Chance Me - International Student

Student Lounge International Students
1

Demographics: Female, Latin American, Brazilian, Private Competitive School (Full Scholarship), Girl in STEM, Need full ride or really close to that

Intended Major(s): Astronomy (Computer Science as Second Option)

ACT/SAT/SAT II: 1470 (EW:710; Math:760)

Math II - 790

Physics - 800

Chemistry - 750

UW/W GPA and Rank: My school does not declare GPA, however my average grade is 90/100 (So it is something between 3.7 or 4.0) UW. 3/53 UW

Coursework: I had advanced classes in math, chemistry, physics and portuguese. However, my school does not offer AP or IB.

Awards: Honorable Mention at International Olympiad of Astronomy and Astrophysics (12th - International)

Gold Medalist at Latin American Olympiad of Astronomy and Astronautics (Special Award: Best Theoretical Exam in Group) (PG - International)

Gold Medalist at Brazilian Olympiad of Economics (12th - National)

Pergaminho(2018) and Papiro(2017) Medalist (Silver and Bronze Equivalent) at Brazilian Olympiad of Linguistics (11th and 12th - National)

Silver Medal at Brazilian Olympiad of Astronomy and Astronautics (9th to 12th - National)

Bronze and Honorable Mention at Brazilian Olympiad of Physics (9th and 11th grade - National)

Silver and Bronze Medalist of Kangaroo Math Olympiad (Bronze in 10th grade, Silver in 9th, 11th and 12th grade - National)

Bronze Medal at National Science Olympiad (11th - National)

Silver Medal at Brazilian Olympiad of Geography (11th - National)

I’m putting the extra ones in the additional information session.

Extracurriculars: Virtual Coordinator of Astroseeds

Spread passion for science through astronomy, prepared the course materials and the curriculum, managed and participated in the creation of the website

Content Coordinator of Acadêmicos

Prepared and led the team’s meeting, trained team members, and managed three teams: curatorship, writing, and edition.

Preparation for IOAA and OLAA

Learned astrophysics from college professors, launched water rockets and used many types of telescopes. See Additional Info for more.

Scientific Initiation Program

I am part of a government program to introduce students to scientific research. We learned how to use some tools as LaTex and advanced mathematics.

Latin American Leadership Academy

Selected between many latin american young leaders to participate of an intensive bootcamp in leadership and social innovation in Ecuador.

Mind the GAP Brazil

Learned about computer science and coding, participated in several lectures with college professors, and met Google’s office in Brazil.

Autumn School of Linguistics

Participated in the selection process to the international olympiads, and attended to scientist’s lectures. See Additional Info for more.

Dancing at O Casulo / Academia 7 de Setembro

Danced in three different styles: ballet, jazz and contemporary. Also participated in festivals.

Top Content Creator of Gonitzoggo

Gonitzoggo is an international website that aims to teach mathematics and physics. I idealize and write questions with answers about astrophysics.

Participant, Organizer and Founder of MUNs

I participated of +15 MUNs. I founded a MUN in my city, also organized and was chair on it. I also wrote the guide, and trained the delegates.

Essays/LORs/Other: I think my PS is really strong, but I don’t have any idea about the other options.

Schools: Case Western (EA)

The other ones are RD (I’m not going to apply to all of them, but I am considering them) Pls suggest me some schools that you think it would be a great fit:

Dartmouth

Tufts

Columbia

Colby

Barnard

Wesllesley

Amherst

Tufts

Stanford

U of Rochester

Northwestern

Grinnell

Oberlin

U of Notre Dame

Williams

Vassar

Smith

Bryn Mawr

2

I think your extracurriculars are really strong and your standardized tests aren’t bad either. In your place, I’d probably be applying to a selection of colleges with more reach schools with great astronomy departments like CMU, Rice, Princeton and Cornell; those are bigger and can afford better aid, though as an international, it might get tougher. Also, colleges which offer merit based scholarships for internationals might be good options. Also, you have pretty good credentials in STEM; if Stanford, then why not MIT or Caltech? (I believe Stanford considers need as a factor while looking at international applications while MIT is need blind)
All the best!

3

Full rides for international students are extremely difficult to come by, and many of the schools on your list are not need blind for international applicants.

I’d suggest reading through some of the posts on the international subforum.

4

Congratulations on your achievements.

I agree that a full ride will be difficult…schools calculate need differently based on income/assets, and some will include things like travel, health insurance and personal expenses in their awards, while others don’t.

Regarding the schools on your list, only Amherst is need blind for internationals, so you should definitely apply there.

Have you taken TOEFL? Do you have affordable college options in Brazil, or elsewhere?

5

How do you do all this much of ECAs and still manage to get 1470 on SATs and maintain such high GPA?

6

You are not an international student.

7

You can look for scholarships at https://www.iefa.org/ or https://www.internationalscholarships.com/
In US there 5 universities that offer need-blind admission to internation students: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Amherst College
Also you will need transcript translation which you can have done by a university service but I found a cheap service at https://thewordpoint.com/services/certified/certified-transcript-translations . Still you will have to contact your admission officer to learn whether college of choice accepts