Hi I’m an incoming junior, international, studying at a east coast boarding school. gpa 3.8-4.0, i take the hardest courses i could take, and things im interested in, in sophomore yr i took courses juniors usually take so im challenging myself. sat aiming 1580. the thing is i want to make an impact, i want to contribute more. i want to know what else i could probably do and put myself in use? i want to go to stanford or upenn to study business.
what do you think i could do more to keep working and doing more. and also just general advice for juniors.
my ECs right now:
I led financial literacy and entrepreneurship education across 11 schools, managing audiences from 30-student classrooms to assemblies of over 100. Leveraging innovative resources and cross-sector collaboration, helping students build financial literacy, entrepreneurial mindsets, and real-world problem-solving skills. From the program, projects were developed into real-world products. Students developed real-world products, such as 100 booklets for elderlies .
im working on a race that raises awareness on human trafficking, its really well known around the world, but im currently working on bringing it into a new city. I got into it because I wanted to run. But then I decided to volunteer and then I was given an opportunity to bring it to my city in the US. I think it could connect boarding school communities and has the potential to reach a lot of participants and make huge impacts. They’ve rose a lot of money before, and hosting an entire event and starting it would take a lot of effort. We just secured our venue. I’m the Director and Business Developer.
Coaching tennis at Local Club. I coach over 40 students there in the winter. Like around 50 Hours each year. I am given groups of kids and I organize and design the program myself. I help lead youth clinics for players ages 5–11, supporting both instruction and program coordination. Designing drills, organizing class flow. Help manage class logistics, setup, and safety
Varsity tennis since freshman year, competing. captain, assisting with team organization, practice planning, and logistics including setup of training camps and team development activities. All Star in my League. I think my biggest personality at my school would be tennis and business as everyone knows me as the “tennis player” I definitely impacted a lot in our schools tennis community but there isn’t really stats to say it. It even caused our JV team to have to cut people because of how many kids want to get into it. I help them out a lot and Im trying to get a competitive team running in the fall. I just love tennis a lot and wanted to keep going and i had to design my own independent program to keep doing it in the fall as well. So I dont know if this is something worth expressing…
Volunteering. I’ve been volunteering since sophomore year towards 3 organization for the underprivileged. Impacting over 200 Kids. I volunteered probably over 80-100 hours.. For Tennis and music.
Advanced classical pianist: 13+ yrs. I used to compete at a crazy level, i dont any more. I do have a undergrad type ATCL diploma. I try to do community outreaches now…
i want to start a podcast on local business.it would be cool to start a podcast surrounding business from where im from its a really cool international city, and share business to a younger audience maybe?
Other stuff:
Founder + Director Finance Club (Largest at my school) - not much impact, maybe ill start some seminars for the community?)
Internship at a medical company from china, as a business development intern to help them expand internationally. Bridging gaps for medical firms to scale into western healthcare system.
Dorm leader
Photography - for fun
varsity volleyball - cuz require sports for all 3 season
To me the number 1 piece of advice would be to relax a bit and have some ice cream. There really is nothing that you can do to make it likely that you will be admitted to Stanford or U.Penn. Stanford for example has an acceptance rate less than 4%, and your chances as an international student are even lower compared to domestic students. I do not think that you should focus on how to get into a university on this level.
Instead, you should focus on doing what is right for you. Take the classes that are right for you. Participate in the ECs that are right for you. Be responsible. Be kind. Treat people well.
When you are in a leadership position, focus on making the activity better for everyone who participates (edit: and make sure to listen – listening should be near the top of desirable qualities for any leader).
Stay way ahead in your homework. Always pay attention in class.
Also, I would recommend that you read the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. While you did not mention MIT, the approach that it recommends is IMHO the right one to improve your chances at other highly ranked schools such as Stanford and U.Penn. Also, if you follow this blog’s advice and do what is right for you, this will improve your chances of getting accepted to schools that are a good fit for you.
Also, try not to do too much. This is not a contest to see who has the longest list of ECs and the longest list of AP classes. Instead do what is right for you, do it very well, and this should work out one way or another.
Yes, thank you. I have been following that since my freshman year, doing the things I love and also eating my ice cream/ having fun. I really would love constructive advice on how I could expand on things Im already doing. Would love any advice given. Thanks.
I am interpreting this as you have an unweighted GPA of 3.8 on a scale of A=4, B=3, C=2 (and hopefully there isn’t anything lower). This is actually a bit on the low side for Stanford. Pulling this up could help you. However, if you are currently at a high end private boarding school, admissions at the top universities will interpret your GPA in the context of the school where you are studying. Thus this may be a better GPA where you are studying than it would be at an average suburban high school.
And at an average suburban high school this would be a very good GPA for the vast majority of universities, including many very good universities.
Be cautious about this, particularly in math. Math is an area where what you are learning now will depend quite a bit on what you were learning last year and the year before. What you will be learning next year will depend upon what you are learning now. Well actually it is summer right now and you might not be in school, but this dependency will be true whenever you are in school.
At least in terms of research, this can be a path that requires patience. One researcher who I used to work with defined research as “you might fail”. I think that he was being generous. Research might be more like “first you will fail, then you will fail again, then if you are lucky you might eventually succeed”. Starting a business is not really research, but the same results may be likely.
To me you look to be doing well. I would be cautious about jumping ahead in classes, would try to pull up the GPA a bit, would make sure when the time comes to also apply to safeties and matches and look for schools that are a good fit for you, have some fun, and keep doing what you are doing.
The best advice I can offer you is - Do not to go to Stanford to study business because they do not have a major, minor, or degree. The Pathfinder program will give you a taste, but that is not a valid reason to attend IMO, assuming that is truly what you want.
Just do your personal best…then apply to Stanford and UPenn and see what happens. But remember, the very vast majority (like 90%) of applicants do not get accepted.
You should do the things that interest YOU and that YOU enjoy…not things you think might impress some adcom at these colleges When it comes time to apply.
You already have a HUGE list of ECs. The best impact (imho) is to show commitment to something and do it well. Adding to your laundry list if ECs isn’t going to impress folks. But doing something with commitment and perhaps leadership might.
And my harsh advice…you need to start looking for some affordable, likely admits for college, and do that searching starting now. These are THE most important colleges on your application list.
I also would advise you to go deeper in what you are already doing (EC #1/2/5), rather than add more ECs, but I do like the podcast idea.
Are you thinking of playing tennis in college? If so, what is your sense of what level of school/program you would be targeting? Recruiting kicks off this month for your age group. You should be contacting coaches via an email introduction now.
Do you have any budget constraints for college?
As an international student you will be at a disadvantage in college admissions, so I agree with those who say to make sure you have at least one likely admission school that is affordable. Are you applying to any ex-US colleges? I would rely on your HS counselor to help you build a good (balanced) list of schools.
Lastly, upon college graduation it will be quite difficult for you to stay in the US to work longer than the OPT time (and who knows if OPT will even exist when you graduate.) I would encourage you to be strategic about what you major in; you don’t need to major in ‘business’ to work in business. Currently, some STEM majors like math, to take one example, offer pathways into business, and have longer OPT times than finance because STEM majors qualify for a 24 month OPT extension. https://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/stemList2024.pdf
I agree with pivoting to depth not breadth, although what that means for you is very personal.
I also think you are at the stage where really investigating your undergrad options is a great idea, and that does take some time and energy to do well. Like if you want to do an undergrad business program, there is a lot more to that world than just Wharton. I’m personally a fan of the program writeups at Poets & Quants. As you dig into them, you can get a sense of how the experience can vary between programs, at least in terms of emphasis. Your goal is to find a list that all really appeal to you for specific reasons.
You haven’t mentioned affordability. I would suggest you discuss annual college budget with your parents. You have to be able to afford to pay to attend.
You will get better, more highly-personal guidance from the seasoned counselors at your boarding school who know you and your academic history, your direct competition, and their school’s history with colleges better than any of us on this board. If you’re an incoming junior, the college application and counseling process will start for you later this year. You will be assigned to a counselor who will shepherd their very small group of students toward crafting honed college lists and will be available every step of the way to help you to your best college outcome. This person will be available to you almost 24/7 for personal guidance layered with the institutional insight of your BS to answer all your questions and provide the best “advice” you could wish for. This is partly what your parents were paying for when they agreed to allow you to attend your school. There is nothing wrong with seeking outside opinion, but you have everything you need at your disposal already. You can reach out to your school’s CC office or your advisor or your favorite teacher with your questions and concerns even before this process formally begins. But, I’m sure you know this already.
The boarding school has this covered. It’s an integral part of the application process which includes a lengthy intake form from parents before the application season begins. Plus, they already have the parent financials if the student applied for FA during the BS application process. If they didn’t (no need), that is just as informative.
Try less hard. Be secure and confident in what you have already accomplished and that things will work out no matter where you end up. You can’t force a specific outcome. The more you try to force it, the more insecure you appear.
My advice would be to quit adding to your EC laundry list and focus on streamlining your written language skills.
Specifically, please review your punctuation and use of vocabulary.
This was a change from your previous sentence, within the same paragraph:
Be concise, accurate, and don’t “rush” your writing. I understand that international students must produce strong academic abilities in two languages/cultures, but please review and edit your writing.
Thank you! Ill definitely focus a lot more on my grades. At my boarding school, I’m taking the hardest courses I can, like no one in my grades are taking the classes I’m taking. I only have 1 B… But I’ll try harder next year
I’m going to do AP Stats and AP Calc next year. Is that on track?
Yes I am cutting something off for sure. I want to focus in depth on the things I have and love.
Stanford because I really enjoy building communities, creating access and connecting worlds. I also have been learning a lot from people from Stanford and want to be surrounded by that culture. I want to take risks, I want to explore, be inspiring and inspired. Obviously, everyone would be saying, you have to aim for more schools and look into more schools and there are other places with similar vibes. Yes, I definitely looked at a lot of schools, but I mean think about it in the same way as thinking about extracurriculars, to focus and dive deep on something. If I have one goal, I look at that. Obviously, I’d apply to other schools too. But I think this would be my best fit for my future. And I want to aim for this.
I was thinking about this a lot as well, I completely agree. Those are my main focus this summer. I’ve thought about the podcast more clearly, I’m actually looking for my first few guests. If anyone has any connections I would love to connect with you. The podcast is going to be a platform exploring ambition, identity, entrepreneurship and modern adulthood through conversations with founders, athletes, artists, cultural leaders across my city specifically andinternationally. to create conversations for younger people. I’ve listened to plenty of podcasts but its difficult to find entrepreneurship or business podcasts that provides perspectives and advice towards people my age…
Not sure, but I’m paying full pay for my boarding school, so I don’t think I need it? I talked to my parents about it several times. I do all the things and worked on everything myself and I let them know about what I want to do. Usually they are in full support.
I’ve actually explored that option and talked to coaches and worked with world class coaches that I hired and found on my own after researching and connecting. I know it will take a lot of commitment, way more than with the things I’m doing right now, and I won’t be able to reach D1 in time. I will continue pursuing it and competing and working on it. If it works out it works out, if it doesn’t I still love doing it and I still want to get better and better. Tennis really taught me more about myself and life than anything else. At boarding school it was also really difficult to even play it all year round because it is only offered one season, I looked for coaches myself and had to develop my own program which is where I found my coaching job as well. I am going to start something to compete in the fall next year too, because I want to and it just keeps me going.
I have been thinking about this, my parents also told me about this. I would love to hear more from your perspective. For me, I do think that having something else to bring me to the business world would help, but I do think business is a subject that genuinely interest me more than any other subjects. I do love physics though.
Yes.. I’m not sure because I’ve been talking to the CC since freshman year, sometimes it feels like I know and I’m more clear about my path than they are.
What do you want to know? Basically, if you are fortunate enough to find an employer to hire and sponsor you after graduation, you might be able to stay in the U.S. for a limited amount of time. Then you must leave.
This LITERALLY describes about 75 universities in the USA.
I really don’t understand your objective. You’ve got a narrow focus (Stanford) and an “all over the map” rationale.
Please spend some time on the official US Immigration site to understand how work visas operate here. And you asked us to be harsh so I’ll be harsh- the time you’re going to spend on a podcast could more profitably be spent researching another 15-20 colleges which are more realistic “admits” than Stanford. Apply to Stanford- sure. But you already know (or think you know) that you’d love it there. You need backups and then backups to your backups.
