<p>I am an international student from Vietnam. Here, the competition of getting into US colleges is very tough. Most students are either rich or academically outstanding so an average (and also poor) student like me have slim chance. I understand this and put my heart and soul into the essays (this is one of my strengths), but after receiving a straight rejection from Middlebury EDII, I think I need to figure out how to improve my application and maximize my chance if I have to take a gap year. And my college list is a huge problem, since I don't have exceptional stats and I can't afford to pay full tuition. Please look at my stats and give me advice.</p>
<ul>
<li>GPA: </li>
<li>9th year and 10th year: 8.9/10</li>
<li>11th year: 9.0/10</li>
<li><p>12th year: 9.1/10</p></li>
<li><p>My school is a nationally ranked public high school and our curriculum is very rigorous. My school doesn't report rank but I'm always in the top 5 of my class (My school class of 2014 includes 15 specialized classes, each consists of about 30-40 students). Usually, few students have GPA higher than 9.0.</p></li>
<li><p>Test scores:</p></li>
<li><p>SAT: superscore CR 600 M 760 W 700. Total: 2060 (SAT is definitely what I have to improve, and improve a lot. I took it two times and my scores didn't go up much, so I don't know what to do).</p></li>
<li><p>IELTS: 7.5/9.0. Equivalent to about 105 TOEFL.
(Maybe not taking TOEFL and SAT II tests hurt my chances significantly?)</p></li>
<li><p>Essays: writing is my passion, and also my talent. I believe my essays are what would help me stand out. I was also accepted to a free program and got help from a top student in Vassar College. She helped me a lot so I wouldn't worry about this. Additionally, my family situation is quite special; I went through a lot of traumatic incidents. I wrote about it in my CommonApp essay.</p></li>
<li><p>Extracurricular Activities: I participated in some volunteer organizations and some clubs at my school. These are not very impressive but I did what I loved to do and was really committed to them. I also have unusual interests such as Tarot and Astrology (they are kind of occult things but I approach and use them as psychological tools to help people). I also founded a club. I explained them in my resume and some of my supplements so maybe they would set me apart (in an interview with one of my college, the admission director became very interested in those strange interests. She seemed very impressed and still remembered me after months not exchanging any emails). </p></li>
<li><p>Honors: </p></li>
<li><p>I was awarded a merit-based scholarship from my school for three semesters. The scholarship was awarded only to four students with the highest GPA from each class.</p></li>
<li><p>I was chosen, with four other students from my school, to present Vietnam in an international science conference in Asia. Our group was awarded a bronze medal.</p></li>
<li><p>My family contribution: about 10k/year.</p></li>
<li><p>My school list:</p></li>
<li><p>Agnes Scott College</p></li>
<li><p>Brandeis University</p></li>
<li><p>Carleton College</p></li>
<li><p>Colorado College</p></li>
<li><p>DePauw University (I also applied to their Honor program).</p></li>
<li><p>Hamilton College</p></li>
<li><p>Hobart & William Smith Colleges</p></li>
<li><p>Juniata College</p></li>
<li><p>Kenyon College</p></li>
<li><p>Knox College</p></li>
<li><p>Lafayette College</p></li>
<li><p>Middlebury College (rejected - EDII)</p></li>
<li><p>Mount Holyoke College</p></li>
<li><p>Occidental College</p></li>
<li><p>St. Olaf College</p></li>
<li><p>Whitman College.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Except for Middlebury, all colleges are RD.</p>
<p>*Notes: I plan to major in English/Creative Writing. I think few international students choose to pursue those majors so it is a factor that can make or break.</p>
<p>Thank you for reading. I'm waiting for the RD decisions (not until April) and literally pulling my hair off worrying about my fate. Middlebury's rejection didn't surprise me (I always knew it was a huge reach), but it definitely left an impact on me. Please help me out. I really need helpful advice if I have to reapply next year.</p>
<p>Until all the results come in, it is too early to be thinking about taking a gap year and submitting more applications. If it does come to that, the single most significant thing you could do (other than choose less selective schools) would be to improve your SAT-CR score. Meanwhile try to relax, because now that all your applications are done, about all you can do is wait. </p>
<p>You have it wrong, your prospective major will neither help nor hinder your chances of acceptance. and it is definitely NOT a factor that will make or break your app…Thing about international admissions is that it’s very random… top colleges are generous with financial aid but are harder to get into…the less selective ones don’t give much financial aid…and considering your EFC you need atleast 30k to 40k in aid to afford a college…
for next year (altho hopefully u will get in somewhere this year) check out BARD COLLEGE…they have a unique admissions plan that could help you…and it has a very good English program…</p>
<p>@tk21769: Thank you. I guess there’s nothing that I can do now. @bodangles: I know my CR score is a major weakness. Maybe I haven’t figured out the best way to deal with it; I studied very hard for the previous tests but it still didn’t improve.
And I don’t believe that scores can decide whether I should pursue an English major. Writing is my strength and it’s been my dream for a long time. @EarlyAction95: I know Bard College has a strong English program but I’ve heard some rumors saying that Bard doesn’t give generous aid to internationals. Am I wrong again?</p>
<p>Bard costs 60k. Their average aid to internationals is around 40k. key work is “average” :). meaning that they do give a bit more than that as well. you can pay 10k, so they need to give u 50k. not a huge gap in my opinion. If they want to bad enough, they will meet your need competition for aid is tough in ALL colleges. so there r no guarantees ofc.</p>
<p>@EarlyAction95 You have not been through Bard’s website thoroughly. Bard writes that it would like international students to be able to pay at least 30k or half the cost of attendance. And Bard costs about $65k, actually, if you look at the comprehensive fee rather than just tuition + room&board (i.e health insurance, flights, books, supplies, personal expenses etc etc.) There will always be exceptions, but generally, the aid is terrible.</p>
<p>OP: Stated major does not matter unless you have garnered considerable accomplishments in that field. In fact, I have usually thought that indicating a humanities major actually hinders acceptance because liberal arts colleges already have a lot of Americans who want to study that. But then again, that’s just speculation. Also, someone I know with ditto stats to you got accepted to Middlebury ED 1. That person, too, is international. So, yeah, this is all a very random process.</p>
<p>I do not understand why you have applied to colleges like Knox, though? They require EFC’s of 18k and more, generally.</p>
<p>Your chances at Mt. Holyoke are the best. Good luck!</p>
<p>then Bard doesn’t really expect “international students to be able to pay at least 30k or half the cost of attendance”. Could you provide a link supporting your statement?</p>
<p>Obviously there will be exceptions. some students can live on personal expenses of 50 dollars. others need 500.</p>
<p>Additionally, unlike a lot of there LACs Bard also had merit scholarships that internationals are eligible for.</p>
<p>All in all, yes bard doesn’t give 100% financial aid based on need. But it is very much possible for a student with EFC 10k to attend it. Some wouldn’t call that terrible…</p>
<p>I am inclined to agree with International95 that Bard is probably not a good option.</p>
<p>Bard’s need-based International Scholarship is capped at $30,000 a year. The average scholarship award for international students is higher than that because Bard has two full-tuition scholarship programs open to international students: The Distinguished Science Scholarship and the Levy Economics Scholarship. Since the OP is planning to major in English, she would not be a good candidate for either, so she should consider $30,000 to be the maximum amount of scholarship she is likely to receive. </p>
<p>The institutional loan program probably won’t be of much help either. Many LACs actually package loans in the financial aid package of international students; they are usually on the order of $3,000 - $5,000 a year, way below what the OP would need to afford Bard with the maximum International Scholarship.</p>
<p>Not that it should matter. Let’s hope that the OP gets admitted to college this year ! :)</p>
<p>Wasn’t aware that need-based aid was actually the International Scholarship as the site states that it’s “on the basis of financial need AND academic achievement and promise.”
I’ll take your word for that! and if it is true then my bad. Sorry OP Bard doesn’t seem like a viable option after all.
Good luck!</p>
<p>@EarlyAction95 @International95@b@r!um Thank you guys. I really appreciate your help I got into Depauw and Agnes Scott. They both offer merit scholarships but I’m waiting for Depauw’s need-based aid. Since Agnes Scott only gives one full scholarship per year, I wasn’t selected.
I’m trying to stay strong and pray for April 1st.</p>
<p>What I meant by exceptions was that Bard is willing to offer up to full ride to exceptionally compelling applicants – but these exceptional students are most probably capable of getting into other schools as well. </p>
<p>I have friends who applied to Bard and who received word in early March last year and years before that Bard cannot offer them more than 30k. So unless you are planning to study economics or STEM, Bard is a financially bleak option. </p>
<p>Again, do not be discouraged by this. Exceptional international applicants will receive as much aid as they need to attend. But it is likely that these applicants will be accepted elsewhere as well. In fact, I read on the news last year that an Indian girl was accepted to Bard, NYU and American with full rides. These aren’t schools that are known for their generosity to international students, but they are willing to make exceptions for amazing applicants.</p>
<p>Good luck with this process, @evelynne1996! :)</p>
<p>PS You might still get the full ride to Agnes Scott. You’ll have to wait till mid-April, though. Depends on whether the one who got it will accept the offer or not. Also, I might know who you are haha. We may have a few mutual friends. Some time ago I saw on fb that a certain somebody from Vietnam wrote about how she didn’t get into Middlebury and something about “haters” idk. Vietnamese people in general are so amazingly talented! One of my Viet friends got a likely to Penn last year! This was incredible because I had not heard of international likelies before that.</p>
<p>Hi it’s been a while since I began this thread. I didn’t find the “edit” button" so I will update my result in this comment. I was rejected by most colleges. I only got into Juniata, Depauw and Agnes Scott. I was also waitlisted by St. Olaf. At this point, I’m still waiting to hear from St. Olaf, but I’ve pretty given up on that. The colleges that I got into didn’t offer me enough aid so basically I had no option.
Getting into a good school while asking for a lot of aid is hard. Knox rejected and said they would reconsider if I could pay half the costs (like I have that much money to give them). So I’m studying to retake the SAT, taking SAT subject tests and improving my application for next year.
Thank you all for your support, and see you again :)</p>
<p>Thank you for updating this thread. While the results are disappointing, I’ll look forward to reading what you do next. It sounds like your gap year will be productive in any case!</p>
competition for aid is tough in ALL colleges. so there r no guarantees ofc.</p>