Latvia - International - Aiming too high?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>thanks in advance for reading and, hopefully, replying, what you think - I am at a loss about what my chances are.</p>

<p>Objective:</p>

<p>SAT I: 2170 (CR 690/M 710/WR 770)
SAT II:740 Math II, 650 US History (self-studied)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):Finished my last year with full grades, but my grades fluctuated during the 4 high school years.</p>

<p>Senior Year Course Load:Latvian, Maths, History, English, Religious Studies (higher level), physics, economics, art (lower level)
Rigor: I took many classes and did well in them, however, I did not choose to do IB (which my school offered), and now I’m afraid that is going to be a huge disadvantage.</p>

<p>Awards: 1st place National Olympiad of Political Science, finalist in Latvia’s Economics and Managing competitions.</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Volunteering for festivals; theme events; business conferences; representing Latvia in the international conference in South Korea; youth exchanges; investment games; being a part of a educational company.</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: After graduating I did an internship in European Commission; also 1 week internship in Ministry of Foreign Affairs; working as an interpreter in Trade Fair in Germany for few days.</p>

<p>Essays: CommonApp essay on individual travelling through Europe. I have been travelling alone from 16. Supplement essays are all very very different - however, I am not a good writer and do not know how to captivate a reader. The more I correct, the worse essay turns out, thus mostly I just submit the first/second draft.</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation: No idea - one from coworker, another from English teacher
Counselor Rec: Probably not good or generic; she seemed to be annoyed with me quite often.
Additional Rec: To some unis (4) my supervisor from the Ministry internship wrote something and sent it directly to universities.</p>

<p>Other</p>

<p>Country (if international applicant): Latvia
School Type: public, but very competitive to get into, the best in the country
Ethnicity: white
Gender: F
Income Bracket: <17000 (6 people in the family)
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): </p>

<p>Weaknesses: too much of my SAT score is combined out of writing section, perhaps not the most difficult workload (no idea what counselor marked), good grades do not correlate well with weak SAT subject scores, do not have good grasp/talent to write good essays and knowing how important they are, it’s really disheartening.
Strengths: very few people from my country apply.</p>

<p>Firstly, I have applied to most of my school by mid-December (8 of the ones I most wanted to attend). Then, I thought - I already went through all of the SATs, application fillling, getting recommendations, so I might as well apply to more schools. Now every single one of my list I would be happy to attend, given I receive full financial aid. (my family’s income devides to less than 3000 dollars per year per person)</p>

2

<p>Schools:</p>

<p>Brandeis Brown Columbia Cornell Harvard (deferred EA) Princeton Stanford Pennsylvania Wesleyan Williams Yale</p>

<p>Schools that I added a bit later but still am applying to:</p>

<p>Middlebury Smith Swarthmore [missed the deadline by 9 days?] Vanderbilt Bates Chicago Amherst Dartmouth</p>

3

<p>How competitive applicant’s from one’s country/region really matters for international students- and I have no idea how competitive Latvians/East Europeans are. I guess you can look around decision results threads, but you probably won’t find anything useful.
You have some interesting ECs, but nothing too memorable. Job experience is good, but it would be nice if you told us how long your internships are (1 week= nothing). I think your application could use a little more meat. Your math scores aren’t too good for an international student (internationals, especially Asians, murder this section). However, your SAT sum isn’t too bad. Your whole application leaves something to be desired. Also, why did you take US history? I kind of get the feeling you want to do a humanities, but getting a high mark in a science was probably a better idea than getting an okay mark in a subject you never took. </p>

<p>By the way, my counselor recommendation was an abomination. The man basically wrote this: " Cardgames has displayed exemplary behavior throughout his studies. He never insulted his teachers, nor did he initiate unnecessary fights with his peers, unlike other students his age." ( not verbatim, but you get the idea) You can guess what sort of school I went to… In other words, your counselor recommendation doesn’t matter much. </p>

<p>I think most schools on your list are reaches. Then again, I don’t know how competitive East Europeans are.</p>

4

<p>Anyone else? :_) </p>

<p>One of my internships was 4 months.</p>

<p>Am I right with weaknesses: too much of my SAT score is combined out of writing section, perhaps not the most difficult workload (no idea what counselor marked), good grades do not correlate well with weak SAT subject scores, do not have good grasp/talent to write good essays and knowing how important they are, it’s really disheartening.
And strengths: very few people from my country apply?</p>

5

<p>Bumpidi bum</p>

6

<p>Based purely on the people I know who got in (international too),</p>

<p>Brandeis: Yes
Brown: I don’t know
Columbia: Maybe
Cornell: Maybe
Harvard (deferred EA): I don’t know
Princeton: Maybe
Stanford: No (applied for FA)
Pennsylvania: No (applied for FA)
Wesleyan: No
Williams
Yale: Maybe
Middlebury: No
Smith: Yes
Swarthmore [missed the deadline by 9 days?]: No (applied for FA + late application)
Vanderbilt: I don’t know
Bates: Yes
Chicago: No (applied for FA)
Amherst: No (applied for FA)
Dartmouth: I don’t know</p>

<p>Also, could you update this thread when you get your results? I’ve always wondered how internationals on CC fared.</p>

7

<p>Of course. Thanks 082349! I appreciate that you have chanced the separate colleges. As for Amherst, I thought it was need-blind, right? Thus, applying for FA should not affect the application?</p>

8

<p>Oops, sorry. I was copy-and-pasting my answers and I included that part.</p>

<p>That said, Amherst is really selective.</p>

9

<p>Your aiming very high. Good application, but not the level of some of the schools. That said I think you can get into Bates, Brandeis, and Smith. All the others are high reaches, but you applied to alot so chances you get into at least one are good. What safeties you have? I don’t think you have any.</p>

10

<p>

An international student requiring financial aid will not have any safeties in the US.</p>