<p>Background~Chinese Canadian, located in Vancouver, need about 25k of aid a year, female, not a legacy anywhere, want to go into finance/consulting/ibank~ </p>
<p>Stats~quite horrible by asian standards =(</p>
<p>GPA: 3.93 (9th+10th) 4.0 (11th) unweighted
School doesn't rank</p>
<p>SAT: 2210 first try
SAT II's : Chem 720 Math IIC 760 Lit 680 (EEKKK!!!)
<em>somebody tell me if its better to retake SAT I's or II's in Oct for Columbia ED</em></p>
<p>AP's: Schools offers only 1 AP (Calculus), taking senior year</p>
<p>EC's: (they basically suck, no major awards or anything)
-School Newspaper, 4 years, Editor
-Interact Club
-Various Math Contests across Canada (scored in the top 25% of contestants)
-Volunteer @ Vancouver General Hospital
-Gay-Straight Alliance
-Working @ local toy store
-Peer Tutoring
-School Golf team
-Writing for local student magazine</p>
<p>Current List:</p>
<p>Columbia ED (a chance at all?)
Penn
Dartmouth
Cornell
Stanford (@ mom's insistence)
USC
NYU Stern
Northwestern (?)
UCB/UCLA/UCSD/UCSB/UCI/UCD </p>
<p>As u can see, i'm in need of matches/safety cuz my list is dominated by reaches.....basically looking for internationally friendly (aka aid-giving) schools. Preferably in/near major cities. Also, pls recommend some LAC's that fits my stats/situation...also which schools on current list could/should be cut...?</p>
<p>geez... if your stats are horrible by asian standards, where am I placed on such hierarchy? Anyway, you have a good enough SAT to get into any school (even columbia ED-if the SATs were the only factor they cared about) and a good GPA, but your EC's are admittedly lacking. Perhaps if you can, try to get an internship/into a club that demonstrates your liking of finance/business, which could possibly improve your chances. Also, possibly take a class from a local community college or take an AP class or two online, just to show that you can handle the course load and can take initiative. Some good LACs in california are Pomona college and Claremont Mckenna, you might want to look into those (and I've read that they give great financial aid). </p>
<p>About applying to Columbia ED, Dartmouth, Stanford, and Northwestern; none of these schools have an undergraduate business/finance major (unless you want to major in economics), so if that is something you're looking for, you might want to take that into consideration and try the other schools like Penn or NYU stern.</p>
<p>your out of state like me(i actually live near you) I think the UCS are pretty difficult to get in oos
]
what about university of british columbia? Word of that school is even talked about at my high school.</p>
<p>You have a good list. Northwestern might be a good match, it does well with placing its grads. You might also check out Middlebury as a match, it also does relatively well on the street.</p>
<p>25 thousand dollars in financial aid is a lot for an international applicant (for some colleges). Some schools will reject you because you ask for aid.</p>
<p>Columbia ED (a chance at all?): Unlikely/ REJECT
Penn: Unlikely/ REJECT
Dartmouth: Unlikely/ REJECT
Cornell: Unlikely/ REJECT
Stanford (@ mom's insistence): REJECT
USC: Maybe
NYU Stern: Unlikely/ REJECT
Northwestern (?): Maybe/ Unlikely
UCB/UCLA/UCSD/UCSB/UCI/UCD: Maybe at UCB and UCLA, In at the rest</p>
<p>you have the stats to get in anywhere. your extracurrics and ethnicity work against you. brilliant recs and essays could save you at those reaches.</p>
<p>Croc, I know you say you want urban, but my suggestion would be to look at rural LACs (but excellent academically) that need Asians to increase their diversity figures. There are many in different levels of selectivity that fall into this category but for starters: Grinnell, Kenyon, Hamilton, Skidmore, Middlebury, Williams, Smith, Mount Holyoke.</p>
<p>Also, please clarify the type of aid you are looking for. Financial aid for internationals is limited under any circumstances, but it varies widely from college to college. If your family qualifies for need based aid, you will have a different list than you might if you need/want merit based aid.</p>
<p>^thanks mom! lol, i'll keep that advice in mind even though I hate rural areas...Im looking for need-based aid, that's actually why half the ivy league's on my list--- they have need blind admission 4 canadians...of course I'd love merit aid if i can get it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
btw, didn't think there would be a single college in america where asians are needed for diversity...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It's difficult to quantify and may just be anecdotal, but it makes sense to go against the grain. Asians in general prefer urban or suburban and therefore competition among Asians is greater in urban and suburban colleges. Rural colleges attract fewer and matriculate fewer Asians but they have the same pressure to maintain diversity figures; therefore there is less competition. </p>
<p>If you really don't like rural or remote environments, then don't force it. (though I'm not sure what you think Dartmouth and Cornell are like). Why don't you start with colleges in small , but lively, towns like Skidmore or Smith and see if these are appealing?</p>
<p>The combination being Asian, Canadian and needing a substantial amount of aid is a difficult obstacle to overcome. Ivy league applications are awash with Asian applications and Canadians are not the "exotic" internationals that they want to attract. I hate to be negative, but I think your chances are low.</p>
<p>Another LAC that is known for good aid to internationals -- and IS urban -- is Macalester. Again, the Asians that they fund tend to be from less mainstream backgrounds, but it's worth looking at.</p>
<p>^ thank you for ur comments, and yah i know cornell and dartmouth are in the middle of nowhere (not really, but still) they're partly on my list cuz they have need-blind admission for canadians, and i thought it might be easier to get in...wouldnt a lower-tier school without need blind admission be around the same for me as an ivy league?</p>
<p>UC finaid is not very good for in-state residents, so even if you get accepted, expext a lot of self-help, i.e., loans, since you are not eligible for federal work study.</p>