1. Demo
- International student
- Female
- Southeast Asia
- Midsize? public high school (700 students/grade)
- Not first Gen, no legacy, no varsity sports
Intended Major(s)
Politics, Gov, International Relations, Public Policy
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
- HS GPA: 8.5/10 in 9th, 9.0 in 10th, 9.2/10 in 11th grade (we don’t do W or UW)
- Class Rank: not ranked
- SAT Score: 1430 (Should I go test-optional?)
Coursework
- No AP, IB or A-Levels offered
- 12 subjects all year round
- Self studied 2 APs: Macro and Micro (5 and 4 respectively)
Awards
- 3 school-level awards for outstanding performance in History, English language, and Lit (First and second places)
- 1 city-level award in Lit (2nd place)
- Several National speech&debate titles, Model awards (Best Del, Special mentions, Outstanding del)
Extracurriculars
- Pres of Debate club, hosted one online tournament with 24 teams (11-12)
- Pres and founder of Language club, hosted a free offline event about writing skills (11-12)
- Chief Editor of an independent student newspaper (12)
- Internship at a political office, unpaid. (11)
- Tutor friends in debate and English for free. (11-12)
- Badminton club member, go to practice but do not compete (10-11)
Essays/LORs/Other
-
Essays: PS about my journey with anxiety and perfectionism ( I didn’t make it sound cliche, would give it a 6/10 rn because still working on making it stand out); NYU 22-23 supplemental essay: 6/10, the diversity prompt is a bit tricky not to be cliche so even though I have a plot, still working to make it better.
-
LOR: Not too outstanding I think. I asked for LORs from maths, literature, and English. English and Lit teacher love me, maths most likely will recognize my efforts and progress despite how much I struggled at first.
Cost Constraints / Budget
- A bit over 45k, not without consequences. I want to go to business or law school afterwards as well (and NYU isn’t the best way forward but we decided it’s a good investment).
Schools
Please chance me for ED1 to NYU CAS, I am still considering IR or Political Science but I heard they can always consider me for both if I declare it in my commonapp…!
Thank you and please let me know if I forgot to mention anything! Any advice on how to improve/add to my competitiveness will be appreciated!!!
If you need FA, don’t apply ED to NYU.
They DO NOT meet need for internationals and if you apply ED they have no incentive to offer you any financial aid at all.
What do you like about NYU?
Where else have you applied?
If you like urban schools, what about UCincinnati (especially with their Co-op program, which is open to internationals, and their Honors Programs/colleges for which you may qualify with your SAT score)?
What about UMN Twin Cities (also try for Honors)?
Pitt?
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Thank you for your advice! just for a thought though, do you think I have a real chance? I wanted to just apply and see if the package is reasonable. fordham, drexel u, Ohio state are some places I’d love to go to as well if this doesn’t work out.
NYU is a terrible university to apply to ED when one has financial need. 
Why would the package be reasonable? Think of it from NYU’s pt of view: By applying ED to a university that is notoriously stingy and to which you’ve said you really, really want to attend, why would they have to attract you with a good financial aid package? Basically, you’re saying that if they admit you, you’ll attend, and thousands of students each year get into debt to go there – so they have zero incentive to give you a good financial aid package.
You’re wasting your ED chance on NYU, so whether you may get in or not is moot 
.
If you like NYC, you’re better off finding an affordable university and then dedicate money to spend your breaks there (you’d have time&money to enjoy it) as well as internships (you can email universities to see whether they have summer internship programs in NYC - I know Lafayette does and I assume most universities in PA and NJ as well as NYS.)
Why Drexel - are you interested in co-ops? If so, why not Northeastern and UCincinnati (both better than Drexel)?
You have a good shot at tOSU - if so, look at Penn State, UMichigan, Michigan State, UMD, Towson (various levels of selectivity).
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@MYOS1634 NYU now meets full need as they determine it to be. I don’t see an exclusion for international students, but I could be missing that. The school is need aware for international students so level of need might be considered when the application for admission is considered.
NYU meets full need for domestic applicants but AFAIK not for internationals, and I would imagine that switching to “meet need” for Americans would have decreased FA for internationals - I went&checked just in case and all I could find is that it “offers some scholarships”. In addition, finding the total costs is quite difficult - you can find tuition but for one semester only, room and board aren’t on the same page, and the one number you see prominently throughout is $64,000… which is what their graduates earn, on average (if you remove the Stern graduates though it is likely to be quite less). The NPC uses numbers from 2020 (not the 2021 numbers nor the 2022 numbers!) and is very imprecise - no question about equity, which NYU takes into account to calculate aid, nor about higher salary than 99K (it’s just one category, 99+, but there are categories for 30K, 40K… Choose that and you’ll see how imprecise the NPC is). Students, when they apply, would have no idea how much they could end up paying.
45K is a lot of money, many universities would be easily affordable with a small scholarship. Applying ED to NYU is understandable (the lure of NY, no core curriculum unlike Columbia, a student who may not be interested in Barnard but is interested in Fordham…) but I worry it is likely to be bitter.
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If finances are an issue, I seldom recommend applying ED. It does not give the student and family the option of comparing net costs amongst multiple offers.
This student apparently needs aid to attend. That being the case, ED should be viewed with caution. Sure, it might increase acceptance chances, but an acceptance without sufficient aid to attend is just like a rejection, in my opinion.
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Bluntly, you decided wrong.
NYU for UG is wildly overrated- especially as an investment. IF it is a big name in your home country- so big that just having the degree from there will get you jobs that pay well enough to pay for the investment within, say, 5 years, then maybe??? I don’t know of any countries where it is held in such high esteem- but there are lots of countries that I know nothing about.
If you mean in terms of getting into grad school- business or law, then 1) the name will.not.help.- at all (there are easily 100 other colleges and universities that will be just as helpful) and 2) have you looked at the cost of business or law school? and how much that is relative to what you can earn in your home country with that degree? apply business metrics: what is the likely return on investment?
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For these majors, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t be apply to colleges in DC. I understand you are an international student. But the colleges in and near DC have very very good programs in these fields.
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What is it that you like about NYU? If you’re wanting a location in New York due to possibilities with the U.N., or similar, have you thought about these schools?
Barnard (an all-women’s college that’s affiliated with Columbia…take classes there and all opportunities of Columbia, but with the support of a women’s college)
Fordham
Seton Hall
Both Fordham and Seton Hall have large numbers of students majoring in international relations and both are likely to provide substantial merit aid as well.
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I’m very thankful for your input! I chose NYU because the opportunities in NY and the fact that I feel connected to this school somehow. I am aware that there are other schools in NY but I think since I’m not quite sure if I can go to law or business school afterwards, I wanted to have a undergrad degree that make people give me the benefit of the doubt. In my home country, there’s still a large issue of name recognition for Ivies undergrad.
Yes Fordham is definitely on my list! Barnard is a bit too high for me to aim, though if I could, I would have definitely aimed for Barnard:) thank you for your input!
I did some research and there are indeed excellent schools for these majors in DC, like Georgetown or GW, but I cannot be qualified for aid at GW, and Georgetown is again too high for me to aim for. Thank you for your input! Is there any particular school I should look into if I may ask?
NYU is not an I y League school.
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Georgetown and NYU had about the same admission rate for Class of 2026, around 12%.
When you write the NYU supplemental essay make sure to answer the prompt, about how you/your experiences will contribute to the community. Don’t write about some mysterious connection you feel, or the opportunities in NYC.
Do you have at least one affordable safety school in your home country?
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Yes I make sure I also have the option to go to a good uni in my country as well. And I did keep these in mind when writing my sup! :DD
American University in DC + UMD and George Mason University near DC should be on your list.
Goucher, Loyola-Maryland, UMBC, Towson may all be of interest, as well as Virginia publics (CNU, VCU, or Mary Washington, would all be possibilities for matches with Honors College).
Kalamazoo in Michigan has a good Language/IR program, as does James Madison College at Michigan State. Sometimes it’s not geographical proximity but what pull/influence the alumni or the faculty have.
You could also look at the universities with Flagship programs since those have direct ties to the Diplomatic and Intelligence corps. See if your language is represented:
https://www.thelanguageflagship.org/content/languages-programs
All good school suggestions, but will be above OP’s budget of $45k. My impression is that none of these are great with financial aid or merit $$ for international students, but I might be mistaken.
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True wrt American and UMD.
Couldn’t not mention American since OP only mentioned G’Town and GWU. @totebag needs to run the NPC. If it’s as unaffordable as NYU, not worth it to apply.
George Mason has an Honors College and merit scholarships. Excellent connections to DC. 
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I’m a fan of GMU, but it’s a state U and the OOS cost puts it out of reach unless the OP gets one of 2 50% discount scholarships that are available to international students.