I would like to preface this post by saying that I have safeties lined up outside of the United States because of the unpredictable nature of college admissions as a low-income international. I feel this is an especially appropriate remark considering that my US list is composed almost entirely of highly selective universities.
Demographics
International Student
Private IB School
Low-income (with an approximately $10,000 estimated family contribution p.a.)
Intended Major(s): Economics/Finance
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
GPA: (It’s difficult to approximate this from the IB and my school does not calculate GPA, but my average is >6, and a 6 is a 90%/an A.
IB Courses with Forecasted Grades:
- Math AAHL: 7
- Economics HL: 7
- Physics HL: 7
- Chemistry HL: 6
- English A Lang and Lit SL: 7
- French B: 7
- Extended Essay in Economics: A
- TOK: A
ACT/SAT Scores:(1530 with a 750 EBRW and a 780 Math)
Awards
- Nothing especially significant or noteworthy. I won three national MUN best delegate awards, a national Best Debater award,
Extracurriculars
I’m going to be careful with these for fear of doxxing.
- Two internships. One of them was a summer internship at a major financial institution.
- Athletics-related charity project: raised around $10k USD, currently scaling this with the national athletics conference to keep it going after I leave.
- Published a Research Paper w/ >100 unique viewers.
- President of Finance and Economics Club with 150+ members from 20+ countries where we host monthly podcasts.
- Volunteer English tutor for over 20 students in an underfunded school.
- I have a paper trading portfolio that I’ve had since the fifth grade (although my approach has admittedly evolved since then :D) with a >400% total return.
- MUN School Leader–chaired the delegation and managed finances.
- Founded a newsletter w/ >5k subscribers and 200k+ impressions.
Essays/LORs/Other
LORs: Strong to Very Strong (I suspect I was in the “one of the best I’ve ever had” category for a couple of characteristics on the CommonApp).
Essays: I think I’m a decent writer. I focused on authenticity and incorporated myriad aspects of my culture, metaphorically or otherwise, into my supplemental essays.
Schools
- Penn Wharton ED (deferred)
- Macalester (outright rejected)
- Wash&Lee
- UofRoch
- Vandy
- Emory
- Columbia
- Harvard
- Dartmouth
- Amherst
- Williams
- Middlebury
- Notre Dame
- Grinnell
- Northwestern
- Babson
- Brown
- Stanford
- Tufts
- G-town
I apologize for the ambiguity with the aforementioned activities, but I do want to keep a low-profile and I know that several of my friends browse college confidential actively. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
you get an affordable acceptance.
). The Math AAHL course is most comparable to a mix between AP Calc AB/BC, AP Stats and Pre Calculus. I believe that the IB and AP programs are seen the same by AOs, but I could be mistaken.