@collegemom3717 The problem is that I don’t know basic things like sodium in Korean
Not Korean, but the word for ‘sodium’ in Chinese is pronounced the same way it’s written on the periodic table. For most Asian languages, the element names will approximate the abbreviation if it has Latin or Greek origins.
I am assuming that by “U of T” you are referring to Toronto (and not Tennessee nor Texas). I think that your chances of being accepted at the University of Toronto are very good. Admissions in Canada is very stats-oriented, and your stats are great. I have no idea what your chances are of getting any financial aid. However, you might want to see whether your high school would be willing to nominate you for a Lester B Pearson scholarship:
https://future.utoronto.ca/scholarships/lester-b-pearson-international-scholarship-program/
Hey, thanks for you reply! Does anyone here know about the exact tuition and living cost in Canada? I heard that it’s quite hefty and want to know if there’s any way for international students to get scholarships in Canada. I really want to go to the University of Toronto (it might not be as prestigious as MIT or Stanford, but it seems pretty decent). If anyone can help out with financial aid, please leave a message on this thread. Thanks!
You can easily Google up the cost of a Canadian university.
In general, the cost of a prestigious Canadian school like McGill, Toronto, and UBC is way cheaper than an equivalent ranked US school, even for international students.
You may want to expand your search to schools like Delft University in the Netherlands where English is the main language of instruction. Also look at Hong Kong Technical schools, too. Your situation is unique, and that could play in your favor actually, to explain that you have lived abroad all your life. You may want to focus your essays on your living situation, as well as your interest in chemical engineering, and lower your sights, to some solid US engineering colleges, with chemical engineering. Depending on how much money you have to spend, I would add, U of Minnesota, Purdue, and other very large well ranked chemical engineering colleges.
MIT limits international students, so students who do not have permanent residency or US citizenship to only about 9% of the freshman class, so its a poor bet, and also Koreans are over represented lately along with other Asian Nationals. (China and India primary ).
Maybe look at Case Western Reserve U in Ohio, a smaller private that offers some merit to international students. Its not going to meet full need of international candidates however.
The list of US schools that meet full need for international is a very small list.
I might look in Scotland, Glasgow often takes international students. I might look in Australia as well.
Hey guys! So do you guys think I should try to look for other colleges? One of the reasons I have not tried to apply to European universities is because I’ve never been there or know how to speak the languages. Frankly, I’m quite afraid. It’s quite sad that my chances to get into my dream schools are pretty low, but I’m fine with lowering my standards. I’d rather prefer to live in big-name cities as I like urban life as well as the connections you can build there. Thanks for helping out!
A good university in the UK might actually make sense, as the language of instruction is in English plus they look at the results of AP tests instead of extracurriculars.
St. Andrews in Scotland takes a significant amount of foreign students. Look into that.
The suggestion of top Australian universities (for example University of Queensland) is a good idea as well.
Do you when the admission process for these universities take place? I’m not sure when it is because I’m mostly accustomed to the dates for US and South Korean Universities. Are the tuitions/living costs in these countries as much as the US? Are there also scholarships that are more generous than the ones given in the US? I’m not sure about how likely you are to get scholarships in these countries or as a matter of fact, the US.
Many international students get into TU Delft. I believe its less expensive than most full cost US universities, but housing could be an issue. English is the language of most classes at TU Delft, not Dutch, as I understand it.
https://www.tudelft.nl/en/
Another university that could be inexpensive for international applicants is U of Glasgow, but its more of a humanities and social science college.
Australia has well ranked universities worth looking into as well.
German universities have fantastic prices, if you can speak,read and write German.
TU Delft tuition and fees is only $10,000 Euros. Its a very good deal. Its a large public school in The Netherlands. In the USA, to get tuition and fees that low would require going to a small liberal arts college, which you would have to major in chemistry and not chemical engineering, such as College of Wooster in Ohio. College of Wooster gives incredible deals to international students as does Illinois Institute of Technology. I might consider IIT for chemical engineering, but it is in an edgy crime ridden area of Chicago, but maybe getting a little better. You can stay safe in the IIT part of Chicago by not going out at night and not wandering into bad neighborhoods, and being very careful when you take public transportation. Downtown Chicago , Hyde Park and many Chicago suburbs are very very safe.
Hey all, thanks for your replies! I’m still really confused on where to apply, but I’ll start to finish filling in the details to my common app and Bridge U application. If you guys recommend me any sort of universities for Chemical Engineering, feel free to reply here! I’m not sure how the admission processes for other universities work. Sorry for troubling y’all so much!
Miami University (Oxford, OH) usually ranks well in the US News category “Best Undergraduate Teaching” that has a “focus on schools where faculty and administrators are committed to teaching undergraduate students in a high-quality manner.” https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/undergraduate-teaching
And “All international students with equivalent U.S. grade point averages of 3.50 (or equivalent) or higher and SAT scores of 1230 or ACT scores of 26 or higher are also considered for merit-based scholarships. These additional scholarships can range from $1,000 per year to full tuition per year.” https://miamioh.edu/onestop/your-money/finaid/aid-types/scholarships/international-students/index.html
https://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-guarantee/index.html
And they have an abet accredited Chemical Engineering program, with no additional admission requirements for the program.
https://miamioh.edu/academics/majors-minors/majors/chemical-engineering.html
Lovely campus in a safe town dominated by the university.
http://miamioh.edu/admission/international/index.html
But Miami University in Ohio is good for liberal arts, business, teacher education, psychology and weak for chemical engineering or any engineering field. Don’t trust ABET. In Ohio, the well known schools for engineering, are Ohio State, and Case Western, for engineering. Even U of Ohio is better than Miami University. There just are not any very strong faculty in engineering at some liberal arts focused colleges. UIUC, Purdue and others in the midwest are where you can get a great engineering education. Don’t go to a low ranked school for engineering, it will not pay off in the long run.
Miami has a decent rank (#30) for engineering programs where a doctorate is not offered. https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-overall
Good merit packages for internationals are hard to find. If the student has an unlimited budget and can be full pay - UIUC, Purdue, UW, UM, Ohio State, etc. are obviously great places to apply and attend. However, this student indicated cost is a factor and Miami might actually be affordable with merit aid.
There are so few engineering schools without doctorates that this is a meaningless rank, in my opinion. I don’t think Miami U is equivalent to others on the list in any way. Miami is much more of a liberal arts college. It just does not have much going on in engineering. Illinois Institute of Tech gives very good merit to international students and a program that could lead to a good job. Its hard for Miami students to compete with graduates from Ohio State. It makes no sense for a very good Korean student who can go to a top university in Seoul to go to a school that will not lead to a job in Asia. It makes no sense at all. He does not have the right to stay or work in the USA as of now. He can get a training job, on some visas, but going to a school without a reputation in Asia is a very bad plan for the OP.
Also note that Miami University is mostly focused on paper engineering in its chemical engineering program for some local jobs in Ohio. Its not at all set up to train a conventional chemical engineer who might want to get into pharmaceuticals, the chemical industry, the semiconductor industry or the petroleum industry.
http://miamioh.edu/cec/academics/departments/cpb/academics/majors/chemeng/index.html
This would be a very big mistake for a Korean student to go to Miami U to study chemical engineering. They would need a masters degree to get any decent job back home.
Apply to those universities on the list (except Stanford unless you are #1 in your class). My UC Berkeley roommate was an international ChemE from Indonesia and based on the sheer number of students at Cal, you could get into the program. Also, my advice is to apply to some of the US universities that accept more than 80% of international applicants -www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/slideshows/13-universities-with-the-highest-international-student-acceptance-rates. But only apply to the good ones in safe(r) cities, like University of Colorado at Boulder and University of Texas San Antonio. Think longterm - excel at one of these schools and then get a Masters at one of your top schools. FYI - Purdue is #1 top ranked as an international student destination - my friend just graduated ChemE there and will start a job that pays more than her college professor parents. I don’t think you need to retake your SATs - you got a perfect in MATH. Focus on continuing to excel in school, and on your conservation efforts and fundraising leadership.
Hey guys, thanks for all the replies. It means a lot to me! So, the main takeaway that I’m getting is that I should try my best to apply to most of the colleges in the title of the discussion as well as top Asian universities like SNU or nanyang in Singapore? And the most affordable to me would be SNU? Does anyone know about scholarships and financial aid in other Asian universities? I’m planning to come back to Indonesia after working as a chemical engineer in a foreign country. I don’t mind asking my parents to pay for my colleges, but it’s just that I feel bad, since they have to spend an abundant amount of money on my sister’s hospital bills.
Hi! I’m from Singapore, and I would say National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) are both highly reputable in Asia. NUS and NTU are ranked 11th and 12th in the latest QS University Rankings (2019). For NUS, considering you’re an international student, tuition fees will be between 28 and 30k USD per year. NTU is cheaper, around 22 - 25k USD per year. I don’t really know any international students studying there, because most of these international students who study in Singaporean universities usually study in Singaporean secondary schools and junior colleges before naturally proceeding to Singaporean universities.
I’d say that Singapore focuses more on academics rather than portfolio while considering students for admission, unless you’re really outstanding e.g. international competitions or national sports player. And you have to keep in mind that the students applying for NUS and NTU are mostly locals who took the Cambridge GCE A-Levels, which is much tougher than other exams such as the SATs. Anyway, I’m unfamiliar with the international student admissions process, but your grades seem great! So you should really give it a shot 
(OK I quickly helped you search this up) Regarding scholarships for international students, NUS offers 2:
- ASEAN Undergraduate Scholarship (which you are not eligible for because you have Korean citizenship I assume?)
- Science & Technology (S&T) Undergraduate Scholarship.
You can find out more here: http://www.nus.edu.sg/oam/scholarships/freshmen-international-students
NTU offers way more: https://admissions.ntu.edu.sg/UndergraduateAdmissions/Pages/FreshmenNonSingapore.aspx
I would suggest you try for the CN Yang Scholarship, NTU Science and Engineering Undergraduate Scholarship, and Nanyang Scholarship, but remember you may be competing with local students who obtain straight As in their A Levels, so it may be a little tough.
You can ask me if you need more help. I can try to help you find out more! Good luck