What is my chance at any ivy league or Amherst university?

[Nopejam]

@pandoraaa

I’m an applicant from India in the CBSE curriculum as well, but I’m a year older than you so I’ve finished my applications and am now waiting for results (as well as trying to study for my boards ?). My stats are similar to yours, 1550 SAT, 800 sat math level 2, 760 French and 780 literature, 9.7 GPA across high school and 97.2 percent 10th board (btw your 10th score doesn’t matter more than 9th and 11th and 12th half yearly, even tho these are not at all important in India. So you need great grades throughout your transcript.) Your extracurriculars look great as well, remarkably similar to my own except I’m grossly untalented at athletics. And don’t try to improve your SAT score since I saw you mentioned that somewhere. After you cross 1500/1550 nobody cares and it won’t increase your chances if the score is a few points more.

I know how you feel, since in the Indian curriculum stats are given great importance and when you get a 1500+ SAT score you immediately think Ivy League, and that’s the only thing Indian relatives understand and give importance to lol

But having gone through months and months of research and firsthand experience and talking to career counsellors, I have a much better view of the whole picture. It may seem extremely unfair, but your financial need will put you at a great disadvantage. That’s just how it is, since most schools are need blind for only US citizens. So my Indian friends who were born in the US and have citizenship there have an exponentially higher chance of acceptance at many unis even tho we have the same education same stats and same paying capacity. The schools you’ve mentioned, while need blind, are suuuuuper selective and have a >1% acceptance rate for internationals. But you should for sure take your chances there, because they’re so selective that it almost becomes a lottery and you never know ?

However, don’t bother applying to UC Berkeley. Or any other UC or public universities for that matter, since they give zero aid to out of state/internationals. So UCs will only give aid to California residents mostly. That would truly be a waste of application fee bec 20,000 dollars is very low compared to the tuition fee at UC.

I would also recommend you look at other lower ranked but still great schools with higher international acceptance rates and financial aid. It’s a long process but I know a lot now and I could list a few if you want but I’m not entirely sure what you’re looking for. A school doesn’t have to be need blind, and still give good aid so do your research. In The Ivy League itself, you might have better chances at Cornell but financial aid is a problem unless you luck out with the Tata Scholarship for Indians. I’m also aware that it might be a situation where you’ll either go to places like Harvard Princeton or stay at home and go to an IIT or something. If that’s the case then well, apply to Harvard and Princeton but just know to not expect a lot.

Also, know that when you google the acceptance rate for an uni, it’s for all applicants and the international acceptance rate is muchhhh lower. Schools give preference to their own citizens first, even when it’s not a question of financial aid. You should look at the published CDS data for each uni and see the number of internationals to get an accurate picture. And find out which unis alumni from your school have gotten into with good aid. Also, consider applying Early Decision to a place where you have reasonable chances bec it really boosts your odds of getting in.

Whoa, that was long but I just really empathise with you so ?? good luck!

That’s a lot of useful information. Thank you. Yes my situation is similar as u mentioned iit or ivy. I have no interest to study in iit since I want to do a major and a minor degree (cs and psychology respectively).

Yes, please do recommend me some colleges. Can I know what u applied to?
Best of luck with your application and acceptance.

Thank you so much for replying.

[Nopejam]

@Nopejam

@pandoraaa

I’m an applicant from India in the CBSE curriculum as well, but I’m a year older than you so I’ve finished my applications and am now waiting for results (as well as trying to study for my boards ?). My stats are similar to yours, 1550 SAT, 800 sat math level 2, 760 French and 780 literature, 9.7 GPA across high school and 97.2 percent 10th board (btw your 10th score doesn’t matter more than 9th and 11th and 12th half yearly, even tho these are not at all important in India. So you need great grades throughout your transcript.) Your extracurriculars look great as well, remarkably similar to my own except I’m grossly untalented at athletics. And don’t try to improve your SAT score since I saw you mentioned that somewhere. After you cross 1500/1550 nobody cares and it won’t increase your chances if the score is a few points more.

I know how you feel, since in the Indian curriculum stats are given great importance and when you get a 1500+ SAT score you immediately think Ivy League, and that’s the only thing Indian relatives understand and give importance to lol

But having gone through months and months of research and firsthand experience and talking to career counsellors, I have a much better view of the whole picture. It may seem extremely unfair, but your financial need will put you at a great disadvantage. That’s just how it is, since most schools are need blind for only US citizens. So my Indian friends who were born in the US and have citizenship there have an exponentially higher chance of acceptance at many unis even tho we have the same education same stats and same paying capacity. The schools you’ve mentioned, while need blind, are suuuuuper selective and have a >1% acceptance rate for internationals. But you should for sure take your chances there, because they’re so selective that it almost becomes a lottery and you never know ?

However, don’t bother applying to UC Berkeley. Or any other UC or public universities for that matter, since they give zero aid to out of state/internationals. So UCs will only give aid to California residents mostly. That would truly be a waste of application fee bec 20,000 dollars is very low compared to the tuition fee at UC.

I would also recommend you look at other lower ranked but still great schools with higher international acceptance rates and financial aid. It’s a long process but I know a lot now and I could list a few if you want but I’m not entirely sure what you’re looking for. A school doesn’t have to be need blind, and still give good aid so do your research. In The Ivy League itself, you might have better chances at Cornell but financial aid is a problem unless you luck out with the Tata Scholarship for Indians. I’m also aware that it might be a situation where you’ll either go to places like Harvard Princeton or stay at home and go to an IIT or something. If that’s the case then well, apply to Harvard and Princeton but just know to not expect a lot.

Also, know that when you google the acceptance rate for an uni, it’s for all applicants and the international acceptance rate is muchhhh lower. Schools give preference to their own citizens first, even when it’s not a question of financial aid. You should look at the published CDS data for each uni and see the number of internationals to get an accurate picture. And find out which unis alumni from your school have gotten into with good aid. Also, consider applying Early Decision to a place where you have reasonable chances bec it really boosts your odds of getting in.

Whoa, that was long but I just really empathise with you so ?? good luck!

That’s a lot of useful information. Thank you. Yes my situation is similar as u mentioned iit or ivy. I have no interest to study in iit since I want to do a major and a minor degree (cs and psychology respectively).

Yes, please do recommend me some colleges. Can I know what u applied to?
Best of luck with your application and acceptance.

Thank you so much for replying.

I know I am putting you on spot. But here is my email
annabethjune@gmail.com (lol I just created it) can you contact me since I have a lot of questions and u seem to be a person who knows the answer. I would be extremely grateful if you would. And what happened to your results?

I would understand if u don’t email me
Thank you

[IvyCentral]

Hi Nopejam,

I have worked with a lot of international students that want a US education but cannot afford the fees. This is, unfortunately, the biggest hurdle since most top universities, despite being “Need Blind” are not entirely “need-blind” to International students; so your first step should be to aim for scholarship rather than aid.

I have seen profiles like yours and while academically brilliant; you are lacking distinct capabilities or achievements that the Ivies and many of the top tier schools are looking for. Which grade are you currently in?

I feel the Ivies, UC’s and Amherst are out of contention (Sorry, being brutal based on what I have read on your profile). I would suggest you aim for those schools that will give you merit consideration (please read the difference between aid and merit, many international students and parents mix the two up). Simply put, in most cases, Aid is NEED (your parents cannot afford college) and Merit (you are simply the top tier student for their school and they will pay your bills to have you attend them as their scholar).

Since you cannot afford a US college education; your best bet is to nail a great top 100 school with full merit. Try USC (Reach), BU, Emory, WashU, UMiami, Richmond (Target); I have seen them give merit to most of my students who needed it. Stay away from State schools because they have little to no money for international candidates so would be a straightforward rejection. And do not apply with financial aid checked (you won’t get any and it’s going to ruin all your chances of acceptance), and hopefully, you will get merit consideration at these schools which would pay the big bill.

Get your priorities right… Aim for those schools that will give you a brilliant 4 year UG education. Then take that, make some money and aim for the Ivies for your post-grad years. Trust me, you would be happier this way. And yea, since your parents would obviously want you to still apply for aid; do so and get those rejections, and hopefully, you will then pull out a great school win with full merit and you will get to go there. Good Luck.

Ps. Get some research work in CS done prior to applying (Top Tip).

[momofboiler1]

I completely disagree with not applying for aid if you need it. Full merit awards are few and far between at the schools listed above. IMO you have a better chance of combining merit with need based aid.

[IvyCentral]

@momofboiler1

I completely disagree with not applying for aid if you need it. Full merit awards are few and far between at the schools listed above. IMO you have a better chance of combining merit with need based aid.

Need for Financial Aid is one of the biggest reasons for international students getting rejected from US schools. While some students do get them; most do not. I feel aiming for the right type of scholarship options is a better option than aiming for the lowest admit rate schools in the world and expecting aid on top. However, aiming for a couple that offers international aid is always good.

[momofboiler1]

But if a student is accepted and never applied for aid, then it’s as good as a rejection.

[IvyCentral]

A secret: Get in first and ask for aid later (you can still bag the money from Need Blind schools in most circumstances). Done it and got it. Works most of the time.

[blossom]

IvyCentral- you do understand the difference between Need Blind and Meets Full Need, do you not? Your secret isn’t much of a secret at the vast majority of colleges in the US.