<p>Bumpbumpbump</p>
<p>BumpBumpBump</p>
<p>all the colleges you have chosen have extremely low selection rates. so, in spite of a very impressive array of languages and co-curricular activities, you may not get selected. just to be on the safe side, you should apply to some universities with a higher acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Bumpbumpbump</p>
<p>Thanks Katherine007! Where should I apply?</p>
<p>A previous thread of interest:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/96791-years-applicants-please-listen.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/96791-years-applicants-please-listen.html</a>
For details:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-were-picking-up-pieces-but-what-went-wrong.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-were-picking-up-pieces-but-what-went-wrong.html</a>
Every year on CC there are similar stories.
And it’s even more common for internationals.</p>
<p>To summarize: unless you’re full pay (and your parents have the bank accounts to prove it), there are no real safeties for internationals, so you need to have one at home. Then, you need to build your list from the bottom up. Everyone has dream schools. It’s good. It’s easy. Finding them doesn’t require work (even though the applications do). But you must have two schools that are similar enough to the dream schools in essential characteristics (course offering, “vibe”, location… whatever’s important to you) but much less selective. If you want to study in the US, those are your two most important schools. If you don’t really want to study in the US (for the culture, the type of school, the language, whatever) and your outlook is “I only want to study at Specific Dream school A, B, or C, otherwise I’d just rather study at Local School X which is ranked Top5 in my country” only apply to your dream schools but it’s a very risky strategy. In all other cases build your college list.
To help you identify schools, we need to know what your “essentials” are.</p>
<p>My essentials are easy:
-Good Materials/biomedical/computer engineering program (a good international relations program is a plus)
-Urban/suburban environment
-I do not really care about location and the climate</p>
<p>In this post:
A safety is a school where you’re not only sure to get in, but to get merit aid.
A match is an academic safety for you but quite competitive for financial aid.
Private schools are marked with *</p>
<p>Safeties, material engineering:</p>
<p>*Drexel
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Tech
University of Akron
University of Cincinatti
*/ Alfred, NY (public for some engineering programs, private for others, private campus)
U Texas El Paso</p>
<p>Matches
*Lehigh
Pitt (For Honors)</p>
<p>For some of these schools (especially the publics), you’d qualify for merit IF your ACT and/or SAT2 scores are high enough, and be careful since honors & honors scholarships have their deadlines soon. NO FA if not honors/special scholarship.</p>
<p>Computer engineering
Safeties
Auburn
*Clarkson
*Elizabethtown
*Drexel
FAU
*Fairfield
FIU Modesto
*Gonzaga
Grand Valley State
Ketterring
Jackson State
Milwaukee school of engineering
Minnesota State, Mankato
Montana State, Bozeman
*Pacific Lutheran
U Cincinatti
*U Denver
U Maryland-BC
Villanova
Valparaiso</p>
<p>Match
*Bucknell
*Olin (? super selective but seems to match your profile very well)
*Marquette
*Northeastern
- PINYU
*Syracuse - GWU
*U Miami - U Rochester</p>
<p>you should go each school’s website and find the “request info” or the “join the mailing list” section, then fill it out to get information. Indicate you’re interested in the Honors Program and Presidential scholarships.</p>
<p>GWU: I have a HUGE advantage, my college councilor was a former head of admissions there, and she loves me lol
My school sends every year at least one student to Northeastern
I’m a match for Olin? That is AWESOME! That is basically the only LAC school I’m seriously considering; even though I usually prefer school with a huge number of students, Olin is the only exception. I love the fact that there is a very close knit community. I also like the fact that the curriculum has a lot of project work, while colleges like Harvey Mudd have a big theoretical component
Thank you MYOS1634, this has been very useful</p>
<p>This is an evaluation, and will also depend on your SAT scores (1800 will not result in the same “matches” as 2100 :o)
Olin is not a LAC, it’s a school of engineering. 
Quite new but already top ranked and, as you said, less theoretical, more hands-on.
So you should be able to pick 3 relative “safeties” and a few matches. :)</p>
<p>I know that my SAT/ACT score could change everything. I’m studying hard and I’m pretty sure that I will get at least a 32. I’m not so sure on how much I would get on the SAT. The vocabulary required for the CR section is very difficult, and I’m not a mother tongue speaker. I know Olin is not a LAC but I really did not know how to define it! Where do people from there go for grad school?</p>
<p>Bump, please some more feedback!</p>
<p>Bumpbumpbump</p>
<p>holy fudge why do you keep bumping this thread. you really have more than enough feedback, trust me. however, i think it best to point it out to you that it is possible that you may not get a 32 on the ACT. I know loads of international kids who got 33+ in practice tests yet did miserably on the real thing.</p>
<p>also i hope you realize that grad school is not about the university name but rather the program. my brother chose to attend north carolina state university for his PhD over UVA and Lehigh because the program at ncsu was better.</p>
<p>also, do you need aid? if yes, there are NO MATCHES and NO SAFETIES for you.</p>
<p>You now have all the schools you could need.
You should ask for information from ALL of them (you may get an “apply for free” app just for 5mn spent on the “request info” form). Then choose 3 or more from the “safety” lists, and about 3 from the “match” list. Then, and only then, can you add as many as you can pay and write essays for, from the dream school list. If you read andison’s story you understand what it means to “build from the bottom up”. Although andison’s case was a bit off (he applied seriously to Ivies, and not so seriously to LACs, and despite an amazing record didn’t get in anywhere in part because he had NO safety and hadn’t even treated his matches seriously, emphasizing how in the end if the school has a 25% or less selectivity rate it’s really a crapshoot) there are countless kids who post on CC every spring whining “how is it possible? I didn’t get in anywhere!” Don’t be one of them.
There’s not much else anyone can say. Until you have your ACT results and have a finalized college list with enough “matches” and “safeties”, no one can do better than has already been done here. So, instead of “bumping” this thread, come back with a new thread where you’ll list these accomplishments + your ACT score + your finalized list of colleges + if you’re going for competitive merit scholarships.
BTW, international applicants who need financial aid usually have a much longer list than American applicants.</p>
<p>Thank you MYOS1634! Very helpful!</p>