Hi guys! Please, realistically chance me in top universities (Stanford, MIT and Princeton), and in “match” ones, but with the financial aid (Penn, University of Southern California, Rice).
Background:
International student from a small town in Russia
Have passion for Computer Science and Maths
Financial aid is needed to study (I’ll be able to pay $10.000 at most)
School:
Maximum grade on all subjects (4.0 in GPA scale)
Olympiads:
2nd grade: Math 3rd place
3rd grade: Math 2nd place
5th grade: Science Olympiad award, English 1st place
6th grade: Math (school level) award, Math (city level) award, English (city level) award, Russian History Projects contest 2nd place
7th grade: English (school level) 1st place, Math (school level) award, IT (school level) 1st place, History award
8th grade: Physics (school level) award, Physics (city level) award, English (both school and city levels) 1st place
9th grade: “Young inventor” IT contest 3rd place, English (school and city levels) 1st place
Tests:
I still have to take the the tests in May and June, but these are the results I can expect from myself:
SAT: Math: 800, Reading: 740-750
SAT Subject Tests: Math L2: 800, Physics: 800
TOEFL: 105
Extracurricular:
Self-taught iOS Programming
Developed several apps, and published them in the AppStore with approx. 100k downloads in total
Won Apple’s WWDC 2015 scholarship, and went to the conference.
Recently I’ve started watching MITs Aerospace Engineering course to learn more about rocketry, after being inspired by SpaceX.
Thanks!
do not list awards from before 9th grade. You will have a very tough time at every school you listed as an international without any solid awards
Penn, USC, and Rice are not matches for you (unless I missed something and you have a Fields Medal or you won at the Oscars last Sunday).
What about Boston University, or Illinois Institute of Technology? Is there any chance of getting in there?
Those Universities could be matches, but I am not too sure about BU with international students. I do not know enough about the international student situation at Illinois Tech. However, they are definitely easier to get into than the schools you mentioned before, for the most part.
Please do not take my message as discouragement from applying to those competitive schools you mentioned earlier, but I just want to provide you with realistic expectations so that you can come up with the best admissions strategy and approach.
You are likely to be admitted to Illinois Tech but I don’t know if you would get enough financial aid to make it financially possible for you to attend.
Agree with previous posters.
As an international student who needs aid, you will be stuck. The schools have limited resources and they tend to target freshman US applicants.
You currently don’t have test scores, so chancing you would be difficult for schools that may admit you. Forget the ivies.
Listing primary information does not count towards you college admission.
Every American kid has awards in every grade and area up to high school. The only awards that count are 9th grade and beyond.
Unless you’ve won a gold, silver or bronze in the Olympics, your chances for the top schools are a crapshoot.
All the schools you listed in your original posts are reaches. I would urge you to find some safeties/matches, because as an international applicant with your stats, it’s not too likely that you’ll be admitted to the colleges you listed.
Chance me back? http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1967907-chance-me.html#latest
Yeah, getting financial aid as an international student is very, very improbable, especially at the universities you’re looking at. Further, you’re going to need actual scores before we can chance you. But even with the numbers you predict ideally, Penn and rice are definitely not matches. They should be considered mid reaches, and the places you listed as reaches are high reaches. International admittance at these schools is incredibly competitive. Even on the off chance that you get accepted, you likely won’t get aid. I would suggest looking at some more attainable places: you’ll have to adjust your expectations if you want to get aid. Good luck.