Chances? Top Universities.

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>GPA:
Our school does not have any GPA system in place…we don’t have class ranking as well. During school exams however, I get straight A’s (highest grade is A not A+)</p>

<p>SAT Reasoning Test: 2050; 690 CR/720 M/640 W with a 10 on essay; first sitting
SAT Math I: 680 (dunno what happened there)
SAT Physics: 740 (dunno either)
IELTS: overall band of 8.0
Application Essays: Strong
Teacher References: Strong, I think</p>

<p>AP:
None offered at my school.
IGCSE:
7 IGCSE’s with A*'s in Physics, Biology and English and A’s in Math, Chemistry, Accounting and Information and Communication Technology (self-studied all in 9th grade; got accelerated to 11th grade)
A Levels:
4 A Levels with A’s in Math and Physics and B’s in Chemistry and Biology
1 AS Level with an A in AS English</p>

<p>*My school sends very few students to top unis eg., 2 got into University of Toronto.</p>

<p>EC:
Head Boy in Senior Year; Duties include organizing on-school and off-school events and activities, liase between students and teachers and organize the school prefects.
Prefect in Freshman and Junior; duties are the same as above except for the last one.
Guitar Club in Junior Year; didn’t have any band leader. Our instructor was an advocate for member equality.</p>

<p>Additional Info:
Nationality: Filipino
Ethnicity: Asian
Current Residence: Kuwait
Net Income: Low
Gap Year: Yes
Applying for Financial Aid: Yes</p>

<p>Applying to:
Yale
MIT
Cornell
Brown
Duke
Johns Hopkins
NYU
HKUST
Nanyang (thinking about it)
University of Toronto</p>

<ul>
<li>Biomedical Engineering 1st choice</li>
<li>Aeronautics and Aerospace Engineering (if available) 2nd Choice</li>
<li>Actuarial Science (if available) 3rd choice</li>
</ul>

<p>As for the gap year, here’s a little history. I got accepted to Imperial College London - Biomedical Engineering - this year but the economic recession in Europe forced the university to increase tuition fees for international students. Living expenses are high and no financial aid given. Scholarships are a joke; they don’t even cover half of the tuition fees for one year. So, I just started applying to the US last October.</p>

<p>There aren’t much EC’s because I’ve been changing schools a lot and my parents couldn’t afford the extra expenses for activities like piano classes, theater, etc. In addition, varsity and out-of-school clubs competitions were almost always held during exams. Members were required to participate regardless so, didn’t even bother with that. I’m planning to volunteer for UNESCO, Red Cross and Cancer Aware Nation and maybe take a graphics design job in advertising and (a long shot) intern at an architectural firm. I’m gonna study BASIC and C# as well.</p>

2

<p>The top US universities you listed are quite a long shot. I’m not knowledgeable on the other ones, but you could likely get into the University of Toronto.</p>

3

<p>Is it too early to bump?</p>

4

<p>U Toronto: Low match/Match
Nanyang: High match
NYU: High match (it’s horribly expensive)</p>

<p>Everyone else is a reach…</p>

5

<p>U of T is okay at least.
I forgot to elaborate. I applied to the NYU Abu Dhabi campus.
What are my chances for HKUST though? A friend of mine applied there and they gave him mid-ranged grade conditions.</p>

6

<p>The top 6 on the list are reach schools, but the rest look like good matches. It all depends on the application as a whole though; you probably have heard this a lot, but if you write great essays and elaborate on why you want to attend creatively and honestly, then your chances increase a lot…</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the info.</p>

<p>I’m planning to apply to other universities as well like U Penn, Rice, Texas A&M and George Washington and maybe one of the UC’s.</p>

8

<p>UPenn would also be a reach, GW a low match and sorry I can’t speak to the others…</p>

9

<p>HKUST: Match</p>