Need more information. What are your AP exam scores for English Literature, Biology, and Chemistry? Any plans to take any AP mathematics classes; are they offered?
A 3.1 GPA is a “B” average. How many “A”, “B”, and “C” semester & final grades have you earned thus far and in what subjects?
Can you give us some idea of what you are looking for in a college? (Region, big, small, urban, rural etc?) And an actual budget (“low” means different things to different people). As an international student looking for funding, and especially with such a lopsided academic profile, more info is needed to help narrow it down.
University of Delaware, Delaware State University, & Wilmington University all offer merit scholarships to in-state & out-of-state applicants. You would be interested in ones that prioritize high test scores over HS GPA. Some scholarships require that you mandate a minimum 3.0 GPA in college in order to renew the scholarship, while others may require a 2.5 or even just a 2.0 GPA.
If you are an international applicant, it’ll be much harder to gain acceptance to many colleges & universities in the U.S., even with top AP scores and an almost perfect SAT score. Your 3.1 GPA is your major disadvantage. Nevertheless, you could apply to all the top-20 or top-25 programs for undergraduate applied math to see which colleges are willing to take a chance on you. Make sure to apply to only need-blind schools for international applicants unless money isn’t an issue for you. I doubt that the number of colleges to admit you would be zero; maybe it could be as high as five. What would happen if you were to apply to all the top 50 schools for applied math? Would all of them reject an applicant with an SAT score of almost 1600?
Take the AP Calculus & AP Statistics exams next May, even if you don’t take the AP classes but take comparable college dual enrollment instead; a couple of “5” scores in AP mathematics will help, never hurt.
I disagree with this, especially as some need-blind schools don’t meet need (or in the case of somewhere like Georgetown give hardly anything at all to internationals). Need-aware but meets full need schools are worth applying to - the chances to get in might be lower but at least if you do get in you can afford to go.
1590 is VERY good on the SAT. What was the reason why your grades are not as high?
One thing that I am wondering about is whether some combination of transition to the US school system, plus temporary language issues, caused any of this. Given a 1590 on the SAT, it appears that if you ever had any trouble at all with American English that problem is long gone. Mostly I am wondering whether you have an uptrend in grades. Alternately I am wondering if there is some split between your grades in some subjects versus other subjects. For example, as a potential math / CS / AI major, your grades in math classes are likely to be important.
Most schools are need-blind when considering individual applicants for admission. But most of them do not give good (or any) financial aid to international students.
Your profile is unusually strong outside of your GPA. A 1590 SAT, ISEF Finalist, STS Top 300, and impactful AI research/project will definitely get attention. The 3.1 GPA will make the most selective schools a reach, but I think you still have a realistic shot at several excellent CS programs and merit scholarships. Build a balanced college list with reaches, targets, and safeties rather than focusing only on the very top schools.
To be accurate, the question should be: Has your parent on the H-1 visa applied for permanent residency? (The OP is an H-4 dependent and cannot file for permanent residency independently. Also, immigrants must first become permanent residents before they are eligible to apply for US citizenship.)
The OP may also want to email UD to obtain official confirmation of its policy.
This student needs to check if they are eligible since they are H4 dependent visa holders.
This seems like contradictory advice. It’s called shotgunning…applying and hoping for an acceptance. The student would be better served looking for colleges where they have a stronger likelihood of acceptance…first. Get a couple of those chosen…then apply to reaches if they want to.
Perhaps with additional information, like an annual college budget and some more info on the type of college will help folks here help you.
Are you willing to consider colleges that are not in the top 50?
Where does that 3.1 GPA come from? Did your current school decide to “translate” country-of-origin grades into US grades (if so, you should send your original records with translation AND ORIGINAL GRADE to colleges).
Why are you taking financial math and not calculus?
I agree that it’s a crazy, shotgunning strategy, and one I wouldn’t recommend to most, but one that could pay off for NP_A. His/her major disadvantage is the GPA. Most of the top schools disclose a 50% mid-range GPA like 3.7 or 3.8-4.0 unweighted. The applicant doesn’t know which schools will give more weight to the low GPA & which ones won’t care as much & opt to reject versus a waitlist or to admit. Assuming that NP_A cares about rankings & aspiring to gain admission to the highest-ranked choice possible. NP_A has several positives in addition to test scores.
Here is a counterexample where applying to 18 colleges didn’t pay off (maybe he chose the wrong 18)…
My personal experience with admissions is that a high test score will not overcome a low GPA unless there is some major underlying cause that has been appropriately addressed.
I hope the OP will come back and give more context to the GPA as I too suspect part of their HS was done abroad with a different grading scale.
I think that this is a very good point. The grade scales used in different countries can vary enormously. University admissions seem to be very good at adjusting for this (and I do have some personal experience, since I did high school outside the US and university in the US). If a high school in the US decides to list grades from other high schools outside the US, they might not be able to do a good job, or any job at all, of adjusting for other grade scales.