Am I on the right track? -Carnegie/Cornell

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Canadian Student / Sophomore</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon - Maybe early decision instead of Cornell
Cornell - Early Decision (if it doesnt hurt me)
Duke</p>

<h2>Northwestern</h2>

<h2>My high school placed 1 student in an ivy league ever. It has been running for 12 years. Really low competitive area. Does this help me?</h2>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.9
SAT: 2280
SAT II: Math IIC - 800 Physics - 780 Chemistry - 800</p>

<p>**AP (will take in 2008-2009 school year): Chemistry, Physics C, Calculus BC</p>

<p>It should be noted im currently doing 8 courses a semester with only 4 in day school. I’m taking 4 at night school / online.</p>

<h2>Harvard Extension: Statistics - sophomore year - 90%</h2>

<h2>Financial Condition: Father unemployed (other than short stints) for the last 8-10 years. Current income off of renting out house in Iraq providing income of about 30k a year. Mother never employed. 2 daughters both in university requiring tuition. I have a Jordan / Middle Eastern background.</h2>

<p>EC: </p>

<p>Elite / OYSL soccer - Second highest / Highest in my state (province).</p>

<p>Photography editor / sports writer for school paper.</p>

<p>Debate club moderator.</p>

<p>School soccer team</p>

<h2>I’m going to go for several science and math competitions next year and have already gotten teacher sponsors.</h2>

<p>Experience:
Unpaid internship at the Microcellular plastics manufacturing lab @ University of Toronto - 350+ hours - Only high school student in the history of the lab</p>

<p>I feel I should mention this: I have saved up my money since I was 10 in order to purchase the online course at Harvard Extension because my parents do not support my academic endeavours.</p>

<h2>Im currently in the process of getting funding for a business I have. Currently everything from registration to the business plan, model, cash flow is done I just need the money to start an outdoor advertising company. This looks promising, I have 2 interested investors I need to sway.</h2>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>Pascal Math Contest - 144/150 (1 question wrong) highest in school. Unaware of regional rankings, I was absent at the awards ceremony.</p>

<p>Honors Academic. - Obvious</p>

<p>I will try to win some more competitions and benefit from my research at the lab to enter in various science fairs.</p>

<h2>I’m getting a paper I wrote on philosophy / Karl Marx / Mohammad Al-Sadr reviewed by U of T faculty.</h2>

<p>Essays: I have some topics, if you can please tell me which is best.</p>

<p>During my surgery from a soccer injury I met an old man who was unafraid of dying while I was very very afraid of life/death :(. After this experience and how he told me of all the “nice” things he’s done in his life to benefit others he helped me return from the side of various bad things/substances that I will not mention.</p>

<p>Hobbes / Marx / Hegels influence on my life. (Im not a commie.)</p>

<p>My interests and ideas on science and philosophy.</p>

<h2>Growing up saving my money to pay for the tuition to take Harvard Extension courses and nightschool AP courses because my parents could/would not.</h2>

<p>**I am very open to suggestions and please if you do suggest them!</p>

<p>Please tell me if my chances are drastically hurt as a Jordanian Canadian student and should I apply early-decision or not? (to cornell or carnegie-mellon)</p>

<p>In order to make myself more “american” I took algebra II and Precalculus as an online american course so I can be more relateable. I also have APs.**
How much of a disadvantage do I have as a Canadian Jordanian?</p>

2

<p>Your SAT II scores are outstanding. Perfect for what you want to do. I would say try to expand on the extracurriculars, activities, and awards a little to increase depth. Overall, I think you are a strong candidate at all of these schools. Best of luck!</p>

3

<p>U should make CMU easy…even a very strong candidate for cornell…u may even aim a bit higher</p>

4

<p>Thanks! What about race, is it a negative feature for me? and which essay topic do you suggest for my hook?</p>

<p>Oh and I want to do engineering.</p>

5

<p>well u can always apply to Stanford, MIt and Caltech, though its just had for every1 coz they have low acceptance rates…
but u have a few safeties so thats good.
The essay abt the old man sounds really impressive, but just dont make it too unsuitable for college apps, if you know what i mean. You dont want to scare the admissions panel. So dont give a gory account of ur conversation, instead mention all the important detail and talk abt its impact on u.</p>

6

<p>Another opinion on the essay? Also what about high school not being known?</p>

7

<p>High School not being known in this circumstance almost works to your advantage in that you have truly shone coming out of an adverse background without having unlimited academic opportunities offered. Your application will be very unique, and should get you into some excellent schools. If I were you I would apply to HYP for the heck of it (and need blind admissions truly helps, as well as their commitments to meet your financial needs).</p>

8

<p>Also I took another Harvard Extension course but I only got a 84 (3.0). Should I include this or should I leave it out? (They have no way of finding out if I took it or not.</p>

<p>Also this was a full university course and I was the only one out of the 200 people that took it younger than 25</p>

9

<p>Visit Cornell and CMU. Whichever you like more apply ED. You should get in.</p>

10

<p>What about the Harvard extension course? Should I include it?</p>

11

<p>If money will be an issue you may want to check financial aid options with each school before you apply ED since you are an international student. Some schools do not give financial aid or limit the financial aid to international students.</p>