Demographics: Asian
*international student: Indian
Freshmen*:
Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional):
First generation*
Intended Major(s) Physics
77.4% (3.1), top 5%, and Test optional
*5 Coursera courses
Athletic student of the year (school), Student of the year (school), Child scientist (national)
Extracurriculars
Founded a science club for which I was honored the title of ‘Child Scientist,’ have a website for literature (and plateform for other people too) with 35+ articles. Founded two organizations, visited 7+ schools for developing sense of research in students. Community service during COVID-19, distributed masks and spread mass awareness. Generated Nanoparticles via green synthesis to be used for saffron cultivation for the first time. Teach comparative religion. Won 4 marathon races and 13 debates (School and district level),*
*Essays/LORs/Other are great
Cost Constraints / Budget (High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)
Schools Johns Hopkins university (ED) , University of Richmond, Emory University, WashU (ED2),Cornell University, Dartmouth, MIT
I saw your post on r/chanceme. These two responses are pretty spot on:
Bud, I don’t wanna rain on your parade, but you quite literally have no chance at the listed universities with your stats and most of those ECs. They’re all extremely superficial and almost none are related to your chosen major. Aim lower. Also, are you looking for fin aid?
Going test-optional is an international is the biggest gamble, especially if you’re applying from India, where everyone scores incredibly high on their SATs. I can’t help but wonder if your ED and EDII schools are the right fit for you–that is if you can get in
A 77.4 Year XI in India is roughly a 3.75, not a US 77 (=C+ in the US-> community college) or a US 3.1 (B=> 4 year universitywith 70+% acceptance), unless that 77 is a combination of all years.
“Child scientist” means nothing in US terms, do you mean Young Scientist of the Year or something of the kind?
The description of your activities doesn’t allow us to gauge the extent of your involvement, whether you were part of a team, school based or hosted at a university, where the funding came from, if it was for a class or a national contest.
If you won marathon races what was your time and did you reach out to the Track and field coach at the universities you’re considering and would they support your application? ( do that ASAP)
I agree your list is over reaching though.
Definitely include Lawrence and St Olaf, both good for the sciences (Lawrence is especially strong in Physics). Perhaps add Penn state, Iowa State, Ohio State.
How much can your parents pay per year? The financial aid is limited for internationals.
Confused as to how 77% marks translates to top 5%. Is grade deflation that common at your high school?
Realize that Indian internationals who apply to US colleges for STEM majors have a really tough road. Not impossible, but just be aware that you’ll need to have a broad list.
I agree that those schools are tough. My daughter was admitted to Johns Hopkins both as an undergrad and grad student. Even with top scores, we would be full pay.
Google: US universities with financial aid for international students.
Find out if the school has your major and how having a physics degree will work in your country for jobs.
Every university is different in how much funding is provided.
The public universities typically don’t fund international students since funding comes from the state’s taxpayers.
The universities lost millions of dollars during the Pandemic, so their coffers are going to be low. Since you are asking for a full ride, that is going to be really tough and limiting.
Okay so that’s 77/90 if the hoghest gicen at your school is 90 and if that’s top 5% your transcript will need a grading scale making that clear.
Grinnell? Skidmore?
I think i already listed Lawrence and St Olaf but I don’t think you have a real shot with a 3k budget.
your budget will be a big obstacle because many colleges dont have enough budget to admit more than one full ride international.
To put it another way, between two brilliant students who each need 40k and one brilliant student who needs 80k, they’ll pick two brilliant students for the price of one…
You need to being something they want ans that no one else does.
Do you have other possibilities in India or Europe?
See if Studienkolleg+university in Germany, the CampusFrance scheme, or Canada could work (Waterloo is topnotch for science and has scholarships but you need to apply asap)
You need a college that “meets full need”. There are only a handful that are need blind to internationals. The rest are need sensitive. Internationals were used by many colleges to fill the budget because most were wealthy and full pay.
