perazziman

Maaz, If I had to guess, I would say your chances of being accepted to Bates should be good, if you get SAT Subject Test scores in the 700s. Your GPA seems fine. The Writing section of the SAT is slightly weak, but hopefully it will pick up when you retake. So, it is certainly worth taking a shot. You might also want to consider Richmond. They have given some generous scholarships, as blulovexD can attest, in the past.

cursingmonk

@cuppycake,

Thanks for the reply. Well the chances of getting into MIT seem very, very slim for international students from what I've heard. What are the chances for the others for a good student (SAT around 2100, all As in A levels)?

perazziman

cursingmonk, in my opinion, Caltech, Princeton, Stanford are about the same as MIT. Also, you may want to explore Rice, Penn, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Brown, WUSTL, Lehigh, Olin, Cooper, Harvery Mudd, Swarthmore, Bucknell and Rose Hulman. even though they are state universities I think A&M and UT Austin are also worth considering, since they are extremely wealthy.

G33Kster

I recently won a science quiz at the EME Olympiad, beating NUST, UET, GIKI and other top universities. Does that help my chances?

cuppycake08

The thing is, when an international student applies for financial aid, it does cut their chances of getting in. So no one can accurately predict which colleges you would most likely get into.
I think you should look into the colleges perazziman and I listed, go through their requirements and all, and then decide where all you want to apply. Oh and check out Cooper Union, it is extremely difficult to get into, but every student who is accepted gets a full tuition scholarship for all four years. Also, it's one of the best engineering schools in the world. And it's in New York. Another route you could take is studying engineering at a liberal arts college. Look for one which has a majority of female students, since that would make it easier for you to be admitted. And if I were you, I'd retake the SAT. Also, you would need subject SATs.
Hope this helps.

cursingmonk

I actually haven't taken SATs yet, but I heard someone say that if you got 2100 or above in SATs you shouldn't bother taking them again. Any truth in that?

perazziman

For engineering, cursingmonk, you really should try to score 750+ on SAT I math and SAT II Math II & Physics Subject Tests, esp if you are looking for scholarships. Then, ~700 on SAT CR and Writing.

cuppycake08

Err yeah, I agree with perazziman. You'll need physics and math for engineering. Also, you really should resit the SAT. I wouldn't be comfortable with a 2100 if I knew I could improve.

cursingmonk

Thanks 10char

Maaz997

@Perazziman @cursingmonk @cuppycake @bluelove
I have a decision to make as soon as possible on where to apply ED.
I am down to Macalester and Bates.
Please help me select one that is academically better known, will offer me a great financial aid package on being accepted and finally where I have a better chance of being accepted.

bluelovexD

@Maaz. How about you putting everything aside and think which one you would LIKE more? Since you still RD as back up, ED the one that you like more and hope for the best.
Worst case scenario, you apply RD to the other school.

cuppycake08

Yeah, what bluelove said. If I were you, I would ED to my dream college, not one people told me was a practical choice or where I would most likely get in.

oldfashioned

What are u guys doing about the high school transcripts?? I mean, here in Pakistan we obviously don't get the transcripts like the students in U.S high schools do. For e.g, my school just gives us the official CIE results mostly. That's it. So what to do? Are we supposed to just send out our official CIE results then?

Please reply since this is really bothering me :|

perazziman

Yes G33Kster, winning such events will be seen positively. EME is a well known branch of the Pakistan Army. Those are well known Engineering colleges.

leo118

Hey guys!
I'm joining this thread for the first time this year. I'm actually an applicant to the class of 2016 from Dubai. I applied to five need-blind schools in the US and well, failed. However, I'm planning to give it a shot again this year as a gap year student, and am exploring other options, even those that are not need-blind.

So yea, lemme just reinforce what everybody's been saying around this thread- if you need tonnes of aid, don't limit yourself to the need-blinds. Explore your options. Especially the LACs.

Now to come back to me :P I'm applying to Williams College ED. Yes another far-fetched choice but I'm with cuppycake on the idea that you should apply early to your 'dream college'.

So I have the same question as oldfashioned, and its been bothering me ever since my rejections. I actually sent my term results along with the final board results (Brit system here too), and the thing is- my mock results sucked! They were the highest in my class but they're still mostly B's, few As and Cs and even a D and an E! In April I was convinced they ruined my application, but now I'm not so sure. After all, Ivy admissions are a crapshoot so you can't pinpoint the blame on one thing...

But, to get to the problem- now I'm torn between the decision- should I have my counselor send the term results along with A level grades or just avoid them in this year's app?