Chance Me for T20: [Freshman, International, 1560 SAT, 4.0 UW GPA, Econ/Finance/IR] AUS Class of 2027

Chance Me / Match Me
1

I know people will say this is a bit early, but I want to get my priorities straight and know where I can reasonably aim to be based off current projections.

Demographics

  • International Student (Australia)- Chinese, has Australian Citizenship
  • State/Location of residency: Sydney
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): High-Ranked Private School
  • Other special factors: Recruitable athlete
  • Languages Spoken: Chinese (Native), English (2nd language, basically native), French (3rd language)

Cost Constraints / Budget
90k USD (financial aid optimal, but not necessary)

Intended Major(s)
Econ/Finance/International Relations (currently undecided between these)

(might switch in Uni, these are potentials for application)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: N/A
  • Class Rank: 1% (Class of ~270)
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1560 SAT (790+770) (probably will retake)

List your HS coursework
Current: IGCSE maths+additional maths, IGCSE Physics, IGCSE World Lit, IGCSE French, Global Studies, NESA(Australian Curriculum) History, NESA Science, NESA PDHPE, NESA Philosophy & Religious Studies, NESA Geography

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

  • English: IGCSE World Literature, will take IB HL l&l
  • Math: IGCSE Maths, IGCSE Additional Maths, will take IB HL Maths AA
  • Science: IGCSE Physics, will take IB HL Physics
  • History and social studies: will take IB HL Modern History, IB SL Econ
  • Language other than English: IGCSE French, will take IB SL French
  • Visual or performing arts:
  • Other academic courses:

College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)
N/A

Awards
(Speech & Debate) NSDA Stanford Annual Invitational- Team Co-Champion + Best Speaker Award
(Speech & Debate) Harvard Invitational (Australia+New Zealand Region) Team 3rd
(Speech & Debate) Rostrum Australia NSW Regional Finalist (3rd)
(Math) Australian Mathematics Competition- High Distinction (38th place)
(Science) Australian Junior Science Olympiad- High Distinction + Top 50 in country
(Science) Newcastle Uni Science & Engineering Challenge Regional Finalist (Part of school team)
(Computer Science) USACO Gold
(Computer Science) Australian Informatics Olympiad Gold
(Sport) National Team in Fencing- Podium finishes in youth events (No international representations)

^not going to include things previous to HS

Extracurriculars
Debate Team (Varsity Equivalent)
MUN Team
Chess Team (Varsity Equivalent)
Public Speaking
Philosophy Club
Fencing Team (Varsity Equivalent)
Athletics Team (JV Equivalent)
Local Volunteering at Homeless Shelter (1y, ongoing)
Initiator & Co-Founder of project to create white canes with automatic warning systems, which utilize sensor data, geolocation, and AI.
Chinese Translator for multiple online game studios (2y+)

Essays/LORs/Other
Likely LOR from Headmaster (probably strong)
Guaranteed LOR from Head of House (strong)
Essay: Likely good

Schools
T20 US+Oxbridge
Melbourne Uni+USYD backups, potentially also going back to China as backup

2

As a freshman, it IS too early.

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understandable, just wanted some tips for maybe improving my portfolio based on my intended majors, especially since some unis look at freshman grades

a bit lost right now, and getting lots of pressure from parents :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

4

If you are a high school freshman, your projected activities and achievements are unreasonable to estimate in this manner.

Keep in mind, and tell your parents, that acceptance rates for internationals at T20 US schools are about half what they are for domestic students. So, for example, the acceptance rate for MIT for international applicants is about 2% and other top US schools will have similar tiny acceptance rates for internationals.

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Agree this is way too early and your parents are putting needless pressure on you. They’re not the ones going to college, you are. You do you.

Your letters of recommendation have to come from classroom teachers that have seen how you respond and react in your classroom to: discussion, opinions, essays, and assignments.
In other words, the US colleges and universities want to see students who actually are “teachable” and not off on their own activities without adult guidance and input.

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$90K/year, or over the four years of an undergraduate education?

Look at the Common Data Sets for your colleges/universities of interest, especially Sections C7 and C9-C11; these will provide useful information on what admissions criteria are important to target schools, as well as objective information on recently matriculated students.

Over the next couple of years, keep up your grades as you are able. And, have a little fun along the way; high school is not just an on-ramp for getting into a university.

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You seem to be on track for all the individual achievement sort of things.

Do not forget that US holistic review colleges will likely also evaluate you as a person in some fashion, and this can be just as important at the most selective colleges as your individual achievements. To do well in this area you should be practicing kindness, caring, niceness, possibly leadership or being a role model (including in informal ways), and so on in all of your different classes, activities, and interactions.

Also make sure to take care of your health–mental, physical, social, and emotional. Get plenty of sleep, eat well, get regular exercise, spend time just having fun with friends, and so on. Many smart and ambitious kids have been derailed by failing to take all these things just as seriously as their “work”.

As a final thought, there are many more than 20 great colleges in the US. At this point, it is far too early to know which colleges in the US might be the best fits for you. So don’t worry about that now, but when the time comes to begin a serious college search, make sure not to have an artificially limited view of where you should consider applying.

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8

For activities…do what you love and love what you do!

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I’m going to disagree a little on the too early part because you state that you are a recruitable athlete. Your title says freshman but also Class of 2027, which would be a sophomore here in the U.S. Can you clarify when in 2027 you will be graduating?

As a recruitable athlete, the timeline is a little different. Recruits need to start building a list of schools much earlier than a normal applicant. Most recruited athletes start reaching out to programs of interest in their sophomore year. Start with a big list and it will get narrower as the process goes along. There is a lot of good information on the “athletic recruits” forum here.

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That is a good point. I suspect it is not realistic to only target T20s as a potential fencing recruit, but that is indeed a very different timeline.

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The time frame of an academic year is different in Australia- it is in the Southern Hemisphere. School starts in January, and my graduation in Year 12 would be in September, with IB final exams being in October of 2027.

The thing with athletic recruiting, I’m not quite interested in trying to push it as my main path for school entry, because I feel my academics are relatively sound. I felt that it was a really good bonus to somewhat excel at a sport I am passionate about, at least, I hope that’s what admissions boards think.

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Thank you! I will keep this in mind. Seems like I misunderstood how LORs work. I mistakenly assumed that the author being higher up in the chain of authority at school would be inherently more beneficial.

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That’s fine if you don’t want to pursue college athletics, but as an fyi, recruited athletes that have coach support with admissions have a much, much higher chance of admissions at most T20 schools.

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Yep, understood. My intent is that if I can get offers for collegiate athletics from T20 schools, (no matter D1 or D3) then I would likely accept it. But if I get offers from certain schools which may be significantly academically weaker than others (like Wagner College for example), I would be reluctant to accept.

15

Naturally, the school has to pass the “broken leg test”. I don’t know what your athletic level is, but would you prefer a 99% chance of admission(with full coach support) at an Ivy school or a sub 5% chance as a regular international applicant? Because that is what you could be looking at potentially. If you don’t pursue it, that door will be closed.

Just some food for though.

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Well, a 99% chance of admission would certainly be nice. Mainly worried about balancing sport and academics right now, in case it doesn’t quite work out. Because otherwise, I won’t quite have a backup plan.

My athletic level is good, but not exceptionally outstanding. I am quite high in national rankings, I have had podium finishes in national competitions, and was nominated into the national team this year. However, I do not have an international ranking, which I heard was a prerequisite for international selections of athletes. I am also unsure what my level domestically would mean when put up against American peers. That’s why I’m a bit uncertain to go this way.

17

Where did parents go to college?

18

mainland china, beihang uni, they were first gen

19

So they are pushing you to do something they themselves couldnt. I feel for you!

Theres many excellent colleges in the US!

20

I’m not an expert in athletic recruiting, but from what I understand you can start off seeing if any of the coaches at colleges you would be interested in attending are potentially interested in you. I believe it is actually a relatively small number of colleges that even have varsity fencing:

If you get the sense none are interested, then that could be the end of that track for you.

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