hi a new member from ETHIOPIA please chance me

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hi I am from Ethiopia(A NATION LOCATED IN EAST AFRICA).
Here are my stats thus far
nov SAT results
CR 650
MATH 690
WR 680(essay 10)
DEC SAT results
CR 700
math 710
WR 640(ESSAY 9)
i will take the subject tests in jan.</p>

<p>my GPA is 4.0
i AM IN THE TOP 5% OF MY CLASS.</p>

<p>extracuriculars.
i have particpated in drug prevention clubs.
i am a redcross first aider.
i was class president in my junior yea.</p>

<p>the schools i am applying to are:cornell princeton lafayette
If you can suggest any schools which could accept and grant me financial aid please do so.Also does being from Ethiopia gives me advantage.thank you.</p>

2

<p>Being from Ethiopia, you're a great candidate for financial aid. I suggest you apply to Harvard, Yale and Tulane. You could possibly get a full scholarship at each of these schools.</p>

3

<p>Here is a list of schools that <em>may</em> have financial aid for undergraduates. I would double-check with the individual schools' websites. </p>

<p>eduPASS</a> | Financial Aid for International Students | Schools with Aid for Undergraduates</p>

4

<p>please someone tell my chances at conell of engineering.</p>

5

<p>The net-net is:</p>

<p>Will you need money?</p>

<p>Remember that Cornell is not need blind to international students. In the event that you will require a lot of financial aid from Cornell, it will decrease your chances considerably.</p>

6

<p>If you are in the early stages of looking, consider the large difference in our weather between North and South. Draw a horizontal line across this country
from Virginia across the middle. Everything above that you will notice a big difference in climate from Ethiopia. I've lived North all my life, and many Southern students go to Northern schools within this country. Personally, I think people should pick their program for important reasons (as you are doing) and then cope with whatever the weather brings them. I used to work in Toronto in schools with large populations of Somalis in the l980's (more were there, post-war, than anywhere else in the world outside of Somalia because of Canada's liberal policies for political refugees, not shared by the US in its approach..). They had plenty else on their minds, but among the adjustment concerns the parents mentioned to me was the significant change in weather, clothing, and mobility due to their feeling so shocked by cold weather so didn't like to go outdoors for months at a time..</p>

<p>Now, to me this is parent talk. I think college students and younger can adjust to most anything with the right motivation. But you might want to read up on other experiences from African students regarding our weather, NOrth versus South, if you believe that would be a factor for YOU (not everyone else). Each person is an individual.</p>

7

<p>Arrgh, I just wrote a LONG friendly advice piece but got timed out. Imagine now a warmer, friendlier writer's voice (tone) , but I'll just summarize my thoughts in a list:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Parents don't do "Chances" because, as common wisdom, we see that as a student game that can be cruel (anyone can say anything, and someone highly competitive tells you you have no chance...the next guy is in awe of your stats and says you're an easy-in so gives false confidence..what good is THAT? Very misleading in both directions.</p></li>
<li><p>Instead, we advise on the colleges we know about (maybe becvause we went there, or our kids visited or applied or attend, so we have an impression to share. We try to phrase things with "I" messages so we remember to stick to direct experience, and not just repeat often-repeated phrases about colleges (reputations). </p></li>
<li><p>I'd recommend, if you've not yet read it: Carolyn's (free) admission advice site [url=<a href="http://www.AdmissionsAdvice.com%5Dadmissionsadvice.com%5B/url"&gt;http://www.AdmissionsAdvice.com]admissionsadvice.com[/url&lt;/a&gt;] She's a professional college counselor who shares her wisdom with others, and when not overwhelmed with workload also pops in to post on Parents.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Study her links on essays such as "Build a List from the Bottom UP" and the importance of including Safety, Match and Reach schools. Here we parents say the most important school on your list is the Safety, and some of us also had Financial Safety schools, too. Then you look to resources such as Petersons.com (or maybe there's a more efficient way--parents, please help..?) to find the midrange of SAT's. Comparing this to your own SAT's, you can begin to develop a list of Safety, Match and Reach schools.</p>

<p>That's how the Parents try to "increase your chances" at this early stage of your search. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Don't be only driven by statistics, but realize that you might have something in your personal essay or global background that will cause an Admissions officer to say, "this person could contribute a valuable perspective on campus to our campus community..." So, do REACH a bit above your statistics (a bit) and write great essays for those schools, too. </p></li>
<li><p>Give full consideration to Liberal Arts Colleges, alongside the unviersities, for your undergraduate years: In fact, look for schools whose websites mention "community" a lot (seeing "reach schools" above). Some of the LIberal Arts Colleges (LAC's) on that wionderful list of FInancial Aid schools for Internationals provide a family feeling at the undergraduate level. Study the numbers of students and other variables; ho9w many internationals, how many students total, how many domestically are there from other minority groups ("diversity") statistics and reflect on what that means for you personally. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>I knew of friends of my S and D at Oberlin (pop 2800) and Amherst (pop l800) from all over the globe who felt their adjustment and intellectual opportunity was very large at a LAC. They are not as well known overseas, but domestically they are respected. Oberlin in particular has some overlap with its international pool and its financial aid pool; that's just the place I know about. In some schools, however, the internationals admitted are only from wealthy backgrounds and that's something to watch out for with large numbers of international students if you need financial aid. </p>

<p>I wish I could cite the actual source, but there was a grad school prof at an Ivy who said he actually thought the LAC-prepared students in his graduate courses were better prepared as students than the undegraduates from his own Ivy. (Duck, I'll be flamed, am just trying to open up your consideration to LAC's as well as universities). After 4 years at the LAC, you apply to the larger university for graduate school. If you go to an LAC high on the list (top 50 in USNews..) your admission application to a university for graduate school will be considered with respect, provided you work hard and maximize your educational opportunity for the 4 years as an undergraduate there, too, of course.</p>

<p>I just went on-and-on about LAC's in the paragraphs above, because I know that they are not as famous overseas as here in the U.S. There are students who won't deal with them here, either, because they simply want a large student body, world-famous research projects coming out of their university which, in turn, attracts world-famous professors, and so on. But, class for class, the teaching at the LIberal Arts Colleges sometimes (not always) is superior to what's going on in the Ivy League, or at least the students find the ability to access their professors with great ease and be considered "important without competing for professor's attention from graduate students (and have no graduate assistants " teaching them) is what they prefer for their own learning style. </p>

<p>LAC versus University analogy: Very much like deciding whether to live in a village where you're well-known so can be a leader (LAC) or to the big city with more anonymity but a greater menu of opportunities (university) is my best attempt to describe the difference. There is a right path for every student, and only you know you. </p>

<ol>
<li>Another source of info might be the president of the International Students Association at each school that interests you. They should be available by website on the university and hopefully also post their email, too. if not, just write to them at teh website, which they might even check from home this week, depending. You happen to be in the Christmas/New YEars holiday break, when many students go home with their laptops; so hopefully they'd answer you now as they are without academic pressure (except those writing and studying for exams in February!) But some just completed their terms on Dec. 20 and are home recovering right now :)<br></li>
</ol>

<p>Good luck on your journey. It's impressive that you found this website so you are obviously resourceful. Ask in Parents Forum especially as you try to balance some of the family priorities, issues of international adjustment and so on. Some of the parents who post here live overseas at this moment. Others have sent students overseas. </p>

<p>Good luck on your journey. Come back to Parents Forum again, but maybe not with "Chances" questions :)</p>

8

<p>(I just reread your posting and first checked that list of schools in the linked site for financial aid before posting this..)</p>

<p>The choices between LAC's and universities are not always small v. big, either.</p>

<p>Brandeis University (outside of Boston) which IS on that list, is a small university (around the size of Brown U.). They call some places "a small university with an LAC feeling.." and that's Brown, Brandeis, other unis with populations of 5-7,000 rather than 25,000.</p>

<p>Half the Brandeis student population there is Jewish, so the other half is something other than Jewish. That's interesting, because in this country, Jewish people are a tiny minority with a large participation in university life. Some years ago, I believe between World War I and World War II, an admissions quota was instituted against Jews by some of the Ivy Leagues to keep them (er, us) from being too many on the Ivy campuses. In response, Brandeis University was founded around l948 to provide a quality university education for Jewish kids being iced out of admission at Harvard, and other Ivies, due only to being Jewish.</p>

<p>I rush to add: In America, these admission quotas NO LONGER EXIST against Jews, but the existence of Brandeis U, established in 1948 (?), is a very important legacy from those bad old days of prejudice. Mistakenly, some still call Brandeis a "Jewish school" today. That is truly confusing; it never was, and isn't today, affiliated with Jewish religious obligations for its student body.</p>

<p>Although half the students who now attend are Jewish, the school was never founded as a Jewish school, with required worship services, etc. etc. It is an independent university, religiously, same as Tufts, Boston College, or anyplace nearby.</p>

<p>BUT, because the Jewish community has particular interest in happenings in Africa (Jews playing a leadership role in figuring out what is going on in Darfur, for example..), the attention to issues in Africa is very high on the Brandeis campus today.</p>

<p>You might really have a valuable perspective in the undergraduate student dialogue at Brandeis University.</p>

<p>Your statistics there might make it a match/low reach but your origin from a modern African nation could interest them very much. </p>

<p>Perhaps it's one to research with care. I don't know their admissions priorities, but the above was just a group of thoughts I put together in my own mind.</p>

9

<p>It sounds as though you're in your senior year. If you're applying for admission in September '08, be sure to look also for schools with a second or later admission deadline (ED-II) if you can devote yourself to a single first choice from so far overseas. Oberlin and Brandeis both have an ED-II opportunity in January, so there is still time to introudce those and other late-deadlines schools into your thinking. But those decisions are binding; if they say yes to you, you must say yes back! So be sure you'd like it above all others (just from the website!) before applying anywhere "Early Decision." It should be a clear first choice for you to do this. It's a mixed blessing, Early Decision: it binds you, but for some places it also increases your chances of admission because they know you'll say "yes." It's a bit tricky with financial aid, too. I think you'd have to be given a merit award to know whether or not to say "yes" before they grant you your financial package, and that's unclear to me how it works. It's researchable, however, on CC: in what sequence do they send you your acceptance (ED-II) relative to the financial (merit? need-based? could be 2 different answers..) award. The need-based award, I don't know how that would be determined in time for an Early Decision II application. </p>

<p>Or just apply everywhere Regular Decision, and decide among several offers (we hope) between April 1 and May 1, which is how most American kids do this anyway. They'll all announce their decisions by April 1, but then you might compare various financial offers before you say "yes" back to anyone before May 1.</p>

<p>It may all be different for International students (re: ED-II and financial aid..) so I'll stop before I risk mis-advising you! Good luck. </p>

<p>If you were thinking of beginning in September '09, you have plenty of time, of course. </p>

<p>Or have you already applied to the schools and just want to know your chances wherever you've applied so far...?</p>

10

<p>There is a fairly large expat Ethiopian community in Washington, DC.</p>

<p>You might want to check out George Washington U, American U, U of Maryland and George Mason U.</p>

11

<p>Thanks,all of you.
What about Harvard and Yale?Do I have a chance there?</p>

12

<p>Not really. Look at schools that are good in subjects you want to study that offer merit money for international students, if you need that.</p>

13

<p>OP wrote:
[quote]
What about Harvard and Yale?Do I have a chance there?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Lolabelle wrote:
[quote]
Not really...

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Lolabelle, are you the admissions office of Harvard or Yale? Why do you say this so readily? Do you know for certain that Harvard and Yale have absolutely <em>no</em> merit money for international students? Have you seen the application or essay he will write? </p>

<p>I wrote privately to this poster about how competitive these 2 schools are, and re-emphasized the advice of a Safety, Match and Reach school list. I also described how there are many curiosity applications to these 2 famous schools, and there's no harm to try, just don't expect positive results. As others with top statstics domestically are disappointed by Harv and Yale all the time.</p>

<p>I think that is a kinder way to respond to someone who is trying to put together the puzzle of college admissions, from a location very far away.</p>

<p>I happen to agree with your advice, as follows:
[quote]
Look at schools that are good in subjects you want to study that offer merit money for international students, if you need that.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That helps and gives information. I just object to the dismissive tone of "not really"</p>

<p>His SAT's might be below the midrange of accepted applicants, but a "range" is just that, and some are taken from below and above their midrange. I can't fathom all the variables they juggle. If they want a student from Ethiopia, they will take a student from Ethiopia. Period. You or I have no way to "chance" these unmeasurable variables.</p>

<p>He opened himself up by asking "what are my chances..." and you responded. I just don't believe in telling another person their chances. I find it only confusing, hurtful, and possibly limiting to someone who might be surprised. </p>

<p>Parents and Chances, like oil and water, IMHO.</p>

14

<p>Thank you Paying3tuitions.I am well aware of the competition for Yale and Harvard.But in my country they may just not find anyone better than me.In that case wouldn't they take me just for diversity.Also my application essays emphasize my background.</p>

<p>lolabelle. How can you say I have no chance at all? I personally know a black girl who joined Harvard last with an SAT score of only 2020</p>

15

<p>Also do you anything about Lafayette? I am applying there as my match.</p>

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<p>Paying tuitions,I will send my application today.</p>

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<p>paying3tuitions: I really applaud the time and effort you offer with your always terrific, realisic and sensitive advice. I'm sure you've often made a difference in prospective students' futures.</p>

<p>gashawnesro: I wish you the very best of luck in your future, and expect that your resourcefulness in asking for advice here will result in your attending a wonderful school.</p>

18

<p>Your SATs are way low for the Ivy League and the educational processes in Africa have been accused of lower academic standards (usually poor teachers/lack of resources). However, the fact that you are from AFRICA guarantees you a spot in at least ONE of Americas top schools.</p>

<p>Kinda unfair for other students, but I guess it compensates for all the crap that goes on. </p>

<p>Good luck! I had a South African friend who got into Yale with an 1800 SAT. lolz.</p>

19

<p>
[quote]
However, the fact that you are from AFRICA guarantees you a spot in at least ONE of Americas top schools

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Before this turns into an AA debate. You are woefully misinformed as this does not guarantee the OP or else a spot in a top school.</p>

20

<p>Yeah, HSIsOverrated, you're wrong.</p>

<p>OP: Don't take HSIsOverrated seriously, he doesn't know what he's talking about.</p>