I am Gohar from Pakistan, I received my elementary education in small one or two room school, I hails from a rural village my ancestors and local villagers has not received any formal education, sadly I am after Malala yousafzai is the only one getting any education after civil war in our village swat.
I had 8A* in my 9th/10th class which is 4 unweighted GPA, then I attend IB world school for IB diploma program with mostly science subjects and got 42 points in first year of internal exam then the school did not teach Math HL anymore therefore I switched to another IB school and secured 37 points in internal exam but the school lost their IB licence and could not facilitate IB exam and now I appear for A level 3 Subjects privately.
My SAT score is 1350.
EC activities.
Research Paper Published in international Journal and conference proceedings on nuclear propulsion.
Best research poster presenter in International conference on Aerospace sciences and Engineering
Stood 3rd in National Act in Space competition.
Honorable Mention in International NASA space settlement and design contest .
President for STEM and research club of my high school.
Co director of Media for Model united nation.
Taught Robotics to SOS’s village Kids.
Made Thrust vectoring kit for model rocket.
Founded a startup on organic soap which was based on my chemistry internal assessment so the people of my village can make and sell this soap to make living.
Was Part of team to propose an idea at Ministry for Clean and Green Pakistan.
Malala is not the greatest example to compare yourself to since she’s a Nobel laureate.
SAT is low for Stanford/MIT, so those may be off the list. Internationals applying to those schools have some sort of recognition (like Malala and her Nobel Peace Prize).
Try to take more SAT and do some polishing of your application. And there are schools not at the level of Stanford/MIT that will offer merit aid to international students. Do some research first.
@astrogohar MIT saves 9% of the freshman seats for international students. China and India send the very top students to MIT. Its harder for smaller countries to get even one applicant into MIT but Pakistan is usually represented by a few students in every MIT class. So if you believe you are one of the top five students in the country of Pakistan, you may have a chance.
Case Western, you have a solid chance. Case Western saves more seats for international students, up to 15% of the freshman class, I believe. You will need to have cash saved for 4 years of your education to get a US visa. Case Western does not meet the financial need of international students.
Its slightly easier if you are girl versus boy for MIT. MIT wants international girls and less apply right now. That is changing year to year, of course.
Look at Carnegie Mellon which also saves more slots for international students than MIT.
You have an amazing story, and if you present it well, it will likely resonate with many of the admissions officers. Although your SAT is low for Stanford and MIT, they may see through this. I would give it a shot. You need a nobel prize to be accepted. I wouldn’t worry so much about the SAT score.
An IB score of 42 is impressive, but it looks like this year you will be taking A levels instead. Just make sure you keep your marks up, as they will be closely paying attention.
My biggest suggestion is: have your essays reviewed by a native english speaker. Your writing style is a big rough, and this is understandable. Your essays need to convince the reader that you can write at the college level.
Also broaden the scope of colleges that you will apply to. Definitely take advantage of the early decision/early action round, and then have plenty of backups for the regular decision round. Some colleges even offer ED2. Pay attention to these different timelines.