Bright kid....however...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello :)</p>

<p>Am a newbie to this forum and a complete novice when it comes to college admissions. </p>

<p>Just a bit of background - we live overseas. My daughter has decided she wants to study in the US for her undergrad degree due to the wide subject choices available. My main worry is the cost of college education and the fact that she will be living so far away from us. Our family income is very low - just below $35k a year.</p>

<p>The only things going for my girl are that she is exceptionally gifted and extremely ambitious. </p>

<p>She is interested in the following 4 - Stanford, Yale, Harvard, MIT. I know these places are really tough/if not impossible to get in to and add to that the disadvantage of being an international student with a need for financial aid.</p>

<p>My daughter is in Grade 12 (will graduate at the end of this year) in a selective school for academically gifted students. She recently sat the SAT test and scored 2310 (this is without any preparation). Reading 800 Math 770 and Writing 740. She will be taking the two subject tests soon.</p>

<p>Her cohort (of 250) ranking in Year 11 is 1 with a GPA of 4.0/4
She took 2 year 12 subjects in year 11 and achieved perfect scores in both (History and Maths)
She is taking a University Maths subject in Year 12.
She has achieved state and country level gold medals in English Writing, French, History, Maths for the past three consecutive years.
Participates in a number of extra curricular activities as well.</p>

<p>Does she stand any chance however slim at all, to even be considered for the above 4? </p>

<p>Any words of encouragement/advice will be really appreciated. Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Yale, Harvard and MIT are need blinds, that is, these colleges don’t look at the applicants ability to pay for the college while going through their applications, however, every other university does!
As in, colleges, while evaluating international student, do look at their ability to pay for the college while admitting them. International Students asking for financial aid have lesser chance of getting in. But the “need-blind colleges” (google/wikipedia the term) do not look at their requirement for financial aid while evaluating their apps and admitting 'em, and meet their full required financial aid if admitted.
So, at Harvard, Yale and MIT, that shouldn’t be a problem.</p>

<p>I think, you Daughter has a fairly good chance at unis. However, please note that many such students with international awards, perfect scores, perfect grades and GPA are also in the reject list. Admissions at these unis is just like a lottery, at the end of the day, and it is the Essays that help the student get in or get rejected amongst the highly-qualified pool of Students.</p>

3

<p>Thank you. </p>

<p>Luckily, it won’t crush my daughter if she doesn’t get into one of the colleges of her choice. She is assured of a place and scholarship at home. I’d be happy too as that would mean she stays with us and Uni is just 30 minutes by train!</p>