<p>Almost all of the colleges that meet full need for int. students are reaches! Not only for you, for everyone… You have a fine stats though, I hope you get into one of them…</p>
<p>Here is the full list: (I think the admission rates are from 2012)</p>
<p>[*Note: There maybe more colleges in this list so please don’t rely on it.]</p>
<pre><code> "NEED-AWARE"s
</code></pre>
<p>“Name /Admission rate (%) /Notes”
Columbia University 7.4<br>
Brown University 9.6<br>
University of Pennsylvania 12.3 (need-blind in Mexico and Canada, need-aware elsewhere)
Berea College 12.5
California Institute of Technology 12.8<br>
Pomona College 14
Swarthmore College 14.1<br>
Middlebury College 16<br>
Bowdoin College 16.1<br>
University of Chicago 16.3<br>
Williams College 16.7
Barnard College 21<br>
Vassar College 22.5
Wellesley College 24.2 (Women’s colleges)
Haverford College 25.1<br>
Bates College 27<br>
Hamilton College 27.4<br>
Colgate University 29.4<br>
Oberlin College 29.6
University of Richmond 32.7<br>
Occidental College 38
Smith College 45.5 (Women’s colleges)</p>
<p>+</p>
<pre><code> "NEED-BLINDS"s
</code></pre>
<p>“Name/Admission Rate (%)/Size of the class/% Int.s/Int. students admission rate (%)”
Amherst College /13 /463 /10 /7
Dartmouth College /10 /1098 /10 /-
Harvard University /6 /1,665 /11.1 /-
MIT /9 /1,620 /10 /3.2<br>
Princeton University /8 /2,300 /11 /5.4<br>
Yale University /7 /1,356 /- /-</p>
<p>Thanks to your and MYOS1634 posts I have now added a couple colleges to my preliminary college lists. These are Bowdoin, Washington and Lee, University of Richmond, Bucknell, Lafayette, Berea and Pomona. They offer need-based financial aid for internationals and most of them have average SAT score lower than mine according to FindTheBest (thank you for the link, @ivyparent43!).
I now need to look at what they offer etc. I know I should probably take a look at their degrees etc. first and then fin aid - not the other way round but sadly I can’t.</p>
<p>If anyone could tell me something about the colleges I listed above and can estimate my chances to get into any any of them, I’d be more than grateful :)</p>
<p>You don’t need to take the SAT again. For an international, you’re fine. Your first term results will matter more, and there are only so many hours in the day. Don’t cut on sleep for the SAT.
However, you can take 3 tests on the same date, so why don’t you pick another SAT Subject for the day you take Biology and Chem? Math2 is an easy choice, as is a foreign language (NOT your native language).
Pay close attention to your essays, especially the supplements’. Pay attention to “fit”. Dartmouth and Colgate are very different from Oberlin and Vassar, for example. Brown and Penn are opposites. Figure out what you want: preprofessional (learning things that’ll be useful to get a job) or learning for learning’s sake (you just enjoy learning stuff even if you’ll never use it professionally)? Students who have many causes they’re passionate about and are willing to protest for - and what about : a campus where students routinely rpotest abortion clinics does NOT have the same vibe as a campus where students protest against sweatshops, for example -, or students who don’t really care about politics - and how much, ie. how vocal and radical would you feel comfortable with? How important to you is it that there are drugs -or not- on campus, “drinking” (which in the US means “getting very drunk on cheap beer”) -or not-, that there’s a substance-free dorm, a quiet dorm? Are you okay with co-ed dorms, and coed in what way: by room, with single-sex or coed bathrooms, coed by floor?
You may want to invest in a book such as “Princeton’s 378 best colleges” or “Fiske Guide” to look at what the schools stand for.
On this forum, look under the colleges’ names for their specificities.
Use the system I gave you yesterday to select 10 schools, then add 10 schools from your original list, focusing on “fit”.
You’re right, luck plays a part in it, but for it to “work” you need to demonstrate “fit”, ie., create a reaction like “you’re exactly the kind of personality we want on this campus”. If you’re staunchly anti-frats and anti-drinking, Darmouth admission officers will wonder why you’re applying for example. If you’re prolife and Teaparty conservative, Oberlin may not be the best fit, and if you’re very interested in boycotting anything Israeli Brandeis may not be the best place for you to apply. (Those are broad examples.)
Finally, look up (CommonApp website) which schools are “commonapp exclusive”: it means all others allow you to apply directly from their website and it doesn’t count as part of the 20 allowed on the CommonApp. Of course you have to go through the extra effort of completing the application on their website, but the questions are basically the same so it’s not a LOT of work.
Note: you can only apply to Berea if your family makes about $4,000/month or less.</p>
<p>EC stuff is definitely very important, but for international students, getting a fantastic SAT score is very very important! 2000+ in china can only send you to schools like top20-30 no matter how excellent your EC are. Because in many areas similar EC are everywhere. Improve SAT first.</p>
<p>AWMHYA, the situation is different for European and Chinese students. China places a high emphasis on standardized testing (Europeans don’t even have ONE standardized test in their education, it’s all essay-based) therefore Chinese applicants tend to compete for SAT scores, memorizing, prepping, and taking the test multiple times. In addition, there are lots of Chinese applicants, so between two Chinese applicants SAT scores will obviously come into play.
European applicants have a lot of trouble handling standardized testing since the first time they come accross one is when they apply to the US and they have to learn how it works (it’s very different from taking a one-question essay test!)
Ultimately, for top schools, once you’ve reached 2000-2100, what matters is ECs, essays, being “extraordinary” in some way, and most especially “fit”, not to mention how much your family can pay.
Additionally, Top 20-30 (out of 3,700 schools) is HIGHLY selective and prestigious. Saying “can -only- send you to top 20-30” is a little misguided. :)</p>
<p>Thank you!
It’s a relief that you think my score is fine
Thank you for the information about the colleges! It’s really helpful since I don’t really have the sense what certain colleges are like as I don’t live in the US and I’m not surrounded by people talking about them etc.:)</p>
<p>Yes, standardized tests are something new for me. One good example is Maths section of the SAT. Even though the material covered by the test is quite easy for my country’s standards - we’ve learned about much more detailed aspects of a quadratic function, combinatorics etc. on compulsory maths courses and they appear on our final exams /And it’s not something I am proud of or anything - it’s rather useless. We have so many courses that we basically forget 3/4 of the things we’ve learned / - I had a hard time getting used to the types of questions appearing on the test. These questions are completely different from ones that appear on tests in my school. The section I worked on the hardest was Maths and you can see that my result is rather low and worse than that of two remaining sections anyway.</p>
<p>Thank you, I’ll find out if any of the colleges on my list offer admission on their website :D</p>
<p>Princeton University was the first school in America to admit students based on entirely need-blind financial aid policies, regardless of citizenship, and to offer 100% need-based financial aid, regardless of citizenship. It is currently one of six universities that have this financial program.</p>
<p>TL;DR we got tons of dolla bills and welcome people from all over the place, regardless of socioeconomic/demographic background.</p>
<p>You say several times you’re not sure how much you could improve your score on the SAT… Remember that the SAT does NOT test intelligence, it only tests how good you are at beating the test. </p>
<p>If you have taken it multiple times and really did a lot of practice tests, then maybe don’t take it again. But if you only took it once, and did not study for it (or not much) then by all means treat it like an important final exam and give it another shot. My son took it twice – didn’t really study the first time and got a 2000. Second time, within three weeks prior to the test, he read two books and took eight or ten practice tests, and got a 2280. He didn’t get any smarter, he just got comfortable from practicing, and tuned in to the rhythm of the test.</p>
<p>The most important book for him was called Up Your Score (the Underground guide to Beating the SAT), and that book recommended utilizing the book of practice tests that is published by the College Board itself.</p>
<p>^^ For Ivys and similar under 2100 score is not competitive. You would need to be a very needed athlete to be admitted to the top colleges on the OP’s list with that score and that GPA.
I hate to say it, but 3.68 is too low, it does not matter whether the grading system is different from the US. There are many many students applying to the same colleges, even from the OPs country with much higher grades and scores. Also, colleges that accept internationals have “readers”, people who review your application, based on the country you are from, so they have very good knowledge of the way the grading works.
I dont know anything about volleyball, but someone mentioned that you are very strong in it – before i would apply to college, I would send an email to the volleyball coach of that college with your athletic information, as well as your sat score/gpa (which is good for a recruited athlete). See who responds, this may be the way to go. But do it extremely soon, and all at once. Spots for athletes are going very fast.</p>
<p>re: “I thought that applying to many colleges may raise my chances of getting somewhere.”</p>
<p>The statistics don’t actually work like that. Consider the combination of your grades, test scores and activities (all kind of middle of the road, basically) as constituting a shallow pool. No matter how many times you dive in the pool (how many applications you make), the depth of the pool doesn’t change and you will break your neck every time. You need to add colleges that will give you some “depth” – that is, a greater chance of survival. State Universities in the US are out, mostly because they reserve aid for their own residents (otherwise, the politicians go nuts!). You are better off (purely from gathering acceptances with the possibility of scholarships attached) at mid-tier LACs who want to attract international students. These can be found in most of the States, such as Denison in Ohio and Dickinson in Pennsylvania or Ithaca or Union in New York.</p>
<p>Agree with that - we are looking at 2100 SAT bare minimum for my son to target Ivies, and he is being recruited for sports. 2200 SAT is what students without anything special would need.</p>
<p>I know at the state school I teach at, there is absolutely no aid for international students. Be very careful and confirm everything in writing if money is a big issue for you. And you do have to be careful about the cost of books (sometimes $1000 per semester) plus whether housing is covered etc.</p>
<p>After I’m done with SAT II in October, I’m gonna get myself to read more about every university I’ve been considering and make a final list of those that I’m applying to.</p>
<p>As I would love to study in a big city or close to one, I’ve started looking for some colleges near Boston that offer fin aid for internationals.
Is anyone able to tell me what my chances are at Tufts and Brandeis?
I would be very grateful :)</p>
<p>WORK ON YOUR ESSAYS !! Put your heart and soul into them. And if any college fairs are in your area that are hosting colleges that interest you, attend. I attended one recently and two of my top choices for EA/ED were there. It helped me to make a decision on my early school. Also, as someone mentioned before, safety schools do not usually give money to internationals. And if you really want to apply to so many colleges, you should already have like 6 or 7 of those essays finished, because as school goes on, senioritis kicks and you will not have the time or energy to write so many essays.</p>
<p>Karolin, if you are an Olympic level volleyball player, then you stand a chance with the schools on your list. SAT thresholds are lowered for star athletes. And by star, I mean super elite. Otherwise, compared to other international applicants, I’m afraid you are not in the ball game, unless you have some super compelling story about surviving in war torn Iraq or something.
Scrap your list, and look into smaller, religious based colleges-Holy Cross for example, or smaller schools that seek the diversity which you would offer. (Macalaster is known to give terrific international aid for example.)
Bear in mind that many international applicants have taken each of the tests up to four times in order to better their score. (SAT, SATII, ACT etc.) I would say for your list 2250 is a bare min. absent some other compelling talent or bio.</p>
/ - I had a hard time getting used to the types of questions appearing on the test. These questions are completely different from ones that appear on tests in my school. The section I worked on the hardest was Maths and you can see that my result is rather low and worse than that of two remaining sections anyway.</p>