International Student with Extra need for Aid's Chance Thread

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey guys. Could you please take a look and chance me for my schools? I am really confused on which to apply for EA also.
Due to financial difficulties, I need a really large financial aid, and need-based scholarship seems not in my reach due to the low income bracket.
I would try my best though (what could I lose after all?)
Thanks in advance. I would chance back if you could kindly leave the link to your post :smiley:

Basic Info:
On gap year
Ethnicity: Asian (Vietnam)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: <$20,000/year
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None
School: School for gifted Student. I take gifted schools for the entire 12 years if it could help.

SAT I (breakdown): 2190 (660CR, 800M, 730W)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 800 on Math 2, 720 on Physics and Chem, 760 on U.S History
GPA: 9.3/10 consistently for 4 recent years (top ten of my class, in my country no student has higher than 9.5)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): no rank (but my principal stated that I am among the top ten of the school in his rec)
AP (place score in parenthesis): No AP offered
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Various Awards in Provincial and National English Competition.
First Place in National Knowledge Competition for High School and Uni Students.
Prizes in Provincial Oratorical competitions, including best debater.
Participated in national Math Competition in 9th Grade.
Lawrence S.Ting Scholarship for Excellent Students
some smaller prizes in writing and filming

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
MUN: Participated in 2 most prestigious MUN of the nation; OMUN.
Conference: Youth Conference in Indonesia (presented a research and idea in improving education there); Environmental Programs (presented a short research on environment)
Province’s National English Team (Captain)
Class President. In charge of the class (both extracurricular and educational aspects) when my counselor left for maternity leave.
One of school’s student representatives as we welcome special guests, including Ambassador Ted Osius
Bamboo Flute Club (it is a national musical instrument) (Treasury)
Graduation Night Organizer
Provincial Knowledge Competition (Organizer)
Youth Leadership Forum (Organizer)
Ran a Campaign in which provincial youth interviewed foreigners on how to improve our province.
Founder of an Educational Project in which we play and teach primary school students to run their own small projects.

Self-taught French and Hebrew.
Take Piano lessons (10hrs/wk)

Recommendations: I haven’t read any of them so these are my guesses only
Counselor: stellar i think. I have many chances to talk to her. I even gave her advices when she was severely depressed (fortunately my advices are right)
Math teacher: good. She liked me a lot and I was the best student in her class.
English Teacher: Good i think
Principal: he says that I am one of the best of the school so i hope that his rec would be good.

Job/Work Experience:
Work as a receptionist in family-run guess house.
Translator for a programming team.
English Tutor.
Investor (Forex and stocks and etc)
Affiliate Seller

Summer/ gap year Activities
Travel to find my interests and talents.
Volunteer.
Learn new skills (piano/ chess/ Programming). Practice languages

Sorry for the wall of text above, below is another wall :smiley:

Here are colleges that I am considerating. I am having a trouble deciding which college to apply ED. And I would be really grateful if you could chance me:

*Intended Major: Economics/ Political Science

Minerva School at KGI (EA)
UPenn and Yale (EA)
Cornell (EA)
Amherst College (I am thinking of applying ED for William)
University of Buffalo
Rice University
George Washington University
Washington and Lee University
Temple University
Boston University
NYU Abu Dhabi
University of Miami
University of Richmond
Trinity College
Berea College
Howard University
Augsburg College

This is not the last list so I would appreciate if you could also suggest a college that suits my performance and financial need.

Thank you! Any advice will be appreciated! Please leave the link to your post so I could chance back.

2

UPenn and Cornell are both ED schools. Yale has SCEA, or Single-Choice Early Action. This means can only apply early to one of the three - and early deadlines are looming, so figure out which one, and fast.

3

@NotVerySmart Thanks! I would choose Yale SCEA. I still fear that I do not stand a chance for top schools though.

4

Bump. Can someone help?

5

I don’t know what your grades look like in the context of your school system, but I can tell you that international admissions are very competitive. Assuming your grades are what most people would consider very good, that SAT is slightly below-average for an international applicant but not a killer. As an international student, you’ll need to take the TOEFL, as your posts and background both suggest you aren’t a native English speaker.

If the TOEFL goes well, you face the same 3-4% odds most internationals will have at UPenn. Maybe 10% (at most) for Yale SCEA. These schools are just that tough.

With regards to the others, look up the common data set and see where you’d be at the 75th percentile after subtracting 100 points from your SAT (rough proxy for the effect of being an international). Those are your matches. Schools where you’d be at the 25th percentile are reaches. If you’d be above the 75th percentile, most schools with acceptance rates over 20% are safeties.