International student (from Turkey) asking for aid
Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): white
Intended Major(s) Math
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: Roughly 97.7%
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): school does not have w gpa
Class Rank: school does not rank but I am probably in the top 5/10 out of roughly 180
SAT: 750eng + 800M = 1550 (superscore)
Coursework IB: 45/45 (predicted) I also self-studied for two APs in 10th grade and got 5s
Awards
Silver Medal (12th place) in the National Math Olympiad (last year)
A bunch of medals in other math competitions in my country other than the main olympiad
15th place in the IMO Team Selection Test
Named Best Math Student of the Year by our math department in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades
5th place in Qualifying/First Round of the 31st Turkish Mathematical Olympiad (this year)
A bunch of sailing awards including the top 15 in my category in the 2021-2022 season
Extracurriculars
Lots of competitive math camps that I was invited to after the national olympiads (similar to USA’s MOP after USAMO). To some of them, only the top 60 were invited and to some of them, it was only the top 24. These were all free including accommodation, travel, and food costs.
Went to PROMYS Europe at Oxford in 11th-grade summer with significant financial aid
Sailing Athlete in a sailing club (outside my school) in 9th and 10th grades (I have been a sailor since 2015)
Also worked as an assistant coach in my club for 6 weeks in my freshman summer teaching beginners how to sail
A bunch of leadership positions in my school (president of math olympiad club, coding club, etc.) where I teach other students
And a few other minor service clubs where I was not in a leadership position but attended frequently
Essays/LORs/Other
Essays are decent but not extraordinary. Our family has gone through a lot in the earlier years of my high school career so that might help a little, but I am not sure.
LOR1 (Math teacher): He really respects me and thinks I am one of the best students he has ever seen. In fact, he even asks questions to me when he is not completely sure in class lol. I think he would write a decent letter. 10/10
LOR2 (Turkish lit teacher): She taught me for 3 years and always was nice to me. I also had lots of 1on1 meetings with her. I worked really hard for her class and she knows it. She really likes me although I am probably not her best student. 8/10
LOR3 (lecturer at PROMYS): I asked one of the lecturers at PROMYS. They do not know me personally but I think I performed really well on the program so they might write something decent but not so sure. 7/10
Cost Constraints / Budget
I need full aid
Schools: List of colleges, ED/EA/RD, etc
EA: Princeton
RD: MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, UChicago, Northwestern, Brown, Dartmouth, Caltech, Pomona
PS: I know that this list is a bit too ambitious, but the truth is if I do not get into some really good schools in the US, I have backup plans in other countries. Also, my school sends roughly 1 or 2 people to HYPSM every year so I am hopeful. That being said, I would appreciate some target and safety recommendations!
I agree with @DadOfJerseyGirl that since you are an international student seeking full aid, there are no safeties in the US. As such you need to apply to schools that meet full need for international students, do your best, and just see how it comes out.
Best wishes. You are a very strong student. I do hope that you get into one of the top US schools and that you get a chance to come here and study.
I think that your list is appropriately ambitious. You do need to have safeties in other countries.
I might add that many years ago I was an international student and a math major at MIT. I attended the welcome reception for international students and walked away thinking “how did I get accepted here?”. It was however great to meet such strong students. You would have fit right in.
Your math olympiad achievements are very impressive and top tier. As others have noted, if you did not request Financial Aid you would get into atleast one of the reach schools with probability close to 1. Requirement of full financial aid is tricky as the bar for it is perhaps even higher in your reach schools than your already stratospheric achievements in math! Suggestion: Bring up the aid conversation in stage 2 after securing admit and not make it as a non negotiable ask while applying.
You might want to take a look at Bowdoin, they went need blind for international students last year and are actively increasing international students. They also have a strong sailing program. However, you should investigate if Bowdoin has enough math courses for you.
As others have said, you have a chance at all of these schools but they are all reaches. Bowdoin might be slightly less of a reach. Also, look at Williams, they don’t meet full international need but are generous and have an outstanding Math program.
It doesn’t. You will need to file financial aid forms and most US schools are not need blind. If you don’t file the forms you won’t be eligible for financial aid. What’s the point of being accepted if you can’t afford do go?
Nope. Many schools that are need blind for admissions will consider your aid WHEN you apply for aid meeting their deadline to do so…not after you have been accepted. Simply put, if you don’t apply for aid when you apply for admission, the colleges will rightly believe you don’t actually want any aid.
And many colleges actually have this in writing on their websites for international students. At many places, if you don’t apply when you initially apply for admission, you can not do so later…for any reason.
This is from the Caltech website: Notice : International applicants who do not apply for financial aid by published deadlines, or who are denied aid for their first year at Caltech, are not eligible for need-based financial aid for any other academic period while they are undergraduates at the Institute (with the exception of citizens and permanent residents of Canada and Mexico). Those with financial aid offers will be eligible to apply for assistance in subsequent years. All eligible students must reapply for aid each year.
@S_Bh suggestion is just plain wrong…and will not work to an international student advantage at many many colleges…
From Brown:
**International students are eligible to apply for University financial aid. We meet full demonstrated need for students who are admitted provided they apply for financial aid at the time they apply for admission.
From Pomona:
**Once an international student submits the admissions application to Pomona, their financial aid application status may not be changed. International students who are admitted to Pomona and have not applied for financial aid may not appeal for financial aid at a later date and will not be considered for financial aid as a returning student.
From Stanford:
**International students who do not request consideration for financial aid at the time they apply for admission will not be eligible to apply for aid at Stanford throughout their undergraduate years.
From University of Chicago:
**International students are eligible for financial aid only if they apply for funding during the admissions process, and will not be eligible for financial aid after receiving their admissions decision or during their four years in the College. If you think you will need financial aid at any point during your four years at UChicago, you should apply for financial aid when you apply for admission.
My data is based on Turkish Students who medalled in their National Math Olympiad studying in the US schools from 1990-2023. Note I said admission to atleast 1 selective school and not all schools. An IMO medal all but guarantees admisison in atleast one of the selctive schools almost surely. Nevertheless, national medals are an impressive achivement “spike” these schools are looking for.
Let me also explain the close to 1 probability : Unconditional admit rates of 6% or lower are not relevant for students who cross a GPA, Scores threshold in the applicant pool. What matters is the conditional acceptance rate in this subgroup once you have a GPA above 4 and a SAT above 1550 - this number is close to a coin flip or 50% at all these schools. Suppose a student applies to 20 such schools and the decisions are independent (most likely they are correlated across schools, but ignoring it simplifies the calculation). The probability of being rejected at all 20 schools is (0.5)^20 = 9.5*10^(-7) or close to zero. Thus the probability of getting in aleast 1 of the selective schools is close to 1. Hope this makes sense.
Very interesting. Following this logic, for a student with 4+GPA and 1550+ SAT, if they apply to all T20 schools, they will for sure be accepted to at least one. I wonder if the reality agrees.
I disagree with this logic, but I’ll keep it brief because debating is not allowed and I don’t want to sidetrack the conversation. Mainly, you’re assuming all T20s value these competitions equally (they don’t), and that they are all need blind for internationals (they’re not).
OP has a strong profile as mentioned, and may very well get into one of his reaches with full aid, but we need to provide a realistic view.
My point was just about admission with this profile. If full financial aid is also desired, I agree with you - all bets are off, but this profile is still very strong.
Take a look at all the schools that are need blind for intl. Keep in mind consortiums. For instance, Amherst is only one mile from umass which has a math PhD, is in a consortium with them, so you could take classes there. Also, competitive sailing is out of reach for most US applicants. Is it possible that you might be considered as a recruited athlete for sailing for one of the schools that is need blind for intl?
To be recruited for college sailing, the team generally needs to be a varsity sport (rather than a club team). Also, the level of an applicant’s sailing must be very high (i.e. national/international results). Sailing teams are also usually composed of more women than men because there are both open/coed and women’s regattas, so more women are needed (plus Title IX means sports like sailing often have to have fewer men to compensate for football and other male-dominated sports). Given all of those factors, sailing is more often an extra-curricular activity, like so many others.
Hey, I was actually in the top 15 in my category and barely missed the national team. That was in my sophomore year though. I could not continue in my junior year due to financial reasons and time constraints. Do you think I have any chance to get recruited?