Chance Me - New to this, British Student!

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hi,

I am new to this so apologies in advance for any errors in my assumptions below. I am only applying as a long-shot as I can only apply to needs-blind ‘full needs’ colleges, and my GCSEs are far from optimal. I will be applying to domestic british universities so these will all be quite aspirational. I will not be doing the SAT/ACT, but have achieved grades at A-Level which I read can be suitable also. I would love to hear my chances in applying to ivies.

*I am an international student.

  • State/Location of residency: United Kingdom
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): British system (GCSEs + A-Levels)
  • Other special factors: First generation to college.

Cost Constraints / Budget
Same as British loans at the maximum, £9.25k / $12.25k.

Intended Major(s)
Economics (social sciences), Statistics.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
A-Level: Economics - A*, Business - A
GCSEs majority 6s and 5s

Awards
No awards.

Extracurriculars
My Extracurriculars: Attended competitive work experiences, shadowed in 3 different financial services firms and big law firm. Ran my own businesses. Writing articles in relation to my academic interests. Love to read around my subject area.

Essays/LORs/Other
Entered a local essay competition (no reward or other commendable recognition).
Other: Attended ranked trading simulation placing top 10 best, various online zooms ran by firms for students to ask questions and learn about. Watched and engaged with open yale courses, watched some british university lectures relevant to my subject are. Read around key historic changes of my subject area also, as well as books on case studies in this subject.

Schools
Will apply Early Action for all where possible, as I don’t think I am eligible to enter a legally binding decision if applying to british universities also (?).

Aiming for all ivy leagues which satisfy international needs blind process and fund the majority - which seems to be as follows:

  • Harvard
  • Yale
  • Princeton
  • Cornell (?)
  • Dartmouth

I understand I may have little chance for such competitive courses, but have the British schools as a backup. Wishing to see if there is a chance I can graduate without debt. the personal.

As for scholarships I am not sure yet which I could apply for, I am very new to this. If people could suggest any resources and help me understand how it works applying to scholarships you’re dependent on (like before or after getting accepted, and what happens if you get rejected from there), that would be extremely helpful.

Thank you in advance.

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You can only apply to one of those early. Also Cornell is not need-blind for international applicants. And many on that list now require SAT.

Even if you have a UK safety in your list, you may want to expand your list to include universities that meet full demonstrated need even if they are need aware. The challenge with the handful of need-blind schools is that they all have super-low international acceptance rates, which is exacerbated by the fact that seemingly every international needing aid applies to them, while the number if spots available to internationals is fixed

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Several of these have single choice early action. If that is the case…you can’t apply to all of them EA…it’s not allowed.

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Yes, you apply early to your top choice and regular to the rest.

Admissions will view all your grades, although more weight will likely be applied to AS results and A2 predicted. But GCSE results are also considered. But grades are just one part of a holistic review

As far as SAT, some now require; some remain test optional; some, like Yale, offer options in lieu of SAT. I wasn’t planning on outlining which universities fall into which category since all list requirements in the admissions website and the Common App instructions

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I am going to throw out a suggestion here: submit an application to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (which must be done by October 15, 2024), and also seek a separate nomination for the Morehead-Cain Scholarship (see here, Eligibility Information - United Kingdom | Morehead-Cain). The Morehead-Cain covers tuition, room/board, and books, IIRC.

Just a thought.

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Harvard, Princeton and Yale offer restrictive (or single-choice) early action (REA/SCEA).

Cornell and Dartmouth do not offer early action, restrictive or otherwise. They do offer binding early decision (ED), though.

Under the REA/SCEA rules of Harvard, Princeton and Yale, you cannot apply EA or REA/SCEA to any other private U.S. university, and you certainly can’t apply ED anywhere.

Under the ED rules for Cornell and Dartmouth, you commit to withdrawing all other applications if accepted, assuming no changes to your financial circumstances.

This effectively means you can only chose one of these schools for ED or REA/SCEA. If you are deferred or denied from your ED or REA/SCEA choice, you are free to pursue regular decision anywhere or find a school with a EA2 or ED2 option.

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What we don’t know is your need as determined by the school.

I believe this is the full list of need blind so you might add a few (RD) but there are other schools like Franklin & Marshall and more that will meet need (but are aware). And schools like W&L and the Johnson Scholarship that consider international (it’s a full ride).

Again, that you have a budget doesn’t necessarily line up with what the school will say your need is.

Good luck.

Amherst
Bowdoin
Brown
Dartmouth
Harvard
MIT
Princeton
Yale

As for your chances, I don’t know but best of luck.

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A British subject who wants to go into finance or investment banking? Let me just say this; not long ago, we had a lengthy, hundred post thread involving a Canadian with similar aspirations and an endless number of strategems for getting a leg-up in the process, including a legacy hook. To this day, we have no idea where this child wound up going to college. My roundabout way of saying, “I have no idea.” I should think you would need a pretty compelling essay.

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Actually, this is the list of colleges that are both need blind for admissions AND meet full need for all international students.

The acceptance rate at these colleges for international students is in the low single digits.

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Notre Dame is now need blind for international as well.

But it needs to be said again and again: Need blind schools get slammed with an increase in applications because they are need blind. But the student population will not increase, nor will the percent of internationals to the total. So the acceptance rates for internationals are in the low single digits - and much lower than the overall acceptance rate.

Additionally, “meets full need” is based on the college’s determination, which can vary dramatically between colleges and can also differ from what the family thinks they need

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To determine what a college estimates you will pay after financial aid there is a tool called the Net Price Calculator (NPC); however, it is designed for US domestic applicants so may be inaccurate for non-citizens. Some schools have a separate calculator for international applicants. I’ve linked one below. Keep in mind each NPC is school specific so you shouldn’t assume the results will be the same at other schools. However, if the results show the school expects you to pay $50k per year when your budget is $12.5k, that is valuable information that you’ll need to seek merit scholarships rather than meeting budget on need-based aid alone.

Let us know if the results are affordable. Best of luck!

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Hi there! I’m the dad of two British students who either attend or have attended US colleges with substantial financial aid. As several comments above have said, the first step to gauge affordability is to fill in accurately a Net Price calculator- you can pick any of the Ivy league ones, or one of the many other schools that meet full need for international students (Wesleyan, F&M, Denison, Dickinson, Richmond, Macalester etc etc).
My own experience, with NPCs and a fairly standard family income/situation (i.e. not own a business, not divorced parents) is that they are surprisingly accurate- in both my children’s cases the difference to the actual aid packages was less than 1,000$ per year.
Need-blind is not that important unless you fall in the lower quartile or so of potential admits, where it might become a discriminant, while the single-digit admission rates will be unforgiving at the highest levels.
Two things I would note: you mention your budget as the British student loans maximum, but that is only availble to you if you study at UK universities. You would not be able to access that, or the maintance loans, while studying abroad. You also only mention 2 A-Levels- are you taking a third/fourth one as well (most generous US schools will ask you for 3 A2s, especially as your GCSE grades are a little on the low side). You will also need to think about how to re-frame your Extra-curricular activities including sports, community services etc.
Outside scholarships from the UK to study in the US are almost non-existant; most or all of your funding will have to come from the college that admits you.
The process is certainly feasible but, as mentioned above, the odds are very much against you, especially at the very top level. I’ve seen a few comprehensive lists on reddit or the UK Student Room (pinned lists on the Study in North America forum) with many need-aware schools that meet full-need, so i would advise you to search for one, and cross-reference it with your preferences regarding location/size/major etc.
Doing this research would give you a decent starting point to make a well-thought out college list, but be prepared: it will take a lot of work, much more time-consuming/harder than applying to UK Universities.
Good luck and come back with any questions you might have- CC is a very helpful and well-informed community!

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Thank you for the input. Would you mind if I were to privately message you to continue this?

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sure, no problem!

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