Chance Me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi!
I’m an international student (from Thailand) who is interested in seeking an undergraduate education in the US. I don’t have an amazing profile like others (I’m just a mediocre student):

• Reader’s Theater (1st Place) (2nd Division): It was an event arranged by a major bookstore chain where we had to present a story in an interesting way
• Scrabble (2nd Place) (Inter-School)
• POSN Computer Olympiad Camp 1: the most basic, first stage of the selection process for the Thailand team to compete in the IOI (take note: it’s the lowest stage)
• School Awards: i.e. 1st Place in an Essay Writing competition in school, 1st Place in an Impromptu Speech competition in school
• Participatory awards + Other awards: i.e. participating in a competitive coding competition (in a more reputable school), participating in the WRO Thailand regionals, 2nd place in a (regional) robotics competition arranged by the ministry of science and technology

Test Scores & GPAX:
• SAT(New): 1530 (730 R&W + 800 MATH) (taken once)
• SAT Subject: Physics – 790, Chemistry – 760, Math (Lv.2) – 780 (All taken once except Physics, taken twice)
• TOEFL scores pending
• GPAX (Thai School System) (There’s only unweighted GPAX): 3.95 out of 4.00

I’m interested in computer science, and a person I know has recommended the following list of universities to me:

Recommended universities to explore (Computer Science)

Reaches (difficult, but still within reach)
• Harvey Mudd
• WUSTL
• Stanford
• Cornell
• U of Michigan (ESSAY)
• UC Berkeley (ESSAY)
• UCLA (ESSAY)
• USC
Targets (50-50 chance)
• Waterloo (CAN)
• Toronto (CAN)
• McGill (CAN)
• Georgia Tech
• UIUC
• UT Austin
• Wisconsin - Madison
• UC San Diego
Safeties (very likely to get accepted)
• UBC (CAN)
• U of Washington
• Purdue
• UC Santa Barbara

What do you think are my chances? Do you think that there are chances I could even get into one of the reaches? Thank you for taking your time :slight_smile: (If you have any additional advice feel free to leave it here)

2

UW and UCSB are not safeties for CS even with your very competitive profile. Are you able to be pay full fees at around $65K/year to attend?

3

First off, thanks for your feedback. I think this list was made without looking at acceptance rates for the CS programs of UW and UCSB specifically. Regarding the $65K a year, I don’t think I will be able to pay the full fees.

4

Both schools give little to no financial aid for International applicants so expect to pay full fees. If costs are an issue, you need to first consider your ability to pay and then formulate your list. All the California UC’s will have similar costs along with UT Austin and UW. Also as you stated, you have to taken into consideration that the CS admits rates are much lower than the overall acceptance rates.

Best of luck.

5

If you don’t mind me asking, what great options (in terms of universities) are available for me (an international student) that is not as expensive? Perhaps seek some form of university aid/scholarships? Thanks ahead.