Just realized I'm International. Please help

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’ve lived in America pretty much my whole life. However, I just realized that because of my non-US passport, I’m going to be grouped with International students from India, lowering my chances by a ton. Colleges that use to be targets now look like reaches for me. I’m remaking my college list and if you guys could help me out that would be greatly appreciated.

I’m looking for engineering colleges, location/weather/school type doesn’t really matter to me, my only objection is if it’s overly religious. My budget is 55K a year.

Demographics
Grade: Junior (11th)
Race: Indian
Gender: Male
Upper Middle Class
State & School: Florida, and from a community high school with around 3000 kids
No major hooks

Intended Major(s)

I’d like to do either Aerospace, Mechanical, or Robotics. Don’t really have a preference.

ACT/SAT
SAT: 1550; 790 Math & 740 Reading
This is the highlight of my whole application lol
Probably not going to take the ACT

UW/W GPA and Rank
UW GPA: 3.71 (kinda low I know, maximum I can pull it up to is probably a 3.78 in time for applications)
W GPA: 5.1 (my coursework will explain)

My class rank system is pretty broken, but I’m definitely top 10%
74/750

Coursework
My school offers AICE Classes and weights them on the same scale as AP. My high school classes are mostly AICE and AP, with 1 honors class. I’m pretty sure I have the highest Weighted GPA in my school.

I’m taking 7 AP classes this year, and I took 4 over 9th & 10th grade.

AP Classes: AP Environmental(4), AP Modern World History(3), AP Biology(4), AP Seminar(3), APUSH, AP Chemistry, AP Lang, AP Statistics, AP Calc AB, AP Computer Principles, AP Research

I’m going to take 7 AP classes next year as well. I don’t really care about the AP name, the classes for me are just interesting.

I’ve taken 11 AICE Classes, I’m not gonna list them as I don’t think it has as much weightage for colleges, but I can put it in the comments if anyone wants to see them.

Awards
AP Scholar with Honors (I’m sure it will go up to distinction after I take my exams for this year)
AICE Diploma with Honors
Cambridge Scholar award Merit (I won it both in 9th and 10th grade)
Upcoming: AP Capstone Diploma ( Ill get it once finish AP Research)
Extracurriculars
(Include leadership & summer activities)
Science Olympiad ( we went to many invitationals and I won 2nd place at regionals, 9/10/11)
Robotics Club (currently president, 9/10/11)
Studio Club (9)
Asian American Club (11)
Doing Debate club and NHS next year
I’m also a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do.

I also have 75 hours of community service from teaching local low-income kids robotics through my robotics club & an organization called PROPEL. Not sure if this matters/makes a difference.

Essays/LORs/Other
I wrote a biographical essay, I think it needs to be more unique/personalized. (6/10)

Schools
(I got most of these suggestions from College Vine, but I feel like these are heavily inflated, so I’m going to change this list a lot. I don’t want to give myself false hopes)

  • Safety
    UF
    UCF
    FSU
    My parents have the standard mindset (Ivy = good, everything else bad), and won’t let me attend these schools as they think Florida colleges are the worst in the nation. However, if Bright futures isn’t canceled I can hopefully fall back on a school in Florida, with lowered/free tuition.

  • Match
    Purdue (maybe?)
    College vine said some of the UC’s (Santa Barbara, San Diego, Irvine) were Matches, but I think these were inflated. Also, California seems like a very expensive place to live in.
    This is where I need the most help. I need more Match schools.

  • Hard Target
    Georgia Tech
    Northeastern
    UCLA

  • Reach
    I’m sure I won’t get into these schools, but I’ll list them anyway
    Vanderbilt (also going to apply for the full-ride scholarship)
    MIT
    Princeton
    Columbia
    UC Berkeley
    Cornell

When it’s time to apply I’m gonna pick a few reaches where I have the highest chance and apply. No use in shotgunning when you have a 4-5% chance. Also, application fees are expensive.

Side note: I’m also planning on applying for Oxford. I couldn’t accurately rank it but it’s probably a reach. The application fee is low and I think I might get a conditional offer. Maybe. I’m hoping they also will appreciate my AICE Diploma.

Budget
My parents said that they can afford around 55K a year. I’ll have to convince them to pay for my college tuition.
“I’m not paying 200K for you to go to a community college” (we were talking about UF)

Best case scenario: I apply to Purdue with EA and they let me in. Purdue seems like the perfect mix of a good engineering school, with relatively low tuition, and a school where I have a chance to get in. They have the majors I want to learn, and I can convince my parents to pay for this college.

That was a lot to read, thank you to everyone that made it this far, I really appreciate it. I am open to any suggestions and changes. Thanks.

2

With a $55,000 a year budget, you have a lot of options.

The CA publics don’t give much aid to OOS students so those might be full pay at $65,000 a year.

What about Clemson which I think would meet your price point with great engineering. University of Alabama campuses would be a bargain as you would likely get merit aid there.

Why are you going to apply ED to Purdue?

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As an international student Georgia Tech is not a target. I would put them in the reach category. Georgia Tech gets a ton of Asian applicants, particularly Indian internationals.

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Why are you going to apply ED to Purdue?

Sorry, I meant EA. Purdue has a strong engineering program, affordable tuition, they have a huge career fair where I can get starting internships/jobs. Overall it seems like the optimal school for me.

I’ll add Clemson and University of Alabama campuses to my list to research about. Thank you so much!

5

You are a citizen of India but do you have a green card/permanent resident in the US.

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Depending on the school, you might be at a disadvantage, but you might have an advantage. Publics expect full pay from international students. As a result, they might lower their admission standards a bit. No way to know for sure.

The problem with those safety/match/reach calculators is that they typically don’t take into account the more competitive nature of engineering. They give a false sense of where you fit.

Your list has too many reaches. These are schools where you almost certainly will not get in. That’s the definition of reach. I’d eliminate Columbia and Princeton for undergrad because for what you want to do, they just aren’t that good and they’ll be over your budget, by a lot. Pick two and call it good.

I’d also eliminate all CA publics except one. They’ll either be over budget or not worth attending versus cheaper options.

The one to add is Cal Poly. It’s a CSU, so it will be under $200k, even as an international. They are one of the best in the nation for what you want to do. The most encompassing angle is ME with a Mechatronics concentration, but it’s more competitive than AE to get in. Given your GPA, it’s probably a reach, but you’ll need to run your numbers below to figure out their weighting.

I’d also add WPI. They are very good for what you want too and as a private, you might get aid.

Good luck.

https://myportal.calpoly.edu/gpaCalculator.jsp

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I do not. My dad is here on an H-1 visa, and I am his dependent.

8

Thank you for the response. The two main reaches I was going to keep were Vanderbilt and Cornell, but I think i’m going to spend more time on my other apps as I have a higher chance of getting in there. I have a question, will WPI give merit based aid? I don’t think I qualify for any need based aid.

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I also want to note that the UC’s like UCLA and Cal Poly (CSU’s) are test blind so your excellent SAT score will be not a consideration.

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Yes.

Also, I haven’t kept up with pandemic changes. Not including your SAT will probably push Cal Poly out of reach. Run your GPA and see, but the college of engineering 25th - 75th percentile last year was 4.12-4.25. that includes majors that are far less competitive than the ones you’re interested in. They are not holistic, admitting based on a algorithm.

International Students | Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

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Ok, thank you. I was hoping they would, but now I’m not sure if I’m going to apply.

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I would add NC State, UTK, UAB, and UofSC.

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Sorry, but how do I fill out the GPA Calculator? Like what should I put for the Units section?

14

GT is a reach but the one set of advice that I can give is that they are very much into community service. If you can emphasize how what you would learn, or how your volunteer work would /has helped the community , I would do so.

15

What about one of the Canadian universities? They accept based on stats rather than holistic admissions, and are less expensive than US schools.

For US, what about Rochester or WPI? Not sure about the $.

Someone mentioned UAB because of the cost. But I think UAH (Huntsville) would be better for you than UAB. UAB is better for medical, but UAH is better for CS and aerospace.

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I sent you the wrong calculator. That’s the Cal Poly student calculator. :sweat_smile:

Use this one: GPA Calculator | CSU

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Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll look into Canadian universities, Stats admissions may help me over holistic. Rochester seems expensive and their merit aid scholarships are smaller than WPI. I’ll do some more research.

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Just to note: the Canadian universities actually have different tuition costs for a BA vs a BS vs various other degrees. They can vary significantly, and it’s good to make sure you are looking at the correct cost!

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Hmm. This calculator just tells me I meet eligibility requirements.

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If you are trying to use net price calculators…do so with caution. You are an international student and these calculators are not accurate for international students in most cases.