Hi, I am a senior year student from India and will be applying to colleges in a few months.
What are my chances at:
Harvard
Cornell [probably ED]
NYU
UT Austin
UT Dallas
Drexel
Harvey Mudd
Columbia
UCB
UCLA
USC
GA Tech
Purdue
UNC
Financial Aid Required.
Prospective Major: CS
GPA: School has a different scoring system. Predicted for senior year would be 95%.
SAT: 1490
SAT 2: Will be taking Math 2 and Physics in October [will probably score higher than 750 in both]
ECs
President and the founder of the school’s tech club
Head of IT and core organiser of our school’s MUN and TEDx events
Created a website along with some friends to promote the youth to take political stands
Created a smart grocery management system with a companion app
Was in the top 20 of a nation wide capture the flag competition
Participated and had a good rank [can’t recall the exact number] world wide in Wharton business school’s investment competition
Community Service: Taught underprivileged kids over the summer of junior year
Organised the school’s first Robotics competition
Part of the organising team of the Indian National Rubik’s Cube Competition. Also an active member of the local speed cubing organisation
Currently working on another project that combines community service with tech making it possible for more people to contribute to the society
Those 3 characteristics (int’l, need aid, and CS) are a really strong anti-hook, unfortunately. CS is getting overcrowded at a lot of US schools so the acceptance rates to CS divisions are typically below average. Also, many US schools are not need-blind to international kids, so you really have to make a compelling case to get accepted. Some schools you mention above have acceptance rates < 5% for internationals. Try getting the SAT to 1500+ territory to be considered competitive.
But speaking of your strengths, your ECs look absolutely fantastic, so let those really shine through! Your essay’s/LORs gonna be really important. Also, I was one of the top teams in the Wharton competition this year as well - congrats on that, it’s a great competition to be a part of! Best of luck.
Amazing ecs, good grades and score! I think yoou have a chance for all these schools but being international will make it more difficult to you. Keep in mind that the ucs dont offer financial aid to internationals. Good luck! Maybe chance me back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20773772#Comment_20773772
The only school on your list that is need-blind and meets full need for international students is Harvard. Columbia meets full need, but they are need-aware. Need-aware schools are less likely to accept an international student who needs aid.
If you’re going to apply to a bunch of reaches, you may as well apply to reaches that will give you aid. Besides Harvard, the other need-blind colleges that meet full need for internationals are:
Amherst
Dartmouth
MIT
Princeton
Yale
Then you will want to add safeties. There are schools that give guaranteed or competitive merit aid to stellar students, but I’m not sure which of those include international students. If their websites don’t specify, email and ask.