I am an IMO gold medalist, have a perfect SAT and SAT Math 2 and a 780 SAT Physics. But my GPA is 3.5. Will this kill me? I’m from India btw.
Hi! I am also applying to these universities! Can I get your email or Instagram id so that we can chat?
Yes, its @rishon
GPA is relative. How is your GPA relative to others at your high school? They will be looking for top 5-10%
IMO Gold will make more of an impression at Caltech and MIT vs the others. But it is still an incredible achievement. Best of luck
They’ll look at the transcript. It will matter what classes got less than an A grade.
MIT will look for more than stats and awards. Hope you’ve read their blogs.
I rank 3rd in my school which is extremely competitive, it is one of the best schools in chennai and is filled with NEET and JEE aspirants.
I have and I have showed incredible interest in mathematics and it is what I want to major in. I have 5s on all APs and even attended the YYGS programs.
Top 3 rank plus IMO Gold medal is a great package. I think you’ll do fine. How much financial aid will you need? Financial aid is difficult to estimate for internationals. I would suggest to run the net price calculator on each of the colleges websites. You might have to contact the FA office for an accurate number since you are international.
But if the price works out to be affordable, then apply to your favorite in the early round. The early round doesn’t help as much for MIT, Harvard and Princeton, but for Columbia and Caltech it will help. The regular decision rounds it becomes much more competitive. Have some backups in place, as admissions has become more and more competitive.
Are you converting your GPA, or does your school use the 4.0 format? if you are converting- don’t. And as @sgopal2 said, it’s relative: #2 in your class puts the GPA into perspective.
“The early round doesn’t help as much for MIT, Harvard and Princeton, but for Columbia and Caltech it will help.”
Note though that Columbia is ED so unless it’s first choice and affordable, I would not apply ED there.
OP, unless we know the financial situation as others have mentioned, it’s really to assess chances.
Yes, and I dont think CalTech offers aid to early action applicants. Is there absolutely no advantage in applying early action to MIT, Harvard or Princeton?
What about Yale, UChicago and UCBerkley?
Will UCs offer financial aid to me?
No, UCs do not offer aid to international students.
You are correct about financial aid for international applicants applying early to CalTech.
I can only afford a maximum of 120,000 USD
If you are the third strongest student in your high school, then you are probably not converting your GPA correctly. Universities in the US (and other schools) will know how to interpret your actual grades from your school.
Is the $120,000 the total for four years? Does this need to include travel costs?
I know a few people who did their undergrad studies in India, and then came to the US for a master’s degree. You might want to at least keep this in mind as a backup plan in case you do not get accepted or do not get sufficient financial aid at the top US schools.
Since no Indian student has won an IMO gold from 2013-2018 and the boy who won the gold in 2019 is currently in grade 10, I will assume that you are using the term ‘IMO Gold medalist’ for the SOF olympiads. SOF competitions do not really amount to anything so be careful when you write IMO gold medalist in your application.
Yes but my national rank was 1
The point is that, although SOF has an ‘SFO-IMO’, saying “IMO Gold Medalist” and leaving off the “SOF” implies that it is the International Math Olympiad (what most people think of as "IMO’), so it is misleading. You lose the good of coming first in the SFO-IMO if you appear to be giving yourself credit for something you didn’t do. Just be sure to write it (as they do at SFO) as ‘SFO-IMO’.
I take back what I wrote. If indeed as @amicus24 writes is correct, then your chances are a lot lower. The admissions people will not be so gullible as to mistake SOF-IMO for the better known International Math Olympiad (IMO). Especially at schools like MIT and Caltech.
Resist the urge to embellish your achievements. In the wake of the Varsity Blues scandals, admissions committees are on high alert. You would be much better off stating the true facts and letting the chips fall where they may.
Without IMO gold your application is a lot less desirable, so you might consider looking at other options.