@Waiting2exhale I don’t consider that to hard to believe, there might be around 60+ at my high school (has 5 different divisions with about 250 students in each). It is extremely diverse there since the admission committee strongly considers diversity when selecting students.
“Cheeky” - I don’t think you’ve come across that way. You’re a little anxious and anticipatory, a little certain and a little clueless - that marks you as perfectly in line with American students. You’ll be fine.
No, seriously. You mentioned speaking with an admissions officer in person, and I was wondering if you spent time here in the States, as that might certainly augment the part of your profile which considers how well you might acclimate to life, and student life, in the States.
I have no insider information, and Aunt Bea has taken an approach that I think is good to consider in order to temper the expectation of “special consideration,” as an international student, while the other comments have spoken to other colleges that you might consider applying to. I would second Pomona.
@Waiting2exhale Oh, no, more than 30 colleges and universities came to my school (all the ivies), …and I just want to say that I had the best score among the non-native speakers at my school (which is around 70%)…so I think, they came for a reason…well, I hope I will like to live in the States, who knows…but yeah…I really like the way you described me…and as you may have noticed, I started this thread…pretty much to reassure myself that I stand a chance…(and you guys havent been helpful :D…but now I am not as anticipatory as I was…which is probably great…)
Anyway, I marked down your nick and will let you know in April what happened…we will see :)…(Btw, are you a student yourself? or a parent?)
At a school like Duke, your chances are also going to be majorly affected (as an intl) depending on whether or not you need financial aid. Duke is need-aware for international students, and the acceptance rate for intls needing aid is much smaller than the normal admit rate. There are some Ivies for which this is not the case (schools that are need-blind for intls).
@ARTPOP Sorry, but we are just trying to be realistic. Some people become too confident about getting into these hypercompetitive schools and are confused when the rejection letters start piling up.
That the colleges and universities came to your school indicates that there is at least a relationship with your school, if not acts as a moment of potential “fishing” for a student they might keep their eye on as the students prepare to apply to American universities and colleges.
I am a parent, ARTPOP. I am familiar with students coming and staying a year or more, but mostly from Asia. I have a daughter who intends to study abroad at some point in her college life, but who is a senior in high school as well. Do let me know how things go for you. I will look forward to getting a note from you.
As to purpleacorn’s message about the need-aware component to your application’s consideration, such is true. You can search right here at CC for more information on that, as I am sure there must be threads which list that.
Good luck to you!
The schools you’re looking at fill about 1/2 their freshman class during the EA/ED round. In RD, 6-7x the number of applicants find themselves competing for a similar number of places. Therefore the RD acceptance rates are as low as 2-3% (Harvard/Yale) and schools in the 5-10% bracket (Dartmouth, UPenn) are the exception.
You’re competing with applicants across Eastern Europe, which isn’t as forgiving a pool as you’d think. I can tell you that several countries in the region are considered overrepresented in elite college admissions, although I gather those aren’t the ones where UWC schools can be found.
Facing odds of 2-3%, or 7-8% at best, low SAT scores will stand out in a bad way. Typically applicants with scores below 2100 would need to be underrepresented minorities (black, hispanic, native american/pacific islander), legacies, or recruited athletes. For internationals, the bar is typically a little higher. If you’re none of the above, it’s best to be realistic, and expect rejections from all these schools - the most likely outcome for almost any applicant.
With that said, it certainly can’t hurt to apply. You’ll know in a few months’ time.