<p>I'm and international student (Indian citizen living in Venezuela) that is considering applying, but I need to know whether I stand a good chance or not. Here are some quick numbers:
SAT: 1410 (690 Math & 720 Verbal)
SAT IIs (Retaking): Math IIC - 700, Writing - 640, and Physics - 640
GPA: 3.34 on a 4.0 scale
Rank: Approx. top 20%</p>
<p>Oh, and here is just some side info:
- Doing full IB with 4 Higher Level courses.
- Go to an American International School in Caracas, Venezuela.
- Can only pay about $6000 per year.
- Need A LOT of financial-aid.</p>
<p>If I can't get into this college, could you suggest places where I could get in? And also, if it's not too much trouble, a few places that would quite possibly offer me a merit award and need-based aid? Thank you very much to those who help me out! It's very much appreciated, and if anyone needs help, please free to ask me. </p>
<p>~Abhishek Kumar</p>
<p>PS: If you want me to present my ECs and awards, tell me, and I'll do so.</p>
<p>Thank you, fellow peeps. Carleton, eh? I've never heard of them, but I'll be sure to look into them, as you've said that they offer good aid/merit awards. And a preliminary list of schools to consider...not so much as of yet, but I'm making one, and plan to have it done sometime this week. As of yet, this is what I have:</p>
<p>Reach: Columbia, Dartmouth, U. of Waterloo, and perhaps Yale or Tufts.
Good Match: Colgate, Vassar, Williams (??), Dennison, Boston U., and would like some more.
Safty: Earlham, UT Austin, Ohio Wesleyan, U of Arizona, and Northeastern U.</p>
<p>Williams College's selectivity matches those of Columbia & Dartmouth (I know it's lot harder to get in than Tuft).. It's definitely not in the same category of selectivity as Dennison, Boston U.</p>
<p>i agree. williams would be kinda reach ( who knows though).. And actually, Carleton scholarship/fin aid for int'l students is EXTREMELY competitive.</p>
<p>I agree.. getting Financial aid @ colgate would be harder than getting in Columbia (However, getting aid from Columbia would be much harder than getting it from Carelton)</p>
<p>Jesus! That is scary! Hm... all right, must reconsider my list then. Yeah, my Economics teacher did his masters at Macalester; I'll ask him about it. So... Williams would be a reach, right? Well, if so, could you suggest some other places that I could lable as my "Good match" and "Reach"?</p>
<p>The Mac representative came to our school today! He was such a nice guy! Plus, mini is right, Macalester has a lot of aid available for int'l (they really try to attract many int'l students). Additional note, on top of renja888's bad news- </p>
<p>Williams is a great school (I'm an alum). But Macalester not only has more international students and better financial aid for them, but much better foreign language departments, much better JYA opportunities (and many more students in them), better IR generally speaking, and a much more cosmopolitan atmosphere, being in the Twin Cities rather than the Purple Valley. And its economic department is not chopped liver!</p>
<p>Selectivity isn't the whole story. Put Mac in New England and it would be just as selective as Billsville.</p>
<p>Mini--I've heard people say things of that sort about numerous schools ("put mac in new england and it would be just as selective as billsville"). I doubt that that's correct--put Mac in New England and it'd have to directly compete against Williams for students (right now it draws from a slightly different applicant pool). Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see that as being a good thing for Mac.</p>
<p>For those curious about schools giving out merit aid, Carleton also gives out some. However, it's important to understand that schools such as Williams that are 100% needblind for internationals will often be more generous with "need-based aid" than schools such as Carleton or Mac will be with their "merit-based aid." Furthermore, if the "need" determined by Williams is insufficient for you, tell that to admissions and you will probably be pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>Williams isn't the only school that does this but from what i've seen and experienced, they seem to be the most generous. If you get an aid package that is insufficient, many schools will negotiate that package with you. Williams in particular will offer match (or surpass) superior packages offered by competing schools.</p>
<p>"Mini--I've heard people say things of that sort about numerous schools ("put mac in new england and it would be just as selective as billsville"). I doubt that that's correct--put Mac in New England and it'd have to directly compete against Williams for students (right now it draws from a slightly different applicant pool). Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see that as being a good thing for Mac.."</p>
<p>Put Mac in New England (in a city) and its superior language programs (I don't think Williams could currently break the top 25), superior JYA opportunities, superior commitment to international diversity in pure numbers and cultural diversity in programming, and superior IR offerings would draw off some Williams students and not others. In the meantime, though, international students can benefit from better offerings (in certain areas) at lesser selectivity - what could possibly be wrong with that? </p>
<p>What Haon means by "pleasantly surprised" is that Williams is "need-blind" (only not really) until April, at which time students they want miraculously become poorer (as they do at lots of other colleges too, so you can play them off against each other in the poverty sweepstakes.) So the best bet is to apply to a bunch of them and see in what direction the gods rain down their blessings.</p>
<p>I agree with what Haon said earlier. My daughter was one of the four international students accepted by Williams last year as an Early Decision applicant. The financial aid she was initially offered was good but less than what we thought according to our own calculation based on the formula several colleges put up on the web as a reference. I contacted the Financial Aid Office, and the revised offer we received was very much in line with the number we hoped, if not better. Therefore, our personal experience suggests to us that Williams is indeed very generous for talented international students. </p>
<p>For Supernal_being, your test scores and class rank may be too low to count Williams as your good match, unless you can demonstrate that you are extremely talented on a specific area with some major awards. Good luck!</p>