Reverse chance me please! International student requiring aid

College Search & Selection
1

Applying to both US and Canadian universities

Demographics: Male, Indian. I do require a significant amount of aid.

SAT: 1360 ( i am retaking in oct, but I’m not sure how much I can raise it by)

Intended Major: Statistics, and if a stats major is not offered, I’ll go for CS

GPA: Our school has a 100 point scale. ISC syllabus
9th: ~80%
10th: 93%
11th: ~80%
12th: I would expect somewhere around 90%
The grade deflation in India is crazy. No one gets above 90% for 9th and 11th.

Course work: Math (including calc), Physics, Chemistry, English Lit, English Lang, and Hindi (second language). We don’t get to choose subjects, we are forced to study what our school offers, and my grade in Hindi is relatively low :disappointed:

Extracurriculars
CEO of a reasonably large student-run organization that aims at providing free high-quality education and mentorship programs to students around the world. I spend a significant amount of time on this and consider it my best EC. And, I do know this may sound very fake bc its quite common but I’ve been working on this since last year.

Campus Ambassador of International MUN

Social Outreach Intern at a startup

Volunteer at a Space exploration organization

Tutor to kids around the globe in Math

Member of CVT (Coronavirus Visualisation Team)

Conducted online Python Workshops

Member of Eco-club in school for about five years

Member of the school band

Chief Editor of school magazine/yearbook

School Prefect

Winner of CS50 Puzzle day (tbh I won’t probably mention this anywhere on my app bc its pretty common)

Essays & LORs: I am currently working on essays, and tbh I’m not quite sure how they will turn out. I will try to improve it the best I can. As for LORs, I am pretty confident that they will be positive, but idk if they will be unique or detailed, just because my teachers have never written a LOR before.

Which universities do you think I have a chance at in USA and Canada? I know that requiring aid is a huge drawback for me, and to make it worse, I’m international.

2

How much can you pay per year?

3

I would say, inclusive of everything, about 15k per year.

4

University admissions in the US and Canada will be very familiar with the grade scales used in India. They also have a lot of experience with students from India, and know how well they do when they come to university on this side of the world. They will have no trouble understanding your grades in the context of your school system.

Your problem will be getting enough financial aid.

In Canada most universities give relatively little financial aid to international students. You might want to at least take a look at Memorial University of Newfoundland, which is relatively reasonably priced for international students. I however have not looked at it for about a year so I do not know the current prices. Do not forget to take the exchange rate into consideration.

The schools in the US that give full need based financial aid for international students are all very competitive for admissions. I do not think that “need blind” admissions matters nearly as much as “full need for international students”. Even schools that are not need blind might offer financial aid for a handful of international students.

With a budget of US $15,000 per year, I think that everything in North America will be a reach, and you should also apply to some affordable universities in your home country.