Chance an International Math Major for Ivy ED + T20s RD [4.0 GPA, 1570 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • International student
  • State/Location of residency: East Asia
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): International school with pretty good matriculation into t20s
  • Other special factors: n/a

Cost Constraints / Budget

  • Applying finaid for need-blind schools only

Intended Major(s)
First choice: Mathematics
Second choice: Applied Math

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Class Rank: school doesn’t rank but in the top 10
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1570 (800M)

List your HS coursework
All 5s for ones I have taken
AP Lang, AP Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Phys, AP Phys 2, AP Phys C: Mech, AP Phys C: E&M, APES, AP Psych, AP Stat

Awards

  1. STEM research competition 3rd place (international)
  2. competition in math adjacent field finalist (top 1%, international)
  3. science bee (did well, details removed for privacy)
  4. aime
  5. math modeling competition (15%)

Extracurriculars

  1. Pure math research w Ivy prof: proved a (small) open conjecture. Still ongoing but paper will be done/submitted to reputable journal in math (hopefully by january).
  2. Math club president
  3. Math summer school at X university (program was only intended for undergrad/masters students, only high school participant, accepted w full funding)
  4. Independent math/phys research (award 1, presented at conference at X university, largest annual applied math conference in nation)/expository paper written for summer program
  5. Independent study of math (participated in reading groups for graduate level math and gave presentations, now a helper in teaching the reading groups), have a website where I review textbooks for other auto-didacts
  6. Fundraising club for X cause (raised 10k+)
  7. Selective STEM summer camp online (2% acceptance rate)
  8. Biochem/cancer research internship at top uni lab (my country)
  9. Business club vice-president
  10. Varsity track and field

Essays/LORs/Other

  • Essays: writing them rn, working on many drafts until i’m happy
  • LORS: Teacher recs will be pretty good. Getting a rec from prof from EC 1, who says he is happy to write me one (he says my math is good enough to get me to MIT or Princeton since hes never seen a high schooler be able to do research like this in pure math before, and that I’m a very ambitious and motivated).

Schools

Brown: the ivy the prof is at (ED)
Georgia Tech (EA)

UChicago, Caltech, Northwestern, Duke, UMich, JHU, UCs, CMU, Williams, Amherst, Dartmouth, UIUC, UW Seattle

I’m not very good at competition math because I started math kinda late and didn’t get on the comp grind which is why i’m apprehensive to apply to HYPSM (they seem to only take USAMO/IMO ppl from my country from what i’ve seen)

also we have a cap on the number of schools we can apply to so this is adapted to that so i can take calculated risks

Would love school recs+chance me for

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Does that mean you will not ask for financial aid from the non-need-blind schools (the majority on your list) and pay full price out of pocket?

There are also need-blind schools on your list that will not provide any financial aid (the publics - UCs, UIUC and UW).

I think you are a strong candidate, especially at Brown, but it’s a high reach as I’m sure you know. The rest of your list is very reachy as well, so hopefully you have back up options in your home country.

It’s not helpful to recommend other schools without knowing your budget. It’ll also help if you name other factors that might be important to you (weather, type of location, proximity to international airports, etc).

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Thanks for the reply!
I am indeed applying for finaid only for the schools that are need-blind. My parents have said that they would be happy to send me to a prestigious school for full-pay, but they would like me to apply for financial aid where possible (as long as it doesn’t affect my chances) since college is still a hefty sum to say the least. This is why my list is so reach heavy - I have secured safeties within my country and we believe it will only be an investment worth making over the safeties if the school I attend has great grad school placement, opportunities, and prestige.

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I worry that your ECs are all very one sided - hopefully there is more to you as an individual.

But you certainly have a wonderful profile so your odds are as good as the acceptance rates for international…likely low.

If you can afford full pay, it’s unlikely you will get money from any school - but if budget did matter, you’d be smarter to look at schools with merit aid. So if your family is willing and able to spend $400K - then no problem.

The schools you list - you can apply for aid - I’m guessing all are need blind (maybe one isn’t) - but if they want a lower #, then it’s not the right list - short of UIUC, UW, etc.

If you have UIUC and budget matters, then in addition to Georgia Tech you might add Purdue and for math - U Maryland.

Good luck to you.

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As for my other preferences:

  • Grad school placement + availability of graduate level classes
  • Proximity to the city (would prefer an urban area)
  • I don’t mind weather too much, but a more temperature climate would be better (I don’t like very hot summers or freezing cold winters)
  • Availability of research + REUs would be great
  • A smaller school would be good, one which doesn’t require cars to get around everywhere
  • I’m not too sure about greek life/party life, but I don’t want a very competitive culture which focuses too much on studying
  • I would prefer schools with less demanding gen-ed requirements since I would like to mostly take classes in my major
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Yeah, I can definitely see why you would say that, which is why I’m trying to emphasize my non-math aspects a lot on my essays. I’m operating around a general rule where I’m only talking about math for a maximum of 1-2 supps, and my commonapp will be based on something more personal (not something about a math competition or similar).

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My understanding is that Brown tends to be better known for its applied math rather than its pure math (but of course, the Brown faculty member can advise best on this).

It might be worth looking at course catalogs for the schools of interest to make sure they offer the courses you want.

Here is Brown’s course listing for this semester. I recommend that you also review other semesters from the drop-down box on the left, as offerings change each semester and sometimes each year.

Make sure to look at both the MATH offerings and the APMA (applied math) offerings, as well as perhaps some math-related disciplines: ECON, CSCI, DATA and perhaps ENGN.

Courses @ Brown

Good luck – I think you are a strong candidate, but as always, these are high reach schools for everyone.

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University of Chicago on your list does have rather voluminous general education requirements.

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Oooh - missed that comment.

Even when you go to schools with a leaner or more open requirement, you’re still going to be taking non-math classes…sorry - and at many of these schools.

It’s about becoming well rounded.

Maybe schools in another country would be better suited for your academic needs? Have you looked elsewhere?

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Part of the reason these universities want you to take courses in the humanities and social sciences and other areas, is because they don’t want one-dimensional graduates from their universities.

A number of US schools expect students to be diverse in their studies. The colleges also want to have employable graduates.
Corporate employers want people to step out of your comfort zones and have outside experiences.

They want their graduates to be comfortable in discussing: paintings at museums interspersed with discussions of Taoism. When someone says “je ne sais quoi/Que tal?”They expect you to have familiarity with some phrases outside of your language.

If you strictly want to stay within your discipline then I suggest you not apply to US schools.

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What about replacing U Chicago (which has extensive requirements) with NYU - the Courant institute is topnotch - URochester or Case Western Reserve?

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Stanford is obviously a high reach but I think that it might be worth applying.

The University of Wisconsin is very good for mathematics.

I am wondering whether you should also consider universities in Canada. Toronto for example is very good for mathematics, as are Waterloo and UBC. McGill is also but I think that they may have added a requirement to speak at least some French to graduate. I expect that your chances at the universities in Canada might be a bit better compared to highly ranked universities in the USA.

Your chances at Brown might depend upon what the prof there says in his reference, but it sounds hopeful to me.

I think that your ECs are very good. To me it looks like you did what was right for you, and did it very well. I think that this is the right thing.

Best wishes.

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Amherst, Brown and Dartmouth are the only schools on your list that have need-blind admissions policies for international applicants. Some of the other schools on your list meet full need for admitted students, but that’s a separate policy.

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