What are the chances I will get into college with these STATS?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

So, please go through the post and let me know if I have any chance of getting into any of the colleges listed below.

GENERAL INFORMATION: Female, International (India), Applying for financial aid.
INTENDED MAJOR: Linguistics+Cognitive Science
TESTING: ACT 35, SAT 1570, 6 SAT Subject Tests in French, Japanese, Math 2, Biology M, Physics and Spanish, scores 770,780,800,800,800,800 respectively.
EXTRACURRICULARS: Proficient in 11 languages including native Indian ones, worked as translator for authors and volunteered for Khan Academy, NTSE qualifies, KVPY qualified, Intel India Science Fair qualified, State Level Shooter, published author of two short story collections, Olympiad qualified in Physics and Biology at National Level, Co Founder of two websites aimed at reducing Student Suicides in India and the other educating them on Health and Etiquette, shadowing doctors and volunteering at military hospitals for over 150 hours in two years.
BACKGROUND: In 2017, I passed grade 12th with 71% while I was expecting 95% as during that year the board I studied in messed up the results due to which I couldn’t attend college that year. Due to this, I personally witnessed the turmoil students alongside me went through and started the website to prevent such drastic actions taken by students. I decided rather than settling I will write the tests again and will be taking my exams in November 2019 with A Level curriculum in CAIE, with subjects of Math, Further Math, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. My CAIE centre doesn’t offer any languages so I opted for certifications such as DELF for French and JLPT for Japanese. My Grade 11th Percentage was 93% and 10th was 9.8/10GPA.
COLLEGES: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Dartmouth, MIT, Cornell, Brown, Columbia, UPenn, Princeton, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Purdue, Penn State, UMich, UC Berkeley, UCLA.

Kindly respond soon.

2

UCs do not give merit/financial aid to internationals, so Berkeley and UCLA are off your list.

Despite your standardized test scores, you have too many reach schools. Purdue and Penn State seem the most likely for an acceptance, but they will be expensive.

If FA is needed, look to a LAC.

Is there any chance of you staying in India for undergrad and getting a good enough GPA for a possibility of going to a US graduate school fully funded?

Do more research about best fit schools instead of grabbing a laundry list of Top-25 schools. Prestige isn’t everything.

3

Thanks for the reply. I am applying to colleges in the UK and Canada as well, so I thought rather than applying for safety schools in US, I should apply only to reach schools. I’m pretty sure of getting into Canada and UK colleges, so only applying to reach in the US seemed like a good way to go for me.

4

The big strike against you for admissions to a US school is the need for financial aid. Unless you have some sort of international recognition, the Top-20 schools are likely rejections for international students.

5

Thanks for the response. I realise that the financial aid is basically an anti hook, but I can’t afford a US education solely on the basis of my current financials. I would have to either take a loan out or get sponsored some other way. It is one of the major reasons why I chose such top 20 colleges, because I don’t think anything less than that is worth the money paid. HYPM are need blind and also unbelievably competitive, while others are need aware but offer aid. UC’s have a lower fee as compared to the others and given the A Level grades I get, I could skip almost an entire year so I don’t feel bad about taking out a loan for them. Also, their deadline is earlier and they admit more Indians as compared to the other colleges.

6

Are you able to get a loan in India? You will not be able to get a loan from an American lender without an American co-signor. You will also have to be prepared to show proof of funds before you will be able to get a visa.

As long as you are sure of being able to get into college in your own country or in a third country, your strategy of applying to American reach schools is fine.

7

At 65,000 a year for OOS/international students, UCs are not significantly cheaper than private schools and there will be little to no financial aid.

As I mentioned above, look into LACs. Not sure about what their aid is like, but your potential linguistics major might be a fit for Middlebury.

8

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I am able to get a loan from banks in India. As for UC’s not being as cheap as others, I do not plan on getting an accommodation from the college as I have relatives I can stay with in the West Coast for the UC’s, which makes it cheaper for me. I personally would not like to go to a LAC, because I honestly don’t know a lot about them, but will research further. Thanks for the help. :slight_smile:

9

Any others out there? Please feel free to advise further. Thanks.