I think you should apply to a few reaches. Your chances are 0 if you don’t apply. However, make sure you also apply to safeties and matches. If you can apply to some safety/matches with rolling admissions and a reach school(s) EA, REA or ED, it might help you narrow your list as you will get some results before the RD deadlines.
@STEMGeek16 There must be a complete list of hooks on this site somewhere. Other examples would be: donor, outstanding ability in some facet ( for example, you were a Presidential arts scholar, or you wrote an article for a major publication or you are the world YO-Yo champion). Think of it as being or having something that benefits the college in some way.
There are books and lists which divide schools based on various stats. Take a look and apply to most that are similar to your own, some below and maybe 1 or 2 above. But be honest with yourself. Don’t put yourself in the wrong category because you want to be accepted in at least one place. Ask someone at your school to help place you in the right category.
I would recommend Purdue as a really good CS school that’s attainable for unhooked intl applicants.
I think you definitely have a shot at ivies and UC Berkeley and UCLA. You definitely have a strong STEM hook and are a lot more qualified to go to a top school compared to a lot of other kids that get in from my school, which is a competitive high school. Please chance me on my thread!
You have to pay close attention to the percentage of international students that a given school admits. HYPM are extremely hard for international students to get into, because they’re need-blind and full-need-met for international applicants and thus attract every highly-qualified high-need applicant in the world, vying for only 10-13% of the spots in each entering class.
OTOH, Columbia, where 16% of undergrads are international and intl. admissions are need-aware, is a reach but not a ridiculous reach like HYPM.
However, there are plenty of non-Ivies that are as strong in CS as Columbia, or stronger.
This is a useful list. https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/most-international A lot of these schools rely heavily on full-pay international student to make their budgets balance. If the pandemic reduces the number of full-pay international applicants, which it almost certainly will, students like you will have an easier time getting in. You’d be a strong candidate for merit aid at URochester, Northeastern, RPI, and CWRU, and they’re all excellent schools. CMU is one of the top 3 CS programs in the nation - super competitive for CS but worth a shot. (UW-Seattle and UIUC have top CS program too, but tough to get direct-admit to CS for OOS/intl applicants.) UCSD and Irvine would both be good UC targets, in addition to UCB and UCLA. (They’ll likely end up more expensive than URoch/Northeastern/etc. with merit, though.) Purdue would be a relatively affordable OOS public but with comparably strong CS to the others.
Hope that helps - you should have lots of great options!
Yes, you have chances of getting into highly selective schools. You certainly should pick a number of such schools for your list and work on putting together applications showing how you would be a great addition to those schools that are the best matches for you.
Even more challenging is finding schools that are certainties for you in terms of admissions and priced so that your family is comfortable paying COA. Make sure you find several of those too.
It might be diffivult for you to find schools that fit your idea of prestige that will give you the aid and/or scholarships you want
Thank you for the advice everyone! This took care of most of my doubts and concerns. I will speak with my counselor regarding all this. I appreciate your all’s valuable advice!