Singaporean connection

dinosoar · April 25, 2011, 6:40am

Hi all, this is my first time posting - nice to see other Singaporeans on this thing. :)

Could you guys please chance me at the following schs? The reach/safety labels are just my estimate and I’d really appreciate your input from your first-hand experiences as current US students, because right now I can’t tell if my expectations are realistic.

High reach: Penn CAS, Cornell CAS, Duke (Trinity CAS)
Reach: UCBerk (Letters&Science), NYU Stern, Northwestern (Business), U Notre Dame (Business)
Match: Georgetown (Business), Emory (Business), Vanderbilt (CAS), Carnegie Mellon (Business)
Safety: UMich (Ann Arbor - Business), UNC - Chapel Hill (Business), USC (Business)

I intend to enter investment/financial svcs. Currently thinking of doing microfinance in somewhere like the World Bank, but I don’t see them hiring many fresh grads. I’m thinking that maybe some private sector experience, eg ibanking, would be beneficial to build up skills first?

Are these schools which will open up decent opportunities for me to pursue these career interests?

Here are my stats:

[ b]Objective:[list]
[ *] SAT I (breakdown): Haven’t taken them. 2090 practice lol (700CR, 720M, 670W), aiming 2200-2350
[ *] SAT II: Haven’t taken them. Lit practice - 700, aiming 750+. Math2 practice - 650 heh aiming 800. Bio M - aiming 750+
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): Sch doesn’t calculate GPA. Do you know how to convert our SG grades to US GPA? Does it help if we do?
[ *] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Sch doesn’t rank. Possibly top 30%?
[ *] IB (place score in parenthesis): 42/45
[ *] Senior Year Course Load: IB Diploma (3 higher levels, 3 standard levels, TOK EE CAS)
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NONE. D: Except an Outstanding Academic Achievement school award for my IB results haha so screwed here.
[ /list][ b]Subjective:[list]
[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Council (J1-J2), Odyssey of the Mind - Under-18 World Champion Team (6 members, attended World Finals in Iowa, USA 2009), Drama SYF - Bronze (zz), Youth Leaders’ Summit (Participant - J1, Facilitator - J2), Cheerleading National Champion Team (Sec3-4. DON’T JUDGE haha :D) and South-East Asian Cheerleading Open All-Girls Stunt Group - 3rd (post-IB, 2011).
[ *] Job/Work Experience: Feb 2011-present, intern in a private equity fund. Sec 4 Dec hols - waitress, tutored primary school children (math, science, english)
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: student-initiated social work in Cambodia (post-IB, collectively raised SGD10k for education and water purification purposes there), organizing comm that initiated 8week tutoring and skill-enhancement program for SG pri sch children from underprivileged or abusive families (in conjunction with Beyond Social Services), other misc efforts amounting to 100+h
[ *] Summer Activities: Mentioned above: work, community svc. Also, in J1 Dec hol, wrote 4000k research essay in eng lit (EE).

[ *] Ethnicity: Chinese
[ *] Gender: Female
[ *]Income Bracket: Not sure.
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None.

<ul>
<li>[ *] Strengths: Nothing’s outstanding. Got to write stellar essays and ace SATs.
[ *] Weaknesses: LACK OF MAJOR ACADEMIC AWARDS/intellectual activities!</li>
</ul>

THANKS IN ADVANCE! Sorry for such a long self-obsessed post haha.

bouncy · April 25, 2011, 7:04am

That quite impressive and i thought my ECs are impressive. You have a good chance but which intake your applying for?

if business is your interested track you can perhaps consider texas-austin indiana bloomington and of course DARTHMOUTH:).

Personally i am not to sure if UNC is a safety school , I had a friend straight As for A Level. 2300 for SATS if i rmb right and a impressive EC yet fail to gain admission to UNC but managed to get a offer from NYU.

introverted · April 25, 2011, 10:51am

@dinosoar
wow your ECs are pretty impressive. okay im not the most qualified to judge since im only applying this year and mine are basically nonexistent. i dont think you should worry too much about the lack of major academic awards, US colleges tend to look at how well rounded you are.

imho if you took out your ECs and placed a bunch of academic awards in there i think you probably would look alot more like a bookworm than a well-rounded, outgoing student just from looking at your application(no you cant include both, even the president scholar from my school never had any i think, but his ECs were right up there)

i think UNC, CM, georgetown dont really accept all that many international students, if i remember correctly.

when are you taking your SAT’s? as far as i know there’s only 2 international dates this year if you’re planning to enrol in 2012.

you should cut down the number of universities you plan to apply for too, not all use the common application. you dont want to write too many personal statements!

@screwitlah
thanks for the reply. i find the practice tests really different tough, i never memorized any laws for a levels(i admit i was lazy) and i have to identify so many in the practice tests.

rimisisu · April 25, 2011, 11:26pm

Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata is the best textbook series I’ve ever encountered; a lot of Americans like using Wheelock’s but that’s a very old school grammar-translation book, you might as well download an out-of-copyright book and learn the same way if you like that approach. Check out textkit.com there are plenty of autodidacts there and you can ask for help if you’re unsure of anything on the fora.

Most Americans carry over a heavy accent into their Latin which I personally find rather distasteful. You can hear some examples on Youtube by Googling for the Harvard Latin addresses. [This</a> guy](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/user/ScorpioMartianus]This”>http://www.youtube.com/user/ScorpioMartianus) on the other hand is perfect at the Reconstructed Classical Pronunciation – for the technical details, the Wikipedia article on [Latin</a> phonology](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_phonology]Latin”>Latin phonology and orthography - Wikipedia) is a detailed introduction, for more details you can get Vox Latina by W. Sidney Allen.

I’ve never really been interested in French since I don’t really like the sound of modern French, it’s nasal and guttural. There is this book called “French for Reading” by Karl Sandberg which is excellent though. It’s OOP as far as I know but you can borrow it from the NLB (might have to reserve it if they already moved it to the repository) and just get it photocopied at a neighbourhood copy-shop. By the end of the book you will be reading Voltaire. There is nothing about actual speech though so look elsewhere, maybe at the “french in Action” video series for that – it’s like a video version of Lingua Latina.

dinosoar · April 26, 2011, 2:08am

@bouncy @introverted
Thanks for your replies, you guys are too kind :]

@bouncy - I’m applying for 2012 entry. Already finished JC2 so I’ll be taking a gap year. (Haven’t 100% decided on this, leaning towards it but will reevaluate when all local Us reply)

Hmm okay, thanks for the heads up about UNC. Just checked up the 09/10 international students admission data and can’t find anything on UNC - maybe they’re not too hot on internationals.

Dartmouth would be excellent, but I’m guessing its out of my league! Haha. Too small and too white to be interested in a mediocre azn like me, lol. But maybe I’ll hazard an app there anyway.

So you’re headed to Indiana? What are you thinking of studying? :)

@introverted

Oo where are you applying to?

Maybe UNC doesn’t take too many internationals (guessing here, don’t know anyone irl who applied there), but one of my SG schoolmates got into CMU and I know at least 3 other Sgreans who got G’town offers. So I think there’s a reasonable chance of an intl offer from there.

I’m taking SAT2s and ACT (in place of SAT1) in June 2011. Then SAT1 in Oct which is quite rushed for ED but those are all the test dates left now.

Haha ikr, essays are killer. But I think the hassle is worth it for these schools you could get to go to! Plus… I need to get over this (rather Sgrean) phobia of personal expression in essays haha and indulge the cliche~ ie. be honest, delve deep and emerge more self-aware.

–

Anyone else have any input? Would be helpful to hear from current US students. Am considering putting in an app to HYPS, Columbia, Brown and Dartmouth too just to try (definitely not expecting anything though). Wondering what you guys think the odds are. And if I should just save the app $ if I’m not gonna get in anyways)

bouncy · April 26, 2011, 3:33am

Yea still deciding between uk and us but if I’m choosing us it would most likely be indiana

Would be looking to major in international studies and econ thou

@dino if I am not wrong cm has quite a large int population

Anyway anyone here knows how are college graded in the states? Daily work + term assesment or? Googling don’t seem to yield much results

introverted · April 26, 2011, 8:32am

@bouncy
i think they grade you that way, daily work + term assesment i mean. from what i hear its pretty different from the UK system we’re used to(a couple of major exams). plus i hear you study a rather wide variety of subjects.
can i ask what are you considering in deciding between UK and US? i probably will apply for both too.

@dinosoar
im not entirely sure. ive always intended to do EEE or computer engineering but over the past year or so i have been considering business. but most likely engineering. im applying for berkeley(not expecting much) UCLA, UMich, UIUC, cornell, and purdue.

oops. dont know where i got my impressions of those colleges from :P 
i dont think there’s any SAT test date after june???

hah yeah personal expression is surprisingly hard for us s’poreans. no surprise given our repressive society, government and education system (pity i cant vote yet)

from what i hear HYPS is RIDICULOUSLY hard to get into. to quote an earlier post in this thread:

the rest i have no idea, but dartmouth is need-blind for internationals so you might just get some financial “aid”
i suggest you try asking on the brightsparks forums too. [USA</a> - BrightSparks Singapore Scholarship & Higher Education Forum](<a href=“BrightSparks | Singapore Scholarships”>BrightSparks | Singapore Scholarships)

and about taking a gap year: some of my friends in NUS have complained about “not enough break” between J2 and start of college(apparently 8 months isnt enough o.o). i guess you should make full use of it if you do take one. you might experience “helmet syndrome” like guys in NS though :P

bouncy · April 26, 2011, 11:45am

Personally its time, cost and employment prospect
US
Pro
Better degree mileage
The education system i prefer

Con
Longer Degree duration(4years)
Higher cost 60k a yr
****ty immigration policy(getting harder to work in the states) +
US economy in consolidation

UK
Pro
Shorter Degree duration (3years)
Lower Cost 38k a year

Con
Strict immigration policy (still looser then United states IMO)
Austere policy is shrinking the economy

Personally time and cost is not an significantly issue(Father & Mother scholarship).
But personally i cannot justify the cost as the employment prospect is far from rosy , we are always painted a picture that if you score well jobs, wont be an issue in the states. But from what i asked around , jobs prospect for international is not as rosy. Even if we are amongst the top why would a company hire you when it is so much more of a hassle as compared to local. Moreover there is a cap

[USCIS</a> - H-1B Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Cap Season](<a href=“http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=4b7cdd1d5fd37210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=73566811264a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD]USCIS”>http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=4b7cdd1d5fd37210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=73566811264a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD)

hidden cost

I am not saying it impossible but ceteris paribus int student would be at a serious disadvantage and of course there akway HYP Int students:)

beckleberrys · April 26, 2011, 9:33pm

@dinosoar Omg are you Denise?! Hi!! Haha. Where are you headed!!

dinosoar · April 26, 2011, 10:07pm

Omg HI!! Yes iz me. Woman we aren’t supposed to post our real names on online forums!! Hahaha do you not remember Sec 1 computer science classes on internet safety Kidding.

I’m not sure yet! Thinking of gapping :S but waiting on local offers, got a double deg offer from NTU already so phew at least I can graduate! Haha. How about you?? Where are you going?

beckleberrys · April 26, 2011, 10:10pm

@dinosoar Haha sorry!! I thought it was really coincidental so I could not contain my excitement. Hehehe I’ll message you directly.

dinosoar · April 26, 2011, 10:38pm

@bouncy - what course have you been offered in the UK? Although a US degree is supposed to take 4 years, from what I hear most Singaporeans find it no problem to graduate in 3 years because of our A lvls/IB system that allows us to skip some basic classes (if you do well enough to get advanced credit). And yeah they grade using continual assessments with various factors contribute to your final score, including a small percentage for class participation.

@introverted - I think you have a reasonable chance at Berk! They’re low on funds now and our international school fees will help mitigate the effects of the Cali budget cuts. So they’re probably more open to internationals now.

College Board doesn’t show the SAT dates after June on its website right now because the dates up to June are considered the 2010/2011 cycle. But typically there are SAT tests in Oct, Nov and Dec too.

Thanks, yeah, honestly I’m not expecting an Ivy offer (let alone HYPS) at all so IF it comes in, I’ll be thankful, but if not, oh well there are other good options and at least I tried (so there aren’t any pesky what-ifs). Its pretty unpredictable after all because one year they might need a script-writing drama enthusiast who’s published a scientific paper on stem cells, and another year they may be looking for a tennis-playing history buff who has won youth awards for grassroots activism. That’s the impression I’m getting anyway…

@beckleberry - Haha np replying you now!!

chinnemeiser · April 26, 2011, 11:00pm

^ hey just want to point out for prospective applicants that the rumor about Berkeley being significantly easier for internationals due to the budget cuts is very very false. This admissions season was a killer for applicants from Singapore–i know many highly qualified Singaporean applicants with sufficient funds who got rejected. case in point: friend of mine who was rejected outright by Berkeley but accepted by Cornell.

bouncy · April 26, 2011, 11:30pm

From what I know amongst the ivies cornell have a rep of being the easiest to enter!

@dino Hyp u need near perfect stats and your seems close enough the rest is just prayers hoping that admission officer is in a good mood. Oh I doubt uc systen would be affected by the budget cut their endowment is incredible

Uk I would be doing the int politics with econs. Same **** different names

My bugbear is the rather restrictive us immigration policies

Whilst for uk I’m sick of the major examination

Trivolve · April 27, 2011, 1:28am

@chinnemeiser one example doesn’t confirm it… from what i’ve been reading in the berkeley forum there’s been a much higher acceptance rate overall for internationals this year. Your friend may have applied for major which is much more competitive in Berkeley than it is in Cornell.

chinnemeiser · April 27, 2011, 4:39am

hmm ok, yeah a couple of people (myself included) isn’t a good sample. actually now that i think about it, i remember looking at statistics and the percentage of internationals accepted did indeed go up, but not as much as some people thought it would or had already increased by (somebody told me 50% of internationals were accepted)

I just hope nobody underestimates the difficulty of getting into Berkeley in light of the budget cuts (i.e. Ivy-League shooters treating it as a ‘safety school’ without any less competitive backups, and ending up without any acceptances), because it is possible that someone might actually do something like that.

Trivolve · April 27, 2011, 4:51am

i totally agree with you on that.

introverted · April 27, 2011, 11:15am

@bouncy
how did you get 38k a year for UK? i keep getting ~£25k(50k sgd) and upwards in my calculations!

@chinnmeiser; trivolve
i think while international acceptance has gone up the pool has gotten bigger too, and as a result more competitive, due to the fall of the USD.

@dinosoar
nahhhhhh. im not keeping my hopes up. i know grades aren’t everything but my ECs are pretty nonexistent. the only leadership position i ever had(department I/C in my sec school UG) doesn’t even show up on my CCA cert. i got my team medals cause i mostly had a free ride off a national team member.

oh. i never knew that about the SATs. but hopefully i wont need to retake it(again) im wondering if i should take the ACT too? hm. it’ll be right after i take my SAT1 in june tough.

yeah i guess its worth giving it a shot. it means more essays to write but you’ve got what, 6 months plus? if the MIT and caltech people ive met didnt look so ridiculously nerdy i probably would’ve given them a shot too :P

bouncy · April 27, 2011, 11:47am

@intro

Maybe because my calculation is based in wales not london:)
Well even thou US does look into ec having good results is still the main criteria! try and you will never know

introverted · April 27, 2011, 12:02pm

@bouncy
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh. no wonder. even scotland isnt that cheap! and the league tables are confusing me. all the rankings are different! plus those rated highly on the UK league tables dont show up out of the top 50 in some world rankings for the subject im looking at o.O

yup i gotta improve my SAT scores though, 2040 isnt going to cut it.

another thing: has anyone considered LACs?

Singaporean connection

CONNECT WITH US