<p>Redroses, a little more than 10 years ago I was just like the OP applying to several top US schools. I was accepted to all but MIT and Berkeley. I was accepted to 3 Ivies (Columbia, UPenn and Cornell), Duke, Rice, Northwestern, CMU, Bowdoin, Mudd, Hiram College and a few more. And, like the OP, I took my IB in Singapore. The SATs had only 2 parts then. My score was impressive. But then again, it was not enough to get into Berkeley. At that time, the admit rate for international students at Cal was 6.8%. It was almost identical to that of Harvard’s. It was only last year and this year when Berkeley has started to accept more International students. You may not have known this because you were not an international applicant. My comments were almost centered to Berkeley because I am more familiar with the school than most of the schools in the US including those that I have applied to before and gotten accepted. Since I’ve started giving advice to students who’d like to study in the US, only 7 students have gotten into Berkeley out of 51, 3 of them were accepted only last year.</p>
<p>Now, am I a ■■■■■? I don’t think so. I’m not the one who said: “Berkeley accepts 50% of international applicants and 25% of those in CA.”</p>