Chance me - noncitizen in an abnormal situation

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Thanks for looking at my thread! I'll explain my situation before I start with stats and stuff. I'm an Indian that was born in India. My family got really lucky and received American visas, so we moved to the United States. We have been attempting to become citizens for the past 13-14 years, but circumstances outside of our control kept us from receiving it. We're still in the process now. I've spoken to several of my schools about this, but I wanted to make you guys aware in case it changes my chances at all. </p>

<p>Stats:
•SAT: 2140
•ACT: 35, second try.
•GPA: 4.0, unweighted scale.
•Rank: 1/260ish
•AP: 4 - US History. Taking AP Calc this year. My school only offers 3 ap courses. </p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
•Math Club - President, founding member. I have won several regional and state awards in math competitions through the club, and I want to give back to the community this year with the club.
•Chess Club Member - Our school has a casual Chess club, and I'm currently ranked at the top. Not sure if this is worth anything.
•Gay-Straight Alliance - member, I mostly just listen to their discussions and I participate in their fundraisers.
•Student Council - Representative. This is my first year as a rep.
•NHS - member. I just participate in their events.
•Math Tutor - I tutor for my high school and the public library. I have about 400 hours worth of tutoring students that vary from elementary school kids to adults.
•LIT at the Boys' and Girls' Club - Worked as a volunteer for the boys and girls club, roughly 500 hours of community service.
•Other miscellaneous community service - 50 hours. Worked for library, ROTC, some other stuff. </p>

<p>Awards:
•Questbridge College Prep Scholar
•Collegiate Blog Mentorship Scholarship winner
•Mohave Electric Coop Youth Tour winner-won a trip to DC.
•Some other small local awards</p>

<p>•Income: Low, around 30000.</p>

<p>Other
•My school is in a rural area, and it receives little funding. We have around a 50% dropout rate, and very few students go to high-end universities.
•My extracurriculars may seem a bit all over the place, but I absolutely love Math Club, and I talk about it a lot in my applications.
•I'm applying through Questbridge.</p>

<p>•Intended Major: Physics and/or Math</p>

<p>Schools I want chances for:
Yale
Bowdoin
Vanderbilt
Northwestern
Pomona
Tufts
Carleton
UChicago
Amherst
Notre Dame
Cornell</p>

<p>I'm also open to more suggestions for schools if you guys have any. </p>

<p>If you need any more information, feel free to ask. Sorry if this is messy, I had to do this on my phone. </p>

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<p>I’d say you have a pretty decent shot as well, especially at a couple of those schools! Your atypical situation is unique and shows some adversity and overcoming obstacles. </p>

3

<p>Decent shot. Having no citizenship won’t hurt at many top schools- it might even help! </p>

<p>See recent article:
<a href=“Harvard Gives Student Full Ride After He Tells Them He's Illegal Immigrant”>http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/09/25/Harvard-Gives-Student-Full-Ride-After-He-Tells-Them-He-s-Illegal-Immigrant&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thanks for the responses guys! When you say “decent shot,” do you mean that my ECs and test scores are good and that my essays and rec letters will be the deciding factor? Sorry, I’m new to this.</p>

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<p>Bumperino</p>

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<p>So are you a permanent resident (green card holder) or international at this moment?</p>

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<p>Here is what I think: </p>

<p>Yale - 20%
Bowdoin - No idea.
Vanderbilt - 70%
Northwestern - 70%
Pomona - No idea.
Tufts - 90%
Carleton - No idea.
UChicago - 30%
Amherst - No idea.
Notre Dame - 70%
Cornell- 50% </p>

<p>Applying early to your top choice will help your chances. </p>

<p>Play out this process well, and I can definitely see a full ride at a prestigious institution coming your way!</p>

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<p>Viphan, I’m technically an international. We’re in the process of getting permanent residency, and it’ll probably be that way for a while. I might apply for DACA.</p>

<p>Puzzled, are Northwestern and Uchicago that different in their acceptance rates? I thought they were pretty similar, but I wasn’t too sure about the two schools. Also, my number 1 is Vanderbilt, but I’m not sure if I should apply early there or if I should try my luck with Questbridge. Any suggestions?</p>

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<p>@Rathination‌ </p>

<p>Northwestern is at 12.9% while U Chic is at 8.4%. However, having good numbers generally means you are in at Northwestern. For U Chicago, a huge emphasis is placed on assessing your intellectual capabilities through essays, making it less of a “sure-shot”. </p>

<p>Your chances are pretty good for both. My suggestion, however, if to try and apply Yale Early Action. It is your best chance at Yale, while for the other universities, you still had a good shot regular decision. </p>

<p>Also, try applying to a few other top tier schools. Harvard/Stanford have given full rides to students in your situation before!</p>

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<p>I was thinking about applying to Harvard and Stanford during Regular decision, but I just assumed that I didn’t have much of a shot. Most of the schools in my list are for Questbridge, and I only included Yale because I told myself “You should try for at least one Ivy.” I guess I kind of assumed they wouldn’t consider me because of how weak the academics are at my school. I’ll consider applying to them now. Thanks!</p>

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<p>Also, I have a question about my choices. I want to research Physics or maybe even become a professor when I grow up, so are these schools good for these goals? </p>

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<p>So I was in the exact boat as you are a year ago. I was in the process of applying for a green card, and I cannot emphasize this enough: It is EXTREMELY dry cut - you have your green card, you qualify for FA. If you don’t, you are reviewed as an international student. </p>

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<p>@viphan‌ </p>

<p>Universities do dole out some scholarships that are not directly out of their FA office (ie adcom talks to FA office to give person full ride). This is usually due to extenuating circumstances or special cases (eg Kwasi Enin was offered a full ride to Yale that was certainly not need based, and the student in the article I linked earlier was undocumented). </p>

<p>I think 30k parent salary + lots of community service + valedictorian may cause the OP to qualify for this kind of aid! </p>

<p>@Rathination‌ </p>

<p>In you common application essay, you should pick the “background story” prompt and discuss living on visas in a foreign/rural county, fighting for green cards with low income, and most importantly, how that has impacted your view on education + helping your community. Make sure to be EXTREMELY positive throughout your essay. Good luck!</p>

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<p>I really hope what you’re saying isn’t the case, Viphan. That’s my biggest fear, and it’s been my greatest challenge when applying to colleges, so I thank you for at least being honest with me. </p>

<p>@puzzled123‌ I will! I definitely think I did in my Questbridge Essays, and I’ll work on illustrating how my situation helped shape my personality to this very day. Thank you so much for the kind words. Sometimes it’s hard to be positive about this whole thing, and you made my day a little brighter :smiley: . </p>

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<p>@Rathination‌ I put in my application that my status will be rectified around matriculation. They reviewed me as an international applicant. I do hope that the adcoms will be touched by your story and will act accordingly. </p>

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<p>@viphan Are you in a University now? How did applying as in international work out for you?</p>

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<p>Your stats are great, GPA and test scores are about as good as they get. I think you might need to take some SAT subjects for some schools so make sure you do well on those. It sounds like you go to a pretty poor school and the fact that you are such of a stud in a not so good area will really help your chances. I think you have a good shot at some of the schools you listed but ivies can be hard to predict. Hopefully you will not be viewed as an international applicant.</p>

<p>On another note, DO NOT APPLY ED. Definitely pursue the QB NCM because you cannot get rejected, you can only get deferred, so this way you get an extra shot at your dream school. My friend last year was a finalist and applied for the match to three schools and didn’t get matched with any. However, the adcoms at Princeton enjoyed his application so much that after they found out he didn’t get matched they offered him a full ride. Miracles like this probably happen to several people after the match so if you don’t get initially matched you might receive another offer.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

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<p>@Rathination‌ I took a year off, so no. It didn’t very well haha</p>

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<p>@Rathination - give your situation, if you are not applying to them already via QB, I would recommend you considering applying to all the schools that are need-blind/full aid for internationals (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Amherst, and MIT) These schools will likelygive you special consideration relative to other internationals, and if you are accepted, your will get the same aid anyone else in your situation would. I’m not sure what the odds are, but it seems you should be a competitive candidate, provided you submit a strong application with recommendations to match.</p>

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<p>@BldrDad Thanks! I’ll do my best to apply to as many schools as possible, even those that are need-aware. I think my stats make me competitive, but I’m not sure how much I’m worth in the international pool. I’m hoping that with strong essays on my part, I can transmit the difficulties I’ve had to face and hopefully get an acceptance at one high-ranked school. I believe that my recommendations are excellent. Both of my recommenders are teachers that I consider as role models, so I hope that my essays are up to par.</p>