<p>@Pindi, I don’t understand, why is your concern JUST getting into an Ivy League school? Other than Cornell and perhaps Princeton, I don’t think any of the others are particularly known for CS. You might want to ED at Cornell which I think is a great choice (I’m also applying ED for CS there), but you really do need to come up with a list that also has private universities that are willing to give a lot of aid to international students. Even if you go to a less well known college for undergrad, once you graduate, you will much more opportunities at prestigious CS schools like CMU, MIT, Berkeley etc. So don’t worry too much about getting into an Ivy. It’s not as important as you think.</p>
<p>@cow, I don’t think UIUC or any state flagship is a good choice. I doubt any give a decent amount of financial aid to international students. Also UIUC may have a high acceptance rate, but getting in for CS is really tough, and even more tough for international/OOS students.</p>
<p>I’m really not sure how to weigh an international student… I’ll treat this as if you were a citizen with slightly less impressive stats:</p>
<p>MIT. Reach
Harvard. Reach
Yale. Reach
Dartmouth. Reach
Amherst. High match/low reach
Williams. Match
Wake Forest. ?
University of Richmond. ?
Colby College. Match
Connecticut College. ?</p>
<p>@Truust
Most of the state flagships would be a bad choice and they pretty much all have terrible financial aid but UIUC has been accepting more and more international applicants (especially to EECS) and with his qualifications he would be eligible for many of the merit based scholarships.</p>
<p>My main concern is escaping from my native country and getting an American educations with full financial aid. That’s why all the Ivys and other need blind schools attract me so much.</p>
<p>@iamthecowgodmoo
Could you give me an estimate of the cost state schools would have ?
I’ll get full financial aid in the Ivys because my annual family income is around 12,000 dollars.</p>
<p>@Truust
To be honest, my dream school from childhood has been MIT :3
But I can’t apply early there cause its for nationals only and I want to get in a secure place in my early attempt so that my family is at ease. Thanks for the advice about not well known colleges, I’m thinking of doing ED2 to some place where they’ll hopefully take me in and meet my complete need - without a doubt. Some place secure. Then I can later attempt to transfer to MIT or go there in graduate school.</p>
<p>@Zamiota
Thank you for the analysis. I’m glad you made Amherst a High Match/Low Reach instead of just Reach school - it’s still my number one choice for early decision. It all comes to my essay, I guess.</p>
<p>Well you will not receive financial aid at all at UIUC or any state schools at all, but there is a good chance you will qualify for scholarships that will offset the cost by several thousand dollars and may even be a full ride, I would recommend applying anyway because they automatically consider you for scholarships when you apply. If you want to look at specific scholarships you can look here [University</a> of Illinois Financial Aid: International Students](<a href=“http://www.osfa.illinois.edu/aid/international/]University”>International Students – Office of Student Financial Aid) Apply to as many places as possible, and you find one that will subsidize most of the cost. Being from a low income family and from Pakistan, you most likely qualify for many private scholarships.</p>
<p>I’m going to have to disagree with Catria for URichmond. It’s definitely a safety for you. I’m also applying to Cornell ED and compared to me you have a wonderful chance of getting in! You could benefit from applying ED to Yale rather than Cornell. I also think that that would be a better match for you considering your interests.</p>
<p>I’m really not sure how to weigh an international student… I’ll treat this as if you were a citizen with slightly less impressive stats:</p>
<p>MIT. Reach
Harvard. Reach
Yale. Reach
Dartmouth. Reach
Amherst. High match/low reach
Williams. Match
Wake Forest. Not sure
University of Richmond. Not sure
Colby College. Match
Connecticut College. Not sure</p>
<p>@iamthecowgodmoo
Thanks a lot man!
I’ll look into the merit based aid. What I don’t understand is how do you get private scholarships ? Like does everyone who applies automatically get considered for private scholarships or do you have to apply somewhere ? </p>
<p>@jia123
Yeah, I thought of URichmond as a safety as well.
Yale ? WOW. I really like Yale but I actually want to improve my chances of acceptance by doing Early Decision and I don’t think a place like Yale will really value me more because they think its binding for me to attend but a place like Amherst might …</p>
<p>@Wilsoncw
I know but they are supposed to meet your full financial need when it comes to early decision applicants thus I think that would not be an issue for ED.</p>
<p>@boby642
HAHAHAHHA. Its a product of killing your non extra curricular social life.
What it means is that there is a national student organization that is spread over the country and I’m the in charge of my city/district.</p>
<p>@Pindi, ED doesn’t mean that they’ll meet full aid no matter what if you get accepted. They will try to, but there is a chance that they may not offer enough. In that case, you’re allowed to decline and apply to other schools RD. You’re only required to go to the school you ED to IF they meet full aid. Just thought I should mention that.</p>
<p>^Ohhh, I did not know that. I thought Cornell met 100% of demonstrated need. I’ll keep that in mind, I guess aid wise - Amherst is the best option. It being need blind for International students and all.</p>
<p>Wrote a long reply and it got deleted ugh. Anyways, in short…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You’re right about Cornell meeting 100% aid, but this is only for domestic students.</p>
<p>Cornell is a great choice to ED to for CS. However, I don’t think they will give enough aid.
On the other hand, Amherst or Williams (both very generous to internationals) will give you enough aid if you get in… however, they’re not exactly the best schools for CS. That’s not necessarily so bad though. You could major in CS there as an undergrad, and after that you’ll have a lot more opportunities to go to a good engineering school for your graduate studies.</p>
<p>In short,
Cornell -> Better for CS, not as good for FA
Williams/Amherst -> Better for FA, not as good for CS</p>
<p>I think you should ED to Amherst/Williams for the better FA given your situation, but it’s your call. Cornell’s CoE is a great school and if you get in with Financial Aid, you might be a lot happier than if you went to Amherst or Williams. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>MIT has the “best” computer engineering program so you could throw the early action bullet there (it is unbinding unlike early decision).</p>
<p>You pretty are just a dime a dozen compared to other applicants except for this:
“CEO and Founder of Pakistan’s first free web hosting company
(this is really big, we are now serving more then 100,000 hits per month on our servers and I’m hopeful to get some national media coverage before I apply)”</p>
<p>This is going to be the thing that makes you different, especially given the country you are from.</p>
<p>Your SAT is great (Math has to be like 760-800 though).
You can look up MIT statistics on GPA and the SAT/ACT online. </p>
<p>Overall I would basically agree with Catria.</p>
<p>@Truust
Amherst it is then - thanks for your help. Another good thing about Amherst is that it’s need blind in its admission so my financial situation won’t be much of a problem. </p>
<p>Could anyone tell me about the career possibilities of a CS Major from Amherst ?</p>
<p>@mte123
Yes, I know that. I’m going to market my self in my application as an entrepreneur with an interest in technology. Something along the lines of what Steve Jobs was. My other perk is that I’ve managed my grades and SAT through really tough conditions. I’ve studied at schools where rockets would fly over our class rooms and ****. How much do you think that will assist my application ?</p>
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