<p>I could be wrong but I heard international students are very competitive and harder to get aids due to very limited slots.</p>
<p>Don’t mean to discourage you. In addition to private funds, US students are eligible of federal funds and state funds. After all, we parents are paying big taxes. On the other hand, schools must pay for international students from their own school funds, thus the resource is quite limited.</p>
<p>If you research more on CC, you’ll find that most US students will apply to several schools, typically 2 safety, 2 match, and 2 to 3 reach. Some students may apply more.</p>
<p>In US, college admission is a very complex process. Every school is somehow different. Search for “common data set” or “facts” to get more details on each school. You can start from here.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/76444-links-common-data-sets-posted-colleges.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/76444-links-common-data-sets-posted-colleges.html</a>
Pay more attention to the admission section. For example, some schools may require # of SAT2 subjects and # years of science courses. It also shows which categories may be the most important factors to the school. For example, “showing interest” is very important to Brown but is only “considered” to MIT. Top schools tend to focus more on essays since the majority of the applicants are highly qualified students with high GPA and test scores.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, showing a “rigorous” transcript is far more important than getting a 4.0 GPA. I heard from many admission officers, when asked which is better, getting A on easy courses or getting B on difficult courses (AP or college level), they all said “getting A on difficult courses”. That shows that you can challenge yourself and can still handle well. Some people on CC would agree that getting B+ on a AP course is better than getting A on a easy course.</p>
<p>Just so you know, many top US students do finish Calc in high school. In Virgina, many advanced students take pre-calculus in 10th grade. My son took pre-calc in 10th and AP Calc BC in 11th. He is taking multi-variables Calc and AP Statistics in 12th grade.</p>
<p>Remember to aim low (safety) and aim high (reach), so you get a better chance of finding your next school. Since you are competing with other “international students”, so the admission statistics may be different.</p>
<p>Good luck!!</p>