<p>ahhaah, i agree with ^aus-s1, yeah, im going uni here too…
i dont think many kids from selective apply, like someone up there said, middle class and asian. there’s a couple applying from baulko, but iunno any from ruse… mostly private school kids, i think…
but beeish, congrats on your finishing your first semester~!!</p>
<p>@Ruby and AUS-S1: Yep I’m planning to contact Stanford about the problem and worst comes to worst, I can always send in my report.=) AUS-S1, do you go to Melbourne Grammar as well?</p>
<p>I agree with what sora2712 about selective schools. From what I’ve heard, not many people from Melbourne High and Mac Rob (the 2 selective schools in Melbourne) apply to colleges/universities overseas. </p>
<p>@beeish: Med shouldn’t be too much of a problem since you are an U.S citizen, right?</p>
<p>I assume it’s because med school starts after 4 years of college and is contingent upon not only your gpa but other factors too (recommendations, etc). However, to be en route to becoming a doctor in Australia would only require you to make the UAI score after high school which i believe beeish has already made.</p>
<p>yeah… but even staying in the med course is a b!tch, from what i hear. usyd cuts the last-ranking student in the class every year or sth. crazy.</p>
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<p>I highly doubt that financial aid is the main reason. </p>
<p>The ivies and a few others are need blind for example, hence finances or lack thereof wouldn’t make a difference. </p>
<p>I really think that it has more to do with the top american unis looking for really well rounded kids with good extracurriculars + leadership (essentially things OTHER than and in ADDITION to good academics). Not really something schools like Ruse emphasises tbh. You have to also remember that alot of Aussies who do go overseas get recruited for various sports - rowing, american football (apparently they scout from the rugby), so private schools may have an advantage there as well.</p>
<p>@natalle: nope, I’m not from Melb Grammar</p>
<p>@theskylitup:
I’m afraid I disagree. Yes, harvard, yale, princeton and MIT are need blind to internationals, but they’re so hard to get into anyway. Internationals who can afford to go without financial aid have better access to stanford, cornell, columbia etc. </p>
<p>The whole concept of ‘well-roundedness’ is a bit flimsy in my opinion. Sure, it’s good to have a balanced education and lifestyle, but without all those “EC’s” like the Americans, Australian and British students do just fine. Besides, I think that when considering internationals, admissions officers are probably more interested in attracting diversity and talent. Their own country churns out enough “well-rounded” people anyway lol.</p>
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<p>I realise that for most schools (Columbia, Brown +whatever you chose to name) will prefer intls who can pay. </p>
<p>However, I wasn’t referring to that in my post, I was referring to the needblind schools. </p>
<p>Still, I still reckon that ECs and having things OTHER than academics is a huge factor in intl admissions for top US universities. Like you said, they’ve got enough good domestic applicants, therefore when they look at australian ones, why on earth should they lower their standards and merely take whoever has (only) good marks in high school? They’ll be looking at academics + ECs/essays etc. </p>
<p>No one would dispute that they want diversity and talent from internationals - I thought that was self evident? My post was in response to the claim that Ruse kids and kids from selective schools have little acceptances due to chiefly financial reasons. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Anyway, I’m not looking for an argument. You’re entitled to what you think, I simply think that when they look at aussies (or any intl for that matter) they want the best academically as well as students who are great leaders and interesting ppl. (Which again, is abit of a no brainer, that’s what they want out of the US kids too).</p></li>
<li><p>ETA: lol, re-reading the posts, really, i don’t think we differ that much in our views anyway. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>The essence of what I was trying to say in my prev post was that the environment at selective schools and the emphasis they put upon academics (as opposed to academics + Ecs) is possibly not conducive for the type of american admissions that do look at applicants holistically (ie. the elite unis). I would agree that most other unis (ie non HYPSM) just take mostly whoever can pay and has decent academics. (Much like Aus unis’ treatment of our intl students anyway).</p>
<p>Howdy there everyone! Back from my brief New Year’s hiatus…</p>
<p>A number of points:
- ^theskylitup is right. “diversity and talent” are not enough for admission, in general. My Yale letter says:
They are not looking for boring people who will contribute nothing but brains. Case in point - Yale’s already deferred one 2400 from quite a good all-boys school in Sydney this year, from what I hear. He had academic results, but pretty much nothing else. “Diversity” is somewhat implicit in being an international applicant, and “talent”, well, there is an over-supply of well-qualified people anyway…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Regarding financial considerations beyond HYPMD; Stanford, Columbia, Penn all read and go into committee for internationals without any indication of aid - they simply want the best they can get, and in the end it doesn’t matter if they have to offer a little more aid - their endowments are not that small, after all. The Director is the only one who looks at aid later on, and he would rarely change the decision unless the aid required overall is exorbitant. However, again they are looking for interesting people; an MGS guy, who didn’t apply for any aid to Stanford EA, had 99.95 and pretty much perfect stats as far as tests go, was rejected outright. The reason: he wasn’t particularly interesting, despite the ‘talent and diversity’ he might’ve brought (he migrated to Australia in Year 9).</p></li>
<li><p>ECs/essays/recs are pretty much the core component of the Australian applicant’s package. Academics are not - I know of at least 7 99.95 applicants, and I would assume that they have reasonable SAT scores (and IB comes out Jan 4 or 5…so there could be some 45s!). When you consider that HYP will likely take 2-3 non athletes, it doesn’t take the Dirichlet principle to know that some will be rejected/wait-listed (and indeed, HYP often takes students with less! being academically outstanding is never equated with being a genuinely interesting human being… which in the end is what they are looking for). As beeish noted above, there are many, many good schools in America. I would consider getting admitted to many an honor…</p></li>
<li><p>Ruse: yes, they have a couple of applicants this year. Academically they would not be deficient, though as I noted above, there are far too many Australian applicants who are qualified. I suspect out of the 60 or so applicants to HYP each year, maybe 10 are recruited athletes (most won’t get in either), 30 have very little chance simply because they are too weak stats-wise, and 20 are ‘strong’ academically.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>BTW, AUS-S1 and natalle; what schools do you go to? How many schools hear MGS stuff on the grapevine…MGGS, Lauriston, MLC, PLC, or what? (pm me if you want…)</p>
<p>Hi there,</p>
<p>I’m currently studying Bachelor of Commerce / Bachelor of Laws at UNSW. I’m thinking of applying to go on exchange in first semester next year.</p>
<p>My main concern is I won’t be 21 whilst I’m on exchange. I’m not much of a drinker or looking to party every weekend however I’m worried whether this will be detrimental in terms of making new friends who may want to hang out in pubs, etc.</p>
<p>Any recounts of personal experiences or insights will be highly appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>EphemeralEternal, I absolutely agree with you in terms of the importance of ECs/essays/recs. It seems to me from reading through decision stats from HYPS that the top schools have a sort of benchmark for SATs, ACT, even GPA to an extent. Once you’ve reached that benchmark, it’s up to your ECs, recs and essays to get you over the line. Not that my school has had someone go to HYP in years (except for the kid whose parents donated a building to Princeton conveniently when she and her bro would be applying), but it seems that even the kids who go to other top schools like duke or penn are hardly ever the ones who got the highest UAI/ATAR.</p>
<p>@jaytee: not that i have personal experience, but i wouldn’t think that not being 21 would be a huge problem. From what I’ve heard about the social scene at college in the states, it seems that there is plenty to do on campus without having to go to pubs. I can’t imagine that everyone in your class would be 21 or has a fake ID, so i can’t imagine it being a huge problem…</p>
<p>most poeple just don’t think about it
I went to a selective school in Sydney… not Ruse but a good one and I think as of this moment I am the only one who went to the US… and maybe even out of australia… we had quite a few go interstate but I think that was it. I think about 4 applied to the US which I know is about how many we have apply each year, one got in but didn’t get financial aid cause she wasn’t a US citizen and the other one although a US citizen didn’t get enough financial aid so they are both in uni in australia right now.
Also ALOT of people don’t know the system here… and don’t know schools outside of Harvard, Priceton, Yale, MIT etc. Honestly and personally I am glad I didn’t even bother applying to those because I really don’t think I would have enjoyed it… I did apply to two Ivies… although now I know that Brown is one of the hardest to get into because its the easiest once you are there… now like 9 months AFTER decisions came out I am sad I didn’t get into Brown haha. Couldn’t really have cared less at the time. Although honestly if I had been on the East Coast I probably would be back in Australia by now. </p>
<p>@Natalle Being a US citizen really has nothing with getting into med school, or well a decent med school unfortunetly 
It all depends on GPA and Recs and MCATs and volunteer positions and research and work experience and all that stuff, but I’m hoping I’ll be okay either way.
I’m sitting at a decent GPA this semester… and although Bio is slightly lower than I wish it was, its not THAT bad at least I hope considering I never took Bio in high school. I mean my sciences GPA is sitting at 3.65 for a first semester freshman moving to another country I am pretty damn proud of myself. Not to toot my horn or anything.
But i have to tell you getting an A on a paper you are expecting at best a B+ on is probably one of the best feelings in the world.
I won’t sugar coat it though. The next couple months until April 1 are all one waiting game, and then even when you get here its not going to be all roses and fun… you WILL get homesick… you WILL want to get back on a plane and go home but it WILL be amazing and you WILL get over it… I’ve talked to sophmores who said it might take all freshman year and it might, it will for me, still considering jumping back on that plane, but thats another story. But its definetly an experience. I might be having a slightly different experience though being at a non-ivy west coast slightly party school… but its not all party, my floormates HAVE been sighted playing risk all thursday night instead of partying at the frat houses, so hey you never know right?</p>
<p>@jaytee: Which college/s are you looking to go on exchange at? The answer to your questions would largely depend on the particular locale of your college; colleges in more remote areas tend to have more on-campus life, as opposed to big-city colleges which have many more options available (think Boston, Philly, LA, SF or NYC etc.)…</p>
<p>Also a clarification to my above post; I said there would maybe be 20 ‘strong’ applicants - I probably over-estimated, but still 10-15 would seem the likely number. And when I say ‘strong’ I mean top 0.5% of class/state, and comparably decent stats-wise when put up against the typically ‘strong’ American applicants.</p>
<p>@Jaytree Adding to what EphemeralEternal said it is very dependant on where you are… if you are in a college town, think like UC Davis you will most likely be on campus all the time, or just around campus, there isn’t as much to do say if you were in a larger city, however even on those campuses there is still things to do if you don’t drink. And believe it or not you can still party even if you don’t drink. One of the funnest nights ever was when I was the solo stone cold sober one out of a group of about 8. Drunk people can be freaking hilarious if they are the right kind of drunks. Then again there are always parties and there are always things to do if you don’t party. Colleges generally put on events, well at least mine does as to promote NOT drinking. Like I know UCLA has a happenings at UCLA which brings speakers and plays and musicians to campus and students can see them for free or very little, USC has Visions and Voices which is similar. I mean I saw Isabelle Allende speak which was AMAZING and we’ve had OkGo come preform all for free… and because they are university sponsered they are COMPLETLEY 100% dry.
ALso with the 21 issue, thats not going to stop people if they want to drink, sure there are people with Fakes but most people are not 21 until at least junior/senior year… so its not like Aussieland where the main passtime is hanging out in pubs… because they can’t.<br>
You make friends by getting involved… there are things for every single person. I don’t know about at smaller schools but definetly at larger schools, sorry for sounding like an iphone ad here but its the best way to describe it
like watching anime---- there’s a group for that
like exploring the city — there’s a group for that
like watching musicals ---- there’s a group for that
like preforming in musicals ----there’s a group for that
like eating pizza while rubbing your stomach and patting your head — there’s a group for that, okay maybe there isn’t but find two other people who also like eating pizza while rubbing their stomach and patting their head and there CAN be a group for that, at least at most major schools</p>
<p>What kind of ECs will look attractive from someone who is applying from Australia? </p>
<p>Obviously, most schools here don’t have the great variety of clubs and activities available in many American high school. I don’t know about other Australian schools but n my school for example, the “clubs available” are mainly seasonal sport clubs that last only around a term or two every year. There are no science clubs, math league, key club and so on; the small number of committees available could hardly occupy an hour of a committee member’s time per week. A lack of clubs also mean a lack of leadership opportunities: instead of having many “presidents” of different clubs, leadership posts in my school are limited to a handful of positions such as school captain, vice captain, house captain, debating captain, sports captain and chess captain. Aside from school captain and school vice captain and perhaps house captain, from what I know of, the other roles don’t really take up much time. </p>
<p>@Beeish: Good luck for getting into med school! I came to Australia from Hong Kong when I was about 10 without my parents so I guess I understand the feeling of homesickness. Like the sophomores at your school said, the feeling will pass. =)</p>
<p>Hey beeish,
I was wondering if you could offer some advice 'bout what to bring over there, and stuff to organize once there (like phone, banking, computer, equipment etc.)? </p>
<p>I guess being in California would be somewhat different to East Coast in terms of stuff required (not so cold!), but if you have some insights they’d be most appreciated!</p>
<p>HAHA - iPhone ad parody!! great stuff, really conveys the eclectic nature of US colleges!</p>
<p>Just wondering, how many colleges are everyone applying (or thinking of applying) to? My school has a limit of 4 for non-U.S citizen and a limit of 6 for U.S citizen, but even colleges seem like a difficult number to narrow down to.</p>
<p>@Aussie333: Thanks for the response!</p>
<p>@EphemeralEternal: My top four preferences are in NYC, Chicago, Boston and North Carolina. I’d imagine there’s many more things to do in NYC/Chicago/Boston but probably not so much in North Carolina?</p>
<p>And beeish, Isabelle Allende!! WOW
I’m glad that I can still party without being drunk. =)</p>
<p>@beeish: Thanks for the detailed reply. A friend has suggested for me to get a fake ID in case an event does turn up that I want to go to and require one. Not too sure how much trouble it is to get that done though. I think I’ll just continue with my application. Starting to seem a bit silly to wait another semester specifically so that I can be 21 :/.</p>
<p>@natalle: your school has a limit on the number of colleges you can apply to? that’s kind of intense! I’ve applied to five colleges myself, but am going to start uni here in case the US colleges don’t work out…</p>
<p>i’m in agreeance with natalle in terms of the ECs and how they often don’t correspond to the American schools. Beeish, could you offer any insight into what sort of ECs you think are attractive from international applicants?</p>