Help a young International Student!

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>Hi, I am a mexican International Student, it may sound dumb but I am in my sophomore year and I am pretty stressed about college. My dream has always been to study in the U.S, and since the beggining of my sophomre year I started looking more about the process of applying, and I am very sad because everyday I am more hopeless about my chances. I was intrested in public school, since getting in is not that hard compared to Ivy League, and LAC's, but then I found out that, public schools don't give financial aid, and Ivy League does, and I am not very positive about my chances.
Here are my stats:</p>

<p>Freshman year:
4.0 GPA (Weighted) or 9.9/10
Number 1 out of 26 (I know this isn't impressive, my school was small and we were only one classroom)
My school didn't offer AP or IB
EC's: Knowledge Olympiad (Regional Phase)
2nd place in Declamation Contest
1st place in Mathematics Contest (Team)
1st place in French Contest (Team)
Diploma for Best Average (General Secondary Average 9.6/10)</p>

<p>Sophomore year: (Until this ponit)
3.8 Weighted GPA and 4.0 Unweighted (96/100)
Don't know my rank, but I am in the 10% percentile out of 450
My new school (High School in Mexico starts until 10th grade) does offer IB, but I chose other program and it would be hard for me to change to IB. AB isn't offered, and "challenging courses" aren't offered too, everyone takes the same classes.
EC's:
Our counselor adviced us not to join any club/team until 2nd semester, of course I noe regret paying attention to that.</p>

<p>What I plan to do:
I want to join to the Track and Field Team, next semester but I have to compete for my place in the team, and if I don't get in I have to join regular classes (not competitive).
I want to do Community Service but finding something in my city is impossible.
In January I will start a French course in order to do the B1 exam ( I already have the A1 and A2)
I will join to the Student Board (Can't have any important place until 3rd semester), the Politics Club and DIR (It's about human rights, etc)
In order to graduate I have to study abroad, I can either go for 1 month to Italy, France, Germany Shanghai, Denmark, Poland or Austin or go the whole semester to Quebec, France or Shanghai.
Colleges that I plan to apply to:
Reaches:
Yale
Harvard
Princeton
Amherst
Dartmouth
MIT
Safeties:
ITESM (Already in, since my highschool is part of the instituion)
ITAM (I only have to send my SAT scores and as long as they are not below average they accept me)</p>

<p>I don't know what else I can do so my EC's don't look as weak ad they look now, I don't want to do something just because it will look good on my application, but I am very desperate. I really don't know if it's worth it to try to apply, it's a very demanding process and my chances are very poor ;( I am very sad since this was my dream but it just seem easier to stay here. Do you think I should try? Do you know any other university that meets full need? </p>

2

<p>I know that there aren’t so many ECs as there are in the US, but just do what you are passionate about AND win some awards so that you can prove that you are a competent applicant…also, you only have reaches, not enough matches or safeties.
Take the most rigorous classes you can take in your classes.
It seems like you need financial aid since you listed schools that are both need blind and meets full need of international student, right?
Also it’s hard to determine whether it’s worth shot if you don’t have SAT I/II or ACT test results. </p>

3

<p>Yes, I do need financial aid , I’ve tried to look for other schools that are generous when in comes to that aspect, I’ve heard of U of Alabama but I really don’t know a lot about it.
Thanks for the advice!</p>

4

<p>U of Alabama offers full tuition for 8 semesters if you have 3.5 GPA+ and ACT 32+ OR SAT Math+CR 1400+.
What is the maximum amount of money you can pay for college? </p>

<p>I also advise that you look for some other safeties.</p>

5

<p>Do the “semester abroad thing”, Quebec, France, or Shanghai are equally fine (and 1 month in a French speaking country + Shanghai might be interesting if you can add Chinese to your French studies). A high level of proficiency in a foreign language, as demonstrated by a high SAT Subject score + perhas AP or B1 (or even B2) certificate would help. After that: most schools ranked in the Top 50 universities and Top 50 LACs are excellent (I do mean elite-excellent). Don’t disregard them or imagine they’re easy to get into (they’re most definitely not). For internationals, it’s always a good idea to look at schools up to 100 on both lists, plus top 10’s on the regional university list.
Keep in mind that THE KEY CRITERION will be your ability to pay. Second, your test scores.</p>