Match me for a trans girl living abroad with low EFC

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’ve posted a similar post a couple of weeks ago, I updated some information.

Hi,

I’m currently living in Taiwan and will apply for fall 2022 as a domestic applicant. My family’s financial condition isn’t really good(like 43-45k a year), so I’m looking for schools that offer generous (100% need meet) fin aid, or public schools that offer good merit aid(I’m not a resident of any states, so most public schools are like SUPER expensive). Most of the schools on my list now are pretty competitive, I feel like I might get rejected by all of them.

So, give me safety ideas and matches/ targets pls!

Demographics

  • US Citizen
  • Location: Taipei, Taiwan
  • Top 5, competitive public high school in Taipei
  • Gender: Female (Trans)
  • Race/Ethnicity: Asian(Taiwanese)
  • Parents Income: <45k ( EFC is like 4-5k according to some online calculators)
  • Hooks/Uniqueness: Background(I was born and first raised in New Mexico, moved to Taiwan then spent most of my life here since I was 6/7), LGBTQ+ (That’s a hook, maybe?), Legacy(Columbia, Pitt), URM(for some LACs)

Intended Major(s): Cognitive Science, Psychology, Sociology, and maybe minor in CS or data science

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.96
  • Weighted HS GPA: N/A
  • Class Rank: top 10%
  • Class Size: around 300
  • SAT: 1450 (M:800/EBRW:650) Only took once because covid, reading is kinda low, so definitely gonna retake if available. If I can’t retake, might choose optional for some schools
  • ACT: N/A

Coursework

  • We don’t have APs or IBs in Taiwanese local schools, but I believe the courses I take are pretty demanding.

Awards

  • Mid-term, Final exam class rank top 3, at least 4 times as for now.
  • School Science Fair Finalist
  • Geography Olympiad Semi-finalist (Domestic)
  • Taipei City High School English Writing Competition Finalist
  • Taipei City High School Essay Competiton Finalist

Extracurriculars

  • Represented my school to attend Geography Olympiad( I spent around half a year)
  • School Astronomy Club ( leadership position, 1 year)
  • School Ambassador Team (Host international or domestic guests visiting my school, non-leadership position, 1 year)
  • Piano (10 more years)
  • Member of a newly founded local charity which helps aboriginal, low-income women. And I’m currently making a website for this organization.
  • 200+ hrs volunteering in city astronomy museum, city animal shelter, and local library (since grade 9)
  • Local Orchestra: Second Violinist (grade 7-10)

Essays/LORs/Other

  • Just started working on my essay.

Current School List

  • ASU/UofAz (one of them), BU, Claremont McKenna, CWRU, Columbia, Emory(Might ED), Haverford, Northeastern, Occidental, Pitzer, Rice, Scripps, Tufts(Might ED), UMich, UNC-Chapel Hill, UVA, U of Rochester, USC, Vassar, WashU
2

Now I can’t really match you, as I don’t have much experience with this stuff either…but I’d totally recommend looking into Questbridge…it’s for low income high achieving students and some of the schools you mentioned are partners…I went through it this year if you have any questions and good luck

3

[quote=“a0409w, post:1, topic:3534591”]
Hooks/Uniqueness: Background(I was born and first raised in New Mexico, moved to Taiwan then spent most of my life here since I was 6/7), LGBTQ+ (That’s a hook, maybe?)[/quote]

None of those are hooks

Yes, if either/both of your parents graduated from Columbia College or Columbia Engineering as an UG.

Not a URM for anywhere- just not an ORM for some places. IOW, you don’t get a +, you just avoid a -.

2 Likes
5

Taiwan!! Woohooo I miss Taipei so much :sob: :sweat_smile:

But, your lists look great! Have you thought of applying with QuestBridge, it’s really opportunistic for low-income families.

This may sound crazy, but you should shoot for Stanford!!
Have you thought of state schools like the University of California System (UC)?
Or @CiaraFin’s post, Loyola Marymount is amazing

6

Just a note on UCs: they will not give significant aid to out of state students

4 Likes
7

Updating, with helpful info from @MYOS1634 in another thread:

Some specific examples to check out are: Sewanee, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Davidson, Colby and Bowdoin.

1 Like
8

Some of the women’s colleges are quite generous with aid, if that environment interests you.

9

Have you thought about Barnard?

10

never mind i was wrong lol. OP plz apply for questbridge

11

Incorrect

The National College Match is open to all U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents OR students, regardless of citizenship, currently attending high school in the United States.
QuestBridge | National College Match: Who Should Apply

1 Like
12

OHHHH oops i didn’t catch the first part i guess

13

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.