Chance an international for UCB, UCLA, UMich, GA Tech and more.......

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Race: Indian (International)
Gender: Male
Grade : 12 (Senior)
I will be taking Mechanical ( + Electrical if possible) Engineering.

Test Scores:

  1. Grade 10 : CGPA 9.8/10 *
  2. Grade 11 : 91.28%
  3. SAT 1 – 2160 (740CR 780M 640W)
  4. IELTS – 8
  5. SAT2 – Going to take Physics, Chemistry and Math 2. (Expecting 750+ on all)
  6. Self-studied AP Calculus BC (Waiting for results). School does not have any classes and hardly even knows of AP and hence I was not able to take more.

ECs:

  1. Karate – 9+ years, Black Belt

  2. Piano – 11+ years, won various competitions in school and talent competitions

  3. Chess - 11+ years
    • 2nd place in country in respective age category
    • Represented country for 4 consecutive years for CBSE nationals
    • Won various other competitions in country

  4. Examinations –
    • Country topper in ACER Computers examination
    • Gold medal + Special award in International Informatics Olympiad (IIO) with Olympiad rank 68
    • Medal Of Excellence + Selected for level 2 in National Cyber Olympiad (NCO) with International rank 234
    • Medal Of Excellence + Selected for level 2 in International English Olympiad (IEO) with International rank 260
    • I have many more, but not as notable as those above

  5. Others:
    • Young Inventors Award – 2nd prize for a Robotics project on segregation of waste
    • Represented school for Botball
    • Represented school for National Robotics Olympiad
    • Attended computer science workshop at Carnegie Mellon University
    • Director of Computer Science Club in school
    • Took part in THIMUN and DCMUN conferences
    • Currently creating an Android app
    • Scholar Badge in school
    • Paintings featured in school magazine
    • Avid speedcuber and magician and penspinner (Will probably post Youtube videos as proof)

Most probably:
Essay - 8/10
Letters - 8/10

The following are my list of colleges, please chance me. Thanks in advance.
List of colleges: UMich, UC Berkely, UCLA, University of Illinois (Urbana Champaign), Purdue University, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Imperial College London (maybe) , U of T (Austin)
I will be requiring as much financial aid as possible, could someone suggest applicable scholarships?

*The grading system is on a 10 point scale. I have 4 A1s and 1 A2. The grades as follows:
A1 : 91-100
A2:81-90
B1:71-80
And so on…

2

And 9+,11+ years signify the number of years I have been undertaking that activity, not grade 9, grade 11. :stuck_out_tongue:

3

I will chance back too.

4

The UCs are full fee at $55k, so even if you could afford them, your a SAT score is not competitive.

5

Don’t my ECs make up for the SAT a little bit? The 75th percentile for UCB is around 2270 and the 25th percentile is about 1910, I am somewhat in the middle…

6

The schools you mentioned do not offer financial aid to internationals.
UCB, UCLA has regents which is 5k at best and even then, it’s very competitive.
And your EC’s do make up for it a bit, but you’re applying to engineering which is very competitive at UCB, UCLA, and UMich, GA Tech, and UT Austin and they are all pretty stingy with financial aid to internationals.
And you’re an international from India which just makes it harder. Yes, your EC’s are great, but a lot of it I don’t really know how prestigious they are. I’m not from India so I can’t really tell you how good those awards are.

I suggest you look up some schools for their financial aid policy and see if you qualify.

7

Your ECs don’t compensate for your SAT scores. These schools are extremely competitive and as @rdeng2614 stated, as a candidate from India, your competition is from your countrymen, who have stronger scores.

8

I am an expatriate indian, does that make any difference? Also I will be able to pay 60k if required, but it will be tough…

9

Test scores and GPA for those schools.

Expatriate or not, you are still an ORM - over represented minority competing with other Indian kids who have scores above 2250 and 34-36 ACTs AND who want to major in engineering. As I have said, not competitive in scores, and they look at that FIRST.

10

@WhiteFlameAB Paying the 60k is kind of a requirement as big public schools will not give you much or any financial aid and scholarships, especially for engineering as it is SO competitive, will be extremely difficult to obtain.

I suggest you look at some LAC’s as they might have better options for need-based and merit-based aid than the big public schools you mentioned.
Harvey Mudd comes to mind as they have an outstanding engineering program.

11

But UIUC and Purdue are not as selective as the others right?

@rdeng2614 I’ll take a look at Harvey Mudd and LACs too, thanks

12

Purdue is not as selective for admission, UIUC engineering is as competitive as UMich CoE as their admission mid 50 and GPA are comparable. Just less people (but self selected applicants) applying to UIUC so the admission rate is higher.

13

Low ECs, but none of the schools you mentioned are out of your league. Harvey Mudd might be though

14

Considering you want to major in engineering, it can be quite competitive. Nonetheless, your extracurricular activities are stellar and really show your interest in the stem field. You may need a higher SAT Score considering you want to major in electrical engineering. Try to aim for at least 2200+. Relatively good GPA. Also, try to study for more AP courses because for UC’s they ask to see what classes youre planning to take senior year, so showing that you are independently studying for APs due to a lack of AP courses offered at your school really show your effort and seriousness. I’d say study for 3+ AP courses. Also, its harder as well as more costly for international students to get into American colleges so I would suggest applying to more target schools. Thanks for the chance back!
UMich: Match-Low reach
UC Berkeley: High reach (engineering program is highly competitive and harder for international students to get in) UCLA: Match-Low reach
University of Illinois (Urbana Champaign): Reach
Purdue University:Match
Georgia Tech: Match-Low reach
Carnegie Mellon: Reach
Cornell: Reach
Imperial College London (maybe): Match
U of T (Austin): Reach-Match

15

Recently got my Subject Test scores:
Math 2: 800
Physics: 730 (Retaking on December for 800)
Chemistry: 700 (Retaking on December for 800)

Do these scores make a difference?

16

Thought an update might be helpful to some of you:

Accepted: UIUC, Purdue
Waitlisted: UCLA, UMich
Rejected: UCB, GaTech, Cornell

EDIT: Mechanical Engineering for all