Chance me for these colleges

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>I've posted a couple of chance threads here before but I'm posting another one now with updated stats, ECs and most importantly, a list of colleges. I have a slightly atypical schooling background which may boost or pull down my chances.</p>

<p>Please chance me</p>

<p>I will be applying to the class of '19</p>

<ol>
<li>SAT Reasoning- 2320</li>
<li><p>SAT Subject tests:
World History- 730
Biology(Molecular)- 790
AP Psych- 5</p></li>
<li><p>I have homeschooled myself in the last two years of high school due to personal reasons I will be talking about in my essays. I have created for myself, a very unique curriculum that incorporates learning, research, standardised testing, work and community service. </p></li>
<li><p>I have taken many courses on Udacity, Coursera and edX. I will also be appearing for exams from the National Institute of Open Schooling(NIOS), a government-organisation in India for homeschoolers. My GPA has always been a constant 4.0</p></li>
<li><p>Lots and lots of extra-curriculars. Might seem too much so I might not mention everything</p></li>
</ol>

<p>*Winner, Intel IRIS(The Indian science fair that selects students who will represent the country at Intel ISEF). My research project was the best in the country in the 'behavioral sciences category. I narrowly missed out on going to ISEF(Out of the 9 National winners from different categories, 6 made the final cut. I didn't. But I still ended up best in my category)
*Founder editor of my high school newspaper(This was during the first two years of high school. I am a homeschooler now)
*Won lots of quizzes, debates and other related stuff. I've also competed independently at several university-level debates and quizzes and won many.
*2-month internship with a cancer surgeon.
*Improvised on existing methods to create a new low-cost detection kit for colorectal cancer for use in developing countries. Will be submitting it to Google Science Fair '14.
*Founded a cancer awareness charity
*International scrabble player with a world ranking of 681
*I am a freelance journalist and have published articles in some of the most popular mainstream publications of India including The Bangalore Mirror, The Hindu and others.
*Endurance running- 10ks and Half-Marathons. Will have run my first marathon before I apply
*Play the guitar, sing and write.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Total family income- $3000. I'm a first generation college student. That basically means I will be unable to even set foot on American soil without full financial aid.</p></li>
<li><p>I hope to major in psychology, philosophy or molecular biology.</p></li>
<li><p>Gap year applicant</p></li>
<li><p>Which college should I apply to ED/EA given my aid-seeking status?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>The colleges I will be applying to are: (Given the number of colleges I'll be applying to, I probably will have to work hard through the summer to save money for SAT score report fees and CSS profile fees :P)</p>

<p>In order of preference:</p>

<p>Reed (Top choice)
Deep Springs (Choice no. 2 after Reed)
Harvard
Stanford
Cornell (Hoping for the Tata scholarship)
Grinnell
Middlebury
Amherst
Brown
Princeton
Yale
Soka University of America
Berea
Grinell
Trinity
Skidmore
Colgate
Lafayette</p>

<p>I'm looking to attend a highly intellectual small liberal-arts school like Reed. The ivies fit the bill too except for the 'small' part. </p>

<p>So, what do you think?
Chance me and also suggest other colleges that meet full demonstrated need of International students.</p>

2

<p>Are you planning to apply ED to Reed?
Trinity is known to disperse almost all its aid during ED, and very very few international applicants get aid during RD ( they generally get deferred).
Maybe you could cut down on 1 or 2 reaches.
Are you OK with the Colgate culture of alcohol?</p>

3

<p>Very excellent list of schools,
Lemme be brutally honest, you’ll not get in some of them. I, however would like to offer you an advice, instead of appearing for NIOS exams, appear for Cambridge International Exams (International A Levels), they’re for home schoolers too. I’m doing so too, and I’ll also be applying to Deep Springs! </p>

4

<p>Also try taking a few more SAT IIs, since you won’t have your school leaving exam results by the time you apply, SAT IIs will be the truest mirror of your academic achievement.</p>

5

<p>@Peepingtom - Thanks for commenting. I will be finishing with 12th grade next month. I will be taking a gap year during which I will be applying to college. I considered appearing for Cambridge International Exams but to be honest, my family couldn’t really afford the cost of preparatory material and exams. I wrote to Harvard and explained this and they told me that would not be a factor at all. Context is very important. </p>

<p>I will probably take a couple more SAT IIs but even that depends.</p>

<p>“Lemme be brutally honest, you’ll not get in some of them”</p>

<p>If you could be a bit more specific, it would be of great help. </p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

<p>Great to see that you are applying to Deep springs as well!</p>

6

<p>I can’t afford the prep material as well as the exams, but I’m determined, took up part time tutoring and cut other costs etc. The prep material you’re talking about is non existent, you can prepare with a CBSE book, just adhere to the syllabus (which is available free at cie.org.uk).
One thing more, adcoms are like cheerleaders and they cheer students even when they have no chance at getting in, just so they can reject them and appear more selective. So, when Harvard say “it won’t matter” take that with a grain of salt. Also, context doesn’t matter for intl applicants, they’ve no idea how things work around here and they apply the stereotypical personality associated with the specific country to judge candidates. The schools which I think you won’t get in are (in decreasing order)

  • Deep Springs
  • Stanford
  • Harvard
  • Yale, that’s it! you should apply anyways, don’t lose hope but also don’t act surprised if they reject you.</p>
7

<p>Thanks. I am quite skeptical of my chances at Deep Springs, Yale and Stanford too but I believe my chances are better at Harvard than the other ivies. ( Chances still below 10% but they’re better than Stanford. especially with my aid-seeking status) </p>

<p>What colleges are you applying to?</p>

8

<p>Deep Springs is sure shot, looking into others. Have filled a lot of recruitment forms (I row). Amongst the ivies, Dartmouth is sure shot too. Stanford sucks (if you want to study in California, try USC or Occidental!)</p>

9

<p>Wow, you row!
That in itself, I’m sure, will make you stand out of the Indian applicant pool</p>

<p>I did consider applying to USC but Financial aid is a real issue.
Stanford has an amazing Biology program, I’ve heard. </p>

10

<p>Also adding to the list:</p>

<p>Vassar
University of Chicago
Franklin & Marshall College</p>

<p>It would be great if somebody could take the time to do one of those safety/match/reach things. The complete list is:</p>

<p>Reed
Deep Springs
Harvard
Stanford
Cornell
Grinnell
Middlebury
Amherst
Brown
Princeton
Yale
Soka University of America
Berea
Grinell
Skidmore
Colgate
Lafayette
Vassar
University of Chicago
Franklin & Marshall College</p>

11

<p>The best thing about USC is that aid is merit based, and they offer almost 100 full tuition scholarships. And looking at your SAT scores, you’ll probably get one, and USC is good for engineering as well as pure sciences. There’s also stipend available for top applicants.</p>

12

<p>Skidmore website says-
Each year, Skidmore College provides a few international students with need-based financial aid awards. The awards are very competitive and do not cover the full cost of attending Skidmore.</p>

13

<p>How contradictory! They offer need based aid but the aid won’t cover the full cost of attending! How is the aid need based if it doesn’t meet the full need (which in some cases, is full COA). Can you provide a link? I would like to read it myself.</p>

14

<p>Thanks for pointing that out @Hezekiel. </p>

<p>Very contradictory!</p>

15

<p>Here you go.
<a href=“http://www.skidmore.edu/financialaid/deadlines/1415-international-deadlines.php”>http://www.skidmore.edu/financialaid/deadlines/1415-international-deadlines.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

16

<p>That’s a shame, I thought Skidmore was one of the schools that gave out most aid! I had even talked to the assistant admission officer there, he told that Skidmore gave out need based aid, but he conveniently left out that need based didn’t mean full rides.</p>

17

<p>I’ve written to all the colleges on my list and asked them specifically if they meet 100% of demonstrated need for all admitted international students. Better safe than sorry!</p>

18

<p>Yeah you did a great job. Just be sure that they specifically answer the question, not evade it :-)</p>

19

<p>@nikhilravi - Could you please add their answers here, after they have replied?
Thanks.
Are you sure you want to have Colgate on your list? Got a reputation as a party school, with a huge alcoholic culture.
Even Reed has got its own drug,and smoking culture, though it is a highly intellectual school.</p>

20

<p>I won’t be too sure about Colgate, those guys are really sweet, have been trying to recruit me for about 5 months now, sending catalogs and viewbooks and what not, the admission officer personally wrote me a letter explaining why I should be a “raider”. Quite frankly, it’s good to be wanted, Colgate is much much more than what it seems.</p>