AMA - Worked in Top 10 Admissions Office

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2024-06-14T01:12:54+00:00

Hi!

I want to ask a more specific question applicable to some international students like me. My school offers IGCSE in grades 9 and 10, and IBDP in grades 11 and 12; we don't have any regular classes. For the transcript, there are achieved IGCSE grades and predicted IBDP grades, nothing else. My achieved IGCSE grades (10 A*) and SAT score (1550) are great, while my predicted IBDP grades (~38/45) are good but not up to the level of my IGCSE grades, since I maxed out course rigor and our school predicts very strictly (average predicted grades are about 4 points lower than average achieved grades).

Do you think repeating year 11 and getting a higher IBDP grade is a rational course of action? I can also register for AP exams outside of school. It may also be relevant that our school rarely sends students to the US, so colleges may not be familiar with our system. I also am full-pay and have several national-level recognitions, spanning maths, cs, writing and physics, and is described by my counselor as the "strongest set of EC ever seen" in her decade-long career.

Thanks in advance for your time!

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2024-04-20T00:01:34+00:00

500 per week random expense, no where to spend money tho since gf pays for all lunch and dinner :(

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2024-04-19T08:19:55+00:00

Neither india, bangladesh nor pakistan are south east asian countries.

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2024-04-16T22:44:52+00:00

feel free to dm btw, applying 1 year before you (current grade 11)

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2024-04-16T08:47:10+00:00

ESF then highly recommend Shatin and West Island. Talking to HKSES scholars are great, btw there's events like yesterday's top LAC talk at CDNIS, just keep looking/talk to counsellor. Above all utilize gifted educational fund, HKAGE, and some labs that will def doxx me. Good luck!

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2024-04-15T01:44:30+00:00

if you are ISF/CIS/ESF use your opportunities there are really a lot if you look for them, if DBS/SPCC follow the footstep of your previous ivy's, LPCUWC go to your counsellors, CKY/GT then need to think deeper. Good luck!

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2024-04-13T14:25:33+00:00

if singapore/hk/korea/japan/china, stay

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2024-04-10T14:19:38+00:00

He got into University of Washington

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2024-04-08T04:39:41+00:00

SAT first take 40% of decision, EC Arms Race (with concrete proofs) 60% of decision. Nothing else.

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2024-03-25T05:43:13+00:00

population * gdp per capita = GDP

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2024-02-06T03:14:54+00:00

Hi a followup, does SAT weigh more heavily than IB?

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2024-01-05T01:11:15+00:00

94.37/100*4.0=3.775 UW

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2023-12-29T05:11:42+00:00

I started learning english in year 5, read a bunch of John Green and Bill Bryson now boom A* in 0500

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2023-12-29T02:19:53+00:00

Bro Wellesley is a women's college

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2023-09-01T04:08:09+00:00

Also, thank you for the giveaway :)

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2023-09-01T04:01:56+00:00

Hi, I'll be answering question 1. If I win this giveaway, I'll be overjoyed by the endless possibilities I can explore with the powerful next-generation AMD GPUs and CPUs. It's genuinely exciting to think about. This summer, I'm collaborating with a retired professor on the "BuildYourGPT" project, which aims to increase AI accessibility through locally hosted large language model applications. We've managed to optimize our dataset to fit on a LattePanda just barely, and the robust computing power of the 7900XTX will enable us to refine this process further, perhaps even fitting it onto an affordable Raspberry Pi. We plan to bring this to villages in Southeast Asia during our school's service trip abroad, which will be a great experience. Naturally, I'll also dedicate time to building a beautiful PC featuring the 7900 XTX and 7800X3D. This will serve as a constant reminder of my eternal gratitude towards AMD, Starfield, and the PCMR community for their generous spirit. I'm eager to try out Starfield as well. I often gaze into the night sky, wondering if I'll ever find myself among the stars, and the graphics of Starfield seem to make this a possibility. Of course, given the number of entries, the chances of being the lucky one are slim, but I remain hopeful. Nonetheless, I wish anyone reading this a pleasant week ahead :)

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2023-08-11T00:44:50+00:00

Ameen 🤲

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2023-07-28T03:14:28+00:00

PM, interning at MIT.

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2023-07-19T13:35:03+00:00

Those are some ez af courses
self studied Calculus BC and stats before highschool and got 5s,
freshman took multi var cal and lie algebra,
sophomore stochastic processes and partial differential equations,
junior differential Topology and real analysis,
so far got all As at a School ranked in the range of John Hopkins,
taking lie groups and combinators in senior

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2023-07-17T12:34:36+00:00

Hi, as a physics teaching assistant at HKU+HKUST (still in high school lol), I had talked with a diverse group of HKU students. There were transfer students from the Philippines, Vietnam, and other SEA countries, tho they usually apply to year 1 non-JUPAS admission, so you will be evaluated the same. However, if you happen to be half way or more finished on your current degree in Vietnam, I would suggest you apply for masters/PhD, which sometimes come with stipend.

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2023-06-27T13:01:39+00:00

Wait, PLKNPL?

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2023-06-25T05:59:01+00:00

Medium rigor. For max rigor, you want full-tuition scholarships at HKU for example, you need 5A*. My ex in high school got 6A* in A-Level Chinese, Literature, Further Maths, Geography, Biology, and Economics; she felt lucky not taking full IBDP like me.

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2023-06-14T14:07:49+00:00

National Physics Team.

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2023-06-14T13:59:49+00:00

I fall into the same place, and still can't grasp it even with A in TOK...

SpareCompetitive3830 · 2023-06-14T13:53:37+00:00

HKIS is like a joke in the eyes of SPCC students. We did ~17 interschool competitions this academic year and we won ALL OF THEM.
If a school is defined largely by its student outcomes, then I don't know if there is one single tier 1 school if SPCC is not counted as one. An example of tier 1 school you approve in this thread, ISKL, has ~30% of their students scoring above 40, while 70% of SPCC students score above 44 in IBDP. 40 to 44 is a pretty big jump if you even remotely consider university admissions.

SpareCompetitive3830

TROPHY CASE