HI guys,
I was born in the US but had to move out because of unavoidable circumstances.
Now, I attend a school from 7.00 am to 8.30 pm from Monday to Saturday. Even though I have a holiday on Sunday I have to prepare for the various 3 hour exams my school conducts over the week.
Given the timings and rigor of the school I attend will I be excuse for not performing well/not writing any AP’s. I did write SAT subjects and I did well on them.
Basically, will I be excused for not doing too many extracurriculars or not writing other standard exams?
I really need an honest response, because if necessary I have to revamp my EC’s.
P.S - I really want to go to Stanford, CMU, MIT.
You do not need to take AP exams if your school does not offer any AP classes.
The colleges that you apply to in the US will be familiar with typical high school programs in the country where you are studying. Your counselor can explain anything that is particularly different about your high school in the counselor’s letter.
Your schedule will make it impossible to have any extracurriculars that aren’t part of your school day (e.g. sports, theater, music, etc.) so don’t worry about that. Just focus on doing well in school and in the activities that you can participate in.
My family considered a job overseas, and the school there went until 6:30. I was concerned about ECs, but the counselor reassured me that their electives and clubs during the day would be enough. I was skeptical until he showed me that their students were accepted to plenty of excellent US Universities.
Does your school send kids to Stanford, MIT, or CMU?
You will be fine. Just make sure you create a college list of safety, match, and reach schools. Do not only apply to top-top schools. Create a list and apply to a variety of schools that have what you want to study where you could be happy.
@AlwaysMoving My school sent students to top schools in my country(China) but not overseas. I do not think anyone even applied to US or even Canada.
@Empireapple @happymomof1 the thing is my school does not endorse sports, activities or anything of that kind. So, it becomes really hard me to do even the one or two EC’s I am pursuing.
Do any of you think this would be a good essay topic: How my school only focuses on academics from 7.00 to 8.30 and how I faced a lot of hardship figuring out time to pursue anything other than school related work.
It’ll be a very very hard sell for colleges like MIT or CMU, because they distinguish students based on EC’s.
There’s no bonus for “super extra long school days focused on academics”, alas. They have a benchmark, all you need is meet it.
Your school may be well-suited for the Gaokao but doesn’t seem well-suited to US college requirements; it likely means the teachers and counselors aren’t used to writing recommendations for US colleges.
You have two choices:
Switch schools and find an international school where you can enter perhaps the IB Diploma’s first year or something of the kind (first year of A Levels perhaps?)
OR
You should aim for universities where GPA*test scores are heavily weighted (UVermont, Penn State, University of Iowa, University of Minnesota) or where they like high scores (Case Western Reserve, Union, WPI if you’re aiming for STEM fields, or LACs ranked 30-60 if you’re aiming for Humanities/Social Sciences) + UK or Australian universities.
“Do any of you think this would be a good essay topic: How my school only focuses on academics from 7.00 to 8.30 and how I faced a lot of hardship figuring out time to pursue anything other than school related work.”
It might make for an interesting essay. However, I agree with @MYOS1634. Unless you can accomplish something non-academic in the free time you do have, your best chance is at rack-and-stack colleges. Stanford, CMU, and MIT will want to see more.
Is everyone responding knowledgeable about how Chinese students are viewed by US colleges? I am not! But I suspect the colleges know there is a difference between what a US student can/should do and what a Chinese student can/should do coming from a Chinese school. So I think there’s a decent chance the school won’t expect the same sorts of extracurriculars etc.
That said, does Stanford, CMU etc want Chinese kids that have come up through the Chinese educational system – no idea.
@MYOS1634 @Groundwork2022 Hmm. Now, I have to make a real tough decision coming out of one of China’s most competitive and elite high school.
I definitely will have a tough time convincing my parents.
Will let you know once I make a decision. My parents want to send me to the US only for top computer science programs and nothing else.
Us adcoms know Chinese kids can’t do the same things as US HS kids but most Chinese applicants will have 1500+ scores, 800s in Math2& Physics, a few will have high scores on English Literature to boot, and grades placing them in the top 5% Nationwide. So, they’ll pick 4 or 5 (you can imagine out of how many) and those will all have distinguishing characteristics.
Keep in mind that there are 3,700 universities in the US. Look at the Forbes rankings (published today I think) and kept in mind that the colleges ranked 1-75 represent the top 2% in US colleges.
Cornell’s CS+X program in CALS, anything CS at UIUC, UMass Amherst for AI, NETS at Penn, UCSC honors or any UC, Call Poly SLO, Santa Clara, UWashington are all powerhouses for CS that your parents may not have heard of.
Get a Fiske Guide (description of college life) and a Ruggs Recommendations (colleges ranked for strength in various majors) ASAP.
The “switching schools” strategy is only possible if you can do two years in the IB Diploma (and, obviously, score very high) or do the complete A Level program (year 12+13) and get A*AA predicted results. Beside top grades, these two years would be dedicated to building something impressive (a popular app, a program for a public hospital or administration…) AND finding time doing something else (archeology, singing, helping others…) You can try to rank in CS Olympiads.
With high predicted results, you would be pretty sure to get a place at Imperial and UEdinburgh (currently top in Europe for AI) and would look in Spring 2020 into exams for Oxford or Cambridge, to be taken between June and December 2020, for a start Fall 2021. Same thing for McGill and Waterloo (2 other powerhouses that are mostly stats- based).
Look up “us colleges holistic Admissions”.
how much can your parents afford to pay? There are a lot of places that will be happy to admit you, but the aid packages might not be good. If you will need aid, then you also need to look at lower-ranking places that might offer you money.
What are your parents’ long-term goals for you? If their plan is for you to take advantage of your US citizenship and remain permanently in the US, then a famous-name program is not necessary. A solid program with a good regional reputation will be perfectly fine. For example, a CS degree from Iowa State or U of North Dakota can land you a good job in the midwest. You could build a decent life for yourself there at a lower cost of living than in California, and if you chose to do so, you could pursue job opportunities in other parts of the country.