<p>I have already started thinking about the admissions process next year and I have a real problem - I cannot determine what will be a solid (meaning I will be admitted for sure) safety school that I will (a) like and and (b) get good education at.</p>
<p>My stats are:
SAT: 2210 (CR730/Math760/WR720/11E) and I am not sure whether I should retake...
SAT II: 800/800
GPA: UW:~3.9 W:>4.30
Course load: Full IB Diploma with 4 HL's (among which Math, English and History)
Very positive trend in my transcript - from 1 B in freshman year to eventually none this year
Rank: 1/14
High Honors for Academic Excellence all 3 years
Awarded the same major international award in public speaking in 2 consecutive years
Full four-year merit-based scholarship at the school I am attending
General Secretary of the District Interact Committee in my country
President of School Interact Club
Have worked 3 summers
Know 6 languages with fluency in English, Spanish and my native one, knowing the other 3 well enough
Will have attended one of the most selective summer schools in the US with a scholarship
Attended a language summer school the previous year too</p>
<p>I don't want to be more concrete about the information I am giving out because I still want to remain anonymous.</p>
<p>The problem is that I will need full-ride financial aid provided. I want it to be a school in the New England region or Chicago. I do not want it to be on the West Coast for sure, but it could be somewhere along the Atlantic Coast a bit more to the south of New England. I come from an Eastern European country that used to send a lot of kids to US universities some time ago, but doesn't do so any more. A lot of students now prefer the UK and the EU in general.</p>
<p>Any advise that you may have will be GREATLY appreciated because I am really lost and confused in that entire college admissions hysteria. </p>
<p>I was thinking about Wesleyan or Washington and Lee, but when I saw their admissions rates and the statement that they provide financial aid to only 20 international students wasn't so sure any more.</p>
<p>Excuse me if there are any distracting mistakes, but it's so late here that I can't even detect them right now...and thank you once again. :)</p>
<p>If you need a full ride, you do not have a safety school in the US. Your safety is in your home country. So are all of your matches. All that you have in the US are reaches and super reaches. If you could pay for your studies here, it would be a completely different story. Sorry.</p>
<p>Because of your high stats,your safeties must be schools that offer full merit aid for internationals with high stats,like [Furman:</a> Engaged Learning at a Leading Liberal Arts University](<a href=“http://www.furman.edu%5DFurman:”>http://www.furman.edu) and [Welcome</a> to Fairfield University](<a href=“http://www.fairfield.edu%5DWelcome”>http://www.fairfield.edu)</p>
<p>happymomof1,
there is no safety in my homeland because I have never studied in a school administered by my country, i.e. I have no local diploma, so I cannot apply to state schools and, honestly, I’d rather not. I will try the UK, which I consider safety in general, but I really don’t want to stay in Europe - I just don’t feel good here. </p>
<p>I’d rather go to some moderately competitive, but legit and recognizable, US school than stay in the EU and go to Cambridge/Oxford/UCL/LSE/something similar.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice to both of you. </p>
<p>Further suggestions will be greatly appreciated as well. I am not an unrealistic idiot who will apply only to HYP and say no to everything else. I just need your advice about what will be a school I will for sure get into with sufficient aid provided. :)</p>
<p>There is no school that you “will for sure get into with sufficient aid” in the US. </p>
<p>What there are are lots of colleges and universities here that do offer some aid to international students. Your job is to find them, and then determine whether or not those institutions are good matches for you. Even if a college/university only offers one scholarship for an international student, if that scholarship is large enough it will be worth your consideration. Yes, this does involve a lot of research (b@r!um has reported investigating 300 colleges and universities), but you are the only one who can do it for yourself.</p>
<p>Start by spending some time with your own school’s college placement counselors. They should be able to tell you if anyone from your school has been admitted to a college or university in the US with a scholarship. Then, make an appointment with the counselors at the closest advising center of EducationUSA. They almost certainly have worked with students from your school before [EducationUSA</a> | Study Abroad, Student Visa, University Fairs, College Applications and Study in the U.S. / America](<a href=“http://educationusa.state.gov/]EducationUSA”>http://educationusa.state.gov/) and they will know if anyone from your country has been admitted to a college or university in the US recently with the kind of scholarship that you need.</p>
<p>It is quite possible to get into many schools in the US with a lot of funding as an international student, provided you work on your applications! Going by your academic profile, as posted above, you are academically qualified! Would you happen to know you predicted IB score? </p>
<p>I thought it was an impossible undertaking to get into ANY good school in the US with adequate FinAid, until I got my decisions this spiring, and I ended up getting into a lot of the elite colleges with significant financial aid. Surprisingly, I got into all my “reaches” and got rejected from all my “safeties”. You have to distinguish your academic safeties from you financial safeties. I was academically qualified to attend any of my safeties however, the schools couldn’t afford me financially. Therefore, as happymomof1 indicated, you really have no safeties in the US. As for the “reaches”, although there are many fantastic applicants out there, it is quite possible to get in provided you are a realistic applicant. and by realistic applicant, I mean withing the top 10% of students in your country. I’d tell you to apply and hope for the best, but still apply to a few schools in the UK (Either of Oxbridge is fantastic if you can get in! ) I wish you the best of luck with all you future endeavors!</p>
<p>your profile is really strong though, i bet that you would be in the group of 20 that you mention…</p>
<p>the best SAT in my school is 2200, the average is 1600
not everyone has an IB diploma
i bet TOEFL will be great
just look at your freaking GPA
EC are strong except that you dont practice any sport or do an art, but they look a lot in those summer conferences</p>
<p>EDIT: but yeah, there is no full-ride in the US</p>
<p>if you need financial aid, colleges will give it to you no matter what. Colleges are “need-blind” and will except you if they like you, not if you need aid. If you can pay for it, but you don’t want to, then that’s too bad. Money isn’t a factor for colleges, but being a cheapskate is.</p>
<p>^^^^ only a FEW highly selective schools in the U.S are need-blind. Most schools offer SOME aid if you need it, but every year hundreds of students have to decline an acceptance because the college did not offer enough. That is especially the case with international students whose tuition is often higher than tuition for Americans, and who will not qualify for US federal student loans.</p>
<p>happymomof1,
Thank you once again for the advice. I have been doing A LOT of research (1hour/every day) to find schools that I like and that would offer financial aid to internationals. I have the College Board Handbook and the Princeton Review books with colleges cataloged inside. I had never thought about looking at EucationUSA, so I will do that - thanks for telling me about it. My college counselor is fine, but most kids from my school (80-90%) go to Europe, so he has much more experience with the process here in the EU. And in the EU basically everything gets down to the numbers with some rare exceptions or places where the competition is wicked like Oxbridge. And even there the academic qualifications make the most important component of an application. So it’s not nearly as unpredictable as the process in the US where many more factors are involved in deciding who’s in and who’s out. But I will definitely go and check that agency EducationUSA out.</p>
<p>kimathi,
Thanks for the good words. My IB predicted score will be somewhere between 41 and 44 points. However, I am not sure how much that actually means to US schools. I am going to apply to various schools across the UK, but I just don’t see myself studying in that country. If I get into Cambridge…might go, but definitely am not going to be as happy as if I got into, say, Amherst.</p>
<p>vargas,
I couldn’t do sports because of a life-threatening medical condition, which is on my transcript. I haven’t done P.E. for a long time and have been waved all the requirements for it. However, I managed to maintain my GPA and keep myself up, despite the health issues, and now am back on my feet. I have actually decided that I WILL fulfill my Sports requirement for IB, regardless of what it takes, so I think that this will show to the schools much more than simply doing a sport. Also, I have done art and participated/played central roles in theater performances - just didn’t mention it. :D</p>
<p>I go (well, went) to an international school in Eastern Europe as well, and there are certain colleges that have consistently accepted large numbers of people from my school–colleges, in other words, that I would consider safeties for an academically strong candidate from my school, regardless of his or her need (we have a 100% acceptance rate/good fin aid track record at DePauw, for example). I can list them if you wish, but that’s unlikely to help you.</p>
<p>You need to bring this up with your counselor, if you have one. He or she will know more about your school’s college admission history.</p>
<p>ETA: I see. Does your school use Naviance at least? That’s a useful tool in the absence of more detailed information.</p>
<p>Ghostt, I have no idea what he uses, but I will ask him.</p>
<p>I will be also very grateful, if you list the schools you consider safeties for an academically strong applicant from your school. It will help.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would shoot for some Ivies. They are not a safety for ANYONE, but they are likely to cover your full need if you get accepted (which you at least have a realistic shot at, given your profile). Otherwise, I’d look at universities in the States with good merit aid.</p>
) I wish you the best of luck with all you future endeavors!</p>
It will help.</p>