Type of high school: Private local high school with scholarship
Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Female, White
Hook: Impacted by big floods (country declared a national disaster) in my region
Intended Major(s): International Relations/Global Affairs
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 98/100
IB Predicted 776 HL, 566 SL
Class Rank: Does not rank, N/A
ACT/SAT Scores: Test Optional
Coursework
Doing the IB, taking SL science, math, mother tongue; HL politics econ english as a second language
Awards
Regional Debate Runner-Up
Low-Middle Level International Essay Competition Winner
School-Based Student Excellency Award
Model UN Awards
Extracurriculars (Ranked from most impact to lowest)
Continent-Wide Political Youth Organization: Leadership Positions Across 4 years
Founded Own International Relations Non-Profit, Reached Globally
Doing IR Research with Columbia University Professor
Competed in an international ecology based competition, went to finals abroad
Women’s Right’s NPO - got international grant for it
Interned for a local company for 3 months, increased their exports by 70%
Language Tutoring Online
Led 3 clubs at school
Essays/LORs/Other
My essays might be mid but because of my hook, I don’t think they’ll be horrible. LOR from the Columbia Professor (mid to good), School Politics Teacher, and Employer
Cost Constraints / Budget
I won’t be able to attend anywhere unless I’m given a 100% scholarship. Income is around 50k USD per year from both parents.
I’m also looking for matches if anyone can give me recommendations! Any place that will admit me and give me a 100% need-based scholarship would be amazing!
This will impact your college prospects at any need aware school (meaning that there are colleges that consider the financial need when considering the admissions application). Plus getting a full ride as an international isn’t guaranteed either at MOST places.
UPenn, Rice, Barnard, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, NYU, Vanderbilt, Stanford are all need aware for international students.
These are the colleges that are BOTH need blind AND guarantee to meet full need for all international students:
Amherst College.
Bowdoin College.
Brown University (Brown will be need-blind for international students beginning with the Class of 2029.)
Dartmouth College.
Harvard University.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Princeton University.
Yale University.
Apply and see because you can’t get accepted if you don’t apply, but your list is a reach list of colleges for all international students.
Many of these have single digit acceptance rates.
Would you like some other suggestions of colleges here? Please let us know. But getting 100% funding means that all colleges here are reaches for you.
Please please find some sure things that are affordable in your home country.
I’m sorry to hear that and I hope you and your family are doing ok now.
But unfortunately this is not a hook. A “hook” is an attribute that aligns with a college’s institutional priorities. And flood-impacted students aren’t a priority for any college I know of.
I agree with @thumper1’s points. Given your need for full funding every school in the US will be a reach for you.
Also keep in mind that after graduation you will be expected to return to your country.
As others are also pointing out, need-based aid for internationals has very limited funding in the US. Some colleges offer none, and others very carefully ration it out. They are what is called need aware for internationals, and will only admit high need internationals if they really want that specific international student.
To really assess your chances, it would be best to get information from someone familiar with your country, and ideally your school. At what US colleges do similar applicants get admitted despite being high need? What credentials do they usually need to make that work? I note IB is generally good for being competitive, but the lack of US entrance exams like the ACT/SAT might be a problem for some colleges. Again, it would be ideal to see if high need people with that profile from your school/country are doing well with US colleges, and if so which colleges.
As a final thought, there are a variety of private US colleges that might be very interested in using some of their limited aid budget for internationals on you, but that are not “T20s”. Sometimes internationals just prefer their non-US options, which is fine. But if you are really interested in college in the US, it can pay be to be open-minded about exactly which colleges in the US.
What area of the world are you from?
How supportive will your school’s admin&faculty be?
I think for best odds due to needing a full ride you should ED Brown/Amherst/Bowdoin, or go all in with SCEA/rea at 1 of HYP and ED2 Amherst/Bowdoin/Brown.
