<p>I’m only a sophomore, however, I’m planning on doing some university visits soon, so I’d like to get a better idea of what schools I should consider. I’m mainly looking for reach and high match schools in the US, since there’s no point in paying more for an American education that isn’t better than what I can get here (Canada). For the interests of maintaining anonymity, some info has been omitted/made more vague (PM me if needed).</p>
<p>Background Info
~International (Canada)
~Asian female
~GPA: 93.5+ in freshman year, 96+ this year
~PSAT(no prep): 230+
~School: Highly competitive private
~Rank: Unofficially 5-10/~100, no official rank</p>
<p>ECs
~250+ volunteer hours so far (summer camp, charity events, elementary school)
~Exec of 2 clubs, have been involved in them since Grade 7
~DECA (business competition)
~A relatively unknown sport (that is in the Olympics) for 6 years, 10+ hours every week (ranked 1st last year in eastern Canada, have competed internationally)</p>
<p>Awards
~Duke of Edinburgh Bronze
~Very high placement (top 20 or top 1%) in the Michael Smith Science Challenge, Cayley Math Contest, Pascal Math Contest, Fryer Math Contest, Gauss 7/8 Math Contests</p>
<p>Your stats seem really good, but your ECs seem relatively lacking, to an American. Maybe those contests are really great/difficult, and if that’s the case I’d definitely suggest you expand on them (as many may not know what they even are).
It’s really hard to give you school suggestions when you don’t mention what fields you’re interested in, or what size of school, or where you want to be.</p>
<p>Oh, sorry! I thought I already posted what field I’m interested in XD
Anyway, I’m interested in the sciences, probably either computer science, or medicine (since that’s grad school, I’d probably take something related for undergrad). I’m looking at mainly larger universities because of the wider range of activities they have, but I’m also open to LACs. Since I’d have to move away from home anyway, I have no preference concerning the location of the school except that it is within ~1 hour of a city.</p>
<p>As for the contests…well they’re meh. Not nearly as big of a deal as the AMC/AIME (for which the Canadian equivalent would be the COMC). Michael Smith has ~2000 participants, while the math contests have ~15 000</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon for CS - it’s in Pittsburgh right next to Pitt (which would be a recommendation for pre-med/med and a large school). CM is better at CS though.</p>
<p>Of course there are **tons **more since your criteria are broad. But you said "there’s no point in paying more for an American education that isn’t better than what I can get here ", so what is the point of people pointing you to American schools that will cost ~55K per year, when excellent schools in Canada are so much cheaper? And if you are considering med school, all the more reason to save money on your undergrad degree.</p>
<p>Also, I think your EC’s are fine, continue to focus on EC’s that you truly enjoy rather than trying to rack up a huge superficial list.</p>
<p>Since you don’t have any test scores yet, it’s still too early to tell, but I think you may have a chance of getting into an Ivy or an Ivy-caliber school. Have you thought about MIT? I know they have great computer sciences, and it’s easier for females to get in as opposed to males.</p>
<p>Thank you, I will go check out MIT as well :)</p>
<p>Also, @BeanTownGirl: you raise a very good point. I guess that means that I have another criteria:
The school should offer good (or at least some) financial aid (household income before tax is <100 000). I’m aiming for a price tag of ~20K (tops) paid by my family.</p>
<p>To sum up, main criteria:
-Price tag ~20K max after FA (Income <100 000)
-Relatively bigger size
-Within 1 hour of a city
-Strong computer science/medical program
-Match/High-Match/Reach schools (my safeties will all be Canadian)</p>