1
2 years ago
Admissions Advice
[edited]

lolloolll
Answered

blah bla

12th
12th-grade
CBSE
Cornell
harvard
icse
india
indianaspirant
IvyLeague
MIT
NYU
stanford
1
7
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3 answers

3
Accepted Answer
2 years ago

What most International students do not understand is that Ivy League colleges are not looking for perfect students with impressive resumes. They are not interviewing for a job. They are rather looking for uniquely qualified students who have an innate love of learning and gobs of intellectual curiosity that is self-motivated.

So unlike the college admissions process in India, China, S.Korea, Japan, etc, Ivy League colleges and top Elites like Stanford, Duke, and UChicago are not meritocratic. Perfect test scores and grades are not the key markers. They are only used as threshold criteria meaning that if you have a 3.9 GPA you don't need a 4.0. And if you have a 1530+ SAT or 35+ ACT, you don't need a 1600 or a 36 ACT score.

I think what most International students need to do to be considered viable for these kinds of schools is show evidence of intellectual vitality outside of the classroom. Too many Int'l students focus on a checklist of ECs that they think are impressive but don't really support intrinsic love of learning. So having a spike narrative is more important to differentiate yourself from hundreds and thousands of students applying to the very same schools.

Good luck.

3
2
2 years ago

You can still get into top universities with a 50% score in 12th grade. You can explain that health issues caused the drop in the Additional Information section. It is also important to remember that grades are not everything in the US college admissions process. Writing a great Common App essay will boost your chances more than any academic improvements you could make at this point.

It is great that you took the AP exams. You will get college credit for your 4's at every school you apply to. The exam scores themselves will not help you in the admissions process, since they are only used to award you college credit. Earning good grades in those AP's is what will help you.

Your SAT score will compensate for your 12th grade final exam score. A 1500 is already quite good, though you should ideally score a 1550 or higher for top schools. CollegeVine's chancing engine will give you more details about how colleges will view your extracurriculars. Overall, they are very impressive - several could be considered Tier 1!

Hope this helps!

2
1
2 years ago

Are you taking a gap year right now?

1
What are your chances of acceptance?
Your chance of acceptance
Duke University
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UCLA
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Your chancing factors
Unweighted GPA: 3.7
1.0
4.0
SAT: 720 math
200
800
| 800 verbal
200
800

Extracurriculars

Low accuracy (4 of 18 factors)

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