Suggest University List Please, I can apply to 10 universities, maybe a little more, I need a few suggestions
Demographics: Indian
international student
Type of high school: CBSE, Private Highschool (Well reputed in my state)
**Intended Major(s): Computer Science **
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores : Top of my class, (98% GPA, 1560 SAT)
Class Rank: 2
ACT/SAT Scores: 1560
Coursework: Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, English (Fixed for Indian Schools)
Did not attend any AP tests
**Awards
2nd In National Robotics Competition (SPARC 2019)
3rd in Bhavanās Interschool Robotics Competition
(I dont have much awards lol)
3.*
Extracurriculars
Authored a book on Machine Learning Theory, published on amazon. Currently Writing Part II.
Worked as a section leader at Stanford University for 1 month, tutoring students programming with python.
Worked with IMUN (International Model United Nations) for 1 month as a Campus Ambassador
Working with a friend to make a non profit organisation called āMuko Yukoā which develops tech gadgets to help the disabled people.
Verified artist at foundation.app (NFT community)
Currently developing a Machine Learning Forum
Making a Machine Learning Course on Udemy (Verified with Udemy)
Robotics Club President at SP Robotics since 2018 (Won multiple robotics competition awards for the school and in private tournaments)
Cryptocurrency Analyst at r/cryptocurrency reddit discord server, with over 30,000 members.
Launching a cryptocurrency charts program this month, with the ability to analyze past data from old cryptocurrencies like bitcoin from 2011 to predict current prices/trends.
11.(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)*
Essays/LORs/Other
I have good LORs from my favourite teacher. I could even get one from my principal as he is supportive of me. (Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
Cost Constraints / Budget
Just broke, as most students from India. Need full aid preferably. Max I can pay is like $8k to 10k
Try Carnegie Mellon University & MIT. I cannot address issues regarding financial aid for international applicants at these schools, but you can research that yourself or others with more knowledge may post.
Look into CS adjacent majors at universities (for instance, Informatics, Computing, Cybersecurity, Data Science). For an Indian international who needs close to a full ride itāll help you be in a smaller pool at meet-need and competitive merit schools.
MIT admits internationals without regards to financial need but may admit at most a handful of young Indians, boys and girls, for thousands of applicants from the Subcontinent.
You can try and compete for competitive merit on top of automatic merit, for instance at UArizona, UAlabama, UCincinnati, UMinnesota Morrisā¦
If your family makes less than the equivalent to $50,000 a year you can get a fee waiver, meaning you donāt need to pay the application fee, at many if not most universities.
Reading your post, I see three things right away. āExceptional studentā, āinternationalā, and āneed full aidā.
I also wonder what you are thinking about for a major. Are you thinking of CS or some form of engineering? I am wondering about this due to your robotics interest.
I think that you apply to a small number of top schools in the US that meet full need for international students, and you apply to safeties in your home country.
MIT and Stanford are obvious if you are interested in computer science. I wonder about Harvard. It is not as well known for CS or engineering. However, it is trying to expand into these areas, it could use some top students in these areas, and it can afford to give good financial aid.
Carnegie Mellon is a great university for you except for one big problem: āInternational students arenāt eligible for financial aid at Carnegie Mellonā.
Thanks for the recommendations,
The thing is, in my country I canāt attend a good university as I have not prepared for the local entrance exams in my country (JEE, NEET). These exams are super competitive, and I stand no chance (Students need atleast 4 years of preparation for this).
I can only attend very small universities here, which im not interested in.
Are there any recommendations you have for colleges with lower prestige but give scholarships / aid for international students?
Also how likely is it that I get into MIT and Stanford?
(Also currently im not into robotics, I have shifted my studies to machine learning / data science, so I would like to pursue computer science)
I actually want to pursue Data Science, but people recommend I start with computer science and move on to Data Science when I take my masters.
Also thanks for the recommendations, will look into it
Also something I want to add,
I have other ECs
Instagram page with over 10k followers, I post daily updates on cryptocurrency news, and technical analysis
Very interested in chess, been playing for a year now, but the learning curve in chess is very different. It takes years to get to master levels, so I dont have results I can show.
Thatās a good recommendation curriculum-wise but since it makes your odds of admission with aid so much lower I would go with Data Science for your major (you can always add a CS minor later).
You are a very strong and competitive applicant. However, nearly all international applicants to these two schools are very strong and competitive, and the acceptance rate is in the low single digit percentages. I am not sure whether your chances are 1% or 5%, but they are definitely less than 10% that you would get into either. I do think that they are worth an application because I believe that you would do very well at either school. However, you definitely need to apply to other schools that are more likely for admissions.
MIT has a slightly higher acceptance rate than Stanford, and states in its web site: āMIT meets the full need of international undergraduate studentsā.
Definitely this. @MYOS1634 makes some good suggestions about schools to apply where the OP might get merit aid.
As a practical matter, if the OP wishes to study in this country as an international student with no money, he is looking at having to play a long game: He will probably need to get his Bachelorās degree at a place with less cachet, then move on to an advanced degree at a more prestigious institution that might be willing to provide funding for him.
Iām deeply into cryptocurrency and stock trading. I have ideas of collecting data from these charts and make it predict future trends. I want to make this as accurate as possible before launch. This has been one of my main ideas for a few months now, So Iād like to write about this in my Essay
Another thing I want to add is that Iām working on a course, for trading crypto. Completely free for the community to learn and interact. Itās going to be packed with info of what Iāve learnt in past 1 year. It will most likely be completed before I apply to unis
What are your thoughts on crypto / trading as ECs. Do these connect as āActivitiesā ?
Olin College of Engineering might be worth a look. The website says, " Limited Institutional Need-Based Aid may be available for international students. Interested students should inquire at info@olin.edu." You would major in Engineering with Computing there.
**