I do come from a underrepresenetd state and the only things I changed- state(not idaho), german(actually take a different language), sat(not 1540, actually higher lol) everything else is real, I just tweaked a few things, in spirit my profile is the same
You are in the ball park and have a profile that will make you competitive, but so will the majority of the other students applying to these schools. Use the published acceptance rates as your guide lines, and remember that if your residency doesn’t come through and you are in the international pool, it’s going to be 1/2 of that.
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Chancing, which I don’t often do, means the chance for you to ATTEND a school. That means you must both be accepted and able to afford it. That’s why we are asking. And to get a better understanding of your situation if you would like a more realistic list.
To quote something @skieurope wrote recently for another international applicant, look up the acceptance rates and divide by three.
Edit: Obviously that changes if you get your green card… from a 2% chance to 6-10% chance for some of those reach schools. I’m not trying to discourage you. As long is you have assured admittance at your state school then shoot for the stars! But I hope you’ll have some targets/matches/likelies in the mix too 
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Oh honey, so does every applicant to the famous name places. And, chancing for those schools i not just not ‘super accurate’- It isn’t accurate at all.
You are a very credible candidate, and yes, you are “good enough”. The problem for you is that at best 10-15% of the admitted students will be international students, and the famous names you are gunning for are the same ones the best of the best internationally are gunning for.
This is where fit comes in: the better the fit between you and a given school the more likely you are to get an offer. MIT is a great place to start: if you get turned down it will be because there were other people who were a better fit for MIT, not because you weren’t ‘good enough’, and not b/c somebody else had a more impressive CV.
That’s one of the reasons that blind shotgunning is such a waste of time: students often miss the point that AOs are building a class to suit their school. Do you fit (say) Reed just as well as you do (say) NYU? Somehow, I wouldn’t think so. You say that you are a hybrid humanities/science person looking to do something like a ““history of science” or “science, tech, society” major”- have you even looked at the CalTech major options? When you don’t get in, it won’t be b/c you aren’t ‘good enough’- it will be b/c the AdComm sees that you are not a great fit relative to other applicants. That’s why doing more homework on what schools are likely to be a good fit- where what they have and are looking for lines up well with what you have and are looking for.
For example, if you actually like Dartmouth in particular, have you looked at Bowdoin? You like WUSTL, so what about W&L (which has the not-need-based / intl student eligible Johnson scholarship)? etc.
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Your thread title says you’re a “documented DREAMer” (an oxymoron) and you also say:
Perhaps you’re mixing up terms or mis-stating your status
Those covered by the DREAM act are by definition undocumented, but if you’re on an H4 visa you have legal residency status.
Which is it?
And this isn’t simply a matter of semantics. My understanding (others can correct me if I’m wrong) is that in some states you can qualify for in-state tuition as a legal non-immigrant (H4 visa status) whereas as a DREAMer you have to pay out of state rates.
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6/10 isn’t going to cut it at any of those schools.
If you want to be sure of having a school to attend, I strongly suggest you take a gap year. Work and save money. What’s the rush to go to college anyway when you are in a weak position with no permanent residency?
Read this. Reject Train Going Full Speed
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This is a top heavy list of schools…regardless of your citizenship status, income, grades, SAT or ACT scores. These are all competitive schools for admission.
All of the Ivies? Are you shotgunning for prestige names? If so, please don’t! The Ivy League schools are very different…very. What is the common thread between Dartmouth and Columbia for you? Or PEnn and Cornell? All ivies but way different locations! Or Columbia with a strong core requirement, and Brown with an open curriculum.
The rest of your list is very top heavy. Where did it come from? Did you honestly research these schools, or did you just look at the rankings?
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Looks like the answer is that “fit” is defined as “prestige”.
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Chasing “prestige” is one thing (which itself is a poor choice), but wasting time is another. Why spend your time on applications to colleges that you know that your family can’t afford? You could have spent that precious time to make the other applications (to colleges that your family can afford) better.
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Agreed. Chasing prestige means maximizing your chances to ATTEND the most prestigious school that you can get admitted to. It may or may not make sense as a strategy to be accepted to a school and attend it. If you can’t attend it what is the point? Do you intend to go around telling people you were accepted by (say) Harvard? How long do you intend to go around telling people that? And most of them won’t believe you or won’t care or both.
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Lots of great publics out there with Honors colleges that have top level kids and even give $$ to international students.
Like most you will not enjoy the app process.
So if your budget is limited, apply to schools you could attend or apply for home run scholarships at schools like W&L, Vandy, WUSTL, Rice, etc.
But b4 that make sure you clarify status and eligibility with each.
If your family makes $150k, you likely won’t make budget at the Ivies. And schools like the Ivies, Tufts, and Gtown have no merit aid. So why bother? Know who else doesn’t have merit aid - Reed? So go on the fly in but the question to ask is there a secret scholarship they don’t publish for fly in attendees ? Otherwise it will assuredly be out of budget as well.
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Hey! I just want to say that all of your accomplishments are amazing. You should only apply to colleges where you are eligible for merit aid and/or financial aid. Please do not waste your time applying to places you cannot afford, you will thank yourself later. Here are some links that may be useful to you.
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Please consider the ethics of applying to schools that you would absolutely not be attending solely in order to obtain a letter of acceptance. The out-of-state publics on your list will almost certainly be charging you full tuition (perhaps minus a $2-3k “merit” award to make you feel special), so by your own statements, you could not afford to attend. By applying, you are just making the admissions process more stressful, not only for yourself, but all of those other students who might actually want to go to those those schools, whose seat you might potentially be taking. Unless your parents are genuinely using force to make you apply, please reconsider.
The privates are more justifiable chances to take, since the final cost of attending is not truly known until you’re accepted.
Considering that UCs do not give much aid to OOS students and it is quite a bit of effort to apply (with 4 PIQs) I would say do not apply. Convince your parents that it is not worth your time to apply just to see if you can get in.
This is a ‘just in case’ thought: OP have your parents said or implied that the budget is $20k, but ‘for the right college’ they will (or will try to) find a way to make it work? Regular CC posters have seen too many students who have been told this, manage to get into Y or Z on the magic college list, only to find that the parents can’t/won’t make it work. The student is then gutted to find that they are at StateU after all*.
IF there is even a hint of that in your situation, it is in your own interest to stare this down explicitly. Is there actually money, and they are making a choice about relative value (which is fair), or is it a hope and a wish by parents who would love to be able to make it happen? The ‘prestige’ of an admission offer turns out to be cold comfort when you find you can’t accept it.
*(your current plan has you writing at least 75 essays, plus doing the research needed to write each ‘why us’ essay)
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All right, after some thought and a lot of research on fit I have revised my college list to 10 universities. state university, another state university as my safeties
caltech, stanford, pomona, harvey mudd, reed, amherst, wellesley, and harvard as my reaches
How do my chances look at these places?
-I have also spoken to my parents and it looks like our budget is higher than 20k, it is around the number predicted by NPC’s
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Google Class of 2026 acceptance rates for each listed school, and then divide by 3. You’re certainly qualified, assuming you write exceptional essays, but nobody here can quantify any better
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What is that number, and for which school?
Make sure to run the NPCs at all the schools on your list, NPCs can vary, even among meet full need schools.
Also, make sure when you are running the NPCs you back out (adding to the estimated COA) from the estimate the Federal Direct Student Loan and any federal work-study the estimate includes (because international students don’t qualify for those programs).
Lastly, if your parents are divorced, own real estate beyond a primary home, or own a business, the NPCs may not be accurate for you…are any of these situations the case for you? Make sure your parents include all income and any international assets when completing NPCs.
ETA: It would be good if you clarify whether you are undocumented, DACA, or have an H-4 visa.
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I noted in my post, H4
Got it, the confusion was because you used the term ‘Dreamer’ in your thread title, which means undocumented/DACA (from the Dream Act).
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