Chance me for safeties and t20's

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey guys, I am a high school junior studying in India and I just wanted to know my chances in the t20 universities (preferably MIT, Stanford, UCLA, UCB, UIUC, Gatech, Northwestern, and Umich) also safeties include Kansas state university, Lousiana state university, University of Colorado-Boulder, UCSC, Penn state(Can Penn state be a safety?) and University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Academics
School Rank-We don’t have a rank but based on my grades and percentage, I am in the top 2%
Grade 9- 94%
Grade 10 - 97%
grade 11 - projected 98%
SAT - 1540.
AP’s - I have taken AP physics 1 and I have a score of 5. My school does not offer AP’s and I am self-studying for 4 AP’s that I plan to take this year. By the end of high school, I hope to have at least 5 AP’s.

Extracurriculars
This aspect of my application is really daunting as there is a lack of resources in my school as well as my city(I live in a metropolitan city but, it’s really hard to find activities that I would like to do)With the resources I had, these are some of the EC’s I could pursue.

  1. Started the soccer club in the school
    started the science club(physics and chemistry)club in the school
  2. Soccer team - Played in a few district, city, and state tournaments and started in every game. Got injured in my final game last year in Feb and then corona happened.
  3. Represented my school in the district, city, and state level in Math, science, and English olympiads.1 gold and 3 silver medals.
  4. I was selected to represent my school in the ‘Lake symposium’ which is a national level secondary research paper and poster competition conducted by the Indian Institute for sciences(IISc). I did secondary research on Wetland conservation, restoration, and management and compiled the research into a presentation that was seen by world-renowned scientists from the Indian Institute for sciences(IISc). I also attended a 3-day conference online where we had presentations from scientists all over the world.
  5. I was a National semi-finalist in TCS intelligem ION, which is a sort of a national quiz competition that encompasses 5 different subjects. 1 of the 2 students selected and the only student selected for all 5 subjects at the state level as well.
  6. I love to write poems, essays, and flash fiction in my free time and I have won most of my school’s literary competitions. I also have won 2 or 3 national level competitions and I have a handful of ‘honorable mentions’
  7. Currently doing research in astrophysics after getting accepted into an amazing program and I hope to publish a research paper by the end of the year.
  8. Accepted to the Yale young global scholars connect program 2021 for LPC(literature, philosophy, and culture)
  9. Honourable mention in a NASA-organized competition.
  10. Blog- recently started a multi-author blog where I have co-authored at least 35 articles and 15 poems. we have about 600 followers as of now.

I have a few small EC’s here and there and I have a lot to improve on. I just wanted to know how I could improve and what part of my application I could tweak( I am applying after 1 year)If you have read this humongous post, thanks so much for reading, and have a great day!

1 Like
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Cost constraints?

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My family might be able to pay but its hanging in doubt. So, I will apply for financial aid

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Financial aid and scholarships tend to be much more limited if you are an international student (i.e. not a US citizen or permanent resident). The state universities also tend to offer less or none to those who are not residents of their states.

So any of these universities which are not affordable at list price (or affordable with assured scholarships even as an international student) should be considered reaches.

1 Like
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In which case, there is no such thing as a safety as an international applicant.

6

I think that your list of t20 universities are mostly good ones to apply to, but are reaches for admission. UCLA and UC Berkeley have very, very little aid for out of state universities, and are not likely to be affordable unless you can afford to be full pay out of state. I would probably just drop them from your list. I do not know whether UIUC, GA Tech, and U.Michigan give much financial aid for out of state students.

Your alleged safeties are probably safer for admissions, but affordability might be an issue. I think that some of them might have some merit based aid for out of state students.

Given your really superb stats, and that you have nearly a year to “get ready” to apply, I am wondering whether you should apply to U.of Toronto and get your high school to nominate you for the Lester B Pearson scholarship. This is extremely competitive and hard to get, but would solve your affordability issue if you were able to pull it off.

In terms of ECs, my recommendation is that you have a lot of them that look quite good. I would focus on the ones that you feel are most important and try not to spread yourself too thin. For the two clubs that you have started, making those clubs successful could be helpful.

7

Thanks for the reply!

8

Thanks!