Chance for international student living in the US (Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Penn, Cornell, Duke, ...)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

I’m currently a junior living in the United States, but I’m not a citizen or permanent resident, so I’m technically considered an international student. A lot of the more ivies/top school that are need blind towards international students have a quota, making it a lot more competitive to get in. (MIT acceptance rate for international students is 3% vs 8% for domestic students)

Since I live in the US, does that make a difference? I was wondering what my chances are compared to international students living in foreign country, and compared to domestic students.

Also, can you guys chance me for the following schools:

dream schools: Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton
reach schools: Penn, Cornell, Duke, Berkeley, Cal tech
other schools: University of Michigan, Univerity of Illinois, Georgia Tech, Purdue, local state school

Here are my stats:

GPA: 4.36 (weighted), 3.98 (unweighted–> one A- sophmore year :frowning: )
Ranking: top 10% (school doesn’t rank, but estimated in top 10)

Past APs: AP Stats (5), AP Bio (5), APUSH (5)
This year: AP Chem, AP Comp Sci, AP Physics, AP Lang, AP Calc BC, IB Painting
plan for senior year: AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Spanish, AP Studio Arts, go to local university for Math, and computer science

SAT: 2350 (800 math, 800 reading, 750 writing)
plan on taking SAT II in math, physics, and chem

awards: just little ones, national merit, “superior” at states science fair, won a couple of state wide art contests, published a few paintings in art magazine
I’m hoping to get some sort of national award in painting/art by the time I apply to college, but not sure if I’m good enough

extracurriculars:
robotics club (founder and president)
computer science club
math club
science olympiad (build leader)
school’s literary magazine club (design editor)
science research

volunteering:
@ local science museum (200 hours)
i’m hoping to get 350 hrs by the time i apply for college

summer activities: SAAST at Upenn (freshman year)
I’m applying to SSP and SuMAC this year (wish me luck), if I don’t get in either, I’ll probably do an internship with a professor at my local state university

Additional information:
home country-China
gender- female
intended major- computer science, maybe minor in art
financial aid- definitely needed

Yeah, that’s about it. I would really really appreciate any input from you guys, cause I’m like freaking out about college right now. Does it help that I’m fluent in English, since a lot of other international applicants are not? Also, I’m a female interested in computer science/engineering, and I really tried to show my passion through my class choices and extracurriculars, does that help? idk

any advice would be super appreciated!!!

2

bump

3

To be realistic, I think financial need ruins everything but you can still get into with a surprising college admission essay. BTW: Other international students have fluent english too, maybe better than your fluency…

4

I believe MIT is need blind for international students so financial need shouldn’t be a problem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission

5

As is Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. There are only six schools in the US that are both need-blind for all applicants, and who guarantee full-need for four years (MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Amherst). There are others that are need-blind but not full need (such as Boston University) and other that are need-aware but full-need (such as Columbia).

6

Check out the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards if you haven’t already!

7

I’m afraid that living in the US doesn’t change anything; you’re international. I had an interviewee who never set foot in her country of citizenship since she was an infant. Didn’t matter.

8

Cross off the UC’s; they do not give financial aid to international students. If you are instate, you may qualify for some small scholarship, but most aid comes to citizens: from the feds and the state government.

9

I’m pretty sure the UCs usually don’t award financial aid to out-of-state students, let alone international.

10

The international students forum has a lot of useful threads on schools (apart from the big 6) that give generous aid to internationals, both need-based and merit-based aid. You may want to check out (for example): http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/international-students/1698406-to-all-international-students-asking-for-huge-amounts-of-aid-p1.html