Match-me: MA resident thru parent's work visa. 3.6/1330, Computer Eng or Computer Science

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student

  • State/Location of residency: (state is important if you apply to any state universities) - Parent’s work visa , Resident of Mass

  • Type of high school (current college for transfers): One of the top10 public High school in Mass

  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Female/ Indian

  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): No

Intended Major(s)
Compute Engg
Computer Science
Robotics Engineering
Software Engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.6
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 3.7
  • College GPA (for transfers):
  • Class Rank: not known
  • ACT/SAT Scores: SAT 1330 (M: 660, W/R - 670)

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))

4 honors courses till Junior year
3 AP (incl Calc AB and CSA), 1 Honors in Senior year
3 yrs of Foreign lang
School’s Jazz band for 1 year

Awards
National Honors Society

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

Summer internship at a clinic (5 weeks)
Wrote a blog for a tech company

80 hrs of volunteering

Essays/LORs/Other 2 LORs, Essays reviewed by prof counselors

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

Cost Constraints / Budget 60 to 80K annually
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)

ED - Northeastern or WPI (confused)
EA - to most state and private collges in and near Boston - Umass Amherst, BU, NYU, NJIT, Rutgers

  • Safety (certain admission and affordability) - Umass Lowell

  • Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)

  • Match

  • Reach

Please give your honest feedback.
Knowing that we are visa residents would we be in a separate pile and subjected to more scrutiny on GPA?
Understably, Comp Engg and comp sci are hottest majors - should we add other Safeties?

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It looks like people on non-immigrant work visas like H-1B and their kids are not eligible for Massachusetts residency for college tuition purposes, according to https://webcdn.worcester.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Tuition-Residency-Classification.pdf .

A $60k per year budget still leaves a lot of options, even if you have to pay non-resident tuition at every state university including those in Massachusetts. However, for colleges with higher list prices, check whether they offer sufficient financial aid to international students if they classify you as such (it is likely that most define those on work visas and dependents of those on work visas as international students).

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Who is “we”? Are you the parent or the student? I assume only the student is applying, so there’s no “we”.

You will be in the international pool but evaluated in the context of your MA high school.

Do you qualify for any need based aid? Have you run the NPCs? Several schools in your list will be unaffordable if you don’t qualify for need based aid to bridge the gap in COA.

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Your parents are here on a work visa, and you are here as their dependent. As such, I believe that you would be considered an international student, despite the fact that you are being graduated from a Mass public high school. That would disqualify you for fin aid (which you don’t appear to need), but also does put you in a separate pile for admission consideration. On the other hand, since they know that you’re a full pay student, that might help for less selective schools.

I don’t think that Northeastern, BU, and NYU are at all within reach for you (even if you were not int’l), probably not UMass Amherst either if you’re applying for Comp Sci. WPI would likely take you. NJIT maybe, Rutgers maybe. I think your safest bet is your closest UMass that has your major.

You might want to keep in mind that unless your parents are able to obtain green cards for you all before you are 21, you would probably have to leave the country and go back home upon turning 21. For this reason, it might make more sense for you to dash through college as fast as you can, so you can get your degree before you turn 21, and maybe even get your own job with your own work visa, so that you can stay here. Your quickest way to do that is to go to a community college near you, taking a very heavy load this coming summer, and through the school year, with the goal of getting your associates degree and transferring in one year. You might then be able to transfer to UMass Amherst for Comp Sci, to start there in Sept '25 as a junior, especially if your community college has a transfer agreement with UMass Amherst. You should CLEP out of every class that they’ll take (take a look at modernstates.org) , get your associates after at most two summers and a fall and spring semester (preferably even by the end of the spring semester), and then be done with your BS after 2 more years at UMass Amherst. The idea is to get done with college in three years, before you turn 21, and during your senior year nail down a job, any comp sci job, that will get you a work visa of your own that would kick in for you so that you wouldn’t have to leave the country.

Your parents, if they’re earning enough that they can afford that much for college, must have an employer that uses an immigration lawyer for the employees’ work visas. Ask your parents to ask the employer for a consultation with the immigration atty that the company uses, so that you can find out what your options are, and whether this is feasible.

It is truly ironic that the children of people who are here illegally would qualify for in-state tuition and even special fin aid in MA, but children of those who are here legally on legal work visas, paying employment taxes in MA, playing by all the rules, I’m pretty sure do not.

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NEU won’t happen. Not sure WPI will - but you need to check how the program works. It’s different.

UMass, BU, NYU won’t happen.

Not sure about NJIT and Rutgers - NJIT more likely or if you’re willing to go further away from Mass you can look at SUNY Albany or other SUNYs - or even go further.

You need a UNH, U Maine, URI - or you already have Lowell.

Good luck.

Let me add, before you ED anywhere, make sure you are committed and can afford. $60K and $80K are two different amounts - and many schools might make $60K but not $80K.
Engineering has a 50% plus non completion rate and while I hate to say it, you might be in that category - so make sure you find a school you can afford and that can fulfill other interests as well.

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OP / their daughter can switch to an F1 student visa and stay on. But after graduation they’ll need to find a sponsoring employer to switch to a work visa.

Unfortunately yes, that’s a big problem with our immigration system. I have several employees in a similar situation. Since OP is from India, wait times for employment based green cards are exceeding 13 years. Unless OP / parents are very close to obtaining their permanent residency, an independent work sponsorship will be required after graduation.

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Is there a mandatory return to home country after F1?

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UMass campuses will all be at your price point even as an out of state/international student.

Northeastern cost of attendance is about $86,000 a year which is more than your price point.

NYU is $90,000 a year.

BU is over $86,000 a year.

Rutgers is about 50,000 a year.

WPI is almost $80,000 a year.

NJIT is about $57,000 a year.

You are an international student and I believe for the public universities listed, you will be considered OOS for cost purposes at all.

The private schools you have listed are at the tippy top or over your price point. Will these be affordable?

If you apply ED, the expectation is that you will accept the offer of admission if one comes…so…make sure that your ED choice is an affordable one with your family.

I’m not an adcom but I think your chances are iffy at BU, NEU, NYU, and UMass Amherst. Your SAT score and your GPA seem on the low side to me…but as I said…I’m not an adcom.

Perhaps @Mwfan1921 can venture an opinion.

I never discourage folks from applying…because you never know what might catch the attention of the adcoms. If you are happy with your safety school, and the associated costs, you are fine to reach higher with your other applications.

If you go to a top 10 high school in MA, you should speak to your school counselor about this list…they would likely have a decent idea of how students with similar stats have done at these schools in the past.

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No there is not. After graduation, the student can qualify for “optional practical training” authorization, which is a temporary work permit. With a STEM degree that’s valid for 3 years. So she can work for any employer without sponsorship in a job directly related to her major.

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WPI is test blind and has a higher acceptance rate for women than men, but more than 80% of enrolled students had a GPA of 3.75 or higher. While chances are greater than some of the other schools listed, I’d call it a reach.

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Word on the parent forum is that that changed this year. I’m not sure how anyone knows since the data hasn’t been publicly released yet. But it is true that the percent of females in the freshman class went way down from previous years. It is 80% male this year. :grimacing::grimacing:

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But this list from the Mass Higher Ed department seems to indicate a wider definition of lawful immigrant for residency purposes.

See 15. where it includes H visa as acceptable- am I reading this correctly?

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OP should check with Mass. Higher Ed agency.

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Yes, H4 seems to be included. So this student should be able to get in state tuition until she turns 21. Unfortunately a student visa status (F1 or J1) is not covered, so their senior year will be charged as OOS.
3 out of 4 years is a pretty good deal IMO.

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Are you on an F2 or an H4 visa?
Different rules.
Were your parents able to start on permanent resoeency paperwork?
WPI is your best bet for ED.
UMass Lowell Honors (<- dont forget the Honors college!)
Look into Union, Stevens, Marist?

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Have you run the NPC on Northeastern? Will it come out under $80,000 per year (it won’t be under $60,000)? For us it was (along with BU) one of the two most expensive universities that either daughter got accepted to (she went somewhere more affordable, and then changed to a major that NEU doesn’t have so it worked out well in the end). I do not know WPI but wonder about the same things. I would not apply to either ED unless you first run the NPC or make sure that you and your parents are fine with you being full pay. Do not forget that prices tend to go up from year to year.

Regardless, NEU is a reach or high reach as an international student with your stats.

U.Mass Lowell seems very likely to me, and I expect that it will also meet your budget. UNH might also be worth considering.

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OP hasn’t returned after their initial post. But they said:

That would make their visa an H4.

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an L1 visa - simialr to H1. Thanks group!

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Its an L2 visa. GC paperwork is underway but unlikely to get it in the next 1 years.
Thanks for recommending umass lowell honors college - is that a separate application or while filling common app we select the honors college option?

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You can indicate interest by reaching out to them, asking questions about parts of the program you’re especially interested in.
It’s either by invitation (then, when invited, you “opt in”) or by request once admitted to Lowell.
Anything that shows you love learning, reading, experimenting, getting involved in a community… probably helps.

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