Chance Me For T10s (I Don't Know Where I Should Apply šŸ˜¢) [international, 88/95/87 GPA, 1530 SAT, CS / finance, high financial need]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Currently a junior, I am happy to take any advice on ECs, Awards, Acads or any opinions as well. Itā€™s a very long post so I bolded all important details.

Medical Problem- Had a triple surgery (nasal tract and septum) at start of junior year, so I was unable to attend my school for like 1.5 months so my academics suffered.

Demographics- Indian (Male); Household Income ~60K; Financial Aid- Will apply to aid at most schools, maybe all because I have safeties lined up in other countries.

Major- Finance/CS

Academics-

GPA- 88, 95, 87 (exp), 94+ (pred) | Explanation- Heavy grade deflation in class 9,11; school curriculum is one of the toughest in the country. Highest scorer in junior year last year got a 89. Took highest math available each year.

Rank- School doesnā€™t publish but will be 1st or 2nd in terms of 10+ applicants abroad.

SAT- 1530; Should I give TOEFL since my school has taught in English since KG.

AP- Micro (5); Macro (5); CSP & Statistic (This year); Calc BC (Senior); will probably throw in more gen ed for senior year.

Extracurriculars (Unorganized)-

Non Profits and Projects-

  • Ran an investment research company, provided insights on stocks, economics online via newsletter, social media and data visualizations. Covered 200 quarterly earning calls and published 4 (15 page) research papers on stocks (analyst reports basically). Got 1.5M views in 8 months. Readers at State Street, Bloomberg, Dell, Barclays, Fannie Mae etc. Also presented my analyst work at 2 funds. [I have more passion and love for this than I do for anything else, there are a lot of more small things about this that Iā€™m proud of] (2.5 years)(Started sophomore)
  • Finance NPO- Led team of 10 and taught basics of saving and investing through direct sessions (4k attendees) and via a financial literacy program; provided materials and lectures to NGOs and Schools in 4 countries (20k kids taught this way). (2 years)(Started sophomore)
  • Business Community- Co-founded a business community around entrepreneurship; got 300 members in 1 month will probably scale to 3k members by senior year. Ran a weekly newsletter, published startup and founder stories (even interviewed 2-3 to publish stories). Weā€™ll conduct talks with founders in our city and will run a big event (500+) where weā€™ll invite a billionaire startup founder. Ran a business pitch competition with 500 participating teams, also conducted a course of 1 week on design thinking; basically like a summer program.(Started junior)
  • CS Projects- Created 30 different automated Twitter Bots regarding finance, created 2 small python apps that provide financial information like a companyā€™s accounts by just typing in name, utilised API endpoints to daily record stock ratings, currently trying to build a news API (2k developers interested); also built 5 different websites (1 personal portfolio one that is very impressive to submit in additional info section); also learnt to repair laptops and did repair 5 laptops. Created a prototype for an entirely green air purifier, for a blockchain app and a mechanical keyboard.
  • NPO on Adenoids- This was a surgery I underwent, so I co-founded this non profit with my friend; we partnered with 2 doctors to run a patient camp and also spread information regarding this problem in kids to 200 doctors which was important because my own father being a doctor didnā€™t know I needed surgery for this. (Started Junior)
  • I do have one more volunteering EC that is very unique, its quite a bit high impact; I am 99.99% sure AOs wonā€™t have seen this in their life; and I might use it in my essays but canā€™t reveal it since itā€™s instant dox.

Research and Internships

  • Wrote 1 research paper on economics- regarding the state of the tourism industry in the US during the pandemic. Analyzed trends of revenue tourism on 8 different public companies (30 pages); and have submitted a draft to a publisher. I might write a second one on EVs since I had started that as well. (Junior)
  • Internship Government of India: Interned at a central government agency where I worked with a general manager to write a research paper (20 pages) on the Indian banking sector. MIGHT be published idk yet. Heā€™s happy to write an LOR. (4 months, a few hours a week) (Junior year)
  • Ambassador for Harvard Crimsonā€™s yearly high school competitions- Will receive an LOR, had like 75-100 signups for every event I marketed. Top 5 or 3 ambassadors. Was paid for achievements as well. (3 months)(Junior/Senior)
  • Internship at a small wealth management company in the US. I was an equity research intern so I created a presentation deck on automotive stocks and helped in creating more decks.
  • Campus Ambassador for IIT Indore- Marketed entrepreneurship summit across my city, got like around 50 signups. Also created their registration portal and forms. (1.5 Month)(Sophomore)
  • Currently being mentored by a Financial Engineer from Fannie Mae, who has said heā€™ll mentor me anyways and will bring me on as an intern next year in his team or bring me on team when he starts his own hedge fund next year. Heā€™s taught me and guided me a lot.
  • Just started an internship at a local hospital where Iā€™ll be working/helping with the owner and CEO to bring drone based delivery of blood to required facilities. Since technically this is a joint venture, I am an intern for both the hospital and the national defense contractor but IDK which one Iā€™ll be under yet.

Other Stuff-

  • I volunteered for a cybersecurity non profit group where we would come together in teams to use social engineering to find evidence in missing person cases; the evidence we would collect would then go to police/FBI to find the person. I contributed at 5 events (only happens 4 times a year) and my team submitted over 10 pieces of evidence that would contribute to active cases.
  • Personal stock trading- beat market by 90% over 3 years.
  • Fortnite player professionally (top 10 in India) and top 0.04% worldwide of 4M players. Got recruited by a small org for a year. Ran a gaming channel with a 1M views and around 2K subs. Also coached players in tournaments that placed top 100 in Asia.
  • Biking/Gyming- 4 years I have biked around 1/2-1 hr daily; Junior/Senior year went to the gym everyday for 2 hours.
  • Cooked dinner for me and my brother for 2 years since no one else would cook non-vegetarian; I liked doing it because I have been baking and cooking for a long time.
  • Schoolā€™s Head Delegate for 3 MUNs, Chaired 1 MUN, Technical USG for 1.
  • Finance Club President (3 years) with over 600 club members in total over this time.
  • Head Boy of School (Senior)

Summer Program-

  • Design Thinking summer program at Dartmouth; basically an engineering college class where I really liked my professor so I ended up taking his help to start the same thing for my business community. Got full scholarship for this.
  • Computer Science Youth of America summer program on AI/ML.

Awards-

  • IIT Bombay International Entrepreneurship Olympiad- Top 3; passed 3 levels against 10k students from 4 different countries.
  • IIT Bombay Eureka Business Case Semifinalist- My business proposal went to the semifinal stage (only 50 advance to semifinals from over 2k submissions), this was a competition intended for college students but I still got to semis.
  • Edit- I actually forgot this but Iā€™ll be an Duke of Edinburghā€™s IAYP Silver awardee (6 months of community service, sports and all) and might end up being a Gold awardee by the end of senior year.
  • Business Case Competition win at a high school summit (2k students across MUN, competitions etc.); we won against 150 teams from 5 different countries in Asia.
  • International General Knowledge Olympiad (International Rank 2) however I donā€™t think this will carry a lot of weight as itā€™s from SOF.
  • I did take part in Whartonā€™s Investment Comp and was top 100/6400 in terms of profit but didnā€™t get semifinals.
  • Iā€™m trying to get to globals of any competition prestigious competition this year and hopefully win.

LORs-

My principal likes me so sheā€™ll write good stuff. All my teachers love me so theyā€™ve said that all I need to do is write it for myself and theyā€™ll sign whatever I give to them (very grateful to them).

Essays-

I intend to spend the next year writing as good essays as I can, I donā€™t have a counsellor so Iā€™ll probably pay for one of those essay writing ā€œMasterclasses or guidesā€ from Instagram. Might have limmytalks review it as well.

UNIS-

Looking for recommendations firstly, and these are some Iā€™ve thought of till now.

No matter how this goes Iā€™ll be happy, but these colleges I am surely submitting to- Dartmouth (I loved the professor I got on my summer program so no matter how much of a moonshot, Iā€™ll submit); Princeton (Love the campus, its a moonshot but my relatives live there so Iā€™m doing it anyways) and NYU (my aunt went to NYU so NYU has always been my dream school, Iā€™ll qualify for the Promise scholarship if selected). Other than this I really have no dream school or stuff (NYU is CAS since Stern is out of reach).

I donā€™t know if itā€™ll help but I can get rec letters from 2 people who helped me and supervised some of my work, one at GS, and another at Salesforce (MIT alum).

Some others Iā€™ve thought of-

EDs Considering- Brown (Early), UPenn (1st gen, ED), Columbia (Commuter, ED), Cornell (ED), Princeton (EA), I literally donā€™t know where else I can do it.

Others- Rutgers (Commuter), Fordham (Commuter), NYU (Commuter), Drexel (Safety), Lehigh, Ithaca College, UChicago, UVA, Syracuse, Some in florida? Maybe LACs (?), Vanderbilt (?)

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I assume you know that you can only apply to one of these early. Also note that Columbia requires first-years to live on campus. You wonā€™t get an exemption if not living with a legal guardian.

As far as English proficiency testing, each university sets its own rules that youā€™ll need to research. One or more will probably require it

You seem very qualified, but international admissions is difficult across the board. Fortunately, you have options in India as a backup. Good luck

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Princeton has restrictive early action. If you apply REA to Princeton, you cannot apply ED to any of the other schools on your list.

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Yes I know that I can only apply to 1 early, I listed those schools as ones I was considering but canā€™t figure out where I should thatā€™s why I listed them all.

My safeties arenā€™t actually in India but in Europe and Asia.

Any reccomendations on my activities or award list, perhaps something I should focus on to be a better applicant for next year?

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Yeah ik, I just put it there because I canā€™t figure out which of them should be my ed choice; probably not princeton since I dont think I have a shot.

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Youā€™re aware the promise scholarship only covers tuition? That leaves about a $30000 per year gap in the cost of attendance. They will cover demonstrated need if selected, but their idea of that and yours may not be the same thing, and NYU is need aware for internationals. You seem to understand itā€™s a long shot though.
Btw CAS is not really much easier than Stern to get into, with a 4% acceptance rate, so you may as well apply to the school you really want to go to.

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Yes I do know that, if it covers my entire tuition I can commute to and from the university.

My COA living on campus= $15K; without on campus itā€™ll probably be nothing but I can afford 20k per year.

And yes CAS is actually my first choice.

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No commuting costs? No subway? Usually itā€™s not totally ā€œfreeā€ being a commuter.

Regardlessā€¦NYU is sort of unpredictable on how they award need based aidā€¦and you also have to get accepted.

Also, Iā€™m a little confused about your finances. You say you can afford $20,000 a year, but you are eligible for the Promise grant. How will you pay $20,000 a year.

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Note that if OPā€™s need is greater than the full tuition award at NYU, they will receive additional need based aid:

What if my need exceeds NYU tuition?

In addition to ensuring students will not have to pay tuition, NYU is also committed to meeting the demonstrated financial need of all new first year students who apply by our deadlines. If your demonstrated need is greater than the cost of NYU tuition, your total NYU scholarships will exceed tuition to meet your demonstrated need.

OP, have you run NYUā€™s NPC to get a cost estimate and see how NYU calculates your need?

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If you want to go to college in the US, you should apply to every one of the dozen or so US schools that are committed to meeting full fin need for internationals. Despite your very impressive EC record, realize that your chances of acceptance are extremely low. Itā€™s good that you are making other options, also.

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Itā€™s not nothing. Transport costs, books and other requirements (most people will need a new computer to last for their four years at university), mandatory health insurance per year are some examples. If you come from a warm climate, youā€™ll need to spend something on clothing appropriate for a New York winter. And it doesnā€™t need to be a fortune but presumably you want to spend some time socializing with your classmates. You can save a lot if you live at relatives who are prepared to absorb the costs of accommodation and food as I guess is what you mean, but that doesnā€™t mean youā€™re not paying anything else.

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Yes, I did say that theyā€™d meet demonstrated need, but that comes back to the old story of what everyone gets told, that the college calculation of that may or may not work for them.

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Similarly, the cost of tuition and fees at Rutgers is $38k/year.

OP, are you sure you can afford that on a $60k annual income? You will not be eligible to take out loans and you have to show you have this money in order to obtain your student visa.

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Not sure if anyone answered this? Youā€™ll need to check each college website. Some will exempt you if your instruction has been in English in another country but some will only do so if English is an official language in your home country or if your studies have been in the US.

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My COA according to the NPC with the Promise award came to 15k.

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Yes; my familyā€™s finances can cover upto 20k a year on their own however theyā€™d have to take out a loan for the rest; but if that would be the case I would go for unis outside the US that would be cheaper.

I only put Rutgers in there in case I got a honors scholarship.

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Yes I understand, what I meant by nothing here was that costs assosciated to housing and tuition would be nothing;

My family can afford this level, in Asian countries tax income is shown as lower than actual earnings to reduce tax liabilities; their real income is not a whole lot more but given our financial situation as a whole 20k is an affordable amount. Anything over 25k would require a loan.

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I shouldve asked this earlier but does anyone have any reccomendations for colleges I should apply to looking for merit aid? I meanI know only a few people get full rides every year but Iā€™d like to focus my applications in places Iā€™d be competitive rather than just the general options.

Also, does it matter that before the last cycle my school had admits to Columbia, NYU, UTA, UCB and other good ones with profiles not as good as mine? NYU guy was actually 50% scholarship recipient.

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Hmm. I donā€™t want to be blunt but something is not adding up here. Given your long list of what appears to be highly impressive and impactful ECs and knowing full well how much time and effort is required to reach that level of gamesmanship, I am wondering how authentic of a candidate you are. The only reason I bring this up is experienced AOs will see through this as well.

My sincere suggestion to you is to portray an honest picture of yourself and my pro tip is to apply to some schools that fit your budget without aid. They are out there.

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Ok, got it. But thatā€™s a very long shot and itā€™s not all that much money.

There are colleges in the south that are quite a bit cheaper and are generous with merit money. These arenā€™t well known names (especially internationally), but if thatā€™s what youā€™re looking for then posters here can certainly recommend you a few.