Chances of Getting Into Top Colleges

aquapt
Sun, 27 Feb 2022 21:25:52 +0000

You sound like a very strong applicant; “weak points” are not the issue.

Stanford will be an extremely long shot, as their reputation combined with rare need-blind admissions with full-need-met aid for international students create enormous demand for a limited number of spots. You’ll certainly pass the first filter as a qualified applicant, but they have many, many qualified applicants to choose from. Odds at USC will be better, since they’re need-aware for internationals and not as outrageously reachy overall as Stanford. It seems like USC could be a terrific fit for what you are looking for. (If they offered Early Decision, I would suggest playing that card, but unfortunately they don’t.)

If you can afford the UC system and want to be in California, definitely apply more broadly within that system; Berkeley isn’t the only UC with a strong reputation and great opportunities. It’s unfortunate that your strong standardized test scores won’t help you, but you’re still likely to end up with good options. UCSD is particularly international-friendly. That said, admissions will be getting tougher for internationals as CA restricts capacity to make room for more in-state students. Top UC campuses to reduce international student intake It’s all one application for the whole UC system, so apply to as many as you can possibly imagine yourself attending.

You might take a look at Emory. They accept a good number of international students on a need-aware basis, so being full pay would improve your chances. Atlanta is a large and growing tech and business hub, and the weather is much warmer than the northeast. This program could be a good fit for you Department of CS - Undergraduate Programs and you’d have the option to cross-register for some CS classes at Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech itself could also be worth an application too, as already suggested above.

In the northeast, Northeastern University and University of Rochester are both excellent for CS and Econ (NEU offers a combined degree with co-op BS, Computer Science/Economics - Khoury College of Computer Sciences and UR has a flexible curriculum that lends itself to cross-disciplinary combinations), and both take large numbers of international students, favoring those who can full pay (although you’d have a decent chance of some merit money at both schools). UMass Amherst, as already suggested, would be a good one to consider as well.

In terms of tippy-top elite schools, consider the Chicago area schools: UChicago and Northwestern U. Both are need-sensitive for international applicants, so while they’re reputationally close to Stanford, you’d have an advantage by not applying for aid, that you won’t have in Stanford’s process. Plenty of networking and opportunities at these schools. Also consider Rice, in Houston, and WashU in St. Louis.

And there are many strong public flagship U’s to consider, many of which have already been suggested. In addition to those that have been mentioned, UMichican is top notch, and the SUNY system has a campus in Korea, which allows students to study in both countries - this could reduce your overall costs while still giving you the experience of studying in the US and the opportunity to network here.