International student in India with 2 interests! Please match!

[sid_roid]

Demographics

Race: Indian
Gender: Male
Citizenship: USA
Upper Middle Class
Hooks: Brother goes to Brown (i don’t think that matters but…)

STATS

SAT: 1510
GPA: We don’t really do that and my school grades are very weird because of strict grading to prepare us for the finals and other things so idk…
APs: Calculus AB, CS-A, Physics 1, World History and US Gov & P (4 or 5 in all, all through self-study)
Class Rank: N/A

Intended Major

I’m applying as a film student but would like to study both film and CS if i get anywhere.

Extracurriculars

Various short films/videos/written scripts ; made a few 5-10 minute documentaries; made a short doc about my family and the city we grew up in

Created an app for exercises for people with cognitive difficulties and published a paper on it using data from trials and real-life testing.

Head of MUN Club ; various awards

Debates/Quizzes

Interned at a few companies, basically writing/creating video-based graphics/content

Podcast for 2+ years about football

Head of Media Club at school ; organized a live online event during Covid with over 5000+ views on YouTube

Going to probably do 1-2 more CS-based projects (idk what so far)

Rec Letter

Since very few people from school apply abroad, we can work with our teachers/counselors to get amazing rec letters. (So 9.5/10, I guess)

General Requirements

I’m looking for a private (no public because no aid) school which gives decent/good
aid. A good film program which has some production-based elements to it (and not fully studies-based) and a good CS department.

Also very important that I can study both CS and film equally through interdepartmental majors (Like Duke), dual degree, double major etc. I don’t like schools like Purdue which assign you to majors.

Parents also want small class sizes but I’m indifferent to it. I don’t care about weather etc. and don’t want a big party/football school.

I’m also applying as film to most schools because I don’t have a good-enough portfolio for CS but I love both equally (maybe film a little more )

[International_Dad]

You are not an international Student because you are an American citizen, you are an out of state student with an international background.

[MWolf]

@sid_roid

Citizenship: USA

As @International_Dad wrote - you are not international.

That is a VERY good thing. First of all, acceptance rate is higher. Second, most need-blind colleges are only need blind for US students, and finally, financial aid is much more available for US students than for internationals.

It also means that you are eligible for aid at any college which provides aid for OOS students.

To make it easier for people (and for yourself) to figure out the best choices for you, calculate you GPA. If your school has grade deflation, colleges will know that. The only issues is with colleges that provide merit aid - they often do not take grade inflation into consideration for merit awards that are based on GPA.

AP courses for which you self studies, and for which you did not receive a grade are not really considered by colleges in the USA. They may help you place, or even reduce your course load if you are accepted, but they do not help your application. Unless you are applying to universities in the UK, self-studying for AP tests is not a good way to spend your time and energy.

Both Film and CS are highly competitive majors, especially at the most popular colleges.

So USC and NYU are considered as having the “best” film programs, but their admissions rates into film are extremely low, and NYU is notoriously stingy with financial aid.

Other great film schools are Loyola Marymount, Emerson, Chapman, and others. However, many have low acceptance rates, and applicants whose GPAs aren’t within the range that they are looking for are not competitive.

You could also look at majoring in digital media. SO CMU is one of the best for that, but has low acceptance rates. However, there are many more colleges with that major.

Which brings us to: what else are you looking for in a college? Urban\suburban/rural?
Liberal arts college or research university?
Size?
Type of students (nerdy/athletic/outdoorsy/quirky, etc - these are not mutually exclusive many colleges have quirky athletes or preppy geeks)?
because you are an American citizen, you have many more choices than your classmates who do not have American citizenship.

[sid_roid]

Thank you so much!

[gandalf78]

I concur with the suggestions above of Chapman and Southern Cal. I don’t know about the likelihood of any financial aid, however.

[Dunshire]

Any budget/financial strains? If your brother is currently enrolled at Brown can your parents support both of your college education?