<p>Location: Vancouver, BC
School Type: mediocre public</p>
<p>GPA: 93.1/100
Ranking: Top 5%, exact rank unknown
SAT: CR 730 M 800 W 800 Total 2330
SAT II: Math II 800, Physics 800, Chinese with Listening (projected 800)
ACT: N/A</p>
<p>AP/IB: Microeconomics 4
Macroeconomics 4
Psychology 4
Calculus AB 4
English Composition and Language 3 (=( )
Awards: AP Scholar with Distinction
Fermat Contest National Winner
AIME x 2
CMO x 1
numerous medals from table tennis tournaments and in-school awards
Leadership: President of Math Club, Captain of Varsity Table Tennis team, President of recreational table tennis club
Community Service: Youth camp counselor, 200 hrs
School teaching assistant, 150 hrs
Other Notable ECs: Basketball writer/ freelance translater (11,12)
Officer of Student Council (11,12)
Community Youth Committee (12)
JV basketball (9)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male</p>
<h2>Extenuating circumstances: likely Questbridge Finalist, very low income(around 15k), immigrated from China to Canada 3 years ago</h2>
<p>To ED/SCEA: Penn Wharton
To EA: U Chicago perhaps
To RD: Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia(Engineering), Northwestern(MMSS), Duke, Rice, WUSTL(Olin), Amherst, U Washington, U Waterloo, McGill
Intended Major: Finance (Wharton), mathematics, economics
To Apply for F/A: Y</p>
<p>Your SAT scores are definitely within range of any of the schools you’re applying to. (I assume you’re Chinese since you took the Chinese SATs (fyi: taking your native SAT II language test will not really factor into your decision))</p>
<p>It seems you main interest is not WashU, so interest will be a significant factor for you. If you find WashU a good fit and are actually willing to attend it instead of just applying because it is another top-tier school, make sure to express your interest to the admission committee. (applying for merit scholarships, etc.) Also, your AP scores are a bit on the low side for the top tier schools (no 5s). I find it particularly disturbing that you got a 4 on Calc AB as a National Fermat Contest winner and AIME participant; to me, that’s quite contradictory. (What you mean by national winner anyways? Like top of the school?)</p>
<p>Your EC’s are very good and your SAT scores are excellent, but the discrepancies between your SAT and your GPA/AP scores won’t settle well with admissions officers. That is, you say you come from a mediocre school yet your GPA is only a 93%. Also, you got an 800 on the SAT Writing and Math sections yet you only got a 3 on the AP Lang & Comp exam and a 4 on the AP Calc AB exam. Inconsistencies like those make it more difficult for adcoms to make a final decision. And although Wash U will claim otherwise, the fact that you’re applying for financial aid won’t help you.</p>
<p>^ Thank you guys so much for the insightful feedback</p>
<p>Yeah I know that there’s a significant inconsistency between my SAT and GPA/AP’s. And I have some (in my opinion) legitimate excuses for them. When I wrote 'mediocre school‘, I was speaking from a US admission officer’s point of view, as my school only has only sent 15-20 people to top 20 schools in the US during the past 10 years. In terms of Canadian universities though, my schools has quite a reputation since it sends 40+ to UBC and 20+ to U of Toronto every year. And even though it isn’t particularly renowned, the curriculum is very rigorous, the Val in my class only has an unweighted GPA of less than 96% as of now, which explains why I can be in Top 2%(recently found out) with merely a 93.1%.</p>
<p>As for the AP’s, I probably should have clarified that all of them were self-studied. My school only offers 4 AP courses and I couldn’t enroll in any one of them in my junior year due to prerequisites and graduation requirement stuff. I thought self-studying 5 AP’s in one semester wouldn’t be overly difficult but, as you have seen, I found myself wrong the hard way. Hopefully AP scores don’t matter much in admission as is perpetuated by CC.</p>
<p>@Can2010 By ‘National Winner’, I actually meant that I got the highest score in Canada. And in last year’s case, it was a perfect 150 out of 150 in Fermat =)</p>
<p>Wow very impressive. Those last 2 questions always get me =(
Though you gotta admit a 4 on Calc AB is very paradoxical, even if self studied.
Don’t even compare UBC and UT to the top 20 in US… it’s nowhere near their level. (I’m not dissing Canadian schools; it’s a fact.) My school sent around the same people to UBC and UT, with many others to McGill and Queens.</p>
<p>Yeah it’s weird how your school works with GPA. I guess thats why we sent more people :P. Hopefully the top tier schools in the US will realize this (though your AP scores don’t help in making that realization)</p>
<p>Yeah I have to admit Calc AB was perhaps the worse standardized test I’ve ever written. I actually crammed the last 3 chapters the night before the exam and didn’t sleep too well. Anyways, excuses are excuses. I think I’ll simply screen that score when I apply to US schools. (which, according to my research on collegeboard.com, is both legal and ethical)</p>
<p>By the way, did you get into WUSTL through ED or RD? Did you ask for aid when you applied? And if you wouldn’t mind, can you give me your general stats? Sorry if it sounds too much, but since we share such a geographical proximity, I want to gain as much information as possible in better grasping my chance here. =P</p>
<p>Normally, I would say that, but under his circumstances, it may make the admission officers scratch their heads, especially for those 2 AP tests.</p>