Based off my stats, what sorts of schools should I be targeting because I have high aspirations but my guidance counsellor tells me to be more realistic. I’m an international btw
ethnicity: Pakistani (live in Australia)
Financial aid required (only partial, not a full ride)
Activities/extracurriculars: (in order of importance to me)
-interned at 3 different software companies (2 startups and 1 established company)
-work experience at the same established company on a later occasion
-learnt programming alone (mainly web development, have hosted a website which provides resources and aids future IB students)
-was part of a research project investigating light pollution’s effects (presented at a conference, the write up will be published soon)
-played the guitar and piano since the age of 10
-3 years in the school soccer team, played in various tournaments
-part of the school Drama Club which has produced 3 plays
-part of the school Organisation Team which organised 3 large scale events (a marathon, an Olympics and a futsal competition)
-volunteering in general
-went on an international understanding trip (helped various schools and hospitals in China)
-academic excellence award for grades 9,10
Your scores don’t really rule out any schools. I suspect what your guidance counsellor is trying to tell you is to remember that all the top schools are highly competitive, especially for internationals looking for aid, and therefore to have a range because there’s no guarantee of getting into a top top one.
I would say you have a decent chance at top schools (as in definitely no worse than the average applicant) except you’re an international who needs aid. Because of this, I would suggest you don’t shoot for an elite school, or do, but know your chances are extremely slim
You’ll need to apply broadly. Include colleges like Rhodes, St Olaf, Connecticut College, St Lawrence, plus also UMN Morris, UMass Amherst, even look into U Maine, Truman State, Wooster, Earlham, Muhlenberg, Wheaton(MA), Marist. Demonstrate interest at all.
Add automatic scholarship universities: UAlabama, Ole Miss, or competitive but where you’re pretty certain to get something like Ohio University, Miami-Ohio, Temple, Montana State.
Once you have about 5-6 at the Rhodes/St Olaf level, and 2-3 at the Wooster/Marist level, add whatever colleges you want.
Yeah. If you need aid, top places probably won’t be for you. Also, it’s tough to do this without your GPA. You could be looking at some of the top flight publics? Although again, those will be unlikely to give international aid. If you want to do comp sci, I would suggest Georgia Tech, UIUC, UT-Austin, UMD, or USC. Of those, USC will be most likely to give you aid. You’re going to need to shoot slightly lower than what you might be capable of to get the aid you’ll need to attend.
I’m an international btw 