Need some advise regarding college choice

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey, I’m an international student from Brazil, and I really wish to study in the US; I am on the application proccess, but I kinda… well, I think I screwed up with my chances. My family let me choose ONE college to apply for. Yes, sounds extremely limiting, but my family isn’t so rich, and we already spent a lot with the required tests. Before I talk about my choices, here’s an overview of myself:

*SAT score: n/a (I scored a 1480 in the latest practice test);

*SAT Subject: Chemistry 690(I’ll retake it in November, hope my score will be better)/ Math-1 740;

*GPA:4. I study in a small town school that doesn’t offer any AP Classes, and neither has students who have applied to international colleges. I am the first student to try it (hope that doesn’t lower my already low chances);

*1 year of participation in a group of volunteers who collect donations to hospitals and orphanages, we also play and talk with the children;

*I participated in various national Math olympiads and won a bronze medal in one. Besides that I’ve a gold medal in a math competition which reunited over than 40 schools and a silver medal in a writing competition;

*I teach Chemistry and Math to the highschool students of my school who are having issues understanding them;

*4 years of guitar classes. Played at a local concert twice and I really love to play it.

*I love to read about all kinds of things, like fantasy, philosophy and science books. I write some stories myself but I don’t know if I should mention it in the application;

*Last year, I participated in the EF Challenge, in which I had to record a vídeo talking about the topic:”do you believe nothing is impossible?”. I didn’t win the prize, but I spent about 3 weeks working on my entry, and I think that it had a huge impact on me. I felt happy for doing something like that, and knowing that I was competing with people from all over the world;

*Some minor things: I love to play videogames, draw occasionaly, took some courses on edX and have to do home chores;

*Lastly (thank god!), I’ve spent a great portion of my life (until 8th grade) living in Japan, in a brazilian community. We hosted our events, and celebrated holidays with music and dances. I used to coordinate the dance group. When I moved to Brazil, I had a cultural shock, since the people here were so diferent than my old friends, they seemed more selfish and materialistic, and I wasn’t really welcome in the new school. I struggled with depression for some time, because of the cultural shock + transitioning into a teenager.

Now, about that ONE college… the one that has been on my mind since the start is MIT, since I wanna graduate in Chemistry, a STEM college sounded appropriate. Its culture just seems to ressonate a lot with me. I’ve read a lot of articles in its blog, searched about its programs (my favorite is MIT Sandbox) and read about the profile of the students. They also offer need-based financial aid, which I desperately need. I know that you can’t predict the future, but having in mind the competition I’ll be facing, do you think I’ll have any chance at all? I know that I am on the very low end of applicants, but I’d like to know if MIT is entirely out of reach. If it is, which colleges should I apply for? I appreciate any response.

2

Bump. As a sidenote, I plan to issue a music supplement.

3

If your SAT score is above a 1500, you’ve got an amazing chance at any of the Ivies, or even MIT. For your college essay, you should seriously focus on making that one video, or your experiences in a different country because these aren’t very common things done by other applicants. Music supplements can greatly add to the value of your application. Do you have any leadership roles or activities? Other than that, you’re on track to attending some great schools.

4

No one has an "amazing chance’ at the Ivies or MIT.

5

If you only have one application, do not apply where you are in the low end of the applicants. You might even make a list of all the schools that meet full need for international students and pick one with the highest acceptance rate.

You can study chemistry just about anywhere.

6

You should look at Earlham. So much of you “fits”, from Chemistry to Japan. Check it out!

7

The acceptance rate for MIT is 7.9%. This is higher than Stanford or Harvard, but is still low. The acceptance rate for international students is lower still. When I was there (a LONG time ago) I don’t recall there being any student who had gotten less than 700 on any math or science SAT, but it is possible that there might have been some who just weren’t admitting it. Probably the majority of students had gotten at least one 800 on some part of the SAT.

On the plus side MIT does have a very large endowment and can afford to have both need-blind admissions and also to meet full need for admitted students (for their definition of “need”, not yours or mine). If you are the one strongest student from Brazil who applies then you are likely to have quite a good chance of admission.

I think that you should think of your application to MIT as a sort of “wild shot” that might work, but probably won’t. You clearly will need to have other options closer to home.

If you actually seriously want to study in the US, then I agree with others who have suggested that you look at the list of US schools that meet full need and apply to one with a higher acceptance rate. Many, many schools have very good chemistry programs.

8

Thanks @gardenstategal! I looked into it and I’ll definetly give it a try, especially because there’s no fee for application, which helps a lot!
@DadTwoGirls @AroundHere thanks for the input. I started applying with this very thought: a wild shot. But recently, I began to ask myself if it is just plain stupidity to apply for one of the top colleges in the world, given my stats. I’ll take any chance I can, if its not a 0% chance.

9

Admissions officers generally won’t say, “You have zero chance.” They want to read your letters and essays and see the entire application, not just your raw numbers before deciding.

But, even if the chance is not zero, it is exceedingly small.

The stats on the MIT website for last year’s international applicants are:
Applied 4,653
Admitted 135

So 45 out of every 46 international applicants are rejected.

Make very sure that you find a backup plan that you love.

10

Your guidance counselor should check the “fee waiver” box, as should you - I’m assuming these application fees create financial difficulties. (Does your family make less than $45,000?)That would apply to all 20 colleges in CommonApp.

Beside this, you can also email each college, present your situation (family income/x number of people + any special circumstances) and request a fee waiver directly from the college.

Finally, some excellent colleges don’t have fees:
Beloit, DePauw, Allegheny, Bradley, Hendrix, Kalamazoo, St Lawrence, Truman State, Earlham

With the money you DID NOT spend applying to that one college, ie., $75, apply to two of the following, which have excellent guaranteed merit scholarships:
UT Dallas, UAlabama Huntsville, UToledo, UAkron

11

@MYOS1634

Yes, i can’t remember exactly how much, but from what I had calculated, our gross income was less than 30,000$/year;
Thanks for the tips, I’ll talk with my counselor about the fee waiver, and check these colleges’ profiles. Hopefully I’ll find an even better “fit” in one of those :slight_smile:

12

Then you should qualify automatically. Your guidance counselor should check the 'fee waiver" box and “income”.
The application fee is taken care of for the Commonapp now, as well as coalition app.

13

DePauw is a great school. My son chose it over several great options. Tremendous aid/scholarship, great programs and tons of opportunities. The teaching staff is from prestigious universities and directly work and teach your child. The alumni are notable including the founders of ESPN and VP Dan Quayle. It is truly a wonderful place.