<p>I am Indian student in my final year of schooling.</p>
<p>I have a SAT score of 2100 and I intend to apply to the following colleges:</p>
<p>1.Princeton University
2.Purdue University
3.UCLA Berkeley
3. Columbia University</p>
<p>I will also be needing financial aid.</p>
<p>Please lemme know about my chances and the admission procedures. I would also appreciate info about any other good colleges.</p>
<p>We would need more information on your situation, e.g., your grades and extra curricular activities. However, based solely on a 2100 SAT for an international needing financial aid, it seems unlikely that one would be admitted to any of these colleges. If you did not need financial aid, then Purdue may be within reach.</p>
<p>Just FYI, UCLA and UC Berkeley are two different schools in different cities. There is no "UCLA Berkeley".</p>
<p>You need to aim lower. Internationals seem to always think all U.S. schools are a walk in the park to get into for whatever reason.</p>
<p>If you need FA, even a match/safe match (based on stats alone) would become a reach all of a sudden, for any school that is need-aware for internationals and that applies to most schools in the US. It's never easy to get free stuff.</p>
<p>Michigan would be more in your range.</p>
<p>OP: with regard to post #4: it would be helpful if you understood what these scores mean in terms of performance vs. other students.</p>
<p>2100 is the beginning of the 97% of students who take the SAT. <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/highered/ra/sat/SATPercentileRanksCompositeCR_M_W.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/highered/ra/sat/SATPercentileRanksCompositeCR_M_W.pdf</a> That might seem high, but in reality Top 20 schools usually have mean 25/75% SAT scores higher than this. </p>
<p>International students need to show they are even <em>better</em> than the US based applicants, understanding there will be language difficulties and int'l students need to be even better test takers than US students to keep even during college. </p>
<p>Of the colleges you list, Columbia and Princeton usually see top 1% scores... not saying it isn't worth applying, because they may be interested in having a student representing your country in the campus... but the score alone would not be in the middle of their accepted group.</p>
<p>Berkeley is very close to Columbia and Princeton in selectivity for the Engineering programs, and will likely value the international hook less than Princeton or Columbia since they get so many top world scholars on campus in the Ph.D. programs.</p>
<p>UCLA is a good maybe, and Purdue is probably a match.</p>
<p>^Purdue may no longer be a match when FA is needed (unless it is "need-blind" for internationals but I don't think it is).</p>
<p>UCB/UCLA are slight reach and Purdue is a safe match ... that's for admission.</p>
<p>However, public schools are not good candidates for financial aids for internationals. For example, you are unlikely to get much money from Michigan, if at all.</p>
<p>You need to look for schools that are need-blind or generous with FA for internationals.</p>