What are my chances? What should I improve?

What Are My Chances?
#1

Hello, I am an upcoming senior and I would like to apply to UPenn (probably Early Decision), Harvard, Princeton, NYU, UChicago, Duke, Stanford and Dartmouth. I’m a Guatemalan resident with Korean nationality.

Test Scores:
SAT: 2220
Math 780
Writing 730
Reading 710

SAT Subject Test:
Spanish: 800
Hopefully Math II: 750~800

AP Tests:
Spanish 5
AP English Language: 4
AP US History: 3

GPA:
Freshmen-4.0
Sophomore-4.0
Junior-4.23

EC:
-Varsity Soccer Team (3 years)
-Soccer Season Top Scorer (2 consecutive years)
-Varsity Basketball Team (3 years)
-Varsity Volleyball Team (1 year)
-Church Worship Leader (3 years)
-Harvard Association Cultivating Inter American Democracy Secretary (1 year)
-Harvard Association Cultivating Inter American Democracy Member (2 years)
-Class Representative (1 year)
-Church Youth Group President of 50 members (1 year)
-Senior Fundraising Store Manager (1 year)
-Guitar Teaching (1 year)
-Teacher Assistant (1 year)
-Translator for a UN partnered NGO (1 Summer)
-NGO Social Enterprise Department Translator (1 Summer)
-Income Generation Department Assistant and Translator (1 Summer)
-Translator for Mission Globalization (1 Summer)
-Over 700 hours of Community Service

I am pretty confident about my essay.

For my recommendation letter, I have two teachers I am close with and the Country Director of the NGO I have been working at.

Will I be able to be accepted? What should I do during my Senior year in order to improve my chances?
Thank you!

#2

So you are an international student, right?
All of them except NYU(match in my opinion) are reaches because one, you are an international, two, you are an Asian(more competition), three these schools are virtually reaches for both domestic and international students.

How much can you pay? Do you need FA? What are your safeties?

ECs are less competitive because very few of your ECs lasted more than 1 or 2 years. If your focus is NGO activities, focus on those.

#3

@paul2752 Thank you for your reply! Yes, I am an international student. However, I’ve heard of cases in which the Ivy Leagues admit Asians as Latin Americans since they’ve basically lived their whole life in a foreign country (in my case, Guatemala). One of my friends was accepted as a Guatemalan. I’m not sure if this is a set procedure.
I can pay up to about 50~60% of the tuition. I haven’t thought of my safeties :(. I would add one more year on most, if not all my ECs during my senior year.
Thanks!

#4

I have no idea about Asian considered as Latino like you mentioned, but I guess you can argue it that way. I would contact admission office, though. What majors are you considering?

For safety, I would add University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa and Howard University. With your GPA and test scores, you are eligible for full tuition and virtually full ride, respectively.

You can PM mom2collegkids if you want to know more about UA, or just look around UA forum.

#5

@paul2752 Sorry for the late response. I’m planning on majoring on business. It does get easier as a Latin American right? I will add those two.
Thanks!

#6

As I said before, I m not sure you will be considered as Latin American just because you lived in Latin America.
That’s similar to me claiming to be a Caucasian kid because I lived in heavily white country, like UK or France(not USA because USA has lots of non white citizens/perm residents/foreigners). Why not ask the admission office?

It depends on schools. Some schools won’t care if you go business major or not but some schools may require you additional application. However, if you do manage to be considered as a Latin American, yes, it should get easy, theoretically.