Chance Me: UCB, UCLA (International Student)

International student; Indian; Female
Currently taking a gap year

Intended major: Economics

We don’t have a GPA, but I scored 97.4% in my final exams and my lowest percentage was 88% in high school.

CBSE is a competitive curriculum and I studied the following subjects in high school- Math, English, Business Studies, Economics and Accountancy.

I played tennis competitively; part of the State Team to go to Nationals and won a gold medal in junior year. Also captain of the Soccer Team and few other medals in various events.

Extracurriculars:-
Editor of Creative Writing Website
Secretary-General for the school MUN
40+ Hours of volunteer work

SAT: 1450 ( reading-690 and math-760)
IELTS: 8 (overall band score)

Colleges I’m applying to: Northwestern, UCB, UCLA, UMichigan

I chose Northwestern as my ED.

Please advise other colleges I should look at and what are my chances?
Thank you.

UCLA and UCB should be considered Reach schools. They also are test blind this admission cycle.

UCB had an 8% acceptance rate for International applicants in 2021 and UCLA had a 9% acceptance rate.

Is $67K/year affordable for these schools since they offer no financial aid for International students?

Definitely worth an application if affordable.

Do you have any safety schools on your list?

As far as suggestions, what are you looking for in a college? What can you pay?

Best of luck.

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This is a very top heavy list of colleges. Are these the only colleges you are considering? Their acceptance rates for international students are very very low. You might get accepted at one…but what will you do if you don’t?

And regarding affordable…you will be full pay at roughly $65,000 a year for UCLA and Berkeley. Those schools give zero need based aid to folks residing outside of California.

This is from Northwestern:
“Need-based financial aid is available to international students seeking undergraduate degrees at Northwestern . … We are need-aware for international students, meaning that a request for financial aid consideration and the amount of financial aid you require may factor into your admission decision.”

And this from University of Michigan:

“ There is no federal financial aid and limited scholarship funding available to international students attending U-M , though a short-term university loan may be available in the case of emergencies (see information below). Any scholarship consideration requires no additional application.”

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Yes, I’m considering most of the top colleges, I’d also like to add Carnegie Mellon to the list. I have deferred admission to UBC, Canada so that’s my safety school in a way.

Thank you so much for replying. Yes, I can afford to pay 65-70 K per year. I’m looking for a college with a strong Economics and Behavioural Sciences Major and a good entrepreunarial cell.

I’ve factored in the affordability and I might take student loans if required.

Carnegie Mellon is also competitive for admissions for international students.

You have a safety and it’s affordable. If you are happy with that, then apply to all of these reach schools…and hope for the best.

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Does your country give student loans for students studying in the U.S? You won’t be eligible for any student loans here. If you seek a private loan in the United States, you will need a qualified U.S. citizen cosigner.

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I’m confused about what to choose as my ED. Northwestern or CMU? Both are quite similar in terms of accpetance and cost. Any suggestions?

Fortunately, it does.

Do you want to live near Chicago or Pittsburgh!

Being an international student, I’m open to both.

Well…the only thing you might want to look at is ease if international travel. Chicago OHare is a huge airport with flights to many many many places. Pittsburgh used to be a huge airport and is still big, but not nearly as big as Ohare.

So…see which one has better ease of travel for you.

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Thank you :slight_smile:

Your grades look very good (even for schools such as UCs) and I believe your SATs are slightly above average for some UCs and a bit below for Northwestern. I’m not sure what to say about your extracurriculars as I don’t know how prestigious they are (how big is it to be on the State Team? How prestigious is the literary magazine?)

The schools you’re aiming for are very hard to chance for, due to how prestigious they are: even insanely good students get rejected all the time. But an application is definitely worth a shot. Best of luck!

(also, sorry to self-promote but I have a Chance Me thread too: no pressure at all, but I’d like it if any of you could chance me back! Thanks :slight_smile: )

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UC’s are test blind for this admission cycle. Test scores can only be used for course placement not for admissions.

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ED Northwestern: their CS+X program is topnotch andore likely than straight CS at CMU.

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