International Student seeking advice

ivyleaguefan
Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:53:30 +0000

I think if you are really inclined on going to the States, better ‘safe choices’ would be the UCs - they are less focused on ECs, more on testing, and do not have racial preferences in admission. You’ll also have less essays to write. They’re also cheaper to attend. Even if your internal grades are not top-notch, a great testing record (2100+ SAT, for example), would make you a more than competitive candidate for admission to schools such as UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis…etc. But at the same time you can simultaneously apply to very nice schools, with an experience comparable to privates (UCB, UCLA etc - UCB has an awesome architecture program!). No Top 20 school takes more than 15 (or at most 20) students from HK per year, fyi.