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What's my change of getting into Boston U dual degree/Brown-RISD-dual-degree program?


Aquilina

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Hi :) My name is Aquilina and I am currently a 11th grader studying IB in Beijing. I love both chemistry and art, and am very interested in promoting science/chemistry communication through art and design. Thus, I am considering applying for Brown-RISD-dual-degree or BU CFA/CAS dual degree for chemistry and graphic design.

I wonder about my chance of getting into the 2 schools.

My score this semester would probably be a 38/39 out of 42, and I am getting continuous high honor rolls since I entered international school last year (I was in Chinese public school in 9th grade). I haven't taken SAT yet, but have a 110 in TOEFL. 

 

Below are my extracurriculars:

Astronomy internship at the National Observatory at Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Pre-college program at RISD last summer majoring in game design.

Artist at Young Scientist Journal, an international peer-reviewed journal written and edited exclusively by teenagers. I design graphics for the published version of the journal and promotional materials for YSJ activities, for instance, art competition at Judd School, a very good British High School. Along with the other teenagers worldwide, I also arranged a science communication conference at Oxford Uni. 

Chemistry blogger. I have a blog called 'Chem Is Try', which focuses on the theme 'chemistry, multidisciplinary' and creative thinking about chemistry. One of the articles was recommended by the Royal Society of Chemistry via ChemNet. 

Founder of Alchemy--scientific visualisation & illustration program promoting science communication through visual arts. It's in cooperation with several societies and institutions, for instance, Tsinghua University press, Beijing University of Chemical Technology and RSC Beijing section. I am designing periodic graphics of elements and illustrating astronomy as the current projects of Alchemy, and I am planning to create materials, videos and set up exhibitions educating the public about science/chemistry with BUCT.

Member of the student government.

Piano practise at home.

 

I currently have one recommendation letter from my drawing teacher in RISD.

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Several teachers have told me that not all universities would like to see extracurriculars like these. I value interdisciplinary thinking, but some universities like students to have a linear approach towards academics. What's more, I don't have competitions, volunteering experiences, MUN, mock trials and debate like other Chinese students from international departments in public schools. My scores are not as strong as theirs either. I heard that I need to compete with them in order to get into the best universities, but generally speaking, I am not as strong in either academics or activities compared to them. 

 

cv_elements_helium.jpg

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By the way, the students at international departments are usually accepted into the most prestigious schools like Stanford, UChicago, Duke, Cornell. However, most of the students in my school could only get to universities ranked out of 50 in the US or the univs that have never been heard about. 

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Brown is a pretty prestigious university, if for the most part only because of its name as an Ivy League University. However, like most American Universities, they value holistic admissions. Your academic performance seems strong enough that it'll put you amongst the top percentiles of applicants to Brown (for example, the average IB score of UPenn, an arguably even more prestigious university, is 38/45). Your extracurriculars also seem good enough – not everyone posts blogs about their passion, nor do most applicants planning to study Chemistry would be skilled in Graphic Design. These are some of the various niches you demonstrate that really makes you stand out. However, second only to your academic transcript, is your SAT score, which is also highly valued. But if you can get a score of at least 1380/1600, you'll stand a decent chance of getting in as despite that SAT score being average, other areas of your application will make up for that. 

Edited by IB`ez
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The problem is that universities usually require Chinese students to be very outstanding and the overall acceptance rate of Chinese students is very low. The best universities usually don't accept Chinese students even they have a 1500+ on the new SAT. To be frank, many of the international departments here in China give students fake GPAs (4.0 or 42 out of 42) which could enable them to focus on their toefl or sat. Thus, it's common for Chinese students to get 110+ in toefl and 1500+ in SAT. There are many agents here to help students get into the best extracurricular programs in order to put the students into the best universities. These agents know about what activities top schools want, for example, international volunteering program and top STEM competitions. We don't give fake GPA here in international school. If you get a 2, your semester grade would be a 2 instead of a 7. Unfortunately, I need to compete with those students in international departments. So I don't think I can have a chance of getting into these univs. 

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American schools, particularly the Ivies and the other top notch schools, are a crapshoot to get into. Unless you well exceed the average admission SAT/ACT scores and/or GPA, you cannot guarantee getting in anywhere. Part of that's due to the college application culture here. We apply to 10+ schools and hope at least one comes back favorably.

The only real advice I can offer as someone who's done the American admissions system is that SAT/ACT scores are key to keeping your application out of the trash pile right off the bat. It sounds funny, I know. But I'm pretty sure there's some degree of truth to it. Also, that there are top notch schools beyond the Ivies. They just don't carry the Ivy title, but academically they are on par.

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Guys, thanks very much :-) But I still wonder if I should continue to do the things that I am doing now and follow my passion (which I and people around me think I actually should do) instead of imitating students in the international departments. I am not academically strong, analytical and logical. I consider myself as a very creative person. It is VERY rare to see a Chinese student doing scientific art and writing blog posts combining chemistry and human culture. These activities might not ensure me into the best universities--it really depends on whether the admission officer likes them or not. 

 

You know, some people just don't accept multidisciplinary thinking between science and art and I have come across several of these people

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And there is also a culture among Chinese students in international departments or public schools which I don't like. They despise art students or humanities students (by considering them as useless), and they worship the person who could get the best grades and win the best competitions. Some students who are in the top universities call less academically strong students losers. 

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8 hours ago, Aquilina said:

And there is also a culture among Chinese students in international departments or public schools which I don't like. They despise art students or humanities students (by considering them as useless), and they worship the person who could get the best grades and win the best competitions. Some students who are in the top universities call less academically strong students losers. 

Sorry not sorry to be blunt, but those students are retarded. Be yourself, honestly. The last thing Uni officers need are more perfect SAT and GPA Chinese students. That culture you described amongst Chinese students won't prevail amongst American universities. Keep updating your blog, and keep yourking on your art designs. They make you stand out, and what you should NOT do is try to imitate the traditionally academically oriented Chiense students.

Edited by IB`ez
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6 hours ago, Aquilina said:

And there is also a culture among Chinese students in international departments or public schools which I don't like. They despise art students or humanities students (by considering them as useless), and they worship the person who could get the best grades and win the best competitions. Some students who are in the top universities call less academically strong students losers.

I don't think it's just a Chinese student thing, but regardless, it's a stupid concept. As @IB`ez said, you shouldn't try to imitate other people, and honestly, screw people who don't consider art and humanities to be important. Art and the humanities are absolutely goddamn necessary in our society, and if anyone says otherwise, they need to reexamine the advances that we've made in society over time. The way our governments run, the way we understand people and ourselves, and the ideals we stand for, they've changed so much over the past centuries due to the influence of art and humanities. Our ability to understand the past of humanity comes from those areas, for goodness sake.

You do you @Aquilina, and kick butt at graphic design and the sciences. Ace it!

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8 hours ago, Aquilina said:

And there is also a culture among Chinese students in international departments or public schools which I don't like. They despise art students or humanities students (by considering them as useless), and they worship the person who could get the best grades and win the best competitions. Some students who are in the top universities call less academically strong students losers. 

Funny thing is, even in top universities like Harvard, Yale, and even MIT, you'll still have people (though a minority) to have gotten in with 2.0 GPAs and 1000 SAT scores, because they're either unrepresented minorities, have special connections/relatives with prior service in the army/alumni parents/special circumstances – people who will get in by doing nothing at all. So really, no matter how much they try to distance themselves from the average bunch by being as academically strong as possible, those students you described will still be on the same boat with others they call "losers". 

Edited by IB`ez
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Both science, art and philosophy are parts of the human thinking and human culture. I agree with what @apoello said. Art and humanities are very important in our society. They cultivate our creativity, critical thinking skills and tell us who we are as human. There's lots of humanitarian aspects in science as well. If you have read ncle Tungsten or the Periodic Table by Primo Levi, you will get to see that the discovery of elements usually accompanies with historical or culture background. For example, the discovery of phosphorus was originated from alchemist's dream to discovery the philosopher's stone. The discovery of benzene originated from Kekule's dream. Scientific thinking and research also need creativity. Innovation usually occurs when different disciplinaries 'clash' with each other. 

 

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