<p>Hi CC,
(Sorry for the long post)</p>
<p>Background:</p>
<p>First of all, I am an International Student from India. I am a rising senior. The most my family could contribute would be ~$10-15k a year. My preferred major would be something in Business (Accounting or Management) or Engineering (Civil or Mechanical). I am in rural GA, if that makes a difference.</p>
<p>Stats:</p>
<p>SAT: 1920 (probably won't submit)
ACT: 33
GPA (Unweighted): 4.0
GPA (Weighted): ~4.3 (My school offers very few AP or Honors courses that are not required for graduation)
Class Rank: Top 5
AP's : World History (3) (Horrible Teacher, Completely Self-Studied), Human Geography
Dual-Enrollment- College Algebra (97), Sociology (106)
Community College Courses (This Summer):
Psychology- A (expected grades)
English 1101- A</p>
<p>Extra-Curriculars (Not many Opportunities):</p>
<p>9th:
Academic Bowl
Science Bowl</p>
<p>10th:
Academic Bowl (JV Captain)
Science Bowl</p>
<p>(moved halfway through the year)</p>
<p>11th:
Church League Basketball
National Honor Society
Quiz Bowl</p>
<p>I am looking to apply to no more than 12-14 colleges, at the most. I would prefer 7-10. My current list includes no matches, so that is what I am primarily after. I want to go into Wall St. (not necessarily I-Banking). I need more matches and safeties. I would also be open to adding one or two non-super reach(es).</p>
<p>Current List:</p>
<p>Super Reaches:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton</p>
<p>Reaches:
WUSTL</p>
<p>Matches:
None</p>
<p>Safeties:
U Alabama (Guaranteed Full Tuition)
LSU (Big Scholarship)</p>
<p>Thanks for reading the large post and all of the replies. Please ask for any additional info. if required.</p>
<p>The GPA is great, if the school isn’t a poor one (rural GA). The 33 ACT is very good. Good work. Toss the SAT or take it over. Tough luck about the ECs, but the ivies will want to see a lot more than this and some leadership or something unique in your ECs. I wouldn’t waste a lot of money on the ivies.</p>
<p>WUSTL and they do have a lot of money, but like the ivies they’re looking for ECs. Tufts and Vandy similarly.</p>
<p>Case Western, Pitt, and Tulane have a ton of money they throw around, and you’re a likely an academic safety at all three, but you’ll have to convince Tulane you’re legitimately interested. Ask if you don’t know how to do that. GTech is also good match for you, but check the likelihood of money from GT. Georgia is another safety, as are USouth Carolina Honors, Rochester Inst of Technology, Ohio State, Rensselaer Poly, and Arizona State Honors. These are the usual suspects for students with your grades and money needs. There are hundreds more that could serve as matches and safeties for you if they can get the money right. See the Full Tuition/Full Ride and Automatic Tuition scholarships on the Financial Aid forum in the left column. </p>
<p>Neither Business nor, even moreso, Engineering requires an elite degree for graduates to find work. Engineers will get hired on the basis of their skillset, experience, GPA, interview, demonstrated ability to work with a team, etc. If you want to go to Wall Street, it would really help to have an ivy degree, but before regretting that you’re not going to Wall Street check out what it’s like to work there. It’s not for everybody. </p>
<p>@jkeil911
Thanks for the reply. I have looked at those threads that you mentioned. G Tech will give no aid as I am international. That is the main reason I made this thread. I know I can get into many good schools but the money is the big problem for almost all.</p>
<p>@jkeil911
Thanks again for the links. I have seen those before too. BTW, you mentioned showing interest to Tulane. How would I go about doing that? </p>
<p>Just do a good job on your essays and contact them if you are not sure about things. Put effort in your application, in other words, and show that you really want to go there. Do some research on the shool. One of my friends was didn’t get in to Tulane with amazing stats, but he thought of it as a safety and didn’t put any effort in the application, and it showed. Despite having 2200+ SATs and over 4.6 weighted GPA, he got waitlisted and then rejected because his attitude was like “well I’ll never go there anyway…” sort of thing</p>
<p>@shawnspencer .
Thanks for the clarification. Do you have any other college recommendations based on my situation? </p>
<p>I would probably limit the “super reaches” to one at most based off your current situation. Those are really hyper selective, and having good choices in the long run is better than having a couple of longshots at HYP. </p>
<p>I’m unfamiliar with the process for international students, but I’d definitely look for schools that try and meet 100% of need or have good merit scholarships.</p>
<p>At Tulane, you will have an optional essay “Why Tulane?” It’s not optional for someone with your stats. You must write an essay that demonstrates your familiarity with the school, its admissions history, its urban setting, the faculty or curriculum of the departments in which you’re interested, your passion for the school/city (they are inseparable in the minds of Tulane people), etc. You don’t have to address any of these topics but you must demonstrate familiarity and desire, because Tulane is paranoid about 4.0 students whom it will bring in to interview for tuition scholarships who will then go elsewhere. It wants to protect its yield and find the 4.0 students who want to be at Tulane/in NO. So in addition to the essay, contact your admissions officer and express orally your familiarity/desire. Then email him/her again in a month, and so forth.</p>
<p>I don’t think you have any matches as an international student in need of aid.</p>
<p>@jkeil911
I understand now what you mean, but would most of that information be able to be found on their website?</p>
<p>@Vlklngboy11
I realize that but I will try my utmost to find the needle in the haystack.</p>
<p>OP, if I understand “that information” to mean the info about the “why Tulane?” essay and so forth, then no you won’t find it there. Schools like Tulane use the essay to strain the interested from the disinterested.</p>
<p>Ask for information brochures, check out its website, visit if possible, watch youtube videos, and talk to current students. This will really differentiate you from the crowd. I know @fallenchemist is a Tulane expert.</p>
<p>Before you go too far with Tulane, have you checked to see that Tulane is one of the schools that offers internationals aid?</p>
<p>@paku312 - Saw the shout out from @shawnspencer. Absolutely if you have questions I am happy to help in any way I can. Yes, you can get a pretty decent feel for the school from the web site, especially explore the business school and look at their unique programs like Burkenroad Reports, energy trading, the Altman Scholars, and a few others. But also just kind of randomly poke around and see what areas outside of the business school do also.</p>
<p>Certainly visiting NOLA is ideal, but if you cannot do that Tulane has meetings in most major cities every fall. How far are you from Atlanta? What is the closest city of any decent size?</p>
<p>You are a little shy on your EC’s and you don’t mention any community service or other volunteer work. Is there any? But certainly you otherwise seem to have good credentials. Tulane is pretty generous with its merit scholarships and a 33 ACT along with your GPA and high class rank will help you a lot there. These are scholarships you are automatically considered for, you don’t have to fill out any separate application for these. The top award last year was $30,000 for these merit scholarships. In addition, Tulane has 125 full tuition/fees merit scholarships that do require an additional application. 75 are for the Dean’s Honors Scholarship and 50 are for the Paul Tulane Award. In addition 5 of the 75 DHS winners are awarded full ride scholarships from the Stamps Foundation. You would be a candidate for full tuition, I would think. It’s always a long shot, the competition is pretty strong, but you have the stats. You would also have a shot at being accepted into the Altman Scholars program I mentioned earlier, I would think. I believe 15 students are offered slots in that every year.</p>
<p>So OK, not to oversell the school or anything, but those are some of my thoughts. Feel free to ask more, or of course ask about other schools. A lot of people know a lot of stuff on CC.</p>
<p>Ok. Thanks Everyone for all the advice. I will research more into Tulane and NOLA, along with other schools that offer aid.</p>