Hi @Kavya !! Unfortunately, I do not knwo anything specific to South African student. I am not enitrely sure about the process international applicants go though in general. I think there must be many international applicants on College Confidential that will be able to help you out, but unfortunately, I cannot be of too much help
Hi SpinCaster15
Thank you very much for your opinion about Stony Brook and UCLA. My son was at Simons Research Program last year. I was wondering your thoughts about UC Berkeley math program. I heard they have a better reputation than UCLA overall but not sure about math program. I actually went to UW for my Rehabilitation Medicine Residency and is a wonderful place. Topnotch. I believe UW Medicine is one of the best in the country. Very hard to find an excellent medical program in a very nice neighborhood. Besides UW is the Level 1 trauma center for the WAMI states. Thank you and Good luck to you at Penn.
Hi @Benkoy !! Wow, I have probably met your son then. Simons and Garcia boys stayed in the same dorms last summer, so I have probably seen him around.
I do think that for pure math, Berkeley has a very, very slightly better reputation for pure math (based on rankings, etc) but I think that the difference is minimal and the environment and culture at UCLA is better in my opinion. I dont think there will be any significant differences in outcome with Berkeley math and LA math, and I think LA will be more enjoyable and conducve to learning (but this is
And yes, UW is really fantastic. We are really one of the foremost tech and medicine hubs in the world, and it has been fantastic to live here. Good luck to your son, and do let me know what he decides!
Hi spinCaster15,
My son, Kyle worked with Alex Kwon at Simons under Biomedical Engineering. Kyle is committed to UCLA. He was definitely struggling between Berkeley and UCLA. I agree with you that LA weather and the University is beautiful and easier access from dorm to the university. My wife and I met at Harborview Medical Center. Seattle is really a wonderful place to live. I miss it a lot.
Thanks @spinCaster15. It looks like my daughter decided on Penn today:) We live right outside the city: I notice you are coming from Seattle. Will have to find a way to buy you a cup of coffee at Pret when you get to campus (hopefully this fall, fingers crossed). Good dorm choices! Enjoy your time!
Hi! First of all, congratulations! All of these schools are top notch, and UPenn is lucky to have you for the next four years. I have two questions: How did you answer the third Brown supplement, on a place you call home? And secondly, what do you think makes UPenn distinct from all other schools?
@vorpal I am very glad to hear that you guys chose Penn 
I do think we will all have a great time at Penn!! I will never say no to coffee 
May be coming to Philly, but will forever be a Seattle-ite at heart!
Hi @holdensylducks !! Great to meet you, and thank you very much!!
I actually believe that the Brown essay youâre referencing is what got me in. I read a lot about how the one thing that Brown really, really cares about is intellectual curiosity (willingness to learn for the sake of learning (remember this lol)). Just the fact that they have the Open Curriculum so that you can explore academically really corroborates that.
With this in mind, I wrote the essay about the passenger seat of our family car. I wrote about how when I was a kid, my dad would always ask me these interesting questions that I would never know the answer to while I was sitting in the passanger seat, and how now, when I drive that car, I ask questions to my friends sitting in the passenger seat. My takeaway from this little anecdote was that the passenger seat of our car is where I learned that it is valuable to admit that you do not know something, because that is what allows you to learn; my conclusion was that âhomeâ for me was any place that I could admit that sometimes, I do not know. I may have explained this in a very confusing way 
so PM me if you want to see the essay. I do think it was very Brown-esque and got me in the door
As to your second question. I really picked Penn because of the location, the nanotech focus, the great social scene (which many top schools lack, Iâve heard) and because of the pre-professional vibe. Many people consider the pre-professional vibe a con of Penn, but I consider it the best opportunity for personal growth that I have. I know that it will push me to work my hardest and seek out opportunities, and I think thatâs needed in the real world. A place like Brown is of course fantastic, but I think I would not have learned how to be a go-getter, and Penn really, really tecahes you that.
How many SATâs did you give and what was the result of your first SAT?
Hi @Az3EmX !! I took the SAT once, and then the ACT once about a week later because I did not know my SAT score yet
Being a trained albeit non-practicing mathematician, my ranking would be UC Berkeley, UCLA and NYU roughly in that order. However they are all notch math departments in overall great schools - your choices may depend on weather, city or just gut feel. For someone who wants exposure to top level mathematicians and apply to graduate school - all of them are good choices. Maybe UCs have a little edge over NYU but hard to differentiate.
@chezmoi2022 thank you for your input, I do not have enough experience with schools for pure math!!
Hey. I am a sophomore, rising junior attending a Georgia high school. I attended a New York high school as a freshmen but moved to Georgia and started as a Sophomore. I want to go to UGA or Georgia Tech. In my freshman year, I kinda bombed it getting a 3.2 GPA and doing no extracurricular activities. But in my sophomore year I did better ending with a 3.8 GPA and joining the varsity swim team. I did not take any AP since I did not know the work load of my new school and took on level classes. I did not join any more extracurricular since I just moved from a different state and didnât really know anyone at the beginning of the year. In my Junior year, I plan to take APUSH, APES, AP Psychology, Adv Pre-Calc, Sports Marketing, English 11 and Human Anatomy. I plan to join the varsity swim team and do other extracurricular like to join clubs like DECA an to tutor at my school. I also plan to do things outside of school like to volunteer at hospitals and get experience since i want to go in the medical field. But because of this pandemic, I am not sure if there will be extracurricular at school. I plan to do different extracurricular at home like to learn an instrument or learn a language. In my senior year I plan to do AP Bio, AP Calculus, an AP history class and other aps and electives.( i have not decided my classes yet for senior year : ) ) Do you think the classes I will be taking and extracurricular will be good enough for UGA? Do I need to take more challenging classes and to do more extracurricular? Thanks for your time and response!!
@Pmajko Hi!! I have to say that I am not entirely familiar with UGA in particular; I did not apply, and I do not know anybody from here in the northwest that did. I do not, therefore, have a good idea of the schoolâs selectivity or what type of people get in.
I will give you my best uneducated guess, though. Given your GPA trajectory, Iâm assuming you can end up with a GPA that is closer to your 3.8 from this year than your 3.2 from freshman year. Varsity swimming is great; donât give that up. I regret giving up basketball (not that I was super good at it, but it would have added to my general quality of life). Volunteering at the hospital is also a great thing to do. It sounds like you are challenging yourself with AP classes as well.
With all that in mind, I think you have a great shot, especially if you end up with ~1450 on the ACT. Looking at UGA admission statistics, it seems like the 75th percentile SAT score is 1410, so if you end up with around a 1450, youâve made yourself a candidate that they will love to have, even before they look at your ECs and essays. Dig in and make sure to keep up your grades the next year plus, prep for the sAT/ACT in earnest, continue with swimming and volunteering in a hospital, take up one or two things during quarantine like you mentioned, and I think you have a wonderful, wonderful shot.
At the same time, though, these are your last years as a kid at home, and that doesnât necessarily hit many kids until they are staring college in the face like I am now. You have a while to go before applying, and throughout the next year, remember to relax and have fun often, too. Make some memories that youâll remember. I certainly did in high school, and I have absolutely no regrets.
Hi! I am a Morrocan high school student at a french high school. Im a junior and I really want to get into a Top school like Upenn NYU and stanford. My stats are kinda good but definitely not excellent and I was not able to take the SAT yet because of the corona virus outbreak. Things that may stand out in my application is the fact that I speak multiple languages: I am fluent in arabic/ darija (Morrocan dialect)/ French/ English and I can write speak and read in German and Spanish but Iâm definitely not fluent in those. I also danced for 8 years and did piano for 4years but I didnât compete. I am hesitating between medicine and a business major. I really want to stand out so I can get into my dream school which is Upenn. What should I do to have a chance to get In ?
Hi Mukil! Iâm a junior also from Redmond (not an RHS student unfortunately) and weâve met several times. Congratulations on committing to UPenn!
I know youâve participated in contests such as USNCO and AIME, and I was wondering how much emphasis you put on them in your applications. Also, in your experience, how much do stats matter in top-tier college admissions beyond a certain threshold (ie, how big is the difference in a 1550 or a 1600 on the SAT, or just olympiad qualification versus performing very well on an olympiad)? Thanks for the AMA!
Hi @happylearner27 !! This is a tough question to answer. Itâs good that you are thinking about this now. Unfortunately, there is so magic answer to âHow can I get into [School X]?â The one thing I would say is that it should really be clear why you are applying to the major you have indicated based on your application. It is really, really cool that you can speak so many languages, but why would they look for that in a business or medicine/bio-based major?
Iâm not saying that it wonât help, but you should genuinely think about that. Your application should tell a story - thatâs why people generally donât recommend being âwell-roundedâ. I applied for materials engineering, and a good deal of my awards/activities/essays were focused on chemistry, materials, and nanotech. If you want to apply to Wharton as a business major, think about what you have done in the realm of business. Many of the friends I have now made that are headed to Wharton next year have companies, or non-profits, or have organized major community and state-wide initiatives. Many of them have spoken in conferences and made websites or YouTube channels viewed by thousands, if not millions of people. They show signs of successful businesspeople - they are outgoing, have wonderful people skills, show drive, and are not fazed by complex business-type tasks.
Medicine, on the other hand, is an umbrella term of sorts. There are many fields you can study that are pre-med. At Penn, there is a Biomedical Engineering major, a Chemical and Biological Engineering major, a Biology major, a BBB major (Biological Basis of Behavior), and surely many more. These all count as pre-med. Regardless of which of these you are applying for, they look for similar types of activities; have you shown interest in the medicine field in any way? Common ways include research, volunteering in hospitals, etc. PM me if you want a little bit more detail about what people do for this.
If you do truly want to accentuate your language proficiency in your application, find a major that matches that at Penn and apply to it. Perhaps look into the Huntsman program at Penn, too.
Hi @notAMysteryBot !! I am curious as to who you are if we have met many times!! Thank you for the congratulations, and do feel free to reach out personally (outside of College Confidential) if you have any way to contact me. Would be happy to chat about college if thatâs on your mind.
I barely any emphasis on AIME in my application to Penn. It was no more than one line item, and given how fast AOs go over application, Iâm sure that it was glazed over. Qualifying for and scoring reasonably well on the AIME is great, but it is not so much of a distinguishing factor on its own anymore. That being said, it can serve as a good supplement to other STEM-based achievements and activities - further confirmation that the student has the chops to survive in a rigorous engineering education.
USNCO, was much more of a focal point in my application. That was part of my âspike,â so to speak, along with some of the research I did. I built a chemistry-centric application, and USNCO was a big part of that. I of course did not write essays about USNCO (donât write essays about academic competitions!!!) but I featured it prominently on my awards section in the Common App.
In terms of stats and different threshholds, I truly believe there is no difference between a 1550 and a 1600. For these super selective colleges, your SAT/ACT gets your foot in the door. After they move past your score and make sure it is at a good range, it wonât be a big factor in the remainder of your application, especially if we are talking about the elite, top group of scorers that get 1550-1600 or 35-36. I think that many, many state schools may look at a 1600 and think, ok, this kid is in (as long as you have decent grades), while they may look at a 1550 and think, ok, this kid is in a strong position to get in. But not at these private, super-selective schools.
As for olympiads, there is a huge, huge difference. I maintain that, in retrospect, putting time into Olympiads is only worth it (if your goal is a super selective school) if you are recognized in a very selective group (in the top 100, 200, 300 maybe) of students. Certainly for USNCO, qualifying for the national test will do very little if it is the focal point of your application. Qualifying for the top 150 students will hold significantly more weight (but still not a shoe in). Qualifying for the top 50 students will do you a whole world of good (still, not a shoe in, but very, very solid). This is where I was at at - top 50 - and I didnât get in everywhere, but I still am very happy with the outcome. Qualifying for the top 20 is as close to a shoe-in as you can get. Effectively, if you are willing to put the time in to olympiads, put enough time in to be recognized in the top 150, 50, or 20. Spending time on qualifying for the national test will not do you too much good, I think.
Thank you!! itâs very helpful since the American admission process is very confusing to me. I just looked into the huntsman program and I find it very interesting. Concerning med, I would like a little bit more detail about what people to show interest. But the thing is I donât know how to PM someone I looked for it in the envelope in the top right corner but I canât seem to find it I could use some help, please.
Thanks for the response. UGA is a pretty competitive school in Georgia and is the second best public college here. I was wondering if i should challenge myself with a harder science AP class, AP Environmental science to AP Biology. Iâm only considering this since I have heard that AP Environmental Science is on the easier side of APs and that AP Bio is on the harder side. I also am contemplating because colleges may think I was choosing easy APs like APES and AP Psychology to boost my GPA and make it look good on college admissions. I was also wondering if it is okay to only have one extracurricular freshman and sophomore year which was varsity swim. I only say this since next year school year will not be the same in the way that there may be no extracurricular due to coronavirus. Do you think colleges would be turned off if I only put a few extracurricular (swim, and whatever i did during quarantine) and not any for junior and senior year since extracurricular are not promised for my junior/ senior year? Or will they not really count extracurricular or be more lenient about them? thanks!!