Hi, I am an international student from Pakistan. I have a 34 in ACT, 1450 in SAT, and will be giving SAT Physics , chemistry and Math 2 in October(aiming for perfect score).
I have perfect grades in all my subjects so far( I am doing Alevels right now from the most rigorous high school here), Got 12A+,1A in O levels and will be in top 5 percent at least (I am not sure about top 1 percent because there is some favoritism at play in school).
In co curriculars, I have two research reports on Pollution in a local river and honey bees(which may get published in some zoology journal) respectively, 2 years of horse riding and little bit equestrian sports, some scientific translation work for popularisation of science in Urdu language, 2 years of volunteer work at a local NGO, founding president of my school’s astronomy society, member of robotics club, and a 3 weeks internship at Lahore museum(which i dunno is big thing or not).
I will be needing alot of financial aid, possibly including transport. I am right now fully amped about Swarthmore for ED 1 due to various reasons ranging from subsidized equestrian facilities to an active Environmental department(my intended major). So what do you guys think are the chances of me getting into swarthmore in early?
Seriously…No one?
I think the reason no one is answering is the international + financial aid is hard to gauge. If you were a US student, I’d say Swat was a low reach (mostly because of your SATs/ACTs). ED will help for sure. Good luck!
“Admission to Swarthmore is need-blind for U.S. citizens, permanent residents (regardless of physical address), and undocumented or DACA-eligible students (graduating from a high school in the U.S.). Admission to Swarthmore is need-aware for other international citizens.”
The fact is that Swarthmore WILL take into account that you seem to be requiring full aid PLUS transportation. While you appear to be a very qualified and talented student with interesting extra curricular activities - I’m not sure that they are so stellar as to convince a school to give you a free ride plus fly to back and forth…instead of giving the money to a few US students.
It is really impossible for anyone to say, however. So fingers crossed and best of luck!
Are you mixing up Skidmore and Swarthmore? I do not believe Swarthmore has equestrian facilities. It looks like there was a club at one time, but the website was last updated in 2013, so I’m guessing it’s not active today. Skidmore, which is often confused with Swarthmore because of the name, has equestrian facilities and an actual riding team.
Agree, that also confused me. Honestly, I doubt you will get that level of aid from them. They watch that financial bottom line pretty closely.
Amcquilk, No I am not. I had also noticed that the website hasn’t been updated since 2013, but whatever :(. CValle, thanks. I have applied there early, so i guess that will give me a bit of an advantage, dont you think? To give you the context, Swarthmore accepts about 3 Pakistanis annually in regulars and my counsellors told me that swarthmore’s yield is pretty low for Pakistan. Not that i am bragging, but above average candidates usually do not apply to Swarthmore in early decision (none that my circle can recall of) since most (not all, most) here follow the herd in attempts to get into some Ivy and disregard top liberal arts college for ED atleast.
I’m curious … why did you apply ED which is binding if you need so much financial support?
Well, I am pretty sure that Swarthmore will only accept me if they are willing to give me all the FA that i need. Even if lets suppose they do accept me without FA, I read that i can reject their ED offer since I would not be able to attend the college.
Did you apply for financial aid already?
Yup
That’s so different from US applicants 
Good Luck !!!
Got in
That’s great! Did they give you enough aid?
yeah