Stressing out about what schools to apply to next fall :(

College Search & Selection
1

So I am an International student studying in Surabaya, Indonesia (middle of nowhere) at the local international school. I am of Dutch and Indo-Chinese descent, if that clears anything up. Anyways, I have really been looking for schools that I should apply too in the United States and find it hard to gauge what schools I should apply to in the next fall, when I am a senior (currently just finished my junior year). Heres my resume up to 11th grade, and also what I will be taking in Senior Year:

Academics:
SAT 2130, planning on taking it again
GPA in Sophomore and Junior Year (Unweighted): 3.87, 3.9
Honor Roll Every year in High School
Class Rank: 3 or 2, depending on weighting, etc.

APs
Language and Comp (ENG)
European History
Computer Science
Psychology
Micro and Macro Econ
Environmental Science

Senior Year Ap Courses
Physics 1
Calc BC
Chemistry
Human Geography
English Literature

Languages: English, French (3 years), Indonesian

Sports:
Soccer (9-12) - Vice Cap
Basketball (10-12) - Vice Cap
Volleyball (12)
Swimming Team (12)

Extracurriculars:
Global Issues Network (Environmental and Humanitarian aid group)
Founder of the Zoo Friends Foundation (We work with the local Surabaya Zoo to clean up the zoo and to promote healthy practices between animals and visitors, like not throwing food, etc)
Homework Help
Local Church Clinic on weekends
World Scholars Cup (Debate, Essay Writing, ToK - Was 1st place team, 2nd overall individual)
Habitat for Humanity
THIMUN (model UN for SEA)
School Strings Orchestra, First Chair Cello (though I don’t get paid :frowning: hahaah)
FYI I tried to apply for STUCO and NHS but got turned down :frowning:

So thats all I can think of now, if I am missing anything please tell me what I should add, and Ill respond ASAP. Anyways, please get back to me on the schools that would be interested in me, or conversely that would interest me! Please be feasible schools however, I doubt Harvard and Stanford want a student like me :stuck_out_tongue:

P.S. I prefer the East Coast, areas like Boston, NYC, Chicago, Durham, DC, etc. I am open to other schools in the west, but only if they’re really good.

2

Might help if you get your geography straight. Chicago isn’t on the east coast. Speaking of geography, last I checked Surabaya had a population of over 3 million and is one of the most crowded islands on earth. That’s an interesting definition for middle of nowhere, lol.

That said - What sort of environment do you want? I assume urban…? What do you want to major in? Are you chasing merit money or will you depend on financial aid? If you need financial aid you will need to use the net price calculators to figure out what will be affordable. Do you want a large research university or a small liberal arts school? Public or private?

You can use Supermatch to narrow down what you want. http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/

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By East Coast I meant anywhere that wasn’t the West Coast, my bad; I don’t hate the west coast, its just that my parents don’t want me to go there. As far as Surabaya goes, nothing happens in this town and it is very stagnant :frowning: very little people want to visit my city. Im looking for Urban area schools, ones that have a decent off-campus life. I am unsure about the whole financial aid agenda, but I will probably apply for it anyways; as far as majors, I’m probably looking to double major in Economics and one other field, to be decided. The size of the school would be medium to large, with NYU size being around the max for me; I don’t mind it is public or private.

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@rsstraaten, Before you go any further, you need to get your arms around the money! Only six colleges in the U.S. are need-blind for internationals. For the rest, that means that your financial situation will be a factor in admissions.

Now is the time to sit down with your family and have a heart-to-heart about how much they can (or want) to spend on your education.

If you really don’t need financial aid, don’t apply for it, as being full-pay will put you in a better position in competition with other international students.

If you do need financial aid, then apply for it with your first year application. If your situation changes and you need it later, you may not be able to get it. Look for schools that guarantee to meet full demonstrated need for internationals. Or that offer merit aid to internationals.

Need-based aid is difficult to predict for internationals as net price calculators often don’t apply. But the first step is to talk to your parents and understand what’s workable over four years.

It sounds like you already have a rough list of the colleges that you are interested in. If you would post your thinking, it would be easier for us to recommend similar schools. Since there are thousands of choices you need to do some pre-editing.

Have you already visited the U.S.? Will you be able to visit before you apply?

Your grades, scores, ECs and life experience will not keep you out of any college in the U.S. (even Harvard and Stanford) but competition is fierce so you need to have a balanced list of reach/match/safety.

I would suggest that you keep an open mind on location and size. Asians tend to favor urban schools with well known names; however, there are many academically excellent schools that are not in cities and that don’t have high name recognition outside of the U.S. A high achieving Indonesian would be a person of interest at many academically rigorous small liberal arts colleges. What LACs lack in international prestige, they make up in quality of education and strong admissions to top graduate schools.

Education USA provides advice in Surabaya to Indonesians wishing to study in the US:
http://jakarta.usembassy.gov/study/study-advising.html

5

What’s wrong with the west coast?? Flights back to Indonesia will certainly be more affordable from the west coast than from anywhere else. You are more likely to meet other students from Asia there as well.

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If the OP and his family are not interested in West Coast colleges, it is their choice, and they do not need to justify it to strangers on the Internet. Period.

7

^^LOL

They might if they are asking advice of strangers on the Internet. I too am wondering if their parents have any substantial knowledge of or resistance to the West Coast or if, maybe, it’s just too close to home.

8

What do you want to study?

Unless your parents can pay $65k per year, then finding aid and merit money will be your primary search criterion. If you are full pay, then you have many options and need to narrow your preferences concerning school location, school size, and school culture.

9

I see American students write off entire portions of the US. My own daughter didn’t want to look at the entire middle section of the US. It’s okay to write off the west coast if the OP chooses.

“You are more likely to meet other students from Asia there as well.”

Why assume the OP would even be interested in meeting students from other Asian countries? Again, Americans are quick to dismiss people from other parts of their own country (the South, the Northeast, California), I cannot see why an Indonesian would necessarily feel the need to hang with Koreans, Vietnamese, or Indian students. Maybe the OP wants to meet a broad mix of people.

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My younger son’s sole criterion for colleges was that they be outside of the Northeast (he visited GWU, but did not apply), because he wanted to go somewhere different from the region where he spent his first eighteen years. His applications ranged from Guilford to Berkeley, in terms of location, size, and selectivity.

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If you are studying in a private international school you should have advisers that know where the top students from your school have a good chance. Start there. Of course add colleges that interest you. Find out about colleges so you can choose some yourself. Colleges here have their own personalities and features.

@momrath misspoke about need blind colleges. Many colleges are need blind. Almost all public are. They will admit you and just give you a large bill. When people talk about the six colleges for internationals, those are need blind yes but most important they will ‘meet need’ for internationals. Many others privates are ‘need aware’ for internationals which means they may not admit if they don’t think they can give you enough money, or full payers may have a better chance, or you may get in if you need less aid. In other words, there is limited funds to go around for internationals, you may be accepted with aid or you may not and you chances could be better not asking for aid, but only if you can afford to go without aid…If you can’t afford to go without aid it is better to ask and get rejected. If you get in you may get some if they think you have need.

So
need blind you can ask for aid - publics (although most will not give aid to internationals some will), Harvard, Dartmouth, MIT, Amherst, Yale, Princeton

need aware - don’t ask if you can afford it, ask if you can’t

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I am unsure about the whole financial aid agenda, but I will probably apply for it anyways;


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Most schools in the US will give you little or NO AID, so you need to find out about this first. Ask your parents how much they’ll pay and then get back to us.

13

I wasn’t raised in the US and I don’t live there now although I lived there for 15 years. As the parent of Asian children, there are certain parts of the US where, because of the lack of other Asians, they never fit in and found it very hard to make good friends. That’s why.

14

@BrownParent, I’m not sure what you mean that I misspoke. There may be many colleges that are need-blind for U.S. students, but there are only six that are need-blind for internationals. These six also guarantee to meet full demonstrated need for internationals.

There are quite a few colleges that are both need-aware AND guarantee to meet full demonstrated need for internationals. In both of these cases, if they admit you, they will cover what they determine to be your demonstrated need. This is tricky for non-Americans because net price calculators are not always reliable for internationals.

And there are many, many more that are need-aware but don’t guarantee to meet full need. These are the most unpredictable of all.

So the OP first has to come to a clear understanding of their family’s financial situation. If they really don’t need aid, then they will increase their chances at need-aware colleges by not applying for aid. If they do need aid then they have no choice but to apply for it. In that case they should concentrate on colleges that guarantee to meet full need (whether they are need-blind or not) and cast a wide net.

There’s also merit aid, but that’s another list. . .

My guess is that the OP’s family wants them to stay on the east coast because they have family or friends there. From Surabaya, the travel time and cost is about the same to the east or west coast.

15

@rsstraaten hello! rather than argue with other people on this thread or pick apart your questions, I’ve decided to actually answer your question!

You said you liked Chicago. and I live near there, so that’s what I’ll focus on
Northwestern - it is a private school, and is kind of pricey, but is a very good school academically. It is just outside of Chicago, so it’s safer than living in the city, but you still get the benefit of city life.

University of Chicago - Very expensive. Very hard to get into. Academically rigorous. But is in the city and is very well known.

Loyola - it’s the least known of the three as a private catholic university. But is located pretty close to downtown Chicago and I’ve heard it’s pretty good academically. And I think your scores would be on the higher side of the spectrum here.

Also…U of Minnesota Twin Cities is a good school located in a city. The plus is it’s a state school and cheaper than the ones I’ve listed, but still good academically. The twin cities aren’t as big as Chicago or New York, but if you’ve lived in a smaller town that probably would be good. And it’s not a small city…I’ve heard the nightlife is good. But it is COLD.

Hope that helps :slight_smile:

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The Twin Cities aren’t significantly colder than Chicago, but both winters will be a shock to an Indonesian system.
I agree, the Twin Cities are a very vibrant, dynamic community, and they form a huge city with lots of things to do, from museums to concerts to icefishing to conferences to nature treks. Beside UMN, you also have Macalester, an excellent college with many international students, located in one of the best city neighborhoods in the US IMHO. Also in Minnesota, you have Carleton (very hard to get into), St Olaf (hard to get into), Gustavus Adolphus (easier), and in nearby Wisconsin, beside UWi Madison, you have Beloit (easy) and Lawrence (hard-ish to get into). In Illinois, you also have Illinois Wesleyan.
Look at Case Western Reserve University, Goucher, Dickinson, Muhlbenberg, Ohio Wesleyan, Wooster, Hamilton, American U, Tulane, Davidson, Sewanee, Eckerd. (those colleges encompass a wide range of selectivity rates but this way you’ll have a better idea of what’s out there, what you like/dislike, etc.)
Are you a boy or a girl? If a girl, there are lots of excellent colleges such as Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, Mount Holyoke, Agnes Scott…