For senior year here in morocco, most of the time all kinds of “extra work” are dismissed such as gruop projects etc, the main concern becomes the national standardized test which will include all the year’s curriculum, so I don think i can do anything abt it. For the LORs my physics teacher might help but we dont have a counsellor, french and arabic teacher is indeed a good idea i didnt think of it!
You need to apply to universities that meet full need for international students. With an income of $20k/year, “full need” would imply financial aid that covers 100% of the cost. There might be some variation in terms of incidental costs, such as travel costs to get to and from the US. You will want to be careful about this. You will also need health insurance in the US. Hopefully if a school meets full need, they will also offer you health insurance (I have seen some cases where they do explicitly offer this, but I am not sure whether or not that is always the case).
I personally know nothing about the grade scales used in Morocco. However, pretty much every university that you apply to in the US will have someone on the admissions staff who does understand the grade scales used in Morocco, and this is the person who will be evaluating your application. You just tell them the grades that you get in the grade scale used in your country, and the admissions staff will understand how to interpret this.
To me your ECs look good. I like the fact that you founded a chess club for your school, and organized some competitions. Hopefully this club will persist even after you have moved on. Winning a piano competition is also good. This shows the ability to stick with an activity over time and do well. The point is not what activity you do. The point is whatever you do, do it well.
As others have said, the various Universities of California will not be affordable, not even close. I would just drop them from your list.
Your profile is very strong. The issue is that you need a 100% full ride as an international student. This is hard to get.
One thing that you need to keep in mind: After you graduate from university in the US you will almost certainly be required to return to your home country, or at least to leave the US. The US does not in general allow graduating international students to stay after graduation. I do not personally know whether or not having a degree from a very good university in the US will help or hurt your chances of getting a job outside of the US.
When you apply for a student visa to attend university in the US, DO NOT tell them that you would prefer to stay in the US after graduation. If you tell them this, they will most likely refuse to give you a student visa.
One wild thought: You might want to consider applying to the University of Toronto, and applying for the Lester B. Pearson scholarship there. The only way that you would be able to afford to attend U.Toronto would be if you were to win this scholarship, and the scholarship is similar in competitiveness to admissions at the top universities in the US. To apply for the Lester B. Pearson scholarship you will need to get your high school to nominate you for the award. However, U.Toronto is a very good university overall and is excellent for computer science. The Lester B. Pearson scholarship does cover 100% of the cost of attendance (or at least did the last time that I checked).
Exactly. You need to apply to universities that meet full need for international students, and apply for financial aid from each university that you apply to. With an annual income of $20,000/year, “full need” should cover the full cost of attendance.
In terms of Extracurricular activities, do what is right for you, be kind, and whatever you do, do it very well. To me this sounds like what you are already doing. You also might want to read the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. The same approach is IMHO the right one for other top universities, including anything that has been mentioned in this thread.
Good luck with this and best wishes.
2 Likes
thanks a lot for your input! I didn understand tho how my highschool will nominate me? Im kinda confused
You would need to talk to someone in your high school. Then if they agree, they would need to check the U.Toronto web site which would presumably direct them to send something to admissions at U. of Toronto.
1 Like
Yes, I know - that’s why your teacher would need to highlight what in his/her opinion are the most difficult parts of the curriculum. Not spend a full paragraph on it but highlight content or approaches, how you handled these compared to students in their career, etc. It’s not something you would do but something they would include in their letter of recommendation. What YOU would do is compile reasons why you like their subject, what struck you during their class, moments when you learned sth in an unexpected way… Then you give it to them to use for their recommendation. (It’s often called a “bragsheet” but it’s a misnomer… the purpose is not to brag but to provide examples of your experience with the subject and the teacher.)
Each teacher’s letter will need anecdotes: you can ask one teacher now and ask 2 Terminale teachers next year, so they can compile examples for their letter to add to your “bragsheet”.
1 Like
You don’t need to start a research paper. If your school or program included one that’s one thing, if it doesn’t, don’t worry about it.
2 Likes
i am curently in terminale, i wanna apply after a gap year
1 Like
I have one last question, I don’t necessarily need to have LORs from senior year teacher? LORs can be from previous years right?
1 Like
Yes, and many teacher LoRs come from junior year teachers with whom applicants recently completed courses.
Some (not all) colleges that ask for teacher LoRs have preferences (e.g. preferring teachers from more advanced courses, or preferring specific subjects, such as one from math/science and one from English/history/FL/art). Check college web sites for any preferences of this nature.
1 Like
Typically, at least one would be from a senior year teacher and one from junior year or from a teacher who had you longer than one year.
On addition, most colleges would expect one letter from a Humanities teacher (French, Arabic, History …) and at least one from a STEM teacher (Physics and Math or CS and Math would be appropriate for you but any science/math subject is good).
hello, do you think UIUC is a good match for me?
UIUC is academically very good for computer science and computer engineering. Admissions is very competitive. However…
They do not meet need for international students. Given your family income, I think that there is close to no chance at all that you will be able to afford to attend.
5 Likes
Oh okay, do they not offer any scholarships whatsoever? How about georgia tech and VTech?
The only need blind unis are ivy leagues and a few other colleges which I don’t think I’ll get ccpted into such as Washington and Lee & Bowdoin & Amherst, or am I being too pessimistic?
1 Like
How do your grades compare to other students in your high school? One big issue here is that admissions at universities in the US will know what grades are typical in your high school or your country, but I do not know this.
If you want a full ride to a college or university in the US, then you will need to be relatively close to being the top student in your high school, or perhaps the top student who applies to a particular school from your general part of the world.
By the way I Googled “colleges that give the most financial aid for international students” and found the following article from US News. One thing that I noticed was that Wellesley College is #2 on this particular list, which leads to the question: Are you male or female? (Wellesley is a woman’s college.)
For any university that you are considering, you can Google “does [name of school] offer full need based aid for international students” and see what result you get.
2 Likes
They won’t. 
Most public universities do not offer financial aid to non residents. Some offer merit scholarships but very few would be full rides and many would expect a standardized test score. Not so long ago housing&food added up to 8-10k making an education on a full tuition scholarships possible for middle class international students but this cost (“room&board”) has skyrocketed, too.
You can see if UMaine (or USouthern Maine), Troy University AL, U Southern Mississippi, UMN Morris, Miami Ohio, Michigan State, Bloomsburg, SUNY Plattsburgh could be affordable - but other than those (which MIGHT be lower cost for R&B and MIGHT offer merit scholarships…), all in all you’d have to apply to private colleges that meet need, either need blind or need aware.
1 Like
Im a female and im top of m’y highschool in matter of grades
Then you might want to consider Wellesley College as one option that is worth an application.
2 Likes
Then definitely consider women’s colleges - Wellesley, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Bryn Mawr for remaining 7sisters (where the Harvard/Princeton boys’ sisters used to go - there were 7. Barnard still exists but is cutting on costs a bit so is unlikely to offer full rides, though you may decide to try and see if course ) Other women’s colleges include Scripps in CA, Spelman in Atlanta, Agnes Scott also in Atlanta, Holliks in VA , St Kate’s in Minnesota…
Unlike 7sisters colleges, these are not known for merit/financial aid for internationals but there’s merit aid. You can read through the FA/scholarship pages.
1 Like
Are 7 sisters colleges good for CS? I mean if they are then I think it’s a good choice .
1 Like