<p>I am from Belarus (yep, its pretty harsh here because of the crisis in Russia).</p>
<p>Classic scenario - international, need full ride. I am quite nervous, I need an advice about schools which to apply to.
I chose Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Penns, Johns Hopkins, University of Richmond, Skidmore College, Trinity College.
Maybe I should give up on some of the schools? What are my chances with them? Maybe you can offer some other schools that would be more likely to admit me?</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Russian International Olympiads in Informatics - 2nd prize
National Science Fair - 2nd prize
some more contests in informatics, mathematics and English</p>
<p>Privet! I speak Russian, so you can PM me and talk about this more. I know a bunch of guys with similar credentials who got into MIT, so I am positive you have pretty good chances; however, I also know people who didn’t get into MIT in spite of having international olympiads under their belt. Besides, I’m not sure what you mean by Russian International Olympiad unless you mean IOI which is recognized in the US. Can’t tell anything about Skidmore or Trinity - never even heard of them and due to this fact I think those are rather safety schools for you. </p>
<p>We need more information, such as your grades. Your scores are quite good, but maybe not quite high enough to get you into Stanford or the Ivies. They are high enough to get you into Skidmore or Trinity, but without knowing your grades it’s not possible to make an accurate guess–just because someone has not heard of a college does not mean it is a “safety” for you. </p>
<p>IOI is probably very well recognized by US colleges, especially MIT. You have a pretty good chance for getting into these colleges. Can’t really say much about financial aid, though…</p>
<p>It is not actually IOI, it is a contest organized annually in Moscow, one must take part in internet-based stage to qualify. Participants usually come from countries that are neighbours to Russia. This contest is probably not so universally recognized.</p>