International Student from Pakistan
:Did IGCSE and A Levels
Scored 7A1A in my IGCSE and potentially aiming for 4A in my Alevels
Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Asian (Pakistan)
Intended Major(s)
Computer Science GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Class Rank:1/40
ACT/SAT Scores: 1540 SAT
Coursework
IGCSE: Math, Phyiscs, Computer Science, English First Language, Chemistry, Pakistan Studies, Urdu, Islamiyat
A Level: Math, Physics, Computer Science, Economics
Awards
100% merit scholarship for my A level programme
Top in Pakistan Computer Science Distinction in Cambridge IGCSE
Valedictorian Extracurriculars
Teaching IGCSE Computer Science to 5 international students last summer. 4 got A* 1got an A. (Planning on teaching AS Computer this summer IA)
Programming. Learned Python on my own through online courses from Upenn. Also starting learning Web development
Community Work. Founder and President of Tehreek e Falah NGO. Conducted 4 projects as of now in Abbottabad
Internship at Tech Valley (local tech company associated with google). Did tasks related to Graphic Desigining and Python programming.
STEM Club President. Initiated project Code Craft where I taught around 15 students of my school Python programming and how to enroll in online courses. Lead out our school team to best club of the year
School D.Head Boy. Worked against the usage of narcotics such as vapes and cigaretts in our school. Also ensured COVID-19 precautions are followed
MUNS. Secretary General of our school MUN. Participated in 5+ MUNS w/awards. Mentored 10+ students. IA Founder MUN Club
Cost Constraints / Budget
*Needs full financial aid
Because you have a 1540 SAT score, you can apply to as many automerit universities as you can afford. I would add UCincinnati as soon as the app opens, applying to Honors and, provided you get into Honors, to the special “honors within honors” that would unlock a full ride.
UAH may also work.
You can try applying to Rice ED and keep your fingers crossed but needing full aid will count against you (*). As a result I’d apply for a need blind/full need college for ED2 (not many offer it).
(*that’s because they can get one topnotch student but pay 90k for him/her to come… or have 2 outstanding students, one of whom will cost them 30k and the other 50k= better ROI… or quite a gamble on just 1 student.)
Automerit colleges often have additional competitive merit for full rides. These are uncommon - have gotten more and more uncommon iver the past 15 years - but they still exist.
All eggs in the need blind/meet need and need aware/full need colleges would be too risky, especially since OP has an excellent SAT score to leverage.
It’s important to note that we do not offer full-tuition (“full ride”) or need-based scholarships to undergraduate international students.
International Outreach Scholarships
The primary scholarship available to international students is the International Outreach Award.
The award values range from $5,000 to $15,000 per year for students studying on the Uptown (Main) Campus, contingent on various factors, including academic performance. For students studying on a regional campus (UC Blue Ash or UC Clermont), awards range from $2,000 to $4,000 per year.
AFAIK Cincinatus and honors-within-honors is not restricted to domestic applicants. (Will check and return).
US public universities do not offer need based full rides or FA of any sort to internationals.
They may offer international-specific scholarships, often under the “you are welcome here” scheme but these tend to be small amounts (2-4k most often) to entice relatively well off applicants.
ETA: The Cincinnatus amounts have changed -it used to guarantee full tuition and now covers a lot of different, smaller amounts, with 12 full rides instate and the additional National Outreach or International Outreach amounts would bridge the difference for some applicants but not all - it definitely isn’t the option it used to be. Still worth applying (I haven’t seen anything to suggest Engineering and Lindner have cancelled their “top up”, awards but they, too, mayvhave decreased) unless OP finds better deals.
It’s going to take a lot of fine-combing but OP should do the work as I don’t have time to check each of them. Most full rides will be competitive (I think automatic full rides, outside of NMF/NMSF, have basically disappeared.)
This year, an international got an unexpected full ride at Southern Miss.
Howard used to have generous merit awards that internationals would be consided for alongside domestic applicants (lots of Nepalese applicants benefited) but HUFS amounts are no longer fixed/announced.
UNM used to treat non residents and internationals the same way wrt scholarships but the link for international no longer displays scholarships.
Troy in Alabama used to have a few competitive full rides open to internationals but I’m not sure it’s still the case.
OP : look into Berea College. It’s a top university and a “work college”. They may take 1 student from Pakistan - they don’t take more than 1 per country and not from all countries in their applicant pool.
In addition, look into mcDermott at uT Dallas, which has an incredible CS program.