Chance Me for T20s/Ivies (high GPA, extensive ECs, white/middle eastern female) [international student, computer science major]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics
international student

  • State/Location of residency: Costa Rica
  • Type of high school : Private international school (American curriculum)
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Israeli/British - White female

Intended Major(s)
Computer Science
Software engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: N/A
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.45, 4.0 scale
  • Class Rank: 2
  • ACT/SAT Scores: currently have a 1370, will be taking the june 3 SAT and predicting 1450-1480 range

Coursework
9th grade: Honors English, Algebra 1, World history, Costa Rican social studies, Spanish beginners, Art, Biology, PE
Skipped Geometry over the summer
10th grade: AP world history, AP Seminar (only 2 APs offered to sophomores), Honors Algebra 2, Honors English, Spanish intermediate, Yearbook, Physics
11th grade (current): AP Physics 1 and lab, AP english lang, AP comp sci Principles, honors precalculus, yearbook, Spanish advanced, U.S. History
Senior year: AP Research, AP Calc BC, Honors Linear Algebra (AP course weighting due to difficulty, have to be invited by teacher), AP computer science A, AP Chemistry and lab, English honors

AP Scores:
AP world and AP seminar: both 5
Predicted through Mocks: AP Lang (5), AP Physics 1 (4), AP Computer science principles (5)

Awards
School level:
Highest algebra 1 grade (9th)
Highest honors algebra 2 grade (10th)
highest spanish intermediate grade (10th)
scholars distinction for AP Seminar (10th)
Scholars distinction for Honors English (10th)
Runner up with scholarship in Immerse Educations essay competition (10th)

Extracurriculars
Founder and President of a non-profit organization/club that helps rescue animals (grade 11, 12)

  • largest club at my school of 85 students
  • volunteer at rescue shelters
  • raised over $1500 that was donated for animal food
  • managed to adopt 4 puppies out of 10 at our adoption fair

editor in chief of Newspaper club (grade 9, 10, 11, 12)

  • previously social media manager, then promoted to assitant editor in chief, then promoted to current position
  • make magazines every semester, weekly newsletters, interviews, articles, etc

vice president of national honor society (11, 12)

  • elected, havent done anything yet
  • club was very inactive this year, we didnt do any projects (will change next year!!!)

Editor in chief of Yearbook (10, 11)

  • schools official yearbook
  • collaborated with directors and principles when designing
  • been told its ā€œthe best yearbook of the last decadeā€

UN social development goals club (11, 12)

  • won a competition on how to make our school have a more circular economy and was asked to join in order to lead the projects I offered next year

Tech company summer work (9)

  • worked for 7 weeks, 5 days a week, 7 hours a day
  • learnt PHP, Python, and HTML
  • worked with MySQLi on databases for the workplace surveys
  • paid (min wage)

Summer programs

  • 2022
    • went to Cambridge for 2 weeks under a 30% scholarship for computer science
    • enhanced python skills
  • 2023
    • going to NYU for 2 weeks for a game design coding program (career interest)

UNSURE OF WHETHER TO START:
My college counselor wants my sister and I to start a chapter of a women-in-stem organization, but collaborate with the non-profit my school is under to make an international impact. this would be hosting speakers, workshops, events, fundraisers, programs, and competitions online and in person while collaborating with students and schools all over the world, with my sister and I as the main leads. This is such a good opportunity, but Iā€™m not sure if its smart to start something so time-committing. Would this increase my chances, and is it worth it?

Essays/LORs/Other
got a letter of rec from:

  • AP Physics teacher (Yale graduate, discovered a species of tree :D)
  • Math teacher (Harvard graduate)
  • Social studies teacher (taught me ap world and ap seminar (which i excelled in) and was advisor to the newspaper club and the dog rescue club (both of which im in charge of)

Essays:
only have ideas:

  • I have a twin sister who is more socially prominent than me, but as someone who was academically stronger than her we were at constant competition. Now we started to work together and enhance each other and we have never excelled as much as we do now.
  • Im a book worm (though i havent had the time to read due to commitments) but ive had many chapters in my life (living in 5 countries) with a variety of characters. It took me a while to turn the page into the new chapters of the new countries i moved to because i would dwell on the past, and im slowly learning that these chapters have helped my story have more pages, and made my story grow just like it made me grow as a person, and I need to turn the page in order to keep going.
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Are you considering universities in Costa Rica, Israel, and the UK (assuming that you have citizenship or other qualification as a domestic student in those countries)?

Most US universities will be more selective and/or more expensive for international students than US domestic students. What is highly important would be the price limit you have.

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Iā€™m only considering the United States and Canada! Iā€™m going to try to get grants and/or merit based scholarships when I can, and also there are many scholarship/grant opportunities from organizations towards women in stem and Jews!

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But will those grants and scholarships plus whatever you and your parents can pay add up to US$80,000 per year?

Start your list with a safety where you are assured admission and assured affordability, as well as the academic programs you are interested in. As an international student relative to the US, the affordability part is likely a big barrier, unless your parents have a lot of money.

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This is a rough list I have:

Purdue
University of Michigan
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
UCSD
university of washington
UC, Berkeley
UCLA
NYU
Cornell
UPenn
John Hopkins University
Carnegie Mellon

The list you mentioned about assured admission and affordability are the ones in bold.

Correct me if iā€™m wrong, but I believe Ivy leagues are need blind, and have an amazing rep for financial aid - with international students too. This makes me doubt that the actually tuition for such schools would actually add up to $80,000 per year.

Could you chance me on the list above and/or answer my question on the extracurricular I wasnā€™t sure on in my first post?

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The problem is that you (like every other applicant who is not related to a huge donor and is not an important recruited athlete) have a very low chance of getting admitted to those schools.

Have you used the net price calculator for each school? Be aware that they may not be as accurate for international students, though they may be more accurate than just making wishful assumptions.

Purdue, UIUC, and UCSD should be considered reaches for the CS major. Getting admission to the school but not in the CS major is more likely, but changing into the CS major after enrolling requires another admission process that should be considered a reach. Also, all of these are public universities which tend to give financial aid only or mainly to in-state residents ā€“ you should expect no financial aid as an international student.

Every other school on your list is either a reach in general, reach for CS, or (probably) reach financially (since it is likely that you and your parents cannot afford full list price that international students are typically expected to pay).

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UCLA, UCSD and UCB are all Reaches with CS admit rates listed below along with offering little to no financial aid to International students. You will be expected to pay around $72K/ year. They are need blind but do not meet need. Also test blind for admissions and merit scholarships. UCā€™s offer good need based aid for CA residents only and merit aid is highly competitive and hard to come by.

UCLA: 3.8%
UCB: 2.9% for College of L&S or 4.5% for EECS
UCSD: Under 10% but closer to 4-8%

Overall admit rates for the UCā€™s based on Residency:
2022 Freshman admit rates

Campus CA RESIDENT OUT OF STATE INTERNATIONAL
Berkeley 14.5% 8.6% 5.5%
Davis 32.3% 59.8% 43%
Irvine 18.2% 36.6% 21%
Los Angeles 9.2% 8.9% 5.8%
Merced 100% 78.6% 81.7%
Riverside 66% 88.1% 68.%
San Diego 23.8% 31.5% 15.5%
Santa Barbara 26.7% 28.8% 19.7%
Santa Cruz 43.2% 70.7% 55.4%
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Congratulations on your achievements.

What is your unweighted GPA? Calculate that yourself, using any A=4, any B=3, and so on, core courses only.

What does ā€˜skipped geometry over the summerā€™ mean? The UCs will require geometry on your transcript.

UIUC CS has about a 6% acceptance rate, so that is a high reach. OOS COA at UIUC is in the high $50Ks, and international students donā€™t receive much scholarship aid at all. Is that affordable for your family? If you donā€™t know, talk with your parents and get a firm budget.

Your entire list is reachy (many of these schools have international acceptance rates below 5%). Purdue the most likely, I would call it a match/target. The rest are reaches. As of right now you would not submit your 1370 to any of the schools on your list, except Purdue, where itā€™s required.

You need some target schools and at least one affordable safety. When we know your budget and whether you will qualify for need based aid, posters can better help you.

Run each schoolā€™s net price calculator (linked on their websites), even though they really arenā€™t set up for international students you should get a sense if you will qualify for need based aid. The public schools on your list are unlikely to give you any financial aid. What Canadian schools do you have on your list? Why no schools in other countries?

Scholarships of significant value for 4 years of college tend to be highly competitive with difficult applicationsā€¦I would not count on this to significantly decrease your college costs. With that said, of course you should try but college apps/essays take priority over the scholarship apps/essays.

Do you want to do this? It doesnā€™t really sound like it, and no, it will likely not increase your chances at any school. If your counselor says it will (something you will have done for 5 months max prior to sending out apps), disregard that advice.

ETA: I would not drop foreign language and social studies your senior year.

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How much in Grant and scholarship aid do you expect to get to attend a U.S. college?

I think you are WAYYYY overestimating the grant opportunities for women in stem and Jews.

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Agree.

As an international student, you need to have the strongest application possible. And really, you need to be able to support paying your full college costs. You might hit it lucky and get some scholarships, but expect to be paying something to attend colleges here.

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Agreed.
For reference: I live in an area with a significant Jewish population, and STEM is a popular major among high schoolers here. And no, the young Jewish women here arenā€™t getting any big outside scholarships. (Also note that, as US citizens, they can avail of many more scholarship opportunities than international students).

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How will you pay for these! UPenn and Cornell are need aware for international students. ALL of the UCs give ZERO need based aid and precious little merit aid to folks who arenā€™t residents of CA. Plan to be full pay at any public university in CA.

Michigan does not guarantee to meet full need for OOS students. Hopkins is need aware for international students, IIRC. Carnegie Mellon wonā€™t meet your full need. I believe NYU is need aware for international students as well.

From university of Washington:

Federal regulations and University of Washington policy severely limit the types of financial assistance available to international students. University admissions policies require that students with F-1, F-2, J-1, J-2, and G-series visas have enough resources to meet their expenses throughout their stay at the UW; students with these visas are not eligible for federal student aid.

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Maybe I missed it in the thread somewhere, but what is your budget?

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You are wrong. Only some of the Ivies are need blind for admissions AND guarantee to meet full need for all. The ones you listed above are need aware for admissions.

Here are the only colleges that are BOTH need blind and meet full need for all international students.

  • Amherst College.
  • Bowdoin College.
  • Dartmouth College.
  • Harvard University.
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Princeton University.
  • Yale University.
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But also note that each may define ā€œneedā€ differently, and they may see your ā€œneedā€ as different from what you think you need.

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Some schools are not need blind but still have substantial aid, but the aid is competitive.

Everyone seems to be doing non-profits these days and admissions I believe are becoming skeptical. The suggestion by your counselor to start that one seems to be for admissions purposes and it seems kind of transparent. Better to deepen your involvement with animal rescue.

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ā€œPurdue, UIUC, and UCSD should be considered reaches for the CS major. Getting admission to the school but not in the CS major is more likely, but changing into the CS major after enrolling requires another admission process that should be considered a reach.ā€

Specific to UIUC, transfers into CS are not even allowed. They do have hybrid CS + X majors which have higher admission rates, but those would also be in the reach category. They do seem to like full pay internationals if you fall into that that category it might help you.

18

Well, why donā€™t you look on some of the previous posts, on this website, from international students, who are now asking for funding resources because they didnā€™t get enough funding to attend the universities that accepted them.

As for the $80,000 price tag thatā€™s going to happen, at least at the UCs, because you also need to pay for additional medical insurance, as well as, any other fees that arenā€™t covered under tuition and room and board.

Please go on some of the websites of the schools that youā€™ve selected and look at whether or not they fund international students.

Let me just reiterate, need blind means that when the admissions committee reviews your application, they donā€™t look at whether or not you will need funding to attend their university. That is a completely different building and department. It DOES NOT MEAN that they will blindly consider you and will automatically fund you.

As for STEM women in engineering, and finding scholarships, there are some, but when our daughter went to school, 15 years ago, there were fewer females in engineering and computer software. She was funded at that time. Now, we have the Society for Women Engineers that is bursting in membership.

With the list of schools that you have selected, do some research and do yourself a favor by investigating funding sources. Open up their financial aid pages, on their websites, and see whether or not theyā€™ll fund you.
From UCSDā€™s website:

International students who have been granted an F1 or F2 student visa, or a J1 or J2 exchange visitor visa are not eligible to apply for financial aid. International students admitted to UC San Diego must prove that they have sufficient funds available to them to pay for their educational and living expenses. Students are encouraged to seek financial aid funds from additional sources in their home countries.

(It took me less than three seconds to find this-ā€œUCSD International student financial aid.ā€)

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Unless Iā€™ve missed it the OP has not yet provided a budget, which make it difficult to give advice.

In the meantime, I suggest diving into the Canadian unis since they are more transparent on admissions criteria (more stat focused, less holistic) and financial requirements. @DadTwoGirls may be able to provide more information. My '21 kid seriously considered McGill (loved our visit and everything about the school), but covid prevented them from applying.

Once the OP provides more information, we can give more targeted feedback. CS is a remarkably employable field that is agnostic to undergrad prestige. So there are many, many options if the OP is willing to expand their list.

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International student costs at Toronto, UBC, and McGill are still quite high, although not as high as US universities can be.