<p>I am an international student, and I have just finished my freshman year. I still didn't take the SAT/ACT, but I plan to take the SAT within this year and the ACT next year. In practice tests, I could get around 2100 in the SAT and 34 in the ACT. This year, in my 9 school major subjects, I got 8 A+s and 1 A- (Elective). </p>
<p>My EC's currently are not that strong. My main EC is math, and I have competed internationally. I have joined the IMO once (but did not do well), and I'll probably join it 4 more times. I do some volunteer work around, totalling around 50+ hours a year. I also play musical instruments (piano and violin) but I have stopped for a while already. </p>
<p>Hi, I’m also an international student (senior) - It is extremely difficult for international students to get accepted to top notch schools especially HYPSM with just good grades. You need compelling stories, commitment, dedication, and of course the money to attend the school because in most cases, international students do NOT get any FA. </p>
<p>Wait you qualified for IMO as a freshman? What country are you from? In the US that’s unheard of as IMO qualifying is extremely competitive and that plus high gpa/scores would be basically a guarantee to MIT.</p>
<p>He qualified for IMO not as a freshman, but as an eight-grader, hence he asserts that he’ll probably qualify for it 4 more times. ;)</p>
<p>Sound like you’re doing some humble brag here, OP. Even if you got 0 points at the IMO, even if you qualified from a country which is abysmal at math, the very fact that you qualified as a middle school kid is very impressive.</p>
<p>Obviously, focus on the math, and don’t worry about SAT/ACT yet. If you could balance it with some more social EC’s that would be great. </p>
<p>Let me clarify things (please don’t take this as bragging, etc.)</p>
<p>My country is formerly a 10-year education country and is transistioning into a 12-year education. So some people in the middle have a “program” to complete 3 school years in 2 school years. I qualified to the IMO as a 7th grader, so I would qualify the 2nd time as a 9th grader. However, 7th to 10th grade is considered Junior High School and 11th to 12th grade is considered Senior High School. While I did not get 0, I still got not-that-good. I got 14 there (7/0/0 / 7/0/0). </p>
<p>Yup, I’m taking on some social EC’s. However they are hard-to-find in a country heavily influenced by politics and corruption. </p>
<p>If I read viphan’s post right, he says that International students do not get any financial aid. However, the schools that I am interested in (HYPSM) are need-blind schools. </p>
<p>Need-blind means they won’t consider your financial situation when evaluating your application. It does NOT mean you’ll get any money if you get in. If you really are going go qualify for IMO 4 times I think you’re nearly guaranteed to MIT. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any IMO qualifier that was rejected from MIT. You need to evaluate your financial situation though because regardless of where you get in if you can’t pay for school you can’t go and international students get none to very minimal aid.</p>
<p>There is a very small group of colleges that are need blind for internationals. That list includes MIT, Harvard, and Yale, as well as roughly another dozen US universities and colleges. If you get in, you will get financial aid that makes it feasible to attend. You may be told you have to pay more than you or your parents think you can pay–but that happens to Americans too. </p>
<p>Generally speaking, PUBLIC schools like University of Michigan do NOT give internationals financial aid. </p>
<p>Others fall in between. If you get in, you will get enough $ to attend, but how much aid you need will be taken into account in the colleges’ decisions whether or not to admit you. The more $ you can pay, the more likely you will be admitted–given the same qualifications. As an international, you may want to apply to some US colleges in this category–but if you do, remember that it’s probable that you’ll need to be at the top of their applicant pools to have a good chance to be admitted and receive sufficient financial aid to attend.</p>
<p>If you haven’t already, check out <a href=“http://www.edupass.org”>www.edupass.org</a>. </p>
<p>“It does NOT mean you’ll get any money if you get in”</p>
<p>I’m not sure, but I think Cornell is the only school whose financial aid works the way you described: need-blind, but doesn’t guarantee meeting full need. However, HYP, MIT, Amherst, Dartmouth are need-blind and full-need(Naturally the OP has no reason to care about Dart&Amherst, but anyway).</p>
<p>A few other schools(e.g. UChicago, Duke) aren’t need-blind but guarantee to meet full-need for those accepted.</p>
<p>" I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any IMO qualifier that was rejected from MIT."</p>
<p>I’ve heard of some. It’s not that uncommon.</p>
<p>“international students get none to very minimal aid”</p>
<p>This makes no sense. For math at least: ALL US institutions which would appeal to a IMO qualifier(except Berkeley, UCLA and Michigan, which are public) do offer financial aid, and almost all of them meet full need for accepted students.</p>
<p>International and US students are whole different cases. What you described does not apply to international students. Like I said, internationals get very little aid</p>
<p>The schools that T26E4 is talking about are the need-blind & full-need schools: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Amherst, Dartmouth. But I’m sure there are others who are full-need but NOT need-blind, or at least that’s what their claim on their websites.</p>
<p>Yes many students accepted do get aid. The thing is that aid is based on family income and assets and some students don’t realize that for some income levels the amount the family is expected to pay is very large. Brown also will meet need for students they accept, although they are need aware for Internationals, I did meet student there on a lot of aid.</p>
<p>Actually one. EC.is not bad if you are competing internationally. Depending upon where you live EC during school year may be hard to find. Summers though should be planned out well in advance and directed towards furthering academic interests. These colleges are first and foremost academically focused. To be safe you should be thinking of targeting 2250 not 2100 and you should get your SAT II done as quickly as you can. The strongest students pack their summers so, in effect, they have a fifth year of high school instead of four. </p>
<p>well, math training camps last the whole summer? (btw, I completed my 2nd IMO last July, and I have 2 more to go before the college admissions cycle)</p>