Hi, I am an international student applying globally.
I take the bilingual IB diploma at a private international school.
Economics Major
Stats:
IB Predicted: 42-43 (not sure yet)
SAT: 1560 (Maths 790 // English 770)
APs: Macro&Micro both 5, self-taught and taken during G10 free time
Toefl: 114
Awards:
John Locke Essay Competition Shortlisted (16%)
Duke of Edinburgh and NYAA Bronze (not competitive)
ECs:
Nation Wide Food Bank Volunteering Project that solves post-covid food insecurities (Leader of around 10 peers)
Founder of Food Donation Project in Thai neighborhood.
Job Shadowing at Shang Hai Stock Exchange
Internship at a 100+ worker finance portfolio management company (3 weeks)
2 years of investment experience both day trading and long-term accessments (made over $1000+ with $300 starting)
JV Basketball and badminton for 1 year
Tik Tok Photography Content Creator (Over 1.8 million views and 120k likes)
School top-tier choir
Working with school economics teaching department and planning G9-10 curriculum case-studies.
School yearbook/magazine photography team.
2nd place in Thailand Junior Golf tournament (Regional)
likes bird and langscape photography, guitar, basketball, golf.
Essays/LORs/Other
*Talking about how one trip made me realize the sacrifices of my mom, that I need to gain independence and strength as eventually it will be key. Good hook, uni advisor says its really good and reflective. *
UK: Cambridge. /. UCL. /. King’s /. University of Edinburgh. //. WarWick
Hong Kong: Hong Kong University
Should I even consider Stanford? Or is my chances too low to bother. What about the others? Any US schools that are matches for me? Feel like my ECs aren’t impactful enough, but they are focused on my intended major.
Of course you should apply to Stanford if you are interested. It is a “reach for everyone” type school, but why not you? There are many, many schools that could be matches for you in the US. Are you full pay or looking for financial aid? The list would be different depending on finances.
All your US schools are reaches. It’s not that you are not good enough but that there are just too many well qualified students applying. If you don’t really care about the US but just want to try your luck then there is nothing wrong with applying as you said.
What do you think my odds are compared to others, am I a competitive applicant and have a better chance of admission than the 4.7% they say on google? Thanks
Sorry, no one here can tell you if your chances are higher than the published acceptance rate. You have the stats to be admitted, but so do most applicants. Good luck to you.
If I were a betting person, I would bet against you getting into Stanford. It’s not that you aren’t a strong candidate, but so are 90% of the other applicants. It’s really hard to stand out in that company.
With that said, if you like the school and feel like it would be a good fit, apply. What’s the worst that could happen? You are rejected and in the same place as if you hadn’t applied but with the knowledge that you gave it a shot.
Your odds are better at Chicago, and the story is the same.
You have excellent credentials – and there are more applicants with excellent credentials than there are seats for them.
As far as match schools go, take a look at some state flagship public schools. UIUC, for example, loves full pay internationals and would be a match for you.
In terms of your interest in economics, you probably could get into a top-10 LAC (purely undergraduate-focused college) for this field, such as those named in this analysis: https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html. Some of these schools offer world-level economics programs. This related analysis will help you sort through potential university choices: Economics rankings: US Economics Departments | IDEAS/RePEc.
FYI my old college at Cambridge put out its stats for the class starting this autumn today, and the average for those who did IB was 42.8, so you are squarely in that range. Of course, interviews will matter for Cambridge.
Your odds in the UK are excellent, Cambridge excepted due to uncertainty wrt TMUA&intw (a 7 in Maths AA HL as well as a 7 in Economics would be a must-have).
Give Stanford a try since you like it best but keep in mind your odds are about half those published, probably about 2-3%.
The “fit” at UChicago is quite different (to use a very broad stroke, thorough core curriculum, emphasis on classical learning or the abstract or at least students who fathom themselves more intellectual than average, rather than innovative academic clusters and the applied, students who like the idea of disruption, VC, startups - read a Fiske guide if you can find one because there is of course overlap, like Stanford SLE is likely close to UChicago but where it is an exceptional program at Stanford it’s more typical at UChic). In addition, Economics seems to have a different orientation at either. What appeals to you at UChicago?
Penn seems to overlap with Stanford better.
If you’re a nationally-ranked golfer, would you be recruitable?