Can someone recomend me some universities (tech/computer science/stem focused) which provide partial or full aid for international applicants?
(Apart from the 3-4 need blind unis)
Start your research here: Release International Financial Aid 2021 - Google Drive
7 schools are need blind AND meet full need for internationals: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Amherst, Dartmouth, and Bowdoin.
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Getting admitted to any of these 7 schools is extremely challenging. What are your stats and accomplishments?
You mentioned partial aid, so how much can you afford to pay on your own?
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And where are you from?
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I launched a social media platform for students when I was in 8th grade. Ran it upto 150 people and partnered with a school to provide online education to kids using the website.
Learnt Python and was learning ML.
Then in 9th grade apparently my parents made me quit everything for some exam known as JEE (Indian)
After some mental difficulties I’m back now and in 11th grade haha, good at academics and learning to build stuff on blockchains.
I’m from India
I still have time right? Currently in grade 11.
(Also forgot to mention that the website had 3 volunteers from across the world (Japan, Aus, Can)
You are from India. Your application for admission to colleges here will be evaluated along with others from your reason. The vast majority are highly qualified applicants. If I were guessing, I would say your chance of admission is in the low single digits to the 7 schools that are both need blind AND meet full need for all accepted international students, but someone else can chime in on that.
Are you a top student in your country?
I would suggest you also look at colleges in India, as well as colleges here where you might garner merit aid that will make them affordable…whatever that amount is. What is it!
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Good to know. But what are your academic stats? (GPA or percentile/rank). Did your 9th and 10th grades take a hit due to your mental health challenges? Have you taken the SAT? Even if it was a practice test.
Have you won any national or international competitions or awards?
Unfortunately none of the other stuff you’ve mentioned is going to move the needle. There are a ton of students that know programming languages, have done non-profit work like your online education site, and know machine learning and blockchain.
As it stands right now your chances of admission with aid are under 1%. Sorry if that sounds harsh or discouraging but I’m being honest. I may revise that if you come back with additional significant accomplishments.
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Thank you for the info, idk if I’m a top student in the country but I’d categories myself as among the top 10% atleast.
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No it’s completely fine, I appreciate the honesty.
My 10th grades did take a minor hit (~5-7%) but academics have been consistent.
Also I would surely look into getting certified and competing in national competitions, grateful for your suggestions.
That means you are in the top 3 million.
(Or, there are about 3 million students above you.)
There are something like 12 million full time college students in the US, so that’s about 3 million entering in a year.
Do you see the problem?
On top of that, you need a lot of financial aid. That makes it even harder.
I think @DadOfJerseyGirl is right - your odds are probably below 1%. (And admission without enough financial aid is unhelpful)
I also don’t want to be discouraging, but you need to plan assuming the US doesn’t woprk out. You can hope that it will, but hoping is not planning.
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Thank you. I work at a firm that hires plenty of new graduates including a few international students each year, so I’m speaking from experience. A large number of these international students including the ones from India come from wealthy families and are full pay (but nonetheless are very highly accomplished). Others that received financial aid are truly exceptional and it’s easy to see why they stand out.
Of course, the students I come across are only a small sample of the overall international student body in the US but I think it’s fairly representative.
We need to know a lot more about your actual grades, scores, etc. to give you any meaningful advice.
If you mean you’re looking to do online courses and get certificates, that really won’t change the game for you. Those aren’t hard to do and there are a ton of students doing the same. I would suggest saving those $$.
You should first figure out where you want to go to college in India and be happy with that option. Then pursue US undergraduate applications as a long shot option. Don’t approach this the other way around else you may end up at a college you really don’t like.
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what is your GPA, Test Score, and how much can you afford?