<p>I need to take up Computer Engineering next fall.
I am applying to :
1. Stanford
2. UC Berkeley
3. Georgia Tech
4. Purdue.
5. Columbia
6. Harvard
7. Princeton
8. Cornell</p>
<p>What are my chances in these univs? How many of these are need-blind to International students?</p>
<p>Is it recommended I don't apply for aid in those which aren't need blind for intl?
Are there any other colleges I should apply to where my chances are better?</p>
<p>--
This is my profile:</p>
<p>Gender: M
Location: India
College Class Year: 2015
High School: Private
High School Type: sends some grads to top schools
Will apply for financial aid: Yes</p>
<p>Academics:</p>
<p>GPA - Unweighted: 4.00
GPA - Weighted: 0.00
Class Rank: top 5%
Class Size: 150</p>
<p>Scores:</p>
<p>SAT I Math: 760
SAT I Critical Reading: 710
SAT I Writing: 750
SAT II Literature: 800
SAT II Math Level 2 (IIC): 800
SAT II Chemistry: 800</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:</p>
<p>Significant Extracurriculars: Music:
Play the Piano. Part of the school band. Have released two Albums for private circulation.
Pursuing music for the last 7 years. Won various competitions inter-school, as a band.</p>
<p>Debate:
National level debater. Won various debates. Competed at a national level debate competition, and came 2nd.</p>
<p>Leadership positions: Vice Captain of my School.
I was responsible for organizing events and managing them, all the while encouraging other kids for participation.</p>
<p>Member of the SRC (School Representative Council)
Dis
Volunteer/Service Work: Volunteered for an organization that promotes road safety.</p>
<p>Co-founded an organization that helps in the nourishment of very poor children.
Honors and Awards: Lots in Music and Debating.</p>
Can you afford to attend them without financial aid? An admission letter will do you no good if you cannot afford to go, or only have enough resources for a year or two. How would you feel to pack your stuff and go home after the second year due to financial constraints?</p>
<p>If you <em>can</em> afford to pay for the private universities, I suggest you also consider applying to the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. It has one of the best engineering departments in the country, above Harvard and Princeton and some of the other fancy-name universities on your list.</p>
<p>UIUC, UMichigan Ann Arbor, UTexas Austin, MIT Take a look at Mudd, Rose Hulman, Olin and Cooper Union as well. UC Berkley is a good choice as are Columbia, GT and Cornell. Before you go to Purdue you may wish to check the postings on their forum as they I have been hearing some not so great things about them lately.</p>
<p>By the way if you have financial concerns I believe Swathmore made up a list of colleges that provide a no loan education a while back you may want to search for that list.</p>
<p>Princeton’s actually very good for engineering . . . and the job opportunities coming from there is way higher than those schools previously mentioned, but thats another story.</p>
<p>Anyway, my main concern is that the OP wants to study computer engineering- very few schools have computer engineering and the large majority have this major housed under there electrical engineering departments.</p>
<p>Also the schools you selected are pretty difficult and your scores are pretty average for most international students, so your chances of getting financial aid at some of those schools is close to nil.</p>
<p>Berkeley to my knowledge does not offer scholarships to international. Not too sure about Georgia Tech and Purdue- these are state schools.</p>
<p>You are not going to get into Stanford. I am not being mean, but studying anything “computer” at Stanford requires perfect SAT math and Olympiad awards. </p>
<p>I know Cornell usually admits you regardless of your financial status. Then after that they decide whether to give you financial aid, reject you or place you on a wait list. You have a better chance there since you are studying engineering, but the fact that you are coming from India would make things worse. I am sure there would be tons of indians applying to study engineering at Cornell.</p>
<p>You might have a shot at Columbia . . . but Harvard and Princeton? </p>
<p>I would advise you to take the suggestions of most people here and consider:
Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, Cooper Union, state schools like UT, UIUC, UWisconsin-Madison</p>
<p>If you could get into swarthmore, you could go to one of these places for graduate school in engineering since swarthmore is highly respected amongst academics.</p>
<p>Based on your profile and extracurriculars, why do you want to do computer engineering? To get into top schools you need extracurriculars demonstrating your passion for your subject.</p>
<p>b@r!um/depr91
Princeton and Harvard are ivies, and have a pretty decent rank at most ranking sites. Definitely not as good as Illinois, or UMICH but certainly in the top 20 in the world. Apart from that Comp Engg is not the only subject I am going to study there. I have interests in music and economics too. Moreover, my friend who is currently in Stanford told me to not to cut the Ivies from my dream-list, just because they have a lower rank in Engineering. (Rank 17th and 19th, [Rankings</a> - Best Engineering Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/rankings) )
Also it is heard quite often, that after a certain point courses don’t matter, universities do.
Why do you think they are not good enough for engineering? </p>
<p>Sefago
Thanks for your input. I will research more about Swarthmore and Harvey Mudd.
I am going to take my SAT reasoning test again, get that perfect score! Stanford, Harvard and Princeton stay on my list!</p>
<p>Suin
I have always liked computers and everything related to them. In school too, it’s been my favorite subject.</p>