Chance (but also Match if you want to :) ) an int’l who's got no big names or numbers and is super nervous [International, Physics, 42IB + B TOK & Minimum B EE, 1570 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics
International student

  • State/Location of residency: Large city, Vietnam

  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Private

  • Other special factors: First to apply overseas but my parents did go to college here

Cost Constraints / Budget
<60k a year (ideally)

Intended Major(s)
Physics

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: Take IB system, Current IB score is 42 (or 43), B in TOK, at least B in EE (7 in physics, maths, geo, music, 6 in english, vietnamese)

  • Weighted HS GPA: No weighting system

  • Class Rank: No ranking

  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1570 SAT, 780 English + 790 Maths

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English: Lang and Lit SL

  • Math: Analysis and Approaches HL

  • Science: Biology, Chemistry and Physics (grade 9 - 10), Physics HL

  • History and social studies: InSoc (grade 9 - 10), Geography HL

  • Language other than English: Vietnamese (grade 9 - 10), Vietnamese Lang & Lit SL

  • Visual or performing arts: Film (grade 9), Drama (grade 9), Music (grade 10), Music SL (grade 11)

Awards
Silver in a category for a international maths competition qualifier
Top 20% in an initial round for a science education video competition
Top 13% in initial round for an online physics competition
3rd place team in a local maths competition
2nd individually in a local maths competition

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
Hosted the first science fair at high school since 2020, 50+ participants, still running now but I’m passed it down and became an advisor. This year we’ve probably got even more!
Ran a science club in grade 10, did experiments every week with younger students
Gardening - every week 1 - 2 hours from grade 10 - 11, we always donate our harvest to staff
Clean up roadside trash around neighbourhood, every week, 1 - 2 hours
Fishkeeping - clean the school’s fishtank, buy fish, decorate, replace water, every week 2 hours
Maintained school computers for music lessons, wrote a bunch of music reviews for my Instagram account, and had a music passion project about interviewing people on music important to them and sampled those songs
Finance head for an student-ran fundraising org at my school, we raised an alright number of money
Also StuCo treasurer, managed finances, and revamping some systems for loans and stuff. Also co-head of prom committee lol
Was a junior varsity player, but now I coach the U11 basketball team
Tutor for sister, improved her grades quite a bit
Wrote some stuff about intersection of AI & music for a friend’s AI discussion org

Essays/LORs/Other
Counselor thinks my LORs are goated
Everyone wants to think their essays are good, and I’m included in that… Wrote about my grandma and how her values impacted

Schools
Based on my judgement…

  • Likely: Some UK schools, UMN-Twin Cities (EA)?
  • Toss-up: Stony Brook (RD), UCI (RD)
  • Lower Probability: RPI (EA), UIUC (EA), UC Davis, UCSD
  • Low Probability: Brown, MIT, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Harvard, WashU-St. Louis, UW-Madison
2

How high are you willing to go? Because the UCs on your list will be quite a bit higher…Closer to $80K. Is that going to work for your family?

3

MIT, Harvard have only need aid. Will you qualify? And yes the UCs are - beyond problematic for budget.

Your record is great. I don’t know how to determine your GPA but I would look at U Arizona as a top physics school that’s safe. Florida Tech is a strong school with large international population and there are many publics that will beat your budget - but you didn’t include them. Purdue, Florida, Kansas, Alabama, and more. And LACs will get very aggressive with $$ - such as Kalamazoo, Hendrix, Allegheny. Who? Well, on the College Transitions PhD feeder per capita list, they are ahead of UCB, Amhest, Stanford, Dartmouth and more.

Your budget is going to be your issue for some of these - the UCs, UIUC, the Ivies (unless you have need), WUSTL, Wisconsin and more.

So that’s why you need to alter your list….in my opinion.

4

Oops sorry! I copied this from my old match post. I am financially fortunate enough to afford these schools.