<p>I'm an international applicant who will require financial aid to study in the US. I'm an avid birdwatcher and bird photographer. I'm submitting a bird photography portfolio with my college apps this year. I also have a creative writing portfolio ready. I wish to attach an abstract of a research paper on Chemical Evolution as well. Is that too much supplemental data? Will it hurt my chances of acceptance to the following colleges?
Amherst College
Bowdoin College
Bryn Mawr College
Caltech (California Institute of Technology)
Carleton College
Colby College
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Haverford College
Mount Holyoke College
Massachusetss Institute of Technology
Northwestern University
Pomona College
Princeton University
Smith College
Swarthmore College
University of Chicago
Wellesley College
Williams College
Yale University</p>
<p>I’d just send in the photography portfolio.
On a side note, you might want to reevaluate the list you have there - there’s a discrepancy in the types of schools that you’re applying to… Bowdoin/Colby and MIT/Caltech? Exactly what are you trying to study? Are you trying to go to a huge school or a tiny school? City/rural? And as an international student that needs financial aid, these are ALL far reaches for you (some schools don’t even look at international students who need financial aid) - pick some safeties/targets.</p>
<p>Your list looks like you just chose the top 20 colleges on some list. I agree with nyc that you need to narrow them down.
You also need to recheck the policies on international students. Most colleges do not give great/any aid to international students so you might want to start over with a list of schools that are need blind for internationals.</p>
<p>Only Amherst College, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, MIT, Princeton University, and Yale University are need blind and full need for internationals. Chicago, Columbia, Trinity (CT), Union (NY), Vassar, and Williams are full need for internationals but not need blind.
However, some schools that do not offer need based aid still allow internationals to qualify for merit scholarships, which you might want to look into.</p>
<p>Check the websites for into on supplemental stuff, but you probably want to submit only one related to your intended major</p>
<p>I want to major in Physics…if I can I’d like to double major too, with Computer Science. Can anyone suggest some good safeties? I felt Harvard was too far a reach, but if my SAT scores (next month) improve a lot I might apply.
I looked up the average need-based financial aid for international students on Princeton Review…is that misleading?
Thanks for the inputs :)</p>
<p>Uh you might as well apply to Harvard because it is the same selectivity as some of the other schools on your list like Yale and MIT</p>
<p>How do I know which colleges meet full need for international applicants and not only domestic applicants?</p>
<p>Check out the school’s website.</p>
<p>You have 21 schools! Yikes. Definitely re-evaluate your list. Your original question was about supplements. That’s way too much extra stuff. Many schools explicitly say not to do that. Need to include on Common App supplement.</p>
<p>Some colleges like Princeton encourage Creative writing portfolios…so maybe I should send it in only to those places? and i really put in a lot of effort into that research and birdwatching. So which should I leave out? Any suggestions? Thanks once again!</p>
<p>I have worked in an admissions office in the past and many of the “supplements” we receive go right into a box and we never looked at them again. Think carefully about what to include. It should be something that provides new information about you that cannot be obtained elsewhere in the application and relevant to the school. (i.e. definitely leave out the bird watching from a tech school application and vice versa I would probably leave out the research paper from a LAC application) As an alternative you could consider just including some of your passions in your essay where the counselor will see it without requiring a lot of extra work on their part.</p>
<p>That was really helpful bschooltotech ! Thank you so much! I will try to keep that in mind :)</p>