<p>I am going to be a high school senior this coming fall and I am deeply bothered by the problem of "creating a list of 10 colleges that I am going to apply to." It is rather easy to map out a number of reach school and match school, but it's fairly hard to find the right "safety school" since I am not very confident about my statistics and that I am an international student puts more unknown factors into my college application process. I hope that I can get some advice regarding college choice from you who have more experience and more vision. Here is my basic statistics:</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.98
Weighted GPA: 4.20
SAT super score: 2260 (M/CR/W 770/690/800)
SAT personal best: 2230 (M/CR/W 770/690/770)
SAT II: Physics/Math II/Chemistry/Chinese Language: 800 Biology: 790
AP: Chemistry 5
Physics C Mech: coming
Physics C Electromagnetism: coming
Biology: coming
Physics B: coming
Calculus BC: coming</p>
<p>Member of Arcadia High School Math Team
2014 AMC 12A: 112.5 (Distinguished Honor Roll)
2014 AIME II: 8
2014 CSULB Math Day at Beach: Team 5th place in Division I
2013 Pepperdine Math Day: Team 2nd place
2013-14 Bay Math League Team 1st place</p>
<p>Perform in American Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall as fourth chair in cello section (playing cello for two years)
Certificate of Merit Level 9
Member of Arcadia High School Physics Team/ Science Bowl/ Symphony Orchestra/ Link Crew/ Sign Language Club
irregularly playing for Alhambra convalescent home
irregularly volunteering for random organization for less than 10 hours
Intern at City of Hope (Cancer research institute at Duarte, CA): full time (9 am to 6 pm) from June to end of July. I already had, as secondary author, a review paper published in a magazine whose name I refuse to reveal.
Part-time job at TEC (a afterschool institute)</p>
<p>My Senior Classes:
AP English Literature and Composition
AP Statistics
AP Comparative Government
AP Computer Science
Symphony Orchestra
Cross Country/Track and Field (first year)</p>
<p>No TOEFL/IELTS taken whatsoever</p>
<p>Additional note:
1. I am an international student from mainland China currently enrolled in Arcadia High School, Arcadia, CA. I will graduate from AHS and receive 3 years' credit in English
2. I am determined to major in applied mathematics in college.
3. I cannot really afford full intuition but applying for financial aid reduces my chance generally.
4. I came to America in 2012 as my parents moved here to work (temporarily) with little knowledge on English. I rejected my counselor's request to place me in ESL and directly enrolled in college-prep English class, in which I worked my way from a 67 to 89 (at the beginning of the semester my English teacher even wrote a letter to my mom suggesting me going back to ESL) and an 800 on Writing on SAT in one semester. Therefore I could almost guarantee one of my recommendation letter to be fantastic.</p>
<p>Will you have spent at least three years at AHS? If so, then I think you will qualify as a CA resident for tuition purposes at the UCs and CSUs. UC Riverside or almost any CSU could be your safety school if you do qualify. I’d say that UCSC or San Jose State are probably safe for you, also; with CalPoly-SLO a low-match (depending on your choice of major). If you do not qualify as a legal CA resident, the situation will be more complicated. </p>
<p>A safety school has to be one you would absolutely go to, and this is why finding a safety often requires more work than the matches, as you point out. A safety must have your major and be absolutely affordable. And a safety must be a certain admission. So a visit to the school is highly recommended.</p>
<p>We don’t know what your family’s finances are like, so travel might be difficult and you might want to keep your safeties in CA. However, there are lots of schools that would love to have you as one of their students. Some of these would also be able to offer full tuition. See the full tuition/full ride stickie over on the Financial Aid forum: </p>
<p>You’re an automatic full tuition admission at Univ of Alabama, for instance. Other schools would put you into a competition for tuition for which you are amply qualified: Univ of Pittsburgh, Univ of Maryland, Duke University, to name a few. You have lots of options. Alabama, Pitt, Maryland, and may other state schools with good applied math programs would be quite inexpensive if you won a tuition scholarship. You will want to check the depth of courses in applied math that any program offers.</p>
<p>Do u have clarity on your present US residency status? </p>
<p>Were you in the US as a dependent on your parents’ work visa? Are your parents still working (legally) in the US? (the US seems to be harsher on aliens who overstay a legal work/study visa, than to aliens who were entirely illegal)</p>
<p>Your US residency status may impact your eligibility for FA. </p>
<p>Do u have clarity on your present US residency status?</p>
<p>Were you in the US as a dependent on your parents’ work visa? Are your parents still working (legally) in the US? (the US seems to be harsher on aliens who overstay a legal work/study visa, than to aliens who were entirely illegal)</p>
<p>Your US residency status may impact your eligibility for FA.</p>
<p>Both my parents and I are currently legal residents but our visa will expire before college starts next year.</p>
<p>If you graduate from, and attended a California high school for three years, I think you qualify for in-state tuition. You should check with the UC and CSU websites, and then with an immigration specialist. This is the policy that has anti-immigration groups up in arms, because it offers even undocumented residents in-state benefits. </p>