Chance me & match me as Middle Eastern International Student currently near the end of her junior year!

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics:

For a bit of context I’m applying as a mechanical engineering major, mayyybbeee with a marketing minor. I’m super interested in product development & creative tech

I’m applying as an international student, Middle Eastern (Egyptian currently living in Saudi Arabia) middle class girl (~$80-120k per year, will be needing need-based aid). I hopefully aim to get into a T20 school with financial aid. What do you think my chances are? & what schools do you think I’m likely to get into? I’m also currently a Junior, what can I do to improve & boost myself, any ideas that would fit my profile?

Academics:

4.0 UW GPA

Still taking the SATs but 1400-1500 estimate for now

I attend a private all girls international school (around 60-70 girls in my grade)

No APs because my school (& my entire city) doesn’t offer them. Our yearly coursework includes 12 subjects every year including English (Literature & Grammar), Arabic, French, Bio, Chem, Physics, History, Religion, Physical Education, a math subject (Alg 1 for 9th, Alg 2 for 10th, pre-Calc for 11th, Calc + Stats for 12th).

Extracurricular activities so far:

1. Founder & Director of NAMA
Nama is a student powered, collaboration based creative collective. We power ideas, stories, and arts and culture through curated events, and creative
experiences.

We launched Nama, in December 2024 with a 2-day Jazz Night & Silent Art Auction event held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

We featured 30+ pieces donated to us from 15+ artists all over the world. These artists contributed pieces specifically for Nama from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Spain, Canada, and beyond.

We garnered the support of 10+ incredible sponsors and partners, including leading beverage companies such as Kinza and It’s Water, as well as local small businesses.

With the participation of 15+ local brands and businesses as vendors, the event was much more than an art showcase. Visitors enjoyed an immersive experience complete with live jazz and blues performances, including an artist sketching live portraits of guests.

The event was a huge success, with an Arab News article being published about Nama’s launch and achievements. ([Creative youth collective hosts art auction in Jeddah with jazz, community spirit | Arab News])

We’re currently in the process of planning an Arab art and history exhibition, set for around August 2025.

I want to submit Nama to the Diana Award, but results will come out after the college application cycle.

2. Creative Director of We Care Act NYC
We Care Act NYC is a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to empowering underserved students by providing them with free or low-cost computers and electronic devices.

As Creative Director, my focus is on conceptualizing engaging campaigns to raise awareness and facilitate donations of computers and electronic devices to students in need.

WCA NYC has provided $300,000+ worth of computers to low-income communities, partnering with more than 10 major organizations across New York City to expand our impact.

3. Chief Marketing Officer at Runway
As the Chief Marketing Officer of Runway, a STEM learning app entirely created and led by high school students, I strategize the growth of user acquisition and engagement.

Runway aims to make learning fun, accessible, and personalized for middle and high school students worldwide, and in under 3 months since launching we’ve already reached 1000+ downloads!

4. Misk Foundation Distinct Ambassador
As a Misk Foundation Distinct Ambassador, I mentored over 800 high school students across 2 cohorts as they navigate the DCPP application process, with 400+ hours of mentorship, I focus on helping students through personalized coaching and targeted support.

5. Finance & Enterprise Manager at F1 in Schools
As Finance & Enterprise Manager of my team in F1 in Schools, I spent 500+ hours over 5 months securing funding and promoting sustainability within motorsports.

I pitched to dozens of potential stakeholders, from local business owners to actual FiA racers, building connections that helped me raise over $8,000 (30,000+ SAR) within two months through strategic partnerships and outreach.

Beyond finances, I was deep in every part of the team. I worked alongside the engineers using Autodesk CAD, and CAM, getting hands-on with the tech behind the car.

One of my favorite personal projects was bringing together F1 artists from around the world to create original pieces for our team. The judges loved them, even offering to purchase some of their favorites, and it ended up inspiring other teams around the region to collaborate with artists as well.

6. Head of Outreach at MUNKSA
MUNKSA is the organization that pioneered MUN in Saudi Arabia. I served as Head of Outreach on the team, where I connected our audience and platform with the organization and the incredible work we did.

7. Kode With Klossy Website Development camp.

8. Director of Community Service in my school.
Organized community service trips with local charities & universities, oversaw all high school students’ analytics for service work, accumulated 100+ hours myself.

I’m a little lost with choosing the best schools to apply to that will help me pursue my prod dev career goals & also provide me with the aid I need as an international student. I would also love to hear thoughts & advice on what I should work on from here for applications & in general, please let me know your opinions!!

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Anything is possible - but as an international, you might focus on schools that can hit cost up front - because admissions are less likely and admissions with aid is even moreso less likely - often schools want kids full pay.

What is your budget per year?

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Several things come to mind.

One is that you are a very strong student, and a competitive applicant for pretty much any university. The problem is that there are only a tiny handful of schools in the US that are both need-blind for admissions for international students, and that also meet full need for international students. ALL of them are very competitive for admissions, and are even more competitive for international students.

The second thing that comes to mind is that there might be no university in North America that is both a safety for admissions, and a safety for affordability. You will most likely need to find safeties in your home country, or at least somewhere outside of North America.

The third thing that comes to mind is that in terms of ECs, a longer list is not necessarily better. Instead, you should focus on what is right for you, whatever you do you should do it very well, and try to have an impact on whatever activities you participate in. You might want to read the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. This same approach that they recommend seems to work at other universities as well, and definitely not just for MIT.

I wonder about your relative chances at a highly ranked university such as MIT or Harvard or Princeton that are need blind and meet full need for international students, versus somewhere like Stanford which meets full need for all students but that considers need in making admissions decisions for international students, versus somewhere like Alabama that is known for having very good merit based financial aid.

And a wild idea that you might consider is applying for the Lester B Pearson scholarship at the University of Toronto (of course you would also need to apply for admission). Just to apply for this scholarship you have to get your high school to sponsor you, and it is very competitive. It is however a very good scholarship for a very good university if you can get it, and of course Toronto is not impacted by the various current political issues going on in the USA.

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I think your ECs are better suited for something in art or business - if you really want engineering, consider a program like Wharton M&T. Also note that schools like Brown allow students to switch majors freely, so you could apply for visual art or Design Engineering | Engineering | Brown University and switch to another major later if you change your mind.

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Around $20,000 per year, including all expenses, is my maximum I think

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Yesss I will be applying to different universities outside the US & in my home country as well

When working on my ECs I haven’t really been thinking of college applications much since it’s been a mess. For years I thought I’d be going into medicine but it didn’t look like it would work out & it didn’t really feel right either. Then with engineering there’s the fact that I’m awful at math, stuck on 600-650 on the SAT, compared to a 710 on my first try in English.

I mainly joined projects that I genuinely enjoyed & wanted to work on. I’ve been working on each of them for 1-2 years each & still ongoing, I love to dip my hands into a bunch of different things, do you think that’ll work against my favor in applying? The only two ECs that I did for applications are #6 & #8 on my list, which I think is pretty obvious I didn’t enjoy them much :sob::sob:

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This is exactly the right thing to do.

Most likely for an activity that you do not like, but if you are the head of the organization, then you might want to find someone else to take over the position and just step away. Of course soon you will be off to university and someone else will need to take this over from you anyway.

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