International Chances for Princeton, JHU and Duke Bme

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello.
I require substantial aid, which complicates this for me even more, as JHU and Duke are Need Aware
Will the absence of Iranians in US colleges benefit me? I read here that colleges try hard to be as diverse as possible, and will sometimes pay the bill for students to increase geographic diversity, and according to the data I have seen, there are currently no Iranians in Princeton. anyways, here are my stats:

Nationality : Iranian ( though I am a mix of all major middle eastern ethnicities)
Intended Major : premed/Biology/Biomed/Biochem
GPA: I double majored in Junior year so I have two gpa’s: 19.20 for my theoretical major , 19.40 for my Experimental , 19.06 Sophomore, 18.76 Freshman. according to https://www.wes.org/gradeconversionguide/index.asp, all my GPA’s translate into 4 in the american system.
Course Load: Biology 3, Calculus, Physics 3, Advanced Algebra and Probability, Geometry 2, Geology 1, Chemistry 3, Persian Literature 3, Persian Linguistics 3, Islamic studies 3, Arabic 3, English 3, Contemporary History, Math for EXP majors.
ACT : 34 (34 34 33 34)
SAT II: will take Math2, Chem, BioM. I expect a 700+
EC: Will graduate when I am 16.
English Teacher at a prestigious language college.
No AP or IB classes, as we all have the same curriculum in Iran. however, I was in a NODET (national organization for development of extraordinary talents) school, which means that our curriculum was tough as hell. however, I did have some advanced extra curricular classes in Math, Physics and Astronomy. I will probably write it as an academic EC.
Arts and humanities club member.
Internship at a very important Lens and Optics Lab.
part of high school National Computer olympiad team, no medal though.
9th at Ferdowsi Univ. Programming contest.
5th at Team Math&Chem City Contest
Fluent in English and persian, good at Arabic, Intermediate in French
c++, HTML, CSS, JS, PHP coder.
Web designer.
Swimmer, no awards though.
English,Geometry and Algebra tutor.
do thing like being an avid reader and stuff count?
That is all I can remember right now.
Thank you for sparing the time to read my question,

2

I seriously doubt that.

In any case, if you were a US applicant you would be “qualified” and would have about a 5-10% chance, the same as all the other qualified applicants. Given you are an international, you chances are 1-3% at best.

3

Agreed with the above poster.

4

Thank you for your time.
I need to clarify something: when I said that there are no Iranians in Princeton ,I meant Iranians that study in Princeton college. I saw the country list, and Iran wasn’t represented. This is consistent with the fact that according to Harvard statistics, there is only one Iranian college student currently enrolled, and Harvard is far better known in Iran than Princeton.
I do understand that the chance is low, and therefore I have backup plans. But if I understand correctly, the international admission rate is not really informative, because almost all applicants are from 5-6 overrepresented countries.please correct me if I am wrong.

5

http://www.princeton.edu/intlctr/davis-ic-home/about-davis-ic/statistics/
Look at the pdf titled list of international students by country and level. Iran has 0 undergrads

6

The only way someone would show up as “Iranian” on that list is if they came directly to Princeton from a HS in Iran. The much more typical route would be the child/relatives of Iranians living in the US who went to a US HS. I’m quite sure there are plenty of these at Princeton (and elsewhere). This would more than satisfy the university’s need for diversity. The fact you are applying from Iran does not help you to any material degree.

This is basically a myth. I’m not saying that it never happens, but it’s so rare (and never at the very top schools) that it’s not worth considering as a possibility.

7

I see. So my chance would be around 1-6% at most schools. How much can a stellar essay help here?
Also, will my chances be higher at places like jhu where I am at 75% or higher in scores and grades?

8

In general JHU is “easier” to get into than Princeton (but not by a lot and again, it’s even tougher for internationals).
I think you might have a financing problem there.
Why don’t you look into programs that some schools have that offer full-ride scholarships specifically for international students?

I’m thinking about something like this:
http://www.brandeis.edu/isso/alumni/wien/index.html

There are only a handful of these and they are ultra-competitive, but you are only competing against other international students and not against the entire US population.

9

I have looked at many scholarships like that, from karsh scholars to Iranian scholarships.
Also, an Iranian got into Harvard last year with worse stats and ec’s than mine, though she had an essay that was said to have been excellent. so I am going to try my luck high reaches in this round. But having a realistic idea of my chance helps, thanks.
Which of these schools would I have a higher chance in? Also consider rice and brown please.
Thank you again for your time

10

Look at CC postings going back years. Statements such as this are found all over the place. The unfortunate answer is: so what? Think of applying to college as buying a lottery ticket. Once your “qualified” it’s fairly (but not 100%) random. Some applicants have “hooks” which enable them to buy multiple tickets. So someone from Iran won the lottery last year? It doesn’t indicate anything one way or the other for you.

Rice, Brown, JHU, and all the schools you mentioned will be the same answer: You have about a 5% or less chance of admission. If you require substantial aid, that will complicate things as there are only a very small handful of schools who provide full need for international admitted students.

Also, essays don’t matter nearly as much as you’ve been led to believe. They add additional “color” to an application but the raw stats (and a lot of luck) are what matters much more.

If you really want to study in the US, try some of the very large state universities. They all have substantial international student populations and some will provide financial aid purely based on test scores.

11

Hmmm, Iranian students, then why do they have the following: https://www.princeton.edu/iran/projects/igsw/ or http://www.princeton.edu/~persian/ or http://www.princeton.edu/iran/ or http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S35/30/15O69/index.xml?section=topstories

12

@boolaHI we established that it was irrelevant, however, all your links are about grad school. I gave you their stats which clearly said that they don’t have anybody with Iranian citizenship in college , though I had not considered Iranian Americans. Hat tip to soze for bringing that to My attention.
@soze I think you misunderstood me. I didn’t mean say that since somebody got in, i should get in too. I was trying to say that while the odds are bad, they are certainly not impossible, so I will try anyway.
And yes, a fellow poster gave me their list, so I am applying to at least one of them + one or two lacs in Rd.
Speaking of which, how are my raw scores in your opinion?

13

I still question your basic posit, especially with over a million Iranian Americans living in the states. And what you need to consider, is that not unlike other situations, folks may have either legacy ties or be a large donor to a school. Whenever you see someone admitted with below median scores, this may indicate a “development admit” (e.g. someone who may be often giving the school 7 or 8 figures) or they have parents who previously attended the institution–i.e a legacy.

14

That is the point: Iranian Americans aren’t listed as Iranian. They are listed as American, and that is why the cultural diversity factor is irrelevant.
Also, That person I was talking about was neither, or so she said(just FYI, if my info is correct , there are no legacy’s living in Iran. Even interviews are conducted by Skype, and by non Iranians. This is called the Iranian brain drain, and the reason we don’t have act, sat, ap or ib in Iran.)