I come from Norway, where there aren’t so many applicants. Keeping this a bit vague to defend my identity.
SAT I: 1450
GPA: IB 41/45 predicted
Class rank: N/A as top school in the country
Extracurriculars:
Corporate social responsibility campaign planner for a well known international NGO. Head planner. Campaign broadcasted in the capital. Was able to get this position as I've worked with this NGO for many years.
International science competion winner. Created a new way to recycle previously unrecyclable packaging material. Won a free trip to California to attendo science summit.
National entreprenuial competition finals special recognition award. Top 3 out of about 200.
Biotechnology ambassador representing country in and international awareness spreading project + research presented in the biggest science center in the country
EYP regional and national session delegate, regional session chair and organiser
School representative in info talks/orienteering. Chosen by teachers and counselor.
Plan International immigration and youth equality volunteer campaigning work
Not sure of the details of how Norwegian colleges admit students, but in America the colleges all have their own goals, missions and admissions criteria. You’ve listed 9 colleges as targets, many of which are quite different in their philosophy and what they are looking for in an applicant. One commonality is that they’re all highly selective, meaning that (comparatively) low SAT scores may be an issue. But as for which ECs to emphasize and how to construct compelling essays… there is no single answer that fits all those colleges.
If you narrow your list a bit, people familiar with those individual colleges can help recommend strategies.
One note - not sure what “plan international immigration” means, but if it means you plan to immigrate to the US, that could be a sticking point in obtaining a visa.
Sorry, I obviously didn’t spend much time on my initial post. But thanks for the reply. For the last bullet point, what I meant is that I volunteered for a British NGO called Plan International (Norwegian department) to help immigrants settle and integrate into Norway. We campaigned for “affirmative action” for immigrants in the Norwegian job markets.
I can’t change the title anymore, but I’m mainly applying to Upenn and Uchicago. I don’t know what I want to study though, which is why I can’t seem to narrow down my list of ECs. I want to get an idea on which ones seem uselesa.
Just know your chances are slim, even with your extracurriculars. There are thousands of highly qualified international students applying to the schools you are applying. I wish you the best of luck!
My son just started at UChicago and LOVES it. I have never seen him so happy. Based on what I saw from my son’s experience and the stories from others who were admitted, UChicago is looking for unconventional thinkers who love learning simply for the sake of it. The types who read their unconventional essay prompts and are intrigued with all the ideas they provoke. The types who have done “projects” (research, advanced work) outside school just because they were curious. Academic explorers. So, to answer your question about eliminating activities to show focus - don’t do that for UChicago. They want to see you exploring multiple things. They want to hear about what you think, what you learned, how you grew, what you’re fired up about doing next. UChicago is rife with kids who are doing double majors because they’re so interested in multiple things they just can’t bear to choose.
Might be a little hard to describe to someone outside the US, but UChicago is not at all about prestige seeking, but about intellectual exploration with no holds barred. It is at the forefront of pushing back against the movement to censor speech no matter how challenging and expects students to be comfortable being challenged. This is a bit too simplistic, but where a college like Harvard is looking to court and admit the next President, UChicago is instead seeking to admit future Nobel prize winners.
If you’re the type of learner who enjoys being surrounded by other brilliant people who are equally eager to debate the intricacies of anything from classical literature to the latest advances in neuroscience you will enjoy UChicago. If you’re looking more for prestigious networking opportunities and would find a two hour discussion about The Iliad excruciating, UChicago is not a fit.
Your app needs to show you are a fit. They are zealous about finding fit.