International student- Dartmouth ED chances? Please help!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi,
I'm an international student, on a gap year, who would like to see if what I am aiming for is reasonable? I'm very uncertain as to if I should even apply to some places at all.</p>

<p>School: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
First-generation college</p>

<p>SAT I: 2120
SAT II: 740 Lit, retaking lit and math in November</p>

<p>Actual A-Level grades: 5As, 1B ('A' is the maximum grade in my country)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
• Choir: 7 years, 3 different choral groups, HS choir ranked top 10 youth choirs globally, participated in 2 international choir comps representing country, welfare committee, publicity committee
• Design posters/brochures/shirts/badges etc for choral groups and school events
• Guitarist and vocalist in band, performed at school events etc
• Peer tutor for humanities subjects</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience:
• Paid administrative assistant at online media department of newspaper publishing company
• Unpaid intern/writer at local non-profit website</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service:
• Busked & performed in concert to raise money for local charity
• Facilitated & participated in food/clothing donation drives
• Served at local resident committee
• Volunteered at visitor information centre of local botanical gardens, ~90 hours</p>

<p>How realistic are my chances if I apply to these schools, especially Dartmouth?
Also, I do need some sort of financial aid to be able to attend. A number of these schools seem to offer good aid for internationals, which is why I'm applying. If there are any other colleges that I should take note of please inform me!</p>

<p>If it helps, last year before I decided to take a gap year, I was accepted into NYU Gallatin (too expensive for me to attend).</p>

<p>Dartmouth ED
Boston University
Carleton College
Cornell
Tufts
USC
Vanderbilt
Vassar
Washington & Lee</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your input!</p>

2

<p>Can’t say for everyone, but i know it’s really hard to get finaid at cornell as an international.</p>

3

<p>In Dartmouth, they say they don’t look at whether you apply for financial aid during the admissions process but idk if it is true</p>

4

<p>

</p>

<p>Yep understood, but disregarding aid, should I even apply to ivy-standard colleges based on my stats? Thanks!</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>It better be! Haha, I’m kind of banking on their need-blind/100% demonstrated need met policies…</p>

5

<p>I think you’re pretty much on target for everything, except for Dartmouth and Cornell, which are technically reaches for everyone.</p>

<p>Sorry to get you down, but if I’m not mistaken, Dartmouth is no longer need-blind for internationals. The only ones that remain so are HYP, MIT, Amherst and Cornell. (though they don’t always give aid)</p>

<p>The key here is choosing whether you’ll take a risk and apply to a college that you have a larger chance of not getting in ED (like Dartmouth), or picking a less selective institution for ED, but having a better chance of getting accepted with aid.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

6

<p>Great A level results!!!
Boston University and USC should be good
Vassar should be ok too
I think you should play up your gap year experiences and work experiences to increase your chance, after all, not every one is able to have a gap year!</p>