hello im an international student im applying to MIT princeton caltech all UCs univ of southern california colombia univ
univ of michigan georgia tech
Here are my qualifications
5 igcse with all As
sat 2000
A in gr9 B in gr 10 B in gr11 from a sabis system school(search that up)
alot of activites in sports and charity and computing to list
what are my chances
Which country are u from? Have u taken A level? Btw, don’t u have to take 7 IGs to get an IGCSE certificate?
You have little to no chance of being admitted to MIT, princeton, USC, Columbia, Michigan and Georgia tech based on your test scores and gpa.
In terms of other UC universities you could have a good shot at UCSD, UC Irvine, UC riverside, UC santa barbara, UC Merced and UC Davis. UCLA and UC berkeley are currently reaches for you. However, if you can get your sat score over a 2100 and have an unweighted gpa over 3.8 you could have a +50% chance of admission to UCLA and UC Berkeley but their getting more and more selective lately so you also need to take advanced courses as these can boost your chances of admission( AP, IB, A level etc…). Leadership positions on your extracurriculars can be notable on your application if you have any and be sure to mention volunteer/community service hours and awards you may have won on a national/international level.
If you can do that then you may also have a good chance at USC, michigan and georgia tech(Math 2 sat subject test required). Unfortunately, your not on ivy level so I wouldn’t bother applying to any ivy including MIT and caltech if I were you. hope this helps and good luck.
what if i get my score to around 2200 and i have good extra crriculars and btw cant they take igcse instead of my highschool grades i am also taking 5 AP courses
I didnt take my school seriously and my igcse marks contradict highly with my highschool grades for example i got a C in chemistry but in my igcse i got an A so there is obviously something wrong with my school now tell me my chances Ali1302
@Donthatejust You stated that your igcse grades were all A’s then that’s all that matters, don’t bother sending high school grades simply mention igcse and AP’s on your transcript from the school since those are what really matter. Also try and improve your performance at highschool for the last two years as colleges like to see progress.
Even if you get a 2200 and 5 APs at 5’s your chances at any ivy including MIT and Caltech are extremely low. However, schools like USC, UC Berkeley, Michigan, Georgia tech and UCLA you have a good shot at getting into. I also recommend you take sat subject tests as they are required for most of the colleges your applying to.
@Ali1302 what should i do to get in Mit and caltech and mit
How much can your parents afford to pay?
Top 50 American universities are not interested in your term grades, they’ll want your IGCSE results and expect 8-10 A-A, PLUS 4 AS Levels with A-A and 3 A Levels with predicted A’s.
If you truly only have 5 IGCSE’s, then you’re not even eligible to apply at most of the universities you listed.
In order to have a shot at MIT and CalTech(why not HarveyMudd too, it’s in the same category?), you need IGCSE’s, AS resuls, and predicted A Levels as described above, plus about 2200 on the SAT, plus Math2 and a science for subject tests (800 in math 2 is a given, note also that both CalTech and HarveyMudd require calculus in high school) plus another, non science subject to show versatility.
Then, “a lot of activities” matters for colleges ranked 40-75, but for colleges ranked about 1-40, you need few activities in which you have demonstrated (verifiable) leadership, impact, and success, either at the national or international level (ie., don’t claim you’re on the national U18 team if you just play for your school; note that lying will get you blackballed everywhere and that you can be rescinded even after acceptance, even after you’ve paid your fees and matriculated.)
You need to be able to pay full fees for these schools.
You are not getting into the top tier UC’s with an SAT score of 2000. The UC averages include recruited athletes and feeder low socioeconomic schools, so the scores have to be better than average if you are not in one of these two categories.
@MYOS1634 What you said was absolute rubbish. I know someone with 6 GCSE/IGCSE’s at A’s, A* and 1 B who got into UCLA although he was predicted A*AA and had over 2100 SAT score, 800 math 2 and 800 chem SAT II’s. “leadership” isn’t always necessary as most people I know who apply just mention school clubs(chess club, football club, tennis club), volunteering/community service and student council. Nothing major. I know some of them volunteered abroad in places like Thailand and Australia but those places can be costly. Only other major awards are duke of Edinburgh, Maths challenge, chemistry challenge, Olympiad, volunteer awards etc… I don’t know anything about international awards it’s pretty rare to be part of the international Olympiad team or international science fair and I don’t think that’s a major criteria or even a minor criteria at most top 40 schools.
I do however agree with what you said on MIT and Caltech the only guy I know that got into MIT had 6A*'s at A level and was a freakin genius. Anyway, I could see this guy getting into Michigan or Georgia tech with a higher sat and AAA a level predictions as well as 800 math 2 sat subject test score. If he gets that he has a very good chance.
Hello Ali. You’re free to think that what I said is rubbish. 
Note that US universites care more about predicted scores than actual scores (offers aren’t conditional, you’re only rescinded if you get D’s and F’s).
Note that UC admissions are NOT like private universities/LAC admissions.
Duke of Edinburgh is national/international, especially gold level.
Yes it’s pretty rare to be part of an International Olympiad Team. That’s who MIT, Caltech, and HarveyMudd want.
For an international who needs financial aid it can be a major criterion, depending on other factors, for many selective universities/LACs.
@MYOS1634 Duke of Edinburgh isn’t that rare but your right about gold level.Seriously? Ivies only consider international Olympiads and international science fairs which in total would be about 10 to 12 students from the UK and you claim you know how Ivy league admission works. I know people that actually got into Stanford, Columbia and Yale and none of them were Olympiad winners or part of the international science fair. You claiming you know who MIT, Caltech or Harvey Mudd want is ridiculous. What makes you think you know who they want?
Financial aid depends on the type of university most ivies are need blind and a lot of top universities give generous financial aid packages. I remember looking at stats from Wesleyan university. International students that applied for aid at Wesleyan had a 5%-7% acceptance rate, however internationals that didn’t ask for aid had a 23%-26% acceptance rate which is basically the university average. This just shows you aid can be a major factor in this case reducing your chances by a factor of 5.
Edit: in act the link actually works for Wesleyan it’s still accessible (check international applicant statistics):
http://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/international_students/applying.html
Note the number of student requesting no aid applying(819) and the number admitted(171) that gives a 20.8% acceptance rate. And those that need aid have 1009 applicants and 41 admitted that gives a 4% admit rate. The average admit rate for Wesleyan is 21.9% so 20.8% is not that far off for internationals not requesting aid.
i am requesting no aid and minimum is 5 igcse and btw A and A* is the same to US universities you can look that up in the cambridge website also im not doing any a levels and btw they only require 5 igcse @MYOS1634 8-10 IGCSE is not even offered where I’m coming from and I’m taking APs not alevels
The problem is that doing the minimum is unlikely to do the trick for most top 25 universities.
If your school doesn’t offer more than 5 igcse’s, the colleges may choose not to penalize you, but if you’re in competition with students who had 8-10, it’ll be hard to offset that. You can go up to 12, you know, although I admit that’s rare. But 8 is very common. So your SSR better explain how you end up with “only” 5 IGCSE’s. If it’s the norm at your school, it’ll have to be clear, and the GC will have to explain why.
Cambridge doesn’t admit based on igcse’s but on A-Levels, and yes they do distinguish between A and A. Only a handful of American colleges would distinguish between A and A but the ones you listed do.
If you’re doing APs after Igcse’s, you’re good, you don’t need A-Levels. What AP’s did you take and what APs are you taking?
AP PHYSICS E/M AP MATH AB AP CHEM AP ECON AP COMPUTER SCIENCE no i checked they donot distinguish and minimum requirement is enough to cover upto gr 11 and for gr 12 equivalence is ap
@MYOS1634 do the UCs distinguish between A and A*
@MYOS1634 and they dont i checked everywhere to calculate GPA A* and A is 4.0 and this is from the cambridge site so idk what ur talking about
5 is a good number for igcse cuz ive also gotten As in all i showed excellence in everything i do
@Donthatejust Every applicant is unique. If you have unique extracurriculars and amazing essays that mere 2000 might be all you need for MIT. For MIT you can also take TOEFL(in place of SAT) + SAT IIs. (for internationals. Highly Recommend)
However Caltech seems to be all about the numbers , I havent seen a single person with less than 2250+ on the Caltech D. threads.
@Malcomx99 how can i take toefl in place of sat thats not possible