Match Me: International Math/Phil Prospective Student from Kosovo with an EFC of $0 [4.0 GPA, 1510 SAT (780RW, 730M), 115 TOEFL]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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1

Demographics

  • International student
  • Location of residency: Kosovo
  • Type of high school: Competitive Public Gymnasium
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity: White Albanian
  • Other special factors: First applicant abroad from my school. Highest SAT English score from my country? (I know all the other students applying)

Intended Major(s)

  • Mathematics
  • Philosophy
  • Music (Minor) *Not that important

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: N/A
  • College GPA (for transfers): N/A
  • Class Rank: #1
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1510 SAT (780 EBRW - 730 Math)
  • TOEFL Score: 115 (30/30/26/29)

Coursework

Most difficult curriculum our schools can offer. We don’t have APs or IBs here. Highest level of math is equivalent to AP Calc AB. I take roughly 13 classes a semester. French and English as foreign languages (both at around A2 according to the curriculum)

Awards

  • IMO TST Finalist (not chosen for IMO) + KMO 2nd Place winner
  • 3rd Place National Essay Competition (All ages)
  • 1st Place National Robotics Competition
  • Several Tech, Philosophy, and Physics Certificates (mentioned in additional information due to being too minor imo)

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

  • Released several music albums as a self-taught composer and digital artist

  • I tutor students aged 10-18 in Math, Philosophy, Physics, and Chemistry

  • I’m the TA for my Physics class (Duties include presenting every lecture and assisting students). We’re currently doing Special Relativity, with QED and QCD soon to start.

  • School Paper Lead Editor, Layout assistant and writer starting from 9th grade.

  • I’ve got a digital art portfolio consisting of Photoshop Comps, procedural art (Processing), and 3D renders. It’s been informally noted and showcased by a famous digital artist and university professor here (didn’t include this part in the app.).

  • Internship at our local Didactic Center. It’s apparently not a thing in the US, but basically it serves as a teacher training and resources center. I managed to get our teacher certification program back online after a few years of inactivity due to the pandemic, and I’m currently managing the server network that I set up last year.

  • Technology Club President (and Re-founder) at HS. I restarted the club after a year of inactivity. We compete nationally and have a foot in a lot of important national projects. I also personally manage the school internet system as well as provide IT services to the staff.

  • Makerspace Makers Academy Member: A selective program that specializes in design thinking and entrepreneurship. I’m the lead of a project that aims to build a scalable framework for database management for all chapters of the makerspace nationwide. I’ve been a member for years, undertaking several projects in the meantime (I swear i phrased all of these better on the common app).

  • Math Circle Co-Founder. I provide math problems and very occasionally lecture in the local middle school’s Math Circle that I helped found 5 years ago as a student.

  • Part of an exclusive intensive Math Olympiad Training Program for the IMO hosted by the KMS (Kosovo Mathematical Society).

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)

My essays were judged as very strong by several college counselors online. I’m quite confident on my Personal Statement especially. (9/10?)

My LORs are about as strong as I could have hoped for. My Literature and Geography teachers both wrote really flattering and detailed LORs that took them weeks to compile. (10/10 for both)

I’ve also got a LOR from the CEO of the Makerspace I mentioned above detailing my involvement, which is probably even better. (10/10) (Yale wouldn’t accept it RIP)

I will mention that I’ve read the LORs despite waiving my FERPA right, although it was not at my request, so I believe it’s fine.

Cost Constraints / Budget
My EFC is $0. This has effectively removed all of the targets and safeties from my list.

Schools

  • Yale (SCEA) (Already applied)

I prefer the East Coast. I don’t like really large universities, but I do want access to a city. I’ve been looking into the LACs and Bowdoin seems to check a lot of the boxes for me. Other than that, WashU and Duke seem cool? I tried making a list but it ended up being way too long.

Student Life is as important as academics for me, as any US college is viewed basically the same way here for jobs unless it’s HYPSM, and I’d prefer to not fall into a depressive episode again after finally getting my head on aright.

I like astrophotography, so clear skies are appreciated, if that helps. I also really like hiking, so I’d prefer to be close to some decent trails, but that’s not really something I’m too concerned about. I prefer a more easy-going, less cutthroat culture. I’ve admittedly not looked too deeply into Merit Aid so far, and that seems to be the name of the game for targets. I’d rather not bother with targets or safeties that don’t cover all the necessary aid one way or another, as I’d be better off going to my local college for basically free instead (although I hate it here please help me leave).

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If you have an EFC of $0, it’s less about what you want and more about who will take you. For example, Franklin & Marshall is an example, one of several, who will meet full need for any admitted student. But they are need aware so a student who has full need may have that used against them. WUSTL is not need blind for international.

The schools you should definitely consider - as they are need blind and meet need for international are -

Amherst
Bowdoin
Brown - starting 2025
Dartmouth
Harvard
MIT
Princeton
Yale

Run the NPC (net price calculator) on each. If it’s at your price level, then apply.

Drexel will not work. WUSTL is unlikely to with a need level so high.

Not saying you can get into the seven listed. But if you can it’s your best shot at affordability. But they look beyond EFC so run the net price calculator to make sure.

Good luck.

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These sites may help you screen for potentially suitable colleges based on your academic areas of interest:

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With an EFC of $0, a lot of these won’t work for this student.

5

In considering just some LACs, which are of interest to the OP, those such as Williams, Amherst, Hamilton and Haverford all meet full demonstrated financial need for international students.

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Yes, but your lists need to be cross referenced with schools that meet full need. OP has some homework to do.

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These two schools are need aware for admissions. Yes, they meet full demonstrated need for all accepted students but they don’t accept all international students with significant need…but they do accept some. The student’s level of financial need can be considered when admissions is decided.

Here is what Haverford says:

International Applicants

Haverford College provides financial aid to a limited number of international students each year. All of Haverford’s financial aid is need-based.

Those who do receive financial aid will have their demonstrated need met in full and will qualify to reapply for financial aid in subsequent years. International students who do not receive financial aid their first year at Haverford are not eligible to receive aid in subsequent years. International students who need financial aid may apply Early Decision I, Early Decision II, or Regular Decision. They cannot enter as a transfer student.

8

I will say…I do think both Hamilton and Haverford are colleges you should consider.

And this from Hamilton:

Hamilton’s generous financial aid commitment includes a promise to meet the full-demonstrated need of its students for all four years. This policy includes international students who applied for aid and demonstrated financial need at the time of admission. Most of our need-based financial aid awards consist of a Hamilton College Scholarship and campus employment, and the budget we use to build awards includes both direct (billable) costs and indirect expenses such as books and travel.

Although Hamilton has one of the most generous international financial aid programs in the U.S., the College is not need-blind in admission for non U.S. citizens. This means that a family’s ability to pay may be a factor in the admission decision for international candidates and, therefore, it is in applicants’ best interest to be honest about the amount their family is able to contribute to a Hamilton education. Failure to do so may jeopardize a student’s chance for admission to Hamilton.

9

Cities do have significant light pollution at night, so you either want a college away from cities but with some convenient way to get to a city, or a college in a city but with some convenient way to get to a place where astronomical observation is possible.

10

The 25th percentile for the math SAT score for MIT is 780. As such as 730 in math is low for MIT. (OP’s English SAT score is of course very good for MIT).

Bowdoin is a very good small school in a very attractive location. We drive by it a lot, and toured it twice when one daughter was looking for a small school. Williams College also looks like a good place to apply to (assuming that they both meet full need for international students – I have not checked this).

I do wonder whether it would be worth applying for the Lester B Pearson scholarship at the University of Toronto. @OrionSh you would need to get your high school to nominate you, and I do not know whether the application due date is over or not. It is also a very large university and is competitive (as is MIT and many if not most of the highly ranked schools in the US).

And of course anything in North America is a high reach for an international student needing 100% financial aid.

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I noticed that a few LACs were a short train ride away from major cities (like Swarthmore with Philly).

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Honestly I’m applying to MIT just in case but it really doesn’t seem like my speed based on the alums that I’ve talked to and the general vibe from what I gather.

My Math score was a bit of an anomaly when compared to my practice tests (usually perform in the 770+ range, and my last few were 800s), but I’m too broke to retake so I guess I have to live with this.

I seem to be just in time for the UoT scholarship, so I’ll look into it and apply, but it seems like even more of a stretch than the already infeasible chances internationals have normally. Can’t hurt to try ig, and thanks for bringing it to my attention.

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@thumper1 I must have overlooked Hamilton as an option as the Niche estimated costs put it way out of my budget and that’s what I’ve been using to vet colleges so far. I’m definitely gonna take a closer look at it now though.

@merc81 Williams is high on my list right now, but I can’t say I see the appeal for Amherst. I realize I have next to no options here if I want my EFC met, but it’s definitely the least appealing of all of my options so far.

@tsbna44 F&M is a pretty good option, I happen to know an alum originally from Kosovo that got a full ride, so that’s a good sign (especially given how much worse his stats were than mine). I did WUSTL’s net price calculator and it’s within my means, but it’s already hard enough to get in without my handicap, so I don’t have high hopes. Still wondering about Duke and Rice though, I’ve heard mixed things.

All in all I’ve been researching for a while now and it does generally seem like outside the 7 Need Blind + Full Need schools my best bets are LACs.

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Yes. For admissions at the University of Toronto having great stats (as you do) is pretty much all that it takes. U of T accepts a lot of students. However, for the Lester B Pearson scholarship, it is very highly competitive – on the same general level as admissions at the very top ranked universities in the US.

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Please don’t use niche for estimates but the schools own net price calculators.

I know some say they’re no good for international but it’s what there is.

Some school’s may do a pre read too.

Good luck.

Ps - F&M was just an example of a meets need but not need blind school. There are others.

https://npc.collegeboard.org/app/hamilton

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Well I don’t take their word for it, but I find that if they say it’ll cost a lot, the NPC just confirms that with more accurate numbers. On the other hand, sometimes they say that it’ll be cheap, and that’s very much a crapshoot in terms of accuracy.

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To increase your odds, you should ED2 at a college that offers it, after running the NPC and filling it out as if you were a domestic applicant, remembering neither Pell nor Federal loans are available to you (ie., you’ll have to remove 5.5k from the aid package and that amount will be the most they can provide.) Using this as a rough estimate will make it clearer which are the most generous.
Then, you can find a Fiske guide or Princeton Review’s Best Colleges (2022 edition and later is fine, ie., 2nd hand should be really cheap and perfectly ok to determine whether they’re the right “fit”).

Amherst College (not “university”, which is the state’s public university) is need blind/meet need for internationals and located in a nice area filled with college students. You can take classes at any of the 4 colleges in the consortium, ie., you could take graduate level math classes at UMass Amherst to complement their offerings if you wished (though many students admitted for their math major would enter with Cal1&2+multivariable calculus so they offer a lot of classes for someone entering with Calc1.)
Btw most European systems’ advanced math courses include calculus but also discrete math and linear algebra.

Williams is especially known for math so may be worth a 2nd look.

:crossed_fingers: for Yale. You never know.

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I’m leaning very heavily towards EDII-ing to Bowdoin. I can confirm that I have taken Discrete Math and Linear Algebra in 11th, and I do have a solid foundation for Multivariable Calculus because of my olympiad training, although that’s obviously not taken into consideration for applications.

Yale has always been the dream, but to my knowledge only 1 person in our country’s history ever got in, and he went to the IMO. I’m keeping my hopes to a minimum.

I’ll do my best to acquire a Fiske Guide or PRBC in the meantime.

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Send your essays to the dedicated readers from this website (pm).
Were you invited for an interview from Yale? If you haven’t heard by Nov30 assume you won’t and move on.
Bowdoin ED2 is a great choice. Maine is beautiful (though cold in the winter - can you ski? Do you want to learn? Or just go down the hill on a sled?)
:crossed_fingers: fingers crossed for you.

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I doubt they have anyone that can interview me in Kosovo, and none of the earlier applicants got their interviews, so I’m not really putting too much thought on it. I’d prefer to get one so I can elaborate on some things that I didn’t get the chance to on my application, but I should be fine either way.

I like cold winters. I’m not great at skiing but that’s entirely due to a lack of experience and not a lack of interest. Honestly I’m considering taking a leap year if I don’t get in EA or EDII, just because I have a really good shot at making the IMO team this year, but that’s neither here nor there.