Hello! I’m a senior from the Philippines and I was wondering where I should be applying. Here are my stats:
SAT I: 2000 (planning to retake it for a second time)
GPA: 3.75/4
ECAs: Class President, Club Vice President, Cheer Captain, School Fair Production Director, Charity Fair Production Director, Prom Committee Production Director, Social Action Club and Freshman Mentor
Volunteer: Habitat for Humanity and I do monthly hospital visits.
I also speak fluent Chinese and Filipino.
I was wondering if someone could ballpark where I should apply and what colleges I should be looking into.
So far I’m looking at applying to:
University of Southern California
University of California: Los Angeles
University of California: Berkeley
New York University
Georgetown University - Applying EA
Thanks!
@janebee2016
NYU - low reach/high match
UC Berkeley - low reach
How much can you and your family afford since you are an International applicant? Do you need financial aid?
UCB/UCLA/USC: Reach/Low Reach due to low GPA and slightly below average SAT
@Gumbymom I’m actually a US Citizen living abroad and I’m not applying for financial aid at all. So does not applying for aid increase my chances?
With these stats, you need to target colleges where your odds are better
@Gumbymom UCB is certainly not a low reach with those grades and test scores.
@janebee2016 Being a US citizen living abroad decreases your chances-the penalty isn’t as much as for foreign nationals, but on the whole Americans living abroad are a more capable bunch than those back in the old country (as evidenced by SAT scores and National Merit cutoffs). You’ll face tougher competition than a kid from Montana, that’s for sure. The effect of applying for aid depends on the school-some can afford generous aid, others need to pinch pennies.
@Wje9164be Do you have any suggestions on colleges with a good International Relations department? I’m actually only allowed to look at schools in New York, California and DC.
@NotVerySmart Do the schools I mentioned above take that in to consideration or does it not really matter? Do you have any suggestions on other schools I should apply too?
Have you looked at George Washington University?
@janebee2016 I wish I could say I know, but I don’t. I’d suggest you ask your guidance counselor about specific schools, as very few people here on CC are qualified to answer that sort of question in the way someone who specializes in college admissions is.
Colleges with strong international relations departments in NY, CA, and DC. Adelphi, American U.,SUNY Binghamton, Bucknell (PA), Colgate, Franklin & Marshall (PA), Goucher (MD), Hofstra, Lafayette (PA), Lehigh (PA), Muhlenburg (PA), Pepperdine, U.Rochester, Vassar. Most of these colleges are possible with a 3.75 GPA / 2000 SAT
@NotVerySmart I was just wondering what goes into GPAs above 4? I recently asked my councelor and she said the scale in our school only goes up to 4. Is it the AP/IB curriculum cause my school doesn’t offer any AP/ IB classes.
@janebee2016 A weighted GPA (which can go above 4) is adjusted to reflect course difficulty-this is based on the premise that you shouldn’t penalize a student who takes grade 11 math in grade 9 and gets a B+, or reward a junior who takes basket-weaving and other such gut courses and gets an A-.
Due to weighted GPA inflation (some students end up with weightred GPAs in the 5+ range) and inconsistent weighting of many courses (at one school, honors course X could be worth up to 4.5, while another school might assign it only a weighting of 4.1), it’s almost impossible to use weighted GPA to compare similar students from different schools. It’s not possible, for instance, to say at a glance that a 4.6 weighted at one school is better than a 4.5 weighted at another-maybe school A gives basket-weaving a weighting of 5.5. For this reason, colleges don’t tend to place as much weight on it as they do on your unweighted GPA (which is capped at 4).
If your school’s scale only goes up to 4, that’s an unweighted GPA, which makes things a lot simpler.
If your school doesn’t have AP or IB courses, colleges won’t blame you for things your school doesn’t have, but it certainly won’t help.