I wanted to ask a few questions regarding my chances, paying and more. I am a Middle Eastern high school student (11th grade/Junior).
SAT score: 1760(M640,CR520,W600) - This was repeated and scores are coming out next week
SAT Math I: 630 - I plan on repeating this too
GPA: Mid 3’s (constantly changing every semester)
Extra Curricular:
-MUN Club
-Basketball (quit in 10th grade)
-Graphic design (took a break to focus on school)
-Fundraising
-Freelance translating (only starting)
My school gives AP material and classes but no real credit so I was wondering if that makes a difference.
I can probably “fix” academics, but my main concern is paying for college. My parents’ combined income is less than 23$k a year. The yearly tuition for colleges i look for is at least twice my parents income, which is worrying. Taking that into consideration, would colleges like Northeastern cover my education 100% or will I be stuck in a “less than ideal” national university?
PS: doing extra curricular things here is pretty hard as well. My school has less than 5-7 clubs in total.
As an international student, you won’t be eligible for federal need-based aid, so you’d mostly be looking for merit aid. Your SAT would need to come up considerably to be competitive for admission, and merit goes to the top of the admitted students. There’s always a chance with a compelling story, but at this point I’d say your chances of getting in and being able to afford it don’t look great.
“As an international student, you won’t be eligible for federal need-based aid, so you’d mostly be looking for merit aid. Your SAT would need to come up considerably to be competitive for admission, and merit goes to the top of the admitted students.”
This will be the case at almost ALL US Universities. They accept mostly full pay top stat international students. I would focus on getting into a great university in your own country.
Universities in my country are not the greatest and are at least 15$k a year for a “good” engineering program. I still have hope as a few students from my school got merit based scholarships with similar academic achievements as me but 2000’s for the SAT score. The latest one last year got a full merit based scholarship to an ivy league university and he has basically the same academics as me but with a 2050 for a SAT score. Thanks for the input however
@NotSpaceBound no offence but there’s a massive difference between a 1760 and a 2050, your scores aren’t good enough to realistically even get in to Northeastern, let alone be offered a merit scholarship. You should look at lower ranked uni’s if you can’t get your SAT score up. Your ECs are definitely not very exceptional either. I’m not trying to rain on your parade but you need to be realistic or you’re going to be severely disappointed when you receive your offers.
(I’m an international student with financial need too but with a 2180 on the SAT, I can give you some pointers on where else to look if you would like.)
Ivy League do not give merit, only financial aid. If you could get accepted, many of the Ivies may give full aid. 1800 SAT won’t get you accepted tho.
Northeastern does not guarantee to meet full need for internationals. To get merit at NE, I think your SAT would need to come up to at least 2100, and even then it would only cover a portion of tuition, no room and board.
Unfortunately, everyone knows someone who went for “free”, which perpetuates the myth that an international with less than stellar scores and international awards can get into a US Uni and go for free. It just isn’t the reality. Unless there is something incredible about you…
If you get scores in a high enough range, you could get full tuition at a few less prestigious but very good schools.
Hi NotSpaceBound, I am also an international student and I was accepted into Northeastern’s college of engineering 2 weeks ago and guess what… I had 1830 on my SAT and a 3.8 unweighted GPA. My advice to you is to leave college confidential before you get addicted, as the people here will bring you down. As an international applicant, SATs are not required for you, so if northeastern is really your top choice, focus in bringing that GPA up and forget about the SAT. Also, make sure you write a very compelling essay and retake that SAt subject test to bring your score up to a 700+, that should be easy. If you are taking APs, try your best to get 4s and 5s as that will be to your advantage. Finally, if you want Northeastern to cover your tuition, you need to bring that GPA up to atleast a 3.8 unweighted and write a very very compelling essay.
