<p>I'm an grade 12 student from South Africa and am planning to go to a US university. I'm the top student in my school, one of the best schools in the country. I've participated in many maths and science competitions and have won many prizes, like Top Grade 11 Learner and Top Female Learner in last year's National Science Olympiad. I passed my grade 8 ABRSM violin exam with distinction and will do grade 8 singing this year.
I am involved in activities like orchestra, amnesty international, student intercultural committee etc and do a lot of community work. I just lack leadership roles (unless my position as leader of the orchestra counts. I'm not the head though).
My SATs are not out yet but should be 2200 or above. I'm doing SAT II in May.
I want to do biology or chemistry in college, and desperately need some financial aid. Right now I'm vascillating between Williams ED and Stanford EA. It's much safer to choose Williams but Stanford is a better university. I also like Harvard, Princeton and Brandeis. Of course, if you think I'm not good enough please suggest a few safer colleges to me. Help me find a college that suits me and tell me what else I can do to improve my chance of getting admitted. Thank you!</p>
<p>Since you're so involved in stuff, good places for you would be Bowdoin college, Middlesbury college and Swarthmore college!
Another cool option you can keep in mind - Mount Holyoke college, Agnes Scott college.
For safeties, you can check out Bates college, Trinity college, Connecticut college.</p>
<p>There are all Liberal Arts Colleges, if you have national universities in mind... try University of Notre Dame, UNC-Chapel Hill, Lehigh University, Georgetown University. etc!</p>
<p>Keep an eye on their financial aid policy, but I'm sure you'll get a lto of Merit aid. Best of LUCKK!! :D</p>
<p>julienya
the problem with Stanford and Williams is that they reject people with your atats all the time. Will you be asking for FA too? cause that will make Stanford a really bad choice.
Talha mentions bates (very good if you are into creative things and stuff), Trinity, connecticut. They could be very good choices. You have time so i suggest you research the US NEWS LAC rankings. DOnt apply to the top ten (maybe one) everyobe applies there. and look at each college individually.
Oberlin is good school and big in music and stuff as is MIDD.
My adviuce is: dont risk your future on an ivy or an LAC like wiliams, look for places along the line of Dickinson, FandM, places where they've got a lot of aid and which will not reject you as long as you write good essays and show you are a serious candidate.
But if you dont need aid, then there is a greater range of places out there for you.</p>
<p>I agree with Karpov. The top 10 LACs are almost the same at Ivies when it comes to selectivity! You could consider places Occidental College (LA, California), University of the South (Tennessee) and a lot others. JUST FOR SAFETIES!!</p>
<p>You said you'll score 2200+ on your SATs, and your class rank is 1. (Best high school in your country). That's really impressive! With all that, I don't think you should be worried about your academic profile. As far as the rest of the application goes, try your best to depict your personality as you have done incredibly well in ECs. Considering all that, you can try 1 or 2 "ivies" (or similar University i.e. MIT, CalTech etc)</p>
<p>But as Karpov said, Dickinson and F&M (and all similar schools) have a lot of scholarships and financial aid for Internationals. So make sure you apply to such colleges as well! I'm sure you'll do great! :)</p>
<p>Since you're looking for financial aid, Brandeis would be a bad choice, seeing as they've been hit so hard by the financial meltdown they are selling off their entire art collection (valued at about 400 million dollars by the way)</p>
<p>How much aid you need plays a big role. If you need less than half of the cost of attendance, you're in much better shape. Also are you a white S. African or one of color? If you are of color that's a huge difference in how attainable the top schools will be.</p>
<p>if i remember correctly she's a Chinese South African</p>
<p>Yes I am. Thanks really much for all your help and encouragement, but unfortunately financial aid is really crucial to me. Are there good scholarships from external sources?</p>
<p>talha_adnan and karpov, thank you so much, but I prefer colleges that are not so religious. I'll keep trying, and good luck to you too if you're also applying.</p>
<p>Contrary to the earlier post, Brandeis is committed to financial aid like other top schools. All college endowments have been impacted by the severe recession. Brandeis has just been more open (arguably too open) in trying to deal creatively with these issues without impacting the quality of its excellent education and exciting intellectual environment--and a particularly international one at that.</p>
<p>julienyu sorry i didnt see your post. All schools i mention are secular ones. Dont be confused by the names.</p>
<p>Uh...What about Vassar, Grinnell, Michigan-Ann Arbor and Southern California? I really like Oberlin. I want to study biology or chemistry.
Will it be easier if I apply for loans only?</p>
<p>UMich--No FA for international students
Grinnell--Pretty generous with FA
SoCal--It only has merit aid to cover tuition, no FA for room and board</p>
<p>I would suggest you take a look at The USNWR liberal arts colleges ranking. See which one suites you. (Be realistic about your chances at these colleges, because there are colleges even tougher to get into than some Ivies!)</p>
<p>Liberal</a> Arts Rankings - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report</p>
<p>And if you're still unsure about the environment there, go to "princeton review (dot) com", "uni go (dot) com" and "college prow ler (dot) com" [Without all the spaces!]</p>
<p>Ignore what gurukul wrote in the previous page. No Indian university can EVER match what US universities offer. Especially in research.</p>
<p>I've checked the liberal arts college ranking already. Are they really that hard to get in? I'm thinking of applying for scholarships from an external source. Hopefully that will improve my chances. Are there any online agencies that can give me advice and help in the application process?</p>
<p>I'm not sure of their website, but google "Educational Advising Centre USA". They are pretty good, with centres in a lot of countries. Check if there's one (or more) in South Africa. And to the guy who contradicted my earlier point about Brandeis, I concede that you make sense, I'm just saying, there are other schools, especially liberal arts colleges, that have been hit by the meltdown and yet haven't been pushed to such dire straits as Brandeis has to make up lost cash so she could probably do better. And I hear that most of their international students are Jewish.</p>
<p>I found a centre in Johannesburg, but it's so far away! Brandeis is indeed a Jewish school. Do good essays and good references help a lot?</p>
<p>Most of the good liberal arts schools are looking for students who will add to the college community. You might also want to consider schools that are a reasonable distance to airports, and have good alumni connections since that will help you after your four years. For that reason, look at Swarthmore and Haverford as well. There was some good advice earlier in this queue to make sure you have a good safety school. Have you looked at Trinity in San Antonio? Great school, great town, and good aid to students outside of Texas.</p>