Thank you, indeed being an International far away, I’d admit understanding is limited and inputs like these help!
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So…you would consider the cost of Dartmouth for FIVE years if you wanted to complete an engineering degree that could land you an engineering job?
yes for this 5-year program and also considering it is highly rated for itz Economics Undergrad program.
Now, that does leave me with the dilemma of too many High Target Universities on my list. Hence, if I were to simplify the criteria - Look at Economies Major and general suitability for international students, where do I stand a chance via Early admission round (considering my profile) :
University of Chicago
Dartmouth College
Northwestern University
Duke
Remember, if you apply early decision and are accepted, it’s a binding acceptance. You will be required to withdraw all of your other applications and acceptances and attend the ED school.
You can decline if it’s not affordable, but really, your other applications would need to be sent.
University of Chicago offers Early Action which is not binding. The others have early decision which is binding should you be accepted.
Not sure Duke will be affordable:
Financial resources for international students are limited . Each year Duke University expects to enroll 20 to 25 international students whose full demonstrated need has been met with a university-provided need-based aid package.
The others don’t give merit aid at all. Duke might…but it would be highly competitive.
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What is the profile of your ideal school? I ask because, like many students on CC, your list includes schools that vary greatly in size, culture, location, structure (public v private), etc. In your travels have you had the opportunity to visit any of the schools on your list, or any US universities?
If you are interested in a competitive major like engineering, you will need to apply to that program. In general, you can switch from demanding and competive majors to less selective fields, but not the other way around. For example, you could move from MechE, to Data Science, to Econ, but not Econ to MechE. Some schools have hybrid programs that include courses in different disciplines (eg CMU has Engineering and Public Policy), and others facilitate and encourage double majors and minors (Case Western).
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Also what would you think are my chances for 1) Noter Dame 2) Williams college.
A separate questions, while the Acceptance rates are available readily, I’d think these are overall acceptance rates (applicants vs how many get admitted). Is there a source which would provide Acceptance Rate at Major level for a University (understand this is difficult considering some may go undeclared and many have single door entry). or a view of International student acceptance (since I’d suspect this is much lower for Public Universities)
Indeed so I do need to put more mind to this and be very clear if I am applying for ED in terms of is this the college I want to go to. Obviously, currently heart says UChicago, but then I seem to have miniscule chance.
As an alternative approach, consider a data science major with economics as your chosen “applied domain.” This would not preclude the pursuit of a full second major in economics.
Another interesting wrinkle. American LACs are not generally well-known outside the U.S. Notre Dame at least has an incredibly famous sports franchise. The American LAC (used synonymously to mean, a small private college) has one superpower: exceptionally strong alumni loyalty and contacts; it often allows places like Williams, Middlebury, Hamilton and Bowdoin to operate under the radar in terms of job recruitment.
Their other superpower used to be that, for a long time, they were easier admits than the Ivy League. But that’s becoming less and less true as Williams, Colby and Bowdoin have all recently seen their acceptance rates drop to the single digits.
For a leisurely discussion (700+ posts and counting) of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) schools, you may want to use the “Top Replies” option and scroll down the “NESCAC Spoken Here” thread:
NESCAC Spoken Here:
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All the colleges you’ve mentioned today would fall in the low probability bucket for admissions.
If you look at the Common Data Set (CDS) of a university (do an internet search for “Name of College” and Common Data Set) and look at the end of section C1, there is a space where you can gain insight on international admissions, if the school had the info available and completed that portion of the CDS. You can look at the CDS templates to see the kind of information available, which provide some very interesting data.
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I note there is a rough rule of thumb that International admissions rates tend to be around half of domestic admissions rates at the more selective US colleges.
Obviously when you are getting serious about final selections you should be checking the CDS and such for actual data. But usually the CDS data actually comes in reasonably close to the rule of thumb (hence why it exists). So I think it is handy to know about in the initial phases of a college search for Internationals.
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1520 SAT & Top 15% class rank is borderline competitive for elite schools like Duke, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, Northwestern, non-resident applying at UNC-Chapel Hill, Georgetown, and as a non-resident applicant for Georgia Tech. Applying as an international applicant typically makes getting an offer of admission even more difficult.
You are a strong candidate for admission to U Maryland, U Indiana, U Mass-Amherst, U Wisconsin, and for some majors at U Illinois, but admission to the engineering school is difficult…
The remaining 7 schools from your list are: CMU, U Michigan, Rice, Emory, UC-San Diego, Boston University, and Northeastern University. Of these 7 universities, Boston University and Northeastern University may be the most likely to accept you–although not a certainty.
Consider adding Michigan State University in Lansing, Michigan.
Penn State University might be of interest to you.
For business related majors, consider Babson College in Boston, Massachusetts.
https://babson.edu/undergraduate/admissions/international-students/
For technology related majors, consider Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Stevens Institute of Technology does offer some merit scholarships to international students.
Graduates of both Babson College & Stevens Institute of Technology report very high earnings compared to all US colleges & universities.
Consider Harvey Mudd College in California for engineering and tech related majors. Outstanding school. Part of a 5 school consortium. Students are permitted to take classes at the other schools.All 5 schools share the same campus area–all are within walking distance. Can eat at any of the 5 schools’ dining halls (at least to the best of my understanding).
Note that these may be most relevant to pre-PhD students looking for leading edge research activity to try to join. But also note that such research activity is much lower at LACs – note where the top LACs are in the overall list (e.g. Williams is #1 in the LAC list but #49 in the overall list).
Perhaps more generally applicable to undergraduate study of economics is (a) how math intensive the program and courses are, and (b) what upper level electives are offered.
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And yet, the list of the top 50 undergraduate producers of Econ PhDs, when adjusted for size, is absolutely loaded with non-R1 schools. Here is just the top 10 (in rank order): Swat, Williams, Soka, New College, U of Chicago, Pomona, Wellesley, Hampden-Sydney, Harvard and Princeton. The next 40 is also replete with non-R1s, including Middlebury, Colgate, Vassar, Grinnell, Hendrix, Amherst, Reed, Mount Holyoke, etc. etc.
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This appearance should be expected in analyses not adjusted for school or department size. Nonetheless, when considered separately, the two IDEAS analyses create approximate de facto normalized rankings. However, with respect to LACs, it may be true that faculty at the top 20 or so institutions contribute the majority of the research productivity from that category.
wow! thank you so much!! This is amazingly detailed and provides the kind of insights I was looking for on the list. I will pick up most the leads you’ve provided and discussed elsewhere in other responses as well. I will refine my list accordingly. Many thanks!!
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