Hello, I’m an international student that’s planning to apply to universities in the USA and Canada in November but having a bit of trouble finding universities that suit my stats.
3.75 gpa ( weighted )
1470 SAT’s
33 ACT
Lots of community service and volunteering work
Multiple summer school courses and online courses
**gpa is really low compared to test scores
Can I get your opinions in what should be my safety, match, and reach schools? It would be really helpful and very much appreciated.
What is your budget? If you can pay full price then you have lots of options. If you need funding, then the options are a lot narrower.
And what do you want to study?
I’m not really that worried about the tuition fees since I have multiple organizations in mind that a fellowship/scholarship can be easily gained from.
My intended major is either political science or international relation.
There are many, many universities that fit your stats if you can pay the full cost. The challenge, I think, will be to find universities in that category that also have the kind of international focus that you are looking for.
You can’t necessarily go by the stat profiles for US students. For top-tier schools, it’s much more competitive for international applicants; but for regional schools that are trying to bring in full-pay international applicants, there may not be the same differential. That’s something to research further.
But one approach would be to look at the USNWR lists of regional universities that enroll the highest percentages of international students. Examples from a quick look at Western and Northeastern schools include:
Seattle University
Loyola Marymount University
CUNY Baruch
Drury University
U of Tampa
Rollins College
All of those enroll >10% international students.
From the National Universities list but still probably not too competitive for your stats (off the top of my head - others may correct my guesses):
U of Tulsa
U of San Francisco
Clark U
Arizona State U
Drexel U
Miami U of Ohio
UMass Boston
Indiana U
U of Iowa
(again all >10% international)
I haven’t cross-checked quality of poli sci / IR programs but there should be some good ones within that list.
And of course there are plenty of good options that this particular filter didn’t turn up… but based on your interests it just struck me that a school with at least 10% international students might be desirable, both as far as providing a social community with more of an international focus, and as far as expanding the intellectual focus of the university so that your study of political science doesn’t end up feeling too provincial.
Hope that helps.
(Sorry, I typed “Western and Northeastern” but then added some Midwestern and Southern schools also, as you can tell.)
U of Miami (private U in Florida, not to be confused with the public Miami of Ohio) may be in reach as well (a little more competitive than the others listed, I think, but probably worth a shot). International students comprise about 16% of the student body, and Miami is a dynamic and diverse city.
Had no clue that it was easier to get into a regional school because of the full pay, and I definitely want to be in a place where the student body is as diverse and international as possible, so I’ll research more about the universities you listed and hope to find the perfect match within.
I have to say I was really happy to see Loyala Marymount University and U of Miami listed because I’ve looked into them before and really loved those uni’s.
Thank you so much, everything you said was really helpful! Much appreciated!
How does your school weight? Is that your actual GPA or did you convert yourself to help the conversation?
Obvious choices would include American, Dickinson, Kalamazoo, Willamette, FSU, SUNY Geneseo and Albany, Penn State, udel, temple, UIowa… - the first few on the llst are especially strong for your major and all within reach academically.
I’m not really sure how exactly do they weight but it’s a gpa out of 5, 5 being an A+, 4 a B+ and so on.
Thank you for the suggestions! I’ll be researching and looking into each one of them.
For full pay international applicants, the data I’ve seen does not support this. Wesleyan, for example, indicates a statistical edge for full-pay internationals when compared to domestic applicants. In cases in which this data has not been explicitly furnished, I don’t think any presumptions should be made.