Chance a *delusional* African international student for the Ivy Plus [3.90 GPA, 1550 SAT, $0 from parents]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

*International student

  • State/Location of residency: West Africa
  • Type of high school: Large urban public high school
  • Other special factors: first generation to college

Cost Constraints / Budget
Parent Contribution is $0

**Intended Major(s): Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering or Environmental Engineering

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.90
  • Class Rank: Not given
  • SAT Scores: 1550

List your HS coursework

All subjects are from the West African Secondary School Certificate Examinations. ( WASSCE)

  • English:

  • Math:(Pre-Calculus through Calculus I )

  • Science: Biology, Chemistry, Physics

  • History and social studies:

  • Other academic courses: Information and Communication Technology

  • Major preparation coursework:
    Calculus
    Python Programming

Awards
Best live pitch award at the World Smarts STEM Challenge

Extracurriculars

  1. Researcher & Presenter at World Smarts STEM Challenge 2023: Led a US/Ghanaian team to design a prototype that converts plastic bottles into 3D filaments.

  2. Presenter at Climate Youth Dialogue:
    A UNITAR organized dialogue between high school students in Ghana and Italy

  3. Volunteer Tutor at Excel Montessori School : About 40 hours per week for 18 weeks

  4. Participant in Zindi Machine Learning Competitions ( similar to Kaggle competitions): Ranked in the top 20% currently

  5. Manager at a Retail Bookstore that served 100s of students

  6. Attendant at an IT shop that also served 100s of white collar workers and students

  7. Member of Science and Maths Club: As a senior member I lead physics discussions and share scientific articles in meetings

  8. Writer at the WriteTheWorld: Read and review writings of others & publish my own writing.

  9. Class Captain: Managed a class of 60 students

Essays/LORs/Other
Personal Statement: ~7.5/10
Supplemental Essay: ~7/10
Teacher 1 LOR: 8.5/10
Teacher 2 LOR: ~7/10

Schools
UPenn (SEAS) Early Decision
Yale
Brown
Harvard
Columbia University
Duke
Vassar
Amherst
Williams
Claremont Mckenna
Pomona College

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability):
  • Extremely Likely:
  • Likely:
  • Toss-up: Vassar, Claremont Mckenna, Pomona
  • Lower Probability: Yale, Harvard
  • Low Probability: UPenn, Brown, Columbia
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You are an accomplished student and I wish you well, but you need to recognize that every college on your list is low probability. Also be aware that even if you get a “full ride”, your family may be responsible for expenses such as travel, health insurance, books, spending money, etc. which can run into the thousands of dollars.

It is great to apply to some US colleges and give it your all. But I hope you also seek out affordable options in your home country as a back-up plan.

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I would start with the observation that getting a really large aid offer from a US college as an International is incredibly difficult. There are just far too few offers available collectively in the entire US, and far too many highly qualified Internationals applying for those offers, so necessarily the large majority of highly qualified Internationals who seek such an offer cannot get one. Full pay Internationals face a MUCH better admissions situation, but high need Internationals need to be prepared for the large chance they simply will not be able to afford college in the US.

OK, but if you want to take a shot at it anyway, then I think you need to further understand you cannot really afford to be overly picky about, say, the US News rankings of your US college. As it happens, there is an imperfect correlation between institutional wealth and International aid budgets, and then also an imperfect correlation between institutional wealth and generic US News rankings, so there is an imperfect correlation between International aid budgets and US News rankings. However, it is so imperfect you cannot rely on US News rankings to identify your best chances for aid.

As an example, you are interested in Engineering, but you are listing some colleges that do not even have Engineering. This means these colleges are not a particularly good fit for you, but you are also not a particularly good fit for them, which means less chance of you winning that incredibly difficult competition for International aid from such colleges. I am not saying you necessarily have to rule out all such colleges, but you need to be aware of this issue when choosing colleges.

OK, so as an example of an alternative, consider Lafayette College. Lafayette is an unusual “LAC” in that it does have a robust engineering program. It has majors in both Mechanical:

And then something they call Integrative Engineering, which can be done with an Environment & Energy focus:

Then Lafayette does not have the highest budget for International aid, but it does have a decent one. So, for example, in their 2024-25 Common Data Set, Lafayette reported a total budget for International aid of $7,263,494.

For comparison, Claremont McKenna reported a total budget of $2,948,266. In fact, only 43/206 International students at CMC were getting aid (about 21%), whereas at Lafayette it was 105/189 (56%) (note this basically scales to the size of their budget, which makes sense).

OK, so CMC is currently ranked #8 on the generic US News LAC list, Lafayette #31. But Lafayette is already a better choice for someone interested in Engineering because it actually has Engineering, and in fact specifically has the types of Engineering you are interested in considering. AND they are actually a much better bet for an International who needs aid.

So this is just an example, but it is the kind of thing you need to be looking at if you really want to maximize your chances of being able to go to college in the US.

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I agree with what @NiceUnparticularMan says. It’s not just about picking Ivies or schools with more money, it’s about picking a college where you have a chance of being admitted based on your status and your financial issues.

So you picked engineering. When you return to your country, do you have a good chance of being employed in West Africa?

I think that international students, often mistake their chances, to stay long-term in the US, after they become educated by US colleges and universities.

When you are admitted to a US college/university, That means the US government is giving you permission to study as a guest. It does not give you permanent residency. You would be expected to return to your home country after you’ve been educated.

Some students can find one to three years of “work experience” through an OPT program, but that option is becoming more limited.
Sponsorships by engineering corporations should NOT be expected. The trend right now is showing layoffs. So, your work options at home need to be considered. Have you researched engineering firms in your home area that would be able to employ you? This is something for you to consider.

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Much harder to be given an offer of admission to Claremont McKenna and to Pomona college than you realize.

Claremont McKenna does not align with your desired areas of study. Based on your intended major(s), Lafayette College would be a better school for your interests than would Claremont McKenna College.

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Keep in mind that you are asking a college in a foreign country to gift you an education which they value at close to $400,000.

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I believe you qualify for the presidential scholarship at Howard University, which includes a full ride. You can ask them to confirm.

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Lower Probability:

  • Duke
  • Williams
  • Amherst
  • Vassar
  • Claremont McKenna
  • Pomona College

Low Probability:

  • Yale
  • Harvard
  • UPenn
  • Brown
  • Columbia

A full ride is unlikely. You must spread those acceptance rates. Every school on this list has an acceptance rate below ~18%, and for international students needing full aid, actual admit rates are often in the low single digits.