NS for now! Haha!
PS: will be catching up with you about doubts/ suggestions ol... hope ya don't mind...!

100%Tuna

***bump$~~!

100%Tuna

double bump~!

Gryffon5147

Good chances. Even for an international...

Though you'll be competing with me for six of your choices next year, I do wish you the best of luck.

100%Tuna

Gryffon5147:> Best of luck to you too... hope I give you a good fight!

PS: Oh yeah... just a question to all: Do only the achievements of the last 2 years count or last 4 years...? Because I have like tonnes of things I did in 9th and 10th grade...

limitedvocab

You can include the stuff you did in the 9th and 10th (were you in Singapore already by then?) if they were really important, or if they tie up nicely with the stuff you've been doing the past two years. E.g. Math competitions, community service, cricket.. that kind of thing.

Otherwise don't let your achievements become a laundry list of sorts, that won't add any value to your application.

fiona_

Brown University - Match
California Institute of Technology - High Reach
Carnegie Mellon University - Accepted
Columbia University - Match
Cornell University - Accepted. Lol. Cornell loves SGPeans
Dartmouth College - Dunno
Harvard University - Reject
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Reject
Princeton University - Reject
Purdue University - Accept
Stanford University - High Reach
University of California - Berkeley - Reach
University of Chicago - Dunno
Vassar College - Dunno
Virginia Tech - Accept
Yale University - Reject

HYPMS is like, imbaness. Lol. I saw the profile of some RJC dude who got into Yale and I got depressed. Good luck to you.

100%Tuna

thanks a lot, limitedvocab and fiona... hahahaha... I agree, totally imba! Any suggestions on how to further boost my chances? patents? better SATs? research? more comm. service? sports? something... ANYTHING... which like gives me a chance at the HYPMS? And is it any better if I apply without financial aid? And what kind of SAT scores do the HYPMS consider ans being... well... acceptable? I know that's a question overload... but seriously am totally blur about how it's gonna go about... looking forward to a prompt reply!

OTHERS... c'mon, please please please post!

Sci-Fry

Your SATII scores are great. If you've got the time, then perhaps you can try and raise your SATI grade a little bit. As long as it doesn't interfere with your other academic work

I think you've got a good shot at some of these universities, and remember, anything is possible when it comes to the applications process

Good luck!

limitedvocab

Not applying for financial aid would boost your chances everywhere except harvard MIT princeton yale, maybe dartmouth but i'm not entirely sure if they really have gone need blind for internationals.

acceptable SAT scores? i guess 2300 and above should be pretty safe, but it's not like that score will get you in, or anything below that will keep you out.

work on your essays and teacher recs so that they blow everyone's socks off, lol.

i think one thing you could do is tailor your application such that it sort of "fits" with the school's vision/mission. e.g. princeton's informal motto is “Princeton in the Nation’s Service and in the Service of All Nations." notice anything?

-your list of schools frankly is quite all over the place, mainly focused only on prestige. i see a number of tech-y/engineering schools though, i assume you want to study engineering?

-do you have any h3 subjects?

fiona_

Dartmouth is needblind for internationals I think. I read it recently. Well, get admitted to Harvard? Become a President's Scholar :P It's hard to say what exactly you should do, in general, excel :P Now that you're JC2 though, I don't really see how to extend your achievements, as CCA will end soon and there can't be much results in such a short time.

You should retake the SATs, a higher score won't hurt you, and alot of people've got higher than that too.

100%Tuna

Thanks a lot, again... guys! Yeah... retaking my SAT this June; though am **** scared it might interfere with my June Common Tests!

limitedvocab:> I really like the tailoring your app idea! I guess it's gonna help A LOT! But I ask a few seniors and counsellors and they say that don't try to put on a facade as if you fit into the univ and just be yourself-kinda-thingy. Is it like possible to do both? yep... am planning on for engineering... and yeah... you guessed it... am pretty much going on the prestige quotient... would rather stick around here in NUS or NTU if don't make it too the top schools; i guess they ain't bad either, right? And yeah, I MADE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER BY NOT TAKING A H3 SUBJECT! NOT MANY PEOPLE APPLIED FOR THE ONE I WANTED; SO MY COLL TOTALLY SCRAPPED IT FOR THIS YEAR! BOO! THEREFORE, SADLY, I'M H3-LESS!

fiona_:> President's Scholar *faints in fantasy* haha! Am trying reallllllly hard to well, excel in everything and am DYING in the process.. haha! *stressed out* Well, as for the CCAs thingy; I was planning to work on a self-initiated research project (a mobile phone battery with a 2-week charging life) and get a patent for it; cuz if it really doesn't help, might as well do it and market it after A-Levels... Whatsay you guys?

Thanks a lot for all the honest comments and for all the guidance! Reallllllllly appreciate it!

limitedvocab

That's right, you shouldn't be putting on a "facade" so that you become a fit for the school. I guess what I meant was to take what you already have, and find a way to highlight those things in your application. For example, community service and your multicultural/international experience (multicultural community service? heh) for "in the nation's service and in the service of all nations." So it IS possible to tailor your application while "being yourself". You shouldn't have a problem with that if you participated in your ECs because you wanted to, not because you "had" to, and enjoyed yourself and sort of grew/matured as a person in the process.

However, you should also take note that plenty of other people will be doing this too. Also, you never know what adcoms are looking for, so really the onus is upon you to make your application be truly special, without making it seem all forced and fake and done only in the name of college admissions. All the advice that everyone here's given you so far may or may not work, so... agar-agar la, hor. Haha

Yes, NTU/NUS are good for engineering. And they're quite prestigious in Asia, so I don't suppose you'd go wrong with attending these schools instead of colleges in the US.

Hmm well not taking H3 subjects will kind of pull down your application I think. Since practically everyone from Singapore applying to the top unis will be taking some sort of advanced classes. Ask your counsellor if it matters, and if it does, ask him/her/hir if there is any way to explain what happened about the H3 situation in your school. (For the record, I didn't have H3 also haha, I got into a small, not-as-selective LAC, but still pretty selective I guess)

And yes, do continue with that battery patent thing. It's unique and interesting and has value.

You should ask around in this forum for other excellent engineering colleges that will satisfy your/your parents' "brand name" criterion. For example, maybe Georgia Tech, or UT Austin. 'Cause I feel quite iffy with Harvard, Brown, Vassar and Yale in your list (but for all I know these schools may also be engineering powerhouses, so someone correct me if I'm wrong)

100%Tuna

****bump****

100%Tuna

*frantic bumping this side*