Please Chance Me! International Student applying to Cal, UCLA, Rice, Duke, JHU, Tulane, Emory

Student Lounge International Students
1

Hi!

I am an international student applying to Cal, UCLA, Rice, UCSD, Duke, JHU, Tulane, Emory, BU, Northeastern, U Rochester and some more universities in the US. To preface, I was not born in the US, but I have lived here for 14 years and have done all of my schooling here, since kindergarten.

Major: Biomedical Engineering. Neuroscience is my second at most schools. Applied neuroscience to UC Berkeley.
Race: Asian (Indian)

Stats:
Unweighted GPA ~ 3.75
Weighted ~ 4.3 in the conventional 5 scale. My school uses a ‘weighted 4.0’ and that is GPA is 4.15

ACT: 35
SAT: 1550

Subject Tests:
Math: 800
Bio M: 780
Physics: 750

Rank: N/a (school does not rank)

AP Scores:
AP Psych (5)
APUSH (4)
AP Lit (3)
AP Calc AB (4)
AP Stats (will be taking this year)

IB Scores:
IB Chem SL (6)
IB Math SL (5)
IB Physics HL - will be taking this year
IB Bio HL - will be taking this year
IB English HL - will be taking this year
IB History HL - will be taking this year
IB Spanish B SL - will be taking this year

My Essays: Common App 10/10 - this one had a lot of emotion behind it as I described how I was set back because I was not a citizen/permanent resident of this country and how this created a sort of identity crisis as I felt American, but I was not.

Recs: Teachers: 8/10 and 7/10. Didn’t have a large personal connection with either of them, but they liked me and I liked them.
Counselor 10/10 - we had a personal connection and even said she knew me very well.
Research Mentor - 10/10 - close connection with the professor I interned under to do research
Neuroscience mentor - 10/10 - close connection as I worked with him to prepare for the Brain Bee competition

Extracurriculars:

Research at local university - Hope to be published soon
12th place Brain Bee Nationals
1st place regional Brain Bee
Nationally ranked FIRST robotics team. 7th in our subdivision at the World Championships. Captain this year.
Started an organization to promote STEM in my community in which I teach science classes to elementary and middle schoolers in my area free of charge.
Tutored student in science to prepare him for the Science Bowl competition
Math Honors Society
Spanish Honors Society
Film Honor Society
DECA - won 1st in testing at States and 4th in oral at States
~ 100 Community service hrs with local food shelter
Volunteered at American Cancer Society
Shadowed Neurologist
Shadowed neuroscience labs
Ran a local artisan fair to raise money for the senior class
National Merit Commended Student
AP Scholar with Honor
Cross Country - 1 yr

Other info:
I am applying for financial aid. Approximately 450 students in my grade. 100000 + income bracket. Public high school.

Schools Applying to:
UCSD, UC Berkely, UCLA, UT Austin, Duke, UNC, Purdue, U Miami, Tulane, Emory, BU, Northeastern, Syracuse, Georgia Tech, U Mich,

2

Also, I am taking the most rigorous courses in the school and am on track to compete all of the core science course at both IB levels (I and II).

Senior Year Course Load:
IB Physics HL
IB Bio HL
IB Theory of Knowledge
IB History HL
IB English HL
IB Spanish B SL
AP Stats

3

Take the UCs off of your list since they will not provide funding for non-residents.

Your family income of $100k could not spare $65k of that income yearly, to cover the costs?

4

You need to add some lower ranked schools, and those where your stats put you in the upper 25th or higher percentiles of incoming freshmen. Right now, your list is made up of elite schools that don’t necessarily guarantee to meet need. This is not a good application strategy for a student who needs significant financial aid. And as Aunt Bea said, take the UCs off your list.

5

@saltysea: Great essay topic !

Have you considered Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area ?

You need some safety schools. In which state do you live ?

Also, consider the University of Colorado in Boulder for your second preferred major.

Rice & Johns Hopkins should be your target schools based on your preferred majors, in my opinion.

6

Have you run the NPC on all of the schools that you are applying to? What is your budget?

7

@Publisher – Boulder does not have the reputation of being generous with financial aid to international students…

8

@katliamom: Thank you for the info. Nevertheless, CU-Boulder is a safety admit with easy (unless things have changed recently) qualification for in-state tuition rates after one year.

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@Publisher Easy admit? Yes. But are you sure about qualifying for in state tuition after one year? That would be interesting. Boulder, grossly underfunded by the state, has for decades lived off out of state tuition (mostly from Californians, lol) and I don’t believe it’s that easy to become a resident. And even with in-state tuition it’s close to 30,000 per year.

10

My knowledge is not current and was derived from the law school. Things may have changed in the last handful of years, but I know many CU law students who got residency tuition after their first year. In fact, CU-Boulder law school admissions officers used this benefit as a defense to extensive criticism for the law school’s lack of merit scholarship funds & awards.

11

@katliamom I do have safety schools like Syracuse, and some state schools with high acceptance rates (between 50-80%)

12

@DadTwoGirls I can’t run the NPC because I am an international student.

13

Can someone tell me what shot I have at some of these schools? My targets include U Miami, BU, Georgia Tech. I think my first choice would be Rice. Is it worth applying EDII to Rice, or should I be hesitant because of my financial situation?

14

@Publisher I know what it is, but I don’t think I am qualified enough to get into CMU. It is a very very elite school, to my understanding

15

CMU isn’t very good with financial aid. Your stats are probably good enough to get in for CMU or at least be highly considered. My kid had the exact same stats as you (GPA and test scores) and he got waitlisted for CMU but he withdrew since he committed to Cal and found that CMU wasn’t going to give him any aid, merit or otherwise.

16

Rice doesn’t have ED2 just ED which has passed and RD. https://admission.rice.edu/apply/freshman

Emory and some of the other schools you are considering offer ED2. However, unless you are financially able to commit to attend the school even if you do not get any financial aid you should be cautious in signing an ED2 agreement.

17

Just popping in to say, off-topic, that I’m someone in a completely opposite situation to you - as in I was born in the US to Indian parents and am a citizen but moved to India as a child and have completed all my schooling in India. I always felt American but people around me were basically like ‘nah mate you’re Indian’, so I probably get your identity crisis better than most. If it makes you feel any better, you’re practically more American than I will ever be despite being a citizen.
Oh and good luck for all your apps! Hopefully next year we both end up somewhere where we’ll be happy and successful. :smiley:

18

@Houston1021 Thanks for the info. I was thinking the same thing.

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@ProfessorPlum168 Yeah, I think I may get in if I wasn’t an international student. However, because I am, I’m hesitant to apply to such schools

20

@DodosAreDead Yeah we both are in a weird situation. Good to know others are out there!