Hi there! I am an international student coming from Sri Lanka applying for fall 2021 for CS. With my abnormal situation, I am worried that I may not be accepted into the college that I want to go to. As a student that hasn’t taken the SATs, no APs, and homeschooled. Although my grades are good, the fact that they are unusual is my biggest worry.
Currently I am applying to Canadian unis (since i’m a citizen) and MIT
Here are some of my stats:
- 4 A Levels, all 4 A* equivalent to a 4.0 UW GPA
- Homeschooled since 8th grade
- No AP/ACT/SAT
- GCSE’s of A*,A,A,A,B,B
- Great LOR from teachers, known them for a very long time
- Currently interning at a large public company as a software eng intern (Paid)
- Worked at a Greenhouse company started by my friend. In charge of IT and Marketing. Created our own grow bag products and hydroponic plantation systems. Worked with local businesses to produce our products.
- Built several android apps, with over 50,000+ installs (converted apps into a business generating steady income)
- Built wearAmask, a covid19 mask reminder app using geofencing
- Created several machine learning models and implementing them in apps
- Done several courses in ML/AL and web dev
- Built snapApaper, a OCR based past paper app for students
- Volunteered at Project Spero, headed tech once again, created website, graphics
- Worked for a Storm water treatment company as a video editor (Paid)
- Did freelance graphic designing
- Quran Hafidh, memorized religious scripture of Islam by 9 (by far the coolest achivement imo)
- Not much in sports ever since I left school
- Also I am currently on my gap year, my parents discouraged me from applying last year since I was 15, (turned 16 this may). I am worried that as a result of my age, colleges may presume that I am immature and declare me as unfit for university.
I am applying RA for MIT since I was doing my A levels during October and found it extremely difficult to focus on my tasks.
With covid, I am extremely worried. With an increase in deferral rates, I feel like my abnormal application may not stand a chance. And plus, I am applying really late, I have yet to submit my application as I still require one letter of rec from a langauge teacher. Along with that, I don’t have a school counseler to get a LOR from nor do I have any HS transcripts.
This whole application thing is new to me, plus applying this late.
All these uncertainties really add up and make me anxious. I have called MIT and asked them about it, yet I still don’t feel fully comfortable. I would love to hear you guys take on it. Thanks so much!