The NPCs are tough for internationals, and you are right they aren’t yet updated for 2024-25 costs, nor upcoming FAFSA changes, and all the normal NPC caveats apply (may not be accurate if parents are divorced, own a business, or own real estate in addition to a primary home).
I suggest OP call/email the financial aid offices on their list and ask them if the NPCs might be accurate for internationals. If not, ask them how can one get a cost estimate then?
Also there are organizations in my country that sponsors students to caltech, hypsm, cornell, UPenn, Columbia, JHU, uchicago, UCLA and UC Berkeley.
Just that we are bonded and have to work for selected companies after we graduate from these top universities.
So I’m trying to see if I should apply for aid or without aid for the above listed schools sponsored. (It’s not a guarantee that I will get the sponsorship but the chance is really really high since our citizens rarely get into those top schools. )
UCLA and UCB are need blind so applying for aid will make no difference in your admissions outcome with these schools. If you need FA to afford any of the schools then apply for aid. Like I stated, it will make no difference to the UC’s.
How do you feel about being “bonded” to these selected companies? I would also recommend talking with any people who are currently bonded or have completed their bond to see what the experience was like and how they feel about the decision in hindsight.
There are only a small handful of colleges and universities in the US that both meet full need for international students, and that also are need-blind for international students. ALL of them are very, very difficult for admissions (for anyone, and even more so for international students). As such I am not that concerned about schools such as Wellesley College that are need-aware, on the basis that any school in the US that meets full need is going to be a high reach anyway.
Of course this does mean that you need to apply to some other schools that you are actually likely to get accepted to.
It is hard to say. I do know someone who did well enough at U of T to get accepted to (and attend) a master’s program at Stanford. I used to know someone else who graduated from U of T and went on to get both a master’s and PhD at Princeton. My own limited experience would suggest that the grade deflation at the top Canadian universities (Toronto, UBC, McGill) really is that bad. On the other hand, our daughter’s experience at one of the small “primarily undergraduate” universities in Canada suggests that a very high “graduate school worthy” GPA is possible.
Transferring into top US schools as an undergraduate student is very, very difficult. Usually you need very good academics, some luck, and a very good academic reason to transfer. If you are already a student at the University of Toronto it is going to be very difficult to provide any valid academic reason to transfer simply because U of T is so strong for so many possible majors.
Have you already applied? What is your status?
One daughter was accepted to McGill, asked to change her major, was then accepted into McGill in the new major, all before she decided where she was going, and then decided to go somewhere else. Both daughters changed their major after their freshman year of university (one in the US, one in Canada). Sometimes a change of major requires an application, and having good grades up to that point might be needed. However, it is common in both Canada and the US for students to change their majors after starting university.
If you are starting university in September of 2023 then I would expect that you already know where you are going. If you are starting university in September of 2024 or later then you still have time to send in applications anywhere.
There are a lot of very good universities in Canada. Overall and for some (not all) majors the University of Toronto is the highest ranked. There are however quite a few others that are very good. From what I have seen the most famous (Toronto, McGill, UBC, Waterloo) can be more expensive in many cases for international students compared to other schools. Many other very good universities in Canada would fit your budget even if you do not get any financial aid. Merit based aid is possible, tends to be small, but when you are starting from an “already affordable” base price having a little merit aid is still nice (this was our status for our daughter who studied in Canada).
I have wondered the same thing.
I do think that you could find multiple universities in Canada that will meet your budget and to which you can be admitted, assuming that you look beyond the most famous universities. I am pretty sure that the same would be true in the US, if you look for merit aid outside of the top ranked most famous schools here.
For most of these schools, I don’t know for certain which do or do not provide aid to international students (whether need-based and/or merit-based aid). That is something you will need to research. Additionally, I don’t know how you’re defining a “top” school. With that said, the colleges I’m including below are strong academically and at the schools that are likelier, you may get merit aid too, if they give it to international students.
For clarity, is the $220k total budget just for you or for you and your sibling to split?
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
Likely (60-79%)
Toss-Up (40-59%)
Lower Probability (20-39%)
Low Probability (less than 20%)
Since I did my A levels in a year, I applied for 2023 fall entry.
Back then when I applied, I did not have camps/training, I only had piano, math club, horse riding, editorial, eco club, prefect, drama club, other surface-level engagements.
I was accepted to waterloo(with some grants, still expensive), UofT Scarborough(about 75% merit scholarship), UMichigan(Ann-Arbor), Duke Kunshan University(~50% scholarship on tuition), and Peking university in China.
My parents said UMich is too expensive, Duke Kunshan is not ‘famous/prestigious’ enough (even Duke is not ‘famous’ in Asia as people here mainly look at QS rankings) for him to spend 42k USD every year.
UTSC is an affordable choice, just that I am worried about not able to survive there since people have been complaining on how rigorous and difficult it is. Another problem is that UofT students telling me that it is near impossible to switch from math Coop to CS coop.
As for Peking university, though it is a top university in China and I can speak Chinese, I am a bit worried if I can adapt to studying everything in Chinese, especially math, since I have been studying STEM subjects in English since 7th grade. They convert GPA from your marks over a 100, and it is already hard enough to score and get a decent GPA. I did not know that they do not offer English-taught courses (especially for math) for international students. [ I’ll be crushed by the brilliant Chinese students]
Overall, I love the teaching style, environment, ambience in the US top universities, normally with smaller class sizes (except for state schools). I love the mix of cultures in diverse communities, hence I was thinking of taking a gap year since my extracurriculars improved.
Just for me
Did you apply to UK universities? I’m surprised you don’t have options there with a predicted 4 A*s
I’m unclear if your plan is to attend Toronto and then transfer in 2024 or if you will take a year off. If the former then the US will be difficult (and might still be more difficult than normal after a year off), but the UK could still be an option.
I did apply to UK universities(applied to Mathematics G100). I was rejected by Cambridge(I did really bad in the interview), UCL, Imperial and offered a place by Warwick and Edinburgh. But I thought that UK universities are more rigid and structured compared to American universities that offer flexibility and a broad spectrum of courses to choose from, so I didn’t really want to go to Edinburgh or Warwick since UofT is cheaper(total cost is about 26k USD) and has more benefits(working permit, permanent residency, etc).
With 4 A*/A at A Levels you should be competitive at UoT (main campus) for Data science, Informatics, Applied Math… Same at McGill, UBC, or Waterloo.
There’s no reason you should be worried about grade deflation - it does exist compared to the US but not compared to the UK. St Andrews offers some flexibility, too.
Straight Math at Imperial or Oxbridge is a special kettle of fish and if you did poorly on the interview 
.
What about the Math/CS Polytechnique Bachelors?
Further Maths would give you a bit of an edge. But you have to really like pure math.
All in all, your record as about as accomplished as one can hope for in terms of international applicants.
I would apply ED (or REA/Scea depending on the University) to one of the need blind/meet need universities. They’re all intensively elite even if your family may not have heard of them.
Or pick a meet need/need aware T20 college where a 50k budget will make a difference in your favor -Perhaps Smith, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, or Vassar?
Definitely demonstrate interest (create a college email, join each college’s mailing list, open the emails, click on the links -all of this is tracked- occasionally email professors or admissions with questions elicited by what you read.)
My friend with 4A* (computer science, math, further math, economics) predicted grades was rejected by UofT computer science (main campus, St George). 
(she got an offer from UCL computer science!!)
She was given a place for Statistics instead (with about 40% scholarship on tuition). And she is really passionate and excellent in computer science. (Also quite active in hackathons)
As for Imperial college, everyone in my school (with predicted 4A*) was rejected
Even my friends who I think are better candidates than me.
I think I got rejected by imperial because I did not take the MAT for math major (I missed the registration deadline).
Also I did not have my AS results when I applied as I did my AS in November 2022. (Applied to the UK in October) so I guess my O level results aren’t as strong for them to consider giving me a STEP conditional offer.
I think part of it is that you and your friend applied too early. Bc you’re on a Southern calendar, you need to apply the year you take ALevels (ie, in October for November ALevels) which gives legit predicted results and when possible with actual AS Results (though those were cancelled by M.Gove in the UK and thus officially no longer count).
Not taking the MAT would also be a deal breaker.
Finally, the major/course/program would also play a role.
Surprised wrt results at UoT CS for applicant with 4A* + CS experience though - could it be related to your school?
My school is a relatively new international school in my country. Previous graduates leave for UK universities(not the top 5 UK colleges I think) and local universities in my country (tuition is about 4000-10000 USD usually). I know one of the previous graduates got into UCLA and the another was rejected from MIT.
Since it’s a new and small school( not more than 1000 students from kindergarten to high school), with my grade 12 badge having about 25 students, (previous cohorts are even smaller), I dont have much samples to refer to. Also the teachers in my school act as counsellors but unfortunately they do not know much about admissions, especially for countries other than the UK.
My friends mentioned above are full scholarship holders(those I graduated with and applied to top schools). They did A levels in two years so that they actually have their AS level results. (they scored 90 and above because they are brilliant students !)
Also this year I was waitlisted by CMU cs major(rejected by math department surprisingly), UCLA(first major: math, 2nd: CS) (reasonable since my extracurriculars did not really stand out last year). In the end I still did not get in. Now that I think of it, it’s crazy to put CS as a second major for UCLA. Previously I did not have a clear picture of college admissions and so my ECs are pretty random and I rushed my essays(2 days for the UC )because I had to cramp my A levels during the exam and application season.
Just for reference, although the UC application allows you to list an alternate major for UCLA, UCLA only considers your 1st choice major so it would have not made a difference on your admission chances by listing CS.
UCs expect you to be full pay (75k a year) so were probably not the right colleges for you.
Your GPA would be a 4.0 – for British system students, typically, GPA= (Gcse/Olevels average)+ (A Level average)/2, which in your case is straight As hence 4.0.
Where did you apply last year? Bc you cant reapply to the same US colleges. (Legally, you can, but these colleges aren’t going to go 'Ooops we made a mistake last year"). So, you can definitely apply to Barnard or Pomona or… (choose your favorite one to ED) but only if you didn’t apply before.
For the UK, you can reapply but choose a different “course”. Scottish universities have a lot more flexibility than English ones. Some English or NI have “Liberal arts” degrees (you take 3 or 4 subjects 1sr year, choose your favorite 2) and “joint” degrees (less flexible). I like Queens Belfast Liberal Arts, well thought out program and a near safety for you.
Not necessarily. If you have 4 A*s in hand, that’s a very different matter from predicted grades, especially from a new high school without a track record for top UK universities to judge their predictions. And you could take the MAT if reapplying this year.
I’m just skeptical that an improvement in ECs will result in a different outcome from another round of US applications. It will be offset by you either taking a year off or (worse) applying as a transfer student: please clarify which is your intention.
I see the registration deadline for the MAT is Sept 29 - somehow I thought it was this past June.
Still, applying for Maths&Stats might be a better strategy than Pure Maths or Math/CS joint? Or, depending on what OP is interested in, Economics, which requires strong Math skills?
@kara12: assuming you do well on the MAT, do you feel that, now you don’t have to prepare A Level exams, you’d do better in the Oxford oral examination for maths? Or did last year show you it might be more in line with your interests to turn toward other courses?
I think you may be confusing it with STEP, which would be much more rigorous and impressive but doesn’t work from a timing perspective.
That’s it, I was thinking of STEP. 
Good news for OP. 