Do you think I will make it into any of these schools?

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm an International student (African) applying to these schools:
NYU Abu Dhabi (ED), MIT, Cornell, Dartmouth, Wash U, Northwestern, Williams Uni, Florida Tech, Georgia Tech, UC Berkeley. I'm applying to these universities primarily because of their financial aid (as I'm not exactly from a family that is very strong financially)</p>

<p>We don't evaluate GPAs over here but I was top 10% in a class of about 200. Currently awaiting results for the October SATs, hoping to get something above 2000 (My practice test scores prior to the real test varied between 1900 and 2250), taking December SATII.</p>

<p>Academic achievements: quite a few. Overall best/Top 3 of the year in some subjects about 5, 6 times. Don't really know the specifics by heart, I will update as soon as I get the details. Also took holiday courses in Web Development, Programming and Graphic Design; as well as other computer courses/programming languages I learned on my own (I plan to study Computer Sci.) I basically just know my way around computers, been passionate about them since I was little.</p>

<p>Because EC is really poor here, it helped me push harder and eventually get involved in quite a few. After a long time searching for work in volunteer groups, I decided to start my own and co-founded a global warming awareness group, also joined and ultimately became an official in a volunteer organization whose aim is basically to involve youth in the development of the country, attended a leadership/time-management workshop in a federal university, served as a Computer Lab Administrator for a few months in a Nursery/Primary school, representing my country in a currently ongoing Model United Nations program (does that count?), I also was a school prefect and I occasionally write video game reviews for a local video game site. There are also the not-so-effective clubs I was in in High School - while I was a prefect I kind of fought for their effectiveness and it was fairly successful. I play soccer leisurely; didn't try to join the school team out of fear that it would hurt my academics (it really does interfere). I'm also that guy in the neighborhood that fixes everyone's faulty computer/video game for free :) I'm also currently in the process of creating a database for a group of schools for free (really is harder than it sounds)
That is all I can remember (probably all). Schools here are keen on everything but EC lol and volunteer jobs are honestly very hard to find. Hopefully these will impress the schools I'm applying to...?</p>

<p>As for the essays, for most of the schools I plan to write basically about persevering and excelling despite hardships. Cliched topic but hopefully that will be the only thing cliched about it.</p>

<p>I looked through the acceptance rates of the aforementioned schools and chose them on that basis and also on the basis of financial aid. I prudently(..?) chose to avoid the very highly selective ones (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford...) While I'm applying to NYU Abu Dhabi ED, getting into MIT and virtually any of the rest would be a dream come true.
What are my chances?
Do you think I'm setting my sights too high?
Can you recommend any other less-selective schools that offer good financial aid to international students?
Thanks. Be honest and candid please.</p>

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<p>bump…?</p>

3

<p>CC hates me :(</p>

4

<p>I’d help you if I knew what I was talking about. </p>

<p>I do know you should be able to get into Georgia Tech if you get good SAT scores, but I know nothing about any of the other schools lol</p>

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<p>It’s hard to know without a clear GPA and standardized test scores. But from the rest of the information you were able to provide, I’d say MIT is a reach. Berkeley is a lower reach but a reach nonetheless. Same deal with Cornell and Dartmouth. Since you’re applying early decision at NYU, your chances of getting in are much higher. Northwestern shouldn’t be too difficult for you. And the rest of the schools I would guess are target schools/low matches.</p>

<p>…but like I said, it’s hard to know for sure without two of the most essential stats.</p>

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<p>Emmm, you would have troubles with financial aid. All State schools and most of the private schools do not give any fin aid to international students.
Only the rich and private schools are able to provide the fin aid for int students. But they all have REALLY small amount of money available and thus they are all “need-sensitive”, which will bring down your chances of getting in.
Only four schools in the US are need-blind to int students - Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT. But, as you know, they all have about 8% acceptance rate.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the replies! About the GPA, I think most of the schools require international students send a transcript. It’s an academic record containing each score in each subject in each class. Hopefully that will serve as a worthy equivalent.</p>

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<p>I cannot really address your issue of recommending schools that offer FA to International students-- I simply do not know. I’ve read recent posts that say U of Alabama has FA/scholarship money available, but I’m not sure if that applies to International students or not. You may also want to look at the South in general. I know applicable schools are limited in number and have extremely competitive applicant pools. Do some more research on CC if necessary. </p>

<p>Since you don’t have your results yet from your SAT yet, you may want to re-post after they become available. Having scores in the 2200 range would certainly make you a lot more competitive than scores in the 1900 range (based on your practice scores). </p>

<p>I would think that being a high performing student from Africa would be somewhat desirable, to some college looking to increase their enrollment stats for Black students, but I have absolutely no concrete data to substantiate this. If you were a permanent resident of the U.S. this would certainly be true.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you.</p>

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<p>Completely honest, definitely apply and don’t take this the wrong way but being African is going to be a HUGE BLESSING</p>

<p>as long as your SATs are 2050+ you’ve got a really good shot
good luck!</p>