Chance me - Princeton , UPenn , Yale , UCLA

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • international student
  • State/Location of residency: (state is important if you apply to any state universities)
  • Type of high school (current college for transfers): GAP YEAR
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Indian Female
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): First generation to College

Intended Major(s) : Computer Science , Business Management and Psychology

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.6
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): n/a
  • College GPA (for transfers):
  • Class Rank: 10/2000
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1590

Coursework

  • Apart from the usual classes , Multi variable calculus , Differential Equations , Topology and Real Analysis , Quantum Computing , ML & AI , Robotics (Intermediate) , Cognitive Sciences (Advanced)

Awards : National Winner for Research Paper Competitions , Student of the Year , Gold CREST , Diana Award (hopefully)

Extracurriculars
Student Council (President) , President of Mathematics Club , President of Elocution Club , started my own NPO , created a Minimum valuable product for my startup , going to publish my paper in a journal , VP for an NPO , volunteered in a suicide hotline , started my own research group , research intern under a professor from Canada.

Cost Constraints / Budget
I would need financial aid.

Schools

  • Safety * - Please provide me suggestions for safety schools.
  • Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)
  • Match
  • Reach
2

What is the actual scale for your GPA? While many high schools have grade deflation, a 3.6 putting somebody at the to 0.5% seems pretty extreme, and a 3.6 paired with an SAT of 1590 is also pretty rare. If indeed that is your actual GPA, you will need your counselor to make sure that they understand that a 3.6 is about as high a GPA as your high school will provide.

You have excellent grades and test scores, and solid ECs. However, the percent of applicants from India who are accepted to Princeton, UPenn, or Yale are tiny, and that means that you have to be from the top 1% in the applicant pool on all levels. UPenn is need aware for international students, so that is even less likely.

UCLA does not provide much financial aid even to USA citizens who are not residents of California, so, financially, it is entirely out of reach.

You are an international students who requires financial aid, so you have no safeties, no likelies, and probably no matches. Because you need financial aid, even colleges at which your profile would be a match would be reaches, since you would be competing with a large number of international students who would be full pay.

So, depending on the amount of financial aid you need, you probably only have high reaches.

There are only 5 colleges which are need blind for international students, and their acceptance rates for students from India are all in the 1%-2% range.

If you would need lower amounts of financial aid, some colleges with higher acceptance rates may be interested enough that your chances would be better.

What can your parents afford?

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I was hospitalized in my senior year for almost 5 months . Before that I scored 95% plus (GPA 10/10 and topped throughout my state ) in my entire school life . Do you think I should mention it in my application?

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Besides UCLA being unaffordable at $67K/year with no need-based aid for International students and little if any merit based aid, the UC’s are test blind so UCLA will not consider your SAT score in their application review.

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There are several types of Indians that the top colleges are looking for:

  • Recruited athletes
  • Very rich who can afford full pay + with top grades/scores
  • Very poor with compelling story

You have a chance for the third category. But your story needs to be polished. Take UCLA off your list, and focus on colleges that meets full need for international AND are need blind. There are only a handful of colleges that fit this, and they are all very selective (Harvard, Yale, MIT, Amherst). There may be others, so do check. Applying as an international that needs substantial aid is a big disadvantage so make sure you have adequate backup plans within India.

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I also suggest researching schools actively trying to improve campus diversity. SMU, W&L come to mind. They are need aware for internationals but do meet 100% financial need if accepted.

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As @MWolf said, your counselor should address your school profile and put your GPA in context with your class rank (which is excellent). If there is any mention of your illness it should come from the counselor.

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The only other college that guarantees to meet full need AND is need blind for admissions is Princeton. Acceptances are very very highly competitive for international students.

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According to Wiki, SMU meets 85% on average. Need-blind admission - Wikipedia

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I have captained in my school’s soccer team and a couple of Indian sports . We event went on to compete at state levels . But it was a group thing , so I don’t know if I should mention it?

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“Recruited athlete” means that if you were to go out for a professional soccer team, you could do it right now, and be paid to be on that team, at an international level.
“Recruited athlete” also indicates players who are known and regarded in the sport for years; many of them have been in their sport since the toddler ages, much like international tennis players.

It should not be regarded as an “afterthought” because now you want to try to get into a prestigious college. I have a daughter who was a ranked athlete. Yet, even at her level, she was not at IVY recruitment levels. We do think it helped her admission to several universities as an athletic EC.

Yes, you can list an EC as being a soccer player, but unless you can put people into the stands, you wouldn’t be considered an athletic recruit.

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Just to add to @aunt_bea: being a competitive player is not enough. You have to be good enough that the coach wants you. Typically you have to be at Olympian or professional level.

The only sport that I know where several Indians per year are recruited is girls and boys squash. The level at which the top Indians play is enough to get attention from Ivy league coaches. But you’ll have to rank #1 or #2 in all of India, plus win some big international tournaments (British Open, etc).

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I’m not disagreeing with the last two posters on the topic of recruited athletes, but I do want to stress that including your soccer/sports experience as an EC shows positive aspects in its own right, such as commitment and teamwork. So include it in your application if you like with that understanding.

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