International Applicant from India
SAT I (breakdown): 1460 (790M, 670 R&W)
SAT II: Physics-800, Chemistry-800, Maths 2- 790
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Physics 1-5, AP Physics C mechanics-5, AP Chemistry- 4, AP Calc AB-4 ( All self studied)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5%
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics 2, AP Physics C E&M, AP calc BC, AP Statistics, AP EVS
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Honors
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Council, School Cricket team, 2-3 Science Projects, MUNs, etc
Job/Work Experience: Part time intern at a Robotics startup.
Volunteer/Community service: Part of Bharat Scouts and Guides. Won Governor’s Award for commitment to community service.
Summer Activities: Worked with a friend to build a quadcopter which could effectively monitor waste and presented it to the City’s municipal Corporation along with a project report which summarized how drones could be effectively used to monitor landfill waste
Also worked with another friend to build a model of a thermocouple which could be used for generating electricity in an environment friendly manner. The model won us the third prize at a state level science fair.
Financial: not required
You have a good chance at NYU, Harvey Mudd, and GA Tech. UCLA is a toss-up, and your stats are a dime a dozen for Berkeley. You didn’t write any leadership positions in, so that could potentially hurt your chances. For international applicants, spots at these schools may be harder. The international applicant pool is generally more competitive. Your stats are very good, just try to fill in some leadership.
Im going to be brutally honest.
That SAT may hold you back. Given that you are an international applicant, the AOs simply expect more from you. Although it wont completely destroy your chances, it definitely hinders them. Based on your ECs and colleges that you are applying to, Im assuming you are applying to some sort of engineering major. With CS being in many of the engineering schools, you will be up against some pretty strong applicants both domestic and international. Without qualifications such as a math award or some sort of way to prove your competency in the STEM field, you will be at a disadvantage.
Chances:
NYU: match
UCLA: reach (lots of Cali kids will be in contention for the same spot)
Berkeley: super reach (i mean … its berkeley)
GA Tech: reach (international applicant, kinda hard even for out of state students)
Harvey Mudd: medium reach (same deal with berkeley, they expect the cream of the crop)
@GoBears2023 Do you recommend me changing my major to L&S at Berkeley? I have presently indicated Mechanical Engineering. But I am worried if I change it now the AO may see that as a negative sign.