Chances for MIT, Stanford, Cornell, etc. I'm an international student.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Personal info:

  1. Country of origin: Philippines
  2. Ethnicity: Filipino
  3. Gender: Male
  4. Income: approx. $40,000

I’m forced to apply for financial aid to all schools. Hilariously enough, my family earns significantly less than a typical US education (which I believe is $60,000.)

School type: Public, Sectarian

GPA (UW): 96.6%. My school doesn’t give a weighted average.
UC GPA: 4.0

My school has no AP/IB/honors courses. It’s something my school doesn’t believe in. Every student gets the same curriculum, and it’s pretty holistic in itself. It’s composed of Math, Science, English (one Literature class, one Composition class), Filipino Literature, Social Studies, Christian Religion Education, Latin (Grades 9 and 10 only), Music, Visual Arts, Computer Science, and Home Economics.

Class rank: 1/72. Yes. I come from a tiny school.

I will be taking the SAT 1 in October and in December this year. In case you need to know, I scored a 2030 in my last practice test from 11 months ago.

SAT Bio E: 720
SAT Chem: 730. Will retake in November 2015 and January 2016.
SAT Physics: Will take in November 2015 and January 2016.
SAT Math 2: 800

EC’s. These are the EC’s that I already put in my Common App.

  1. Robotics Club. 2012-present. President (2014-present).
  2. Energizing Engineers. 2015-present. Director (2015-present). This club provides STEM workshops to low-income private schools around Metro Manila.
  3. Bridge Club Philippines. 2009-present. President (2014-2015). This is the alumni organization for Filipino participants in the Asian Pacific Children’s Convention in Japan. The club also holds reunions for all the members, selection and training for new participants, Christmas outreach programs, and for one year, an exchange camp for Japanese high school students.
  4. Music Ensemble. 2013-present. Member (2013-present).
  5. Class Production. 2013-present. Playwright (2013), Director (2014), Technical Director (2015). We produce one-act plays in competition with other classes from grades 10 to 12.
  6. Debate Club. 2013-2014. Member (2013-2014).
    (I completed the Kumon program in 2012. Basically by that time, I had a good grip on calculus I and II.)

I have only done one unpaid internship for a small, engineering firm that produces vegetable oil conversion kits for diesel engines. I spent most of my time working on designing and supplying materials for the windows of a next-generation public utility vehicle that the same company is also developing.

Awards/Honors:

  1. Student Award. (Grades 9-11). This award is given at the end of the school year to students who embody the mission and vision of the school. They’re voted on by the faculty, and a unanimous vote is needed for the award to be conferred.
  2. Academic Excellence Award (Grades 9-11). This award is given to students who complete the school year with a final GPA of at least 95%.
  3. Sectoral Finalist in the MTAP Math Challenge (Grades 10-11). This is for the top 30 teams of an annual math competition between schools in Metro Manila.
  4. Top 10 in the TRC Robotics Competition 2013 (Grade 10). This was an FRC-style competition between 39 teams in Metro Manila.
  5. 1st Place. LBASS SMIT Competition 2015 (Grade 11). This was a science, math, and IT competition between schools in southern Metro Manila and neighboring cities.

Recommendations will come from my chemistry teacher and my world history teacher, both from Grade 11.

Current college list:
MIT, Stanford, Cornell, Harvey Mudd College, Northwestern, Rice, Rochester, Purdue, UCSD. I’m thinking of adding Penn and UCB. I’m open to any suggestions and comments on my current college list.

Intended Major/s: Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics. I’ve been advised to try and apply for chemistry because it’s “easier to get in with”.

Advanced thanks to you if you gave me some precious, precious advice.

2

Since you desperately need aid (I assume your parents can pay very little?), then get rid of schools like UCB, USCD, Rochester, Rice, Northwestern, Harvey Mudd…

There are only 6 schools in the US that are willing to offer 100% need to internationals

  1. Harvard
  2. Yale
  3. Dartmouth
  4. Princeton
  5. Amherst
  6. MIT

All the other schools cannot guarantee that Stanford, Cornell and Penn I would think that they give a lot of aid, but apparently they all give limited resources to internationals. Just something to think about.

Another tip: Don’t apply for chemistry because it’s ‘easier’. At top schools, they don’t care too much about the major you’re going to anyways so if you apply chemistry, that raises a big red flag. You have a strong engineering background so stay true to yourself and apply mechanical or applied physics.

3

Rice does offer limit need-based financial aid and merit aid to international applicants. The Allen International Scholarship covers full tuition and is renewable for 4 years. The Edgar Odell Lovett Scholarship covers 50% tuition and is renewable for 4 years. I’m not sure how far their need-based aid extends for international applicants.

Duke’s Karsh International Scholars Program covers 100% of tuition, room and board plus 3 summers of funding. It’s a merit scholarship.

Both are probably extremely competitive.

4

@rdeng2614 Thanks for the comments. My admissions counselor actually told me to apply chemistry, so I have a lot of convincing to do…

5

OP, you should ask your parents how much they can pay. If they can pay little to none, then those 6 schools I listed are your best bet and/or applying for some very competitive merit aid like @renaissancedad mentioned.