<p>I will be asking for a full scholarship(i.e. pretty likely my EFC will be zero and in crude terms I will be asking for a full ride). Obviously, there are no safeties for me, and even the last school on any ranking list is a reach for me. But still, these are some schools that I have liked so far(academics, students, setting, etc etc), which afaik do give full scholarships to internationals, even though extremely difficult to get into while asking for one. Tell me if I can shorten this down, or add some more(or maybe substitute some with other schools). I will possibly major in something Math, Computer related and Astrophysics.</p>
<p>I would actually recommend you to apply to as many colleges on that list as you can manage financially and administratively. The reason is - as you have already pointed out - that your chances of getting into each individual college on that list are very small.</p>
<p>All of these colleges are hard to get into (either because of their general selectivity or limited financial aid grants), and all of them offer a fine education. If you want to / need to narrow down your list, I would suggest you select them based on personal fit. Caltech, Penn and Reed, for example, are so completely different that they share only few applicants.</p>
<p>Caltech's academics might be the most intense anywhere in the US, and more than half of the graduates will go to graduate school after college. If you aspire a career in research and you want your college life to revolve around academics, then Caltech is the place to go. Beware that only 30% of the 900 students are female.</p>
<p>Penn is in the middle of Philadelphia (not necessarily the best part of the city) and most students live off-campus. Penn's student body is stereotypically very pre-professional and not so much into research. At my college it is also rumored that classes at Penn are rather laid-back in general. (We think that Swarthmore > Haverford > Bryn Mawr > Penn in terms of work required to earn good grades.)</p>
<p>Reed is a more typical LAC with all the consequences it entails, especially a very limited number of upper-level courses in computer science and astrophysics (neither is offered as a major or a minor.) Academics at Reed are said to be intense but far behind Caltech, and the student body is said to be very liberal, politically as well as socially.</p>
<p>Can you see yourself in all of these places?</p>
<p>Gosh! Penn is definitely out then, being an Ivy I had taken for granted that their attitude would be similar to Dartmouth's or Princeton's. Reed has a strong math program, afaik, so that's why I had thought I would apply. Penn is definitely out. Any other suggestions?</p>