<p>Gender: Male
Location: Dubai, UAE
Languages: Fluent in Arabic,English and French
Race: Other (Middle East)
SAT: 1840 (650 M,600 R,590 W)
TOEFL: 105
Finanicial Aid: Not required
Started IB Diploma in Grade 11, Final GPA for Grade 11: 3.0 (IB GPA)
GPA for Grade 12 first semester (the report i sent to unis): 3.17 (IB GPA)
30 IB points (not including the 3 extra points I could get)
Business HL 5
English A1 HL 5
French B HL 6
Math SL 5
ITGS SL 5
Physics SL 4</p>
<p>CAS hours completed (50 for joining a gym with a personal trainer and achieveing my goal of losing weight, 50 for taking guitar lessons and 50 for working at the Limbless Association in England for 2 summers)</p>
<p>Amazing recommendation letters from English,Business and Physics teachers</p>
<p>EC’s:
On the school rugby team
Teach elementary students after school once a week
Play Soccer at a sports club for the past 4 years
Tennis lessons during the summer</p>
<p>Work experience:
Worked at Limbless Association
Worked at an engineering company as Clerical Administrator</p>
<p>Want to major in civil engineering</p>
<p>Applying to:
Penn State
Brown
Cornell
Lafayette
Villanova
Bucknell
Drexel
NYU
Trinity College
George Washington
Carnegie Melon</p>
<p>Do I stand a chance for any of those universities?
Thanks in advance</p>
<p>Anyone around to rate my chances?</p>
<p>Please don’t take this as being rude, but your scores are not good. At all. I can guarantee you right now that with those scores and being an international student (one that will be considered white as a race, also), you’re not getting into the Ivies. I would also doubt Carnegie Mellon and NYU. Most applicants to even some of the lower schools on your list have GPAs around 3.3 or 3.4 and SATs that at least cross the 2000 threshold.</p>
<p>I also don’t think your intended major will be a help at all. Is there any specific reason you want to major in engineering with a 650 SAT Math score, and low Physics/Math scores (at Standard Level, even)?</p>
<p>Your lack of ECs – and the overall lack of “oomph” in the ones that you participate in – is also a hindrance.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but I simply don’t see you as being a viable candidate at most of those schools. I can’t really comment on Villanova or Drexel as I’m unfamiliar, but my post above stands for the rest.</p>
<p>^ agreed… u better look at over rank 50 schools. u need at least 35 to get into NYU</p>
<p>Thanks I appreciate the feedback.
In that case, could you guys recommended any universities within my range that have Engineering in the East coast?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I would ask again: are you sure you want to do engineering? With those stats it’s going to be tough. However, if you really do then I say congrats on sticking to your passion. I might also suggest you at least try to retake the SAT again with some help from a tutor.</p>
<p>As far as suggestions go, I’m not very up on engineering programs but I can tell you you’re going to have to look pretty far down the list. Maybe Stevens Institute of Technology? That’s in New Jersey.</p>
<p>armyrotcman, please do not spam a thread simply to attempt to get a user to chance you. It’s obvious the only school you know anything about from that list is Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>Just ignore him, MajorTom.</p>
<p>PennLover, I definitely want to do engineering, I’m not going to change majors now. Since when is a 5 considered “bad”? Some universities like penn state award transfer credit for classes with 5 and above, so I don’t see how it’s bad? Maybe bad for the unis I applied to but I don’t see how it’s low as you put it?
I have a friend who got into Penn Sate applying as Dual Citizenship(same as me) with a gpa of 3.0 and SAT of 1730, and a friend who got into NYU applying Dual Citizenship with a gpa of 3.3 and SAT of 1300 (I have 1250)
His 3.3 was a high school gpa, I have 3.17 taking one of the most challenging educations available, won’t they offer some leway there?
I understand the Ivies are dreams, but it’s always good to aim high. Do you really think I can’t get into universities like Penn, Lafayette, Drexel, Bucknell, Syracuse and similar despite being an international student, working in an engineering firm, being in the gpa and SAT range, and having great recomendation letters?</p>
<p>My poor scores comment were directed at the SAT and the Physics score. A 5 isn’t bad, but it is mediocre if you’re considering the Ivies. There are schools in the US that award credit for 3s on the AP exam. While not “bad”, that is not an ideal score.</p>
<p>You also neglected to mention that you have Dual Citizenship with the US and the UAE. This will help. However, I still stand with my previous assertation. You have to understand that you’ll be competing with some very smart students who couldn’t quite, or had no interest in, breaking through to top 20 schools. They’ll also have loaded up on honors and AP classes as well. Colleges look for students that excell in difficult academics.</p>
<p>And you are not necessarily in the GPA/SAT range of all of those schools. For instance, the average GPA of a Bucknell admit is 3.8 and the top 50% for SAT scores is around 690-710 for CR and 710-730 for Math. These statistics may be found on the college’s website. Also note, as said above, that US unis do place a very strong emphasis on ECs.</p>
<p>Great rec letters are always a plus. But I am unsure what the work at the engineering firm entailed, so cannot comment. Are you doing a paid (or unpaid) internship, shadowing, something along those lines?</p>
<p>I do not mean any offense; I am just trying to be realistic. I also can’t speak to what your friends accomplished – I can only go off the information you gave me concerning your accomplishments. Please realize, however, that none of us are admission gurus and that every chance is a calculated opinion. No one is saying that, Ivies aside, you are not getting into any of those schools. But I do not feel that you have a particularly great shot.</p>