I changed the title. If you don’t approve of my wording I can change it back or to something else. 
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While they can give a rough idea, NPC’s are generally inaccurate for international applicants
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@some-random-user, getting clarification from your parents is really important and honing your list are two pieces of very good work!
Your new list of reaches makes sense- I can see a thread through why you might be interested in all of them, you are a credible candidate for all of them, and it is not an impossible number of essays to write (& write well). Don’t be afraid to go back to the list and keep refining it as you do the research for the ‘why us’ essays. As you hone in on your actual favorites (not just the name, but ones that you feel you ‘click’ with best, shuffle the order in which you write the essays- you want your favorites to be in the 3-5 range of the essays you write (you do get better as you go, but you also burn out after a time!).
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Just wanted to pop in and say that “documented dreamer” is valid term, but it’s less likely to affect students when they are applying as high school seniors. It refers to those in danger of aging out of their legal family status at 21.
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Yes, this will be an issue for OP if they don’t become a permanent resident by the time they turn 21.
Don’t bother. No one will ever ask you where you were accepted.
It’s kind of like a minor - very rarely is it important to anyone other than you. That’s a lot of money and time spent for something no one else will care about.
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If you think you’ll get your green card before the next admissions cycle, then a gap year could be the way to go.
Does the public you could commute to allow accepted students to defer admission?
If I were in your position and had reasonable certainty that I’d be able to apply with legal residency the following year, I think I would file only a small number of applications this year:
- The public flagship you can commute to
- Washington & Lee, in hopes of landing the full-ride Johnson Scholarship. (Odds aren’t terrible - they give it to 10% of accepted students. Geographic and racial diversity will help (I don’t know that they officially count Asian students as URM, but their student population is under 4% Asian so it’s at least an unofficial plus), and your stats and other qualifications certainly make you a strong candidate.
- Anyplace else like W&L where you’ve got a decent shot at big merit.
Then, you see what you’ve got when the decisions come in, identify your best plan among those choices, and see what happens with the residency process. If it’s looking like your green card still won’t come through before the next cycle, just get started with college in Fall 2023 and leave your super-elite aspirations for grad school. If you do think you’ll have a green card to apply for Fall 2024, then weigh whether you want to take the gap year. If you’ve got a full ride under your belt, you still might want to go with that. But you can consider it, run the NPC’s (which at least will be applicable at that point) and compare the affordability of full-need-met elite private U’s with the options you have.
IMHO, this plan would be better than applying now to all of your most-desired schools, and then having to REapply after a change of status - having been rejected once could be a less advantageous position to be in than being a first time applicant.
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SMU. Seattle. And many more have full rides. And publics like Troy grant full rides to high achievers.
Schools like Bama…I’m sure there are more…have the same auto merit for Intl as domestic
Right. So the filter is, which of these would she realistically choose to attend over her in-state flagship, which sounds like a very solid option. If the best-case scholarship scenario at any given school doesn’t appeal more than the default plan of attending the commutable university, then there’s no point in applying. If it would be in the running by comparison, then apply. That, IMHO, should be the whole application strategy for this year. Then, there can be a separate decision about taking a run at the super-elites for '24. At least, that’s what I’d do. YMMV.
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This is my logic as well, I definitely will look into washington & lee, I have been hearing good things about the johnson scholarship… but do you think I stand a chance at getting into at least one ivy league? I am just wondering how competitive my profile is
As a domestic/green card applicant, sure, I think you have a shot. You’re still an unhooked applicant, and the competition is steep, so there’s no “slam dunk” among the Ivy+ schools… but it’s not a pipe dream either.
In the international pool, I’m less optimistic. You’re up against the best-of-the-best from countries all over the world, and you’re pooled with one of the most over-represented countries at that.
From what you’re saying, the NPC projections from the very most tippy-top competitive schools (which on the whole are also the most generous) are a stretch for your family - more expensive than your in-state public but still doable for a highly-desirable school. This means that many full-need-met schools in the next tier - slightly less competitive but also a bit less generous - may be pointless to consider, because the price point will be too high and the perceived prestige-payoff not high enough. (Although you should still run NPC’s, because results may vary. For example, Grinnell comes to mind as one example of a school that would be a very plausible admit for you, and that can be - thanks to its large endowment - surprisingly generous with both need-based aid and merit. There’s a lot of applicant-pool overlap between Grinnell and Reed, but your finances could end up looking better at Grinnell - run the numbers and see. Both are very strong at placing students in top grad programs. Grinnell also has a relatively high percentage of international students - about 19% of the student body, vs. 10% at Reed - so it could potentially be worth an app in the first cycle if you were to go with the two-phase approach I suggested.)
With regard to women’s colleges - you’re signalling your openness to these by listing Wellesley, and yet you’re not considering the women’s colleges that are in consortia with co-ed schools you’re considering. (If Pomona and Mudd, why not Scripps? If Amherst, why not Smith &/or Mt. Holoyke?) Maybe these schools aren’t generous enough $-wise, but at least run the #'s and see. Holyoke also gives some full-tuition scholarships.
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Of course you have a chance. It’s just not a very big one- and it is not equal at each of the Ivy league schools, b/c you will fit some of them better than others. Again, look at each of those schools as individuals, not as a label: which one(s) fit/s you? Who has programs that speak to you? Figure out which ones are the best match for you.
You help yourself- and your parents!! - by getting your head out of having and acceptance at an “Ivy” being your metric of success.
True story: a family member with a multi-generational legacy tie to one of HYP (including buildings named after family member alums) and stats comparable to yours, was raised to believe that anything less than an “Ivy” was not good enough. She was distraught when she was deferred from that Ivy SCEA, and then denied from all the Ivies she applied to. Her mother (who was sure that her profile + legacy ties would get her through) deeply regrets the emphasis they put on “Ivy or bust”, and said how sad she was that she had set her daughter up to feel like a failure for “only” getting into JHU. The story has a happy ending: it turns out that she was a great fit at JHU, got into an amazing grad program and now has a dream job. But oh, the unnecessary pain that both the student and the parents went through.
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I think you need to check your status with each school b4 applying.
As for getting into an Ivy - who knows?
But if you don’t do the NPC - you might find out it’s $85K a year - are you going? If not, why bother applying. Just so you can say - I got in. That’s ridiculous.
If you can afford it, by all means - but based on what you say your income is and what you can spend - the Ivies, Reed - all of them are out.
You can try W&L.
You can try Troy - a public in Alabama.
The Scholars PLUS Award
- Students with a 33-36 ACT/1450-1600 RSAT and a 3.7 GPA will receive tuition, full housing and meal plan
And schools like these.
Is that better than your state flagship - that’s up to you.
We have no need. Like your folks, I had a limit. We applied for the Johnson - because why not. My daughter wanted to apply to Cornell to see if she can get in. I wasn’t sending her - since she would have had to do another essay and I was making her pay, she wisely decided against it.
Stop with the - can I get in.
You only have so much time - make it efficient.
Do an NPC for an Ivy, see how the # looks, then decide to apply. Better yet, call and talk to an aid advisor because of your situation.
I walked into Saks Fifth Avenue - and they didn’t kick me out. But I bought nothing and shop at Macys. No one cares that I walked into Saks. Bad analogy - what I’m saying is - many kids get into higher pedigree schools than they ultimately attend. They may attend the “lesser” school for various reasons - money, location, major, special program…whatever. And that’s fine.
Hopefully the schools they applied to were at least possible.
You are wanting to apply to the impossible - for a pat on the shoulder. It’s your life - go ahead - but it’s foolish and time wasting.
You really need to understand your monetary situation and how each school looks at someone in your status - and build from there - I believe.
There are schools - like Alabama - that will hit you with big $$ - even as an International.
Good luck.
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thank you so much @aquapt @collegemom3717 @tsbna44 for your extremely detailed and thoughtful responses. I will take all of this into account.
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Are you from Idaho or not? If not, could that please be edited OUT of your thread subject title?
I can do it for you…just let me know!
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If she doesn’t become a permanent resident by 21, she will need to switch to a student visa. She won’t qualify for in-state tuition but she won’t have to leave the country either.
Unless the NPC specifically asks if the student is an international student…it can spit out less than accurate information.
I thought students do have to go to their home country to secure a student visa? I do know that the universities are facile at working thru these issues with international students!
I’m not totally sure but I’ve been told you can switch visa status without leaving the country. But even if OP has to visit her country of origin to get her new visa that’ll be a better outcome than losing residency status when she turns 21.
Are you applying to all of these colleges in the RD round? Thats going to be a bloodbath. You should pick a top choice and apply SCEA/ED (assuming of course the financials are ok for your parents).
Have you thought about ROTC?
Gap year with first application after you get green card might be worth it.