Chance an international student please!!!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey everybody, I'm a South Asian (Indian) male, studying the Indian CBSE curriculum hoping to apply to the following colleges for Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering:</p>

<p>Cornell (My dream school) (Early Decision)
Georgia Tech
Northwestern
UMich
UIUC
UT Austin
Carnegie Mellon
Purdue
Texas A&M
UCLA</p>

<p>SAT (1st time, prepared only for 1 week because of school exams ) :
CR 600 (80th Percentile)
Math 670 (89th Percentile)
Writing 630 (88th Percentile)</p>

<p>Goiing to take SAT 2, expecting 750+ in all Physics, Math 2 & Chemistry</p>

<p>School:
Grade 9: 9/10 CGPA
Grade 10: 10/10 CGPA
Grade 11: 84%
My school doesn't rank, but the average for Grade 11 was ~60% and I guess I'm in the top ~10% of the class</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Table Tennis: All India level 4 time Under-19 National player (2009-2012) (Only team to qualify from my zone), School team captain, win 5-10 competitions every year, few 'Best Player' and 'Player of the Tournament' Awards.</p></li>
<li><p>Vice Captain of my house: I create duty lists for others to follow, hold selections for all Inter-house sporting as well as academic events.</p></li>
<li><p>President and Founder, Quiz Club: Founded quiz club in my school and was elected President for 2 years in a row, I hold a quiz session every week to coach juniors, have won numerous competitions.</p></li>
<li><p>Manufacturing Engineer, F1 in Schools team: Reached up till National Finals, designed and created a model F1 car on SolidWorks, tested it in virtual wind tunnels, used lathe machine to manufacture axles and wheels for the car, set up an enterprise exhibition stall.</p></li>
<li><p>Director of Photography and Assistant Director of an amateur production house: Shot many films for independent film competitions as well as for the school, the school asks me to shoot and edit a video for any competition we take part in or any formal functions in the school.</p></li>
<li><p>Round Square Volunteer work: Part of a school contingent to visit small villages in the Indian state of Haryana to build toilets and schools for children, Coordinated aid efforts by our school for the Haiti Earthquake, Typhoon Haiyan and other calamities, Gone to local labour camp and distributed food and supplies.</p></li>
<li><p>Model United Nations: Took part in 1 Inter-School competition, was the Chair of a council for the school's inter-house competition, won Best Position Paper at another competition.</p></li>
<li><p>Science Congress: Chosen to participate in a science festival held by the local municipality. The theme was on "Clean City, Clean Life", and I proposed the an eco-friendly futuristic city.</p></li>
<li><p>Trinity College of Music, Electronic Keyboard: Theory of Music - Grade 3 and Keyboard - Grade 1. Performed for an audience at 2 concerts held by my musical institution.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I know that my SAT scores are low, I'm retaking them and hope to score >2100
Hope I can get your invaluable advice, please feel free to recommend any college or give any sort of advice!
Thanks a lot for your time!</p>

2

<p>Do you need financial aid? If yes, you may find yourself with a whole lot of rejections with your list. US colleges are not giving money to internationals – I mean they don’t come out and say it, but between two equally deserving applicants, they will take the one who is not asking for financial aid. </p>

<p>I think your list is a bit too ambitious – there is nothing wrong with applying to reach schools obviously, but add a couple of safeties if you really want to go to the US. If you think you’d rather stay in India than go to any US college that’s not on the list above, then fair enough, your safeties are in India. </p>

<p>Finally, like you said yourself, your SAT’s are much too low for any of the colleges above. They have international applicants with perfect or almost perfect scores (particularly from India) and they still refuse them because they can afford to.</p>

<p>Do some research on small Liberal Arts Colleges that are excellent and seek internationals. They may not be very well known internationally but they will give you great education.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

3

<p>Thanks a lot for your reply. I am not hellbent on going to the US, and I definitely have safeties in India. But, if I go abroad, I understandably want to go to a reputed and top tier college.</p>

<p>What if I don’t apply for financial aid? Is getting into my list of colleges possible, assuming I get 2100+ in my SAT and 2300+ in SAT 2?</p>

4

<p>It’s not a “what if” situation: if you don’t apply for financial aid, your odds increase tremendously but if you don’t apply for financial aid and don’t have the money to pay you will not get a visa. So you need to be clear about your budget: how much can you afford?
This will constrain any choice of school for your college list.</p>

5

<p>No, I don’t require aid from the college. However, I was thinking of applying to a few colleges for aid, as it would be a less of a burden, financially, on my family. It is not a must, however. I wanted to know if I am qualified enough both academically and Extra Curricular wise to get into the above colleges. Are they all high reach schools? Or do I have a decent chance, if I don’t apply for aid? Will applying Early Decision really increase chances for an international student like me?</p>