Will my profile being extremely one-dimensional hurt my chances?

Applying to College
21

This will only help you if those colleges also meet full financial need for ALL accepted international students. There are many many need blind colleges that don’t come even close to meeting full need for all of their accepted students.

ETA…I’ve read all of your other chance me threads. You are an international student from India. There are thousands of extremely well qualified students from your region applying for admission to these private colleges. They only have so many seats…and admissions for international students are very very low…think single digits.

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22

A spike in Physics would have helped you with Chicago if that spike were an IPhO placement. Otherwise UChicago may not be able to evaluate if you truly have a spike coming from a high school and recommenders who they really don’t know anything about.

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This would seem like an artificial selection on your part if you intend it as part of an admission strategy. If you are going to apply to Columbia, it would be best if you want its core curriculum (as well as its decidedly urban setting).

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Not Columbia, but my kids’ colleges had strong core curriculum requirements. NOT because they wanted people interested in many things. They had it because they wanted their students to be exposed to many different things. And you know what? Some kids found interesting things that would have not been in their comfort zones, and switched gears in college.

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Please remember the high cost of living in the cities and additional transportation costs and airport access from the smaller cities/towns plus 4 seasons of clothing depending on where you land. I admit I have not read the entire thread and from what I did read, you need significant financial
aid and it is important to remember cost of living expenses.

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nah I am choosing Columbia because of its Physics faculty and on going research. I do like the core curriculum because I enjoy many different subjects and learning about many other things and the core curriculum would push me so thats that

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I can afford that much

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yeaa and thats what I really like about the core curriculum.

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Many schools have gen eds/ distribution requirements that expose students to many different areas of interest. I am not sure the core curriculum is a strong “why us” argument.

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30

yeaaaa

31

Other than that stimulated by your interview, do you not have an intrinsic interest in Hamilton? Regardless of your response, you should know through your own research that its recent graduates and faculty have been recognized by the American Physical Society for their promise and contributions to physics.

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yeaaa, I like the school a lot, its pretty good for Physics. I didnt know about the APS thing but I sure can use it for their supplements. Thankyou so much

33

Hamilton is not need blind. That does not mean you won’t get in or receive the aid you need, but it does mean that pot of aid available for internationals is probably very competitive.

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yeaaa :sob::sob::sob: Universities that are generous with aid are very hard to get in, colleges that give aid but are statistically easier to get in becomes really hard if you ask for aid. Everything is just so compettitive :sob::sob:

35

Then you should consider applying to non-competitive public schools that giver merit to internationals. It will still cost - but cost less - and many still produce graduates that work for top companies and agencies. It just depends - can you afford $20K, etc.?

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I think applying to top schools that are need blind or have financial aid for internationals is fine since there is a good back up option in the home country. $20K/year is a lot for a lot of people.

@tsbna44 if you know of publics with full rides for talented internationals, maybe you could share!

37

Alabama maybe?

38

Not full rides - but I know, if at top, Bama will award $28K.

Others aggressive here maybe not so much.

Obviously, OP wants a “top named” school and based on terms thrown around, that seems like the right place. There’s always things like Randall Research at Bama.

I was looking at schools like Troy, Arkansas, State, Southern MIss - schools that might be dirt cheap for the creme de la creme of domestic students but I’m not seeing that international. Another person recommended NM Tech but it doesn’t look like the price point gets there. Neither does SD School of MInes - about $30Kish.

Bama has a COA of low 50s. Auto merit - assuming a 3.5 in HS and a 32 ACT or 1420 SAT will be $28K off. Additionally, there’s an international scholarship (competitive) of up to $6K - but have to watch deadlines.

A school like LA Tech - hard to tell - they don’t annualize their cost but it’s quarters - so i’m guessing $25K. Top students get the OOS waiver.

I was just reading about W. Carolina - and they note - NC Promise: All international undergraduate students, both residential and online, attending WCU will receive dramatically reduced student tuition costs only of $2,500 per semester as part of a new program from the State of North Carolina called the NC Promise Tuition Plan.

So maybe that’d be $20K-ish at W Carolina?

U of MN Morris - has been recommended to another OP seeking low cost. While COA is $28K or so, it mentions auto merit (doesn’t say not for intl) as well as reduced tuition for intl - so may be worth a look.

I understand this is not what OP is looking for and I hope he hits upon one of the top schools he is seeking. If a home school works alternatively, then great.

But if coming to the US is a must, then I’m simply trying to hail mary options.

Good luck to OP.

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Thankyouuuu so much!! These are gold!! I will surely look in some of them but the only problem is that my efc is around 5k. My family earns 30k a year so paying 20k-ish would be pretty hard itself but I will apply to one of these for sure. Once again thankyou so much

40

I do hope you hit upon the hail mary schools. I forget your stats, etc. but anyone who talks about string theory is well ahead of most here :slight_smile:

And I hope you have solid options back home should you need them.