Hi y’all.
I am a low income first gen student from South America. I am applying to various private colleges to study Biology/Biochemistry and asking for full financial aid (or almost, my max contribution could be $1700 usd). I wanna read ur opinions about my chances to get into.
Demographics:
White/female/latina
Low income student
Stats:
I attended a christian school considered one of the rigourous in my city (where I got a full ride scholarship for 5 years).
Then I left and I did my senior year homeschooling.
My GPA is 3.7 unweighted, no test scores (no available spots).
For sophomore, junior and senior, my GPA is a 4.0 (my freshman year messee up my gpa due familiar problems/ social outbreak/mental health) but I am writing about that in my additional space in common app.
The Classes I took where: (school doesn’t offer AP’s nor IB, we can’t choose our classes but we could in junior our electives).
Math: 4 years
Spanish: 4 years
English: 4 years
Music: 1 year
Visual arts: 1 year
P.E: 2 years
Philosophy: 2 years
Civics: 2 years
Science for the citizens: 2 years
Statistics elective: 1 year
Ecology elective: 1 year
Chemistry elective: 1 year
Biology club: 1 year (not graded but part of the study workload)
Religion: 3 years
Technology: 2 years
Online courses (all w certificate)
HarvardX about Ebola
Universidad about neonates
Yale(introduction to psychology (about COVID-19)
Johns hopkins about covid-19
Stanford (stories of infection)
Ecs:
Founder of a feminist project in my region (give free talks about gender violence) and a convocatory for the day against gender violence (14 hours week).
founder of a page on insta to post about current social issues regarding women. (6 hrs week)
member of a well known feminist/activism group
help my mother to sell dishes amd stuff at farmers market and the street (50hrs per week)
graduated from an academy to learn about climate change (4 hours per week).
member of an academy to learn about STEM (4 hours per week).
film acting course intensive (4 hours per week).
babysitter job (25 hours per week).
school folkloric ballet (3 hours per week).
important spot in my school’s christian retreat (3 hours per week).
Member of undergraduate club by educationusa (I couldn’t join the opportunity funds due I joined 1 month late).
(I am currently applying for a scholarship to show my project in an important conference in Rwanda next year, I recieve the results in January but I think I am going to get in).
Awards:
English award
Most participant in academy of learn about climate change.
No more as my past school never wanted to help me and bring me awards.
College list:
Reaches:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Columbia
Bowdoin
Amherst
Pomona
Duke
Reaches:
Scripps
Carleton
Wellesley
Tufts
Hamilton
“Safeties”:
-Lehigh (they recently launched a new full tuition scholarship where I am going to promote my project).
-Smith
-Occidental
I wanna apply to more but I don’t know were. My counselor and advisors says that I have a good list and enough colleges but idk.
In every college I have fee waivers and css profile/financial aid page fee waivers.
my letters of recommendation are very good IMO.
my essays are great IMO and my commonapp essay topic is not cliche as others.
If you are an international student who needs full 100% financial aid, then there are no safeties in the US. You should also apply to safeties in your home country.
In terms of getting into your high reaches, one big question is how your GPA compares to other students in your high school and in your country. GPA scales tend to be very different in different countries. A GPA of 3.7 in some schools might make you the top student in your high school, whereas in some other schools it might or might not put you in the top 20%.
Your sophomore, junior, and senior years will matter much more than your freshman year.
There will be quite a few essays that you need to write to apply to universities in the US. If you add more universities to your list, it becomes more difficult to do a good job on each essay.
You are going to need a lot of financial aid. I am not sure if $1,700 will even pay for a plane ticket from Chile to the US and return. You will also need health insurance, a laptop, books, winter clothes (particularly for the more northerly universities such as Bowdoin and Amherst), and you will have some other expenses.
I will add, I think your list is very top heavy especially since you are going test optional.
While you have included the seven colleges that are both need blind and meet full need for all international students, you have also included a bunch that are need aware. These need aware schools could take your financial need into consideration when reviewing your application for admission.
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You will need a full ride. In fact your family contribution may not even be sufficient to cover transportation, health insurance, books and other incidentals. ALL of the schools on your list are reaches.
FWIW I would not write about mental health issues in your application as it may be a red flag to some admission officers.
It is great to apply to colleges on your list and give it your all. But I’d recommend that you pursue options in your home country as safety schools.
She may have that, depending on where in Chile she is coming from. The southernmost part is at the same latitude as Edmonton!
OP, it is a very big ask to go to one of the most selective universities in the US - indeed, the world - and get someone else to pay for it. Just to set the scale, we are talking about a quarter of a billion pesos. While this is by no means impossible, it is exceptional, and you may need to focus on less famous and/or less expensive schools.
Would you characterize yourself as in the top 10% of your class? The best student this year? The best student in 10 years? The best student ever? That may help in identifying places that might meet your goals.
Washington and Lee University provides financial aid to international students, and is interested in increasing diversity and supporting/developing leadership. The Johnson Scholarship, which approximately 40 kids each year receive, is a full ride, with everything paid, and including a $7,000 stipend. It would be worth looking into.
Berea is not elite like a lot of the schools on your list, but a lot of international students apply there. It might be worth checking out.
All admitted international students receive financial aid and scholarships that cover 100% of tuition, room, board, and fees for the first year of enrollment. In subsequent years, international students are expected to save $1,000 (US) to contribute toward their expenses. The College does provide summer jobs to international students so that they may meet this obligation. Accepted international students are also expected to pay a $2,200 (US) deposit to confirm their enrollment. This deposit can be used by international students for certain expenses during their four years of enrollment. For students who are unable to pay all or a portion of the deposit, additional financial aid is available.
It is certainly worth pursuing but wouldn’t call Berea a safety. The college has an enrollment of about 1,650 students of which only about 9% are international.
No, a safety means guaranteed acceptance based on stats that’s also affordable. Berea’s international acceptance rate is likely below 20%, and OP has missed the EA deadline (RD acceptance rate likely lower than EA’s).
From the link you shared:
Admission to Berea College is extremely competitive. We receive hundreds of applications each year from very well-qualified applicants from all over the world, and can enroll only about 30 new international students each year.
Berea also requires an SAT, ACT, Toefl, IELTS, or Duolingo test from all international applicants. OP, have you taken one of the English language tests?
That’s disappointing, especially since I’ve understood Holyoke to meet need for international students in a way comparable to other schools of its type. Indeed, MHC seems to say this on its site:
Yes. I couldn’t find the email they sent me as I unsescribed and deleted their email. But I have a chilean friend studying there and she told me about that too
Tysm! I am going to tell to my counselor to add it to my lists and discuss about it. I have a friend studying there for free as well!. Thx again for the recommendation!
Here we do not rank but If we have to, I could be in the top 15% - top 20% of my class. Would you recommend me other schools pls? I am watching washington and lee right now, but I had seen Lafayette, villanova, bryn mawr (but my interviewer cut me before it was supposed) so idk, trinity ct, conn college, franklin and marshall, reed college and holy cross
