Help International student

hash · October 19, 2004, 3:56pm

Hi there

I am an international student form the UK, I reeaaaallly like Stanford.

I haven't taken my SATs yet, but will take SATII MathII in november, SATI in december, and SATII writing and chemistry in january. Will not having taken these exams affect my chances (I am going regular review).

On the UK system I have 11A* and 1A for GCSE, and 4As for AS level. Also plenty of extra curriculars.

I will not be asking for any financial aid. What are my chances like? Please help!

Cheers

Hash

flipchick1127 · October 19, 2004, 4:00pm

With the information you have given it is almost impossible to tell. All I can say is that it is very difficult to be accepted to Stanford, so don't get your heart set on it.

hash · October 19, 2004, 5:22pm

But if I'm paying full fees, surely that would improve my chances a lot?

flipchick1127 · October 19, 2004, 5:37pm

I'm not sure if it would or not. I believe it is need-blind, so they don't look at your financial situation when they make admissions decisions. I could be wrong on that, so I would look for a second opinion. If you give us some more stats--Class rank, GPA, EC's, Awards, Etc.--we may be able to give you a little bit better of an idea on your chances, but it really is difficult to tell for such a competitive school.

collegebound123 · October 19, 2004, 6:28pm

International admission is not need-blind.

flipchick1127 · October 19, 2004, 7:57pm

Oh, I didn't know that.

hash · October 20, 2004, 3:13pm

Thanks for the replies.

With regards to my class rank - I go to an extremely competitive school. Only 10% of applicants gain admission to it (there is a written test in 7th grade).

My GPA is as near perfect as it could be (in the last 16 exams, I have only had one grade which was not top, and even that was an A).

In my school, my class rank is within the top 5% (they do not have any way of determinig the specific rank). However, in most other schools i may well have been valedictorian.

P.S. Is there any way of determining GPA. My school has no way of doing it because I am in the UK

Hash

Sam_Lee · October 20, 2004, 5:17pm

One of my friends was valedictorian and got 10As on HKCEE (O-level in Hong Kong with tougher grading standard than the UK's version--for example, another friend got only 3As out of 9 subjects on HKCEE but 5As for A-Level in England) but he got rejected by Stanford, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. That was almost 10 years ago and the competition is probably even greater now.

In other words, high GPA and bunch of As merely keep you in the game; you'll probably need something else to make you standout and win it. Good luck!

yz16 · October 21, 2004, 2:01am

I have no clue what your chances are.
But for the record (because not many people go by the brit educational system here), those are really, very nice stats.
I have 10 A*s and 1A so you've trumped me there.
Why aren't you applying to oxbridge instead?

hash · October 21, 2004, 5:52pm

Thanks :)

Well I am applying to Oxbridge (actually only Oxford, since we can only apply to one of the 2). But I also want to have other options if possible in America.

yz16, which uni are you at? Do admissions take into account GCSE and AS Levels...since they are the only academic exams i have actually taken.

Would it be bad to have one of my references from a teacher who taught me from 7th- 11th grade? (My school goes up to grade 13)

Sam_Lee · October 21, 2004, 8:51pm

The admission definitely knows about GCSE/A-Level and will take those into account. In fact, results of those standardized tests are very important because they allow the admission to perform direct comparison between you and others from UK. If your school is one of the top in the UK, they probably know about that also. When I was an undergrad and asked those from Hong Kong what high schools they went to, most of them went to well-known ones. That's why I suspect the admission knows something about schools in other countries also.

yz16 · October 22, 2004, 1:55am

well, sam lee, on the stanford app it give sno place to list those scores. so... : (.

hash: haha, yea that's right, by oxbridge i meant one of the two. I'm applying to cambridge - for med. haha, yes, you may shoot me now and spare me the later pain.
For stanford, aren't they pretty explicit about wanting a teacher from your last two years? I think 11th grade (10th grade, by the US system) would be alright. Any thing before that is stretchign it too far, i think.
I'll Personal-Message you in a sec abotu my own details - I like my anonymity : )

Sam_Lee · October 22, 2004, 4:51pm

I think you can send your O-level certificate as part of your transcripts. They don't require results of A-level because in places like Hong Kong, you don't know your results until way after the admission makes the decision. All they care is if you are going to complete A-level before enrollment. I finished my 11th/12th grade in the US so I am probably not the best person to respond. But if you get good results, why not send a copy of that certificate. I don't think there's such a thing as oversending.

<a href="http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/int/frosh.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/int/frosh.html</a>

Just curious, how did you guys already have results of A-level? In Hong Kong, students don't take the exam until the end of the 13th grade (April/May) and won't get the results until July/August. Do you take the exam before/at the beginning of the 13th grade? If so, what do you do for the rest of the 13th-grade then (I would be just partying)? :)

hash · October 22, 2004, 6:49pm

Well in 12th grade we do "AS-Levels". These are the equivalent of half the complete A-Level.

Based on these AS-Level results, teachers are able to make relatively accurate grade predictions for A-Level exams that will be taken in the summer (though u can take them in january if u really want to/are smart enough).

In the UK, universities make conditional offers on your A-level results. i.e. when u apply in december, they will say "If u get AAA in your A-Levels, then u can study here in the Autumn".

So no partying :(

Sam_Lee · October 23, 2004, 3:29am

Thanks for the info.

FYI: as of 10/2003, there were 6 undergrads from UK. That means on average, no more than 2 undergrads per year enroll. I am sure there are many others with straight As applying to Stanford from UK also; therefore try your best and be thoughtful to sell and market yourself and take every part of the application seriously. The fact that you don't ask for any aid will help you, but only by very little.

quetzal · October 23, 2004, 11:27am

11 A*s for GCSE, that's really good... You might not need SAT II coz they do admit A-levels as SAT II, I read it on the site, I think... But I guess there's nothing wrong if you do em anyway if it pulls up your chances.

leely888 · October 23, 2004, 1:05pm

I don't think they take Jan SAT scores

hash · October 23, 2004, 1:47pm

What??? Are you sure they won't take the Jan SAT scores? I'm taking SATI in december, and SATIIs in january (all for the first time). Is this going to disadvantage my application?

Thanks,

Hash

usmominuk · October 23, 2004, 2:23pm

Check the Stanford website; it says regular decision testing should be completed by the end of December and it is unlikely that tests taken after this will be considered. You might consider trying to test standby on Nov 6th....

BTW do you attend a state senior school? And does your school have an American curiculum? You are the first person who has ECs in US style that I have come across.

Sam_Lee · October 23, 2004, 5:31pm

hash

<a href="http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/int/exams.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/int/exams.html</a> says 3 SAT II tests (writing, math 2c, and one other) are strongly recommended.

<a href="http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/applying/calendar.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/applying/calendar.html</a> says Feb 1 is the deadline for test scores to be sent. Jan results should be out by then???

usmoninuk finds the contrary somewhere however. You may want to double check.