<p>^ um thanks a million… but will they still do if the courses aren’t challenging?
I mean I have this girl who came from U.S. she didn’t use to take any AP’s just like me, but when she came to our school, she found our school tougher than the “normal courses” she used to take in the US…
So I guess then they are not THAT BAD… and I do take A LOT OF SUBS… I mean school makes us all take those lessons…</p>
<p>But still, I don’t find them challenging at all… So I myself find my GPA not very fair… I dunno…</p>
<p>Are you an international student looking for financial aid? Then yes, you need to look long and hard for schools where you a top student score wise in order to get the money you need to go to school here. You also need to make sure the schools you pick even give out money to international students.</p>
<p>As for the schools where your numbers are not in the top echelon and the admissions rates are lower than 25%, you are not likely to get admitted, as the vast majority of the applicants, including those in the midrange and top 25% of the scores are not. Without a compelling reason to take you, your chances are just about nil, but I think you know that already having been on these boards for a while now. If you can’t pay full price, your chances are not good at many of the other schools too, as most of the more generous schools that are need blind to US students and meet 100% of need for them, do not extend the policy to internationals. Those are the realities you are facing.</p>
<p>If there is some compelling reason to take you–are you from a country that is seriously underrepresented? Is it a country with issues that you can take to the forefront and discuss in some essays? What can you bring to a college that makes you worth them accepting you over someone with better academic numbers and can pay full fare? That is what you need to consider. For the bulk of your list, look for schools where you will be considered a prize, a catch, top of the pack. That is the crux of the college search, finding where you will be sure to be accepted and is affordable.</p>
<p>Well by “need-blind”, the school means that they won’t take my financial status into consideration while evaluating my app… Like Harvard for example. And the money they offer to any student depends solely on his/her financial need not whether he/she is international or not (as far as I know at least)…
So what I have to concentrate on now is how to match them with my resume.</p>
<p>So I find your post’s last paragraph most helpful… I have to address those issues in my essay I know… I don’t think my country is “seriously underrepresented”…
And I doing my best to show the Uni’s that I bringing them a bright student who did their best in the face of the obstacle they faced…
that’s the best I can do. I know it is probably not enough. But I am doing my best- just for the satisfaction of knowing that I gave it my best shot.</p>
<p>a school will consider your 98-99 in the context of what was available to you. if a student were to orchestrate good numbers by avoiding tough classes then the adcoms would ‘sniff’ that out most likely. this is not the case for you, i understand. i think that they would also look at the number of students in your grade and any history of similar students to yourself going to US Colleges. They will try to predict how you might do at their college. Since your grades are better than your SATs they will decide if you are a tremendous student who may not be as good at taking the SATs - versus that your SATs are accurately predicting how you compare to other/ US students. Did you take ACT ( i think that some people test better on one versus the other set of tests, and either is usually useable on app)</p>
<p>harvard has like 30 billion dollars ‘in the bank’ as their endowment. this plus their high standards puts them in a category which may be almost unique to them. there are like 3000 colleges in the us. almost none of them are able to offer need blind admissions coupled with great amounts of need based aid. just hoping that you keep an open mind towards the other 2999 possibilities.</p>
<p>regards post 19 - Emory is one school that comes to mind as a school with an esteemed history (despite a recent admissions scandal) which might be a place for you to apply if you are looking for a good status acceptance letter ( i doubt they give out much foreign need aid in general, but not sure). Other schools which fit this bill might be Drexel (encourages a lot of applications) and maybe Haverford or Villanova. I am mentioning some schools that I think have a certain degree of status, are in your reach for admissions, but I doubt any of them would give much merit aid out in this circumstance…</p>
<p>as an aside, your efforts stand on their own merit and I do not think that these or any other Colleges give you credibility. You give yourself that.</p>
