<p>9/118 is actually pretty good. Your school is definitely one of the feeder schools from Singapore. Many schools can’t send even one! Stanford’s admission has been said to be the most quirky among HPYMS; if you market and sell yourself well, they can choose you over someone ranked above you. That’s true for HYP also but more so for Stanford. Stanford, Northwestern, and Chicago don’t use common (aka cut-and-paste) application. How well you response to their essays will have great impact on your admission. Are you a junior or senior? Have you taken A-level yet?</p>
<p>Why thanks Sam, I didn’t know that about Stanford or NU.</p>
<p>Most people applying overseas from my school are scholarship applicants - to be scholarship applicants, they must have higher grades top grades.I have higher test scores and enough faith in my ability to write better essays than a lot of my peers (hopefully not misplaced faith 
) to consider applying. </p>
<p>Funny how you ask, as I have my A levels in a mere 3days - they start on Tuesday. I will get down to applications after they finish ( 22nd), so I have more than a month to do them. I did apply ED to princeton, but I didnt think I gave it my best shot because of time constraints and having A levels, didnt put my best foot forward. </p>
<p>Thanks for your advice, youhave been really helpful. Are you a student/parent? </p>
<p>So I probably can consider Mich as a safety, but need 1 or 2 more, right? Uwisconsinmadison was mentioned, could that be a safety? HOw good is it? </p>
<p>I also will definitely be applying to UVA. Thanks for your help, sincerely appreciated!</p>
<p>LOL! You’d better focus on your exams instead of thinking and dreaming about Stanford…etc until they are over. A-level/O-level were something I feared in Hong Kong. I know the one in Singapore is probably a lot more forgiving in grading but it’s still no walk in the park.</p>
<p>Wisconsin is a good school with solid academics across many fields. Believe it or not, the school that ties Harvard in terms of graduating # CEOs in S&P’s 500 index companies is not YPS but Wisconsin! It has a lot of international students and is one of the popular backups behind top privates among my former schoolmates in HK (my school was one of the best ones in HK but it’s not as good as yours as the system there tries to get rid of elitism and prevents any school from having all the best students in one place). </p>
<p>I am not a student/parent; just a young professional engineer.</p>
<p>Again Sam,and this is becoming a habit, I must commend you on your post - thanks.</p>
<p>HAha dreams see us through,Sam. But yes I find myself strangely addicted to these forums - I’m sure many CCers will concur. </p>
<p>Oh I fear the A levels, all right. I am not sure about Hong Kong, but these are tough - much tougher than the UK version (GCSE as ooposed to the GCE here). I am just hoping to get through them, and then the world will be perfect. Yes, I am spending an inordiante amount of time doing everything BUT studying!</p>
<p>Of course, in Singapore, its meritocracy, the Spore Govt way - pick out the top kids by streaming examinations in Primary 4 (ten year olds!), again at Primary 6, and then of course the O/A levels. Its like a factory.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, I actually lived in Hong Kong a number of years ago - in fact my brother was born there! I stayed on Discovery Bay, Lantau Island, and went to DBIS (Discovery Bay International School). I just made a trip back there in June -DB has to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. Hong Kong is an amazing place - are u born and bred Xiang Kang?</p>
<p>Yes, born and bread Xiang Kang!<br>
Yes, the UK version is a joke. The one in HK is probably very similar to Sinagpore’s in terms of difficulty of the test. However, the grading is ridiculously harsh. In the past, about 1 out of 2000 students got all As in all 9 or 10 subjects each year. Many good students, even Olympiads medalists, got Cs and Ds on their certificates. Thank God I came to the US after form 4!</p>
<p>With your background you may want to consider Michigan as a safety. Also, don’t forget that the University of Virginia is at least $10K cheaper than privates, so you have a “built-in” scholarship already.
If you are considering finance UVa is an excellent choice.</p>
<p>Virginia is probably one of the best and cheapest universities for internationals. Michigan is expensive for internationals / out of state people and I heard Ann Arbor is pretty expensive too. I don’t know too much about Wisconsin, but Madison is a fairly large city - so it is probably expensive too.</p>
<p>Pick Virginia - #2 Public University in the US as rated by US News and World Reports</p>
<p>i say it;s number one ;)</p>
<p>screw berk…</p>
<p>we are too different…berk is no. 1 in its own category…</p>