I’m Pawan, an international student from South Asia.
I have following qualifications,
SAT 2016 May (new)
Reading and Writing - 600, Math - 690 (Total-1290)
Subject test - I will sit for October and hopefully I will be able to score around 700 for Math-I and Biology
I was always in top 5% in high school ( A/L’s majoring Physics, Chemistry and Biology)
Best student of the school in 2012
International Science Olympiad (Two gold medals and one bronze medal)
Two times Intel ISEF (USA) finalist
Many National Honors including special appreciations from the heads of government
Represented National Music band in international folklore festivals
National winner in Music ( classical)
Volunteer experience since grade 10
Involved to many extra-curricular activities in school
*I’m a first generation college student
I have accomplished all these achievements by hurdling lots of barriers since my parents were separated when I was five years old and my mother’s monthly income is about less than 200 USD. I have one brother and It’s really hard to manage our daily needs because still two of myself and my brother are not earning for the family.
QUESTION - I thought of applying need blind US universities because I have no financial situation to pay. Are there any possibilities to get in to a college like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, or Amherst with my above mentioned qualification ?
(or are there any suggestions of universities which suit for my financial situation ? )
Your comments will be highly appreciated. Thank you!
Pawan.
Yes. You have a chance. The odds are difficult for everyone, but your science awards are extremely impressive and will get you noticed anywhere.
You are correct in focusing on Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT and Amherst, as they are the only schools that are need blind for international applicants and guarantee full aid to international students. But be aware that many other great colleges may not be need blind in admissions, but DO provide full aid to those who are accepted. That means that IF they chose to accept you, they will provide you with the aid you need.
If English is his second language, that English score is not low. Those extracurriculars are amazing and this is someone who came from a family that lives on less than $2500 per YEAR.
There are many elite schools that would find someone who has overcome that to be much more impressive than a suburban kid who got a 1500 SAT after prepping with a private tutor for six months.
However, there are no guarantees, and yes, it would be better if the SAT score was higher.
Did I say his SAT was low? No, I said it was low for those schools, which it is. He’s below the 25th percentile for all of those schools. As an international that puts him at a huge disadvantage. Literally everyone applying to MIT, Yale, Princeton, and Harvard have impressive resumes, and they get plenty of people from low SES backgrounds with superior stats, especially people from other countries who have to have highers stats anyways. Does OP have a chance at acceptance? Ya sure, but all 4 of those schools are super high reaches.
Apply to the five need blind universities and add some top LACs - if a girl, include the five remaining seven sisters’, plus HarveyMudd and Caltech.
Do keep us updated. My jest wishes are with you.
Your new SAT score of 1290 translates to an 1810 on the old SAT, and that is just too low a score even with your EC’s for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT or Amherst.
FWIW: International students do NOT have the same odds as US students – their odds are in fact much lower. Most U.S. selective colleges limit the number of international students to around 10% to 11% of their incoming class. For example, with a freshman class of about 1660, Harvard admits about 160 to 190 international students per year – and most of those students come from just six countries: Canada, The United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Japan, Korea and China.
If you go to the Harvard International Office Statistics page (http://www.hio.harvard.edu/statistics) and select from the pull down menu STUDENTS, YOUR COUNTRY, HARVARD COLLEGE (the undergraduate school), you can see how many of your fellow countrymen are currently attending the college. Divide that number by 4 to get an idea of about how many students are admitted from your country each year. Harvard doesn’t publish the number of applicants from each international country, so you might be one of hundreds or thousands applying from your country – it’s anyone’s guess. But to be admitted, you have to be the best-of-the-best from your country. Therefore, it’s doubtful you could get into those schools – or any ivy league school for that matter – with your scores (sorry).
