<p>Hello, I have been thinking of applying to the following colleges for an undergraduate course for a double major in Mathematics and Computer Science.
MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Caltech, UCLA
Do all of them have a good course on these two subjects?</p>
<p>Those are all top schools in those subjects, so they’re good places to look. However, you need to evaluate whether you’ll be able to be accepted and to pay if you do get in. What are your academic credentials? And are you/your parents willing/able to pay $60,000 a year for one of these schools, or will you be relying on financial aid?</p>
<p>Thanks for replying. Actually, I am relying a lot on financial aid. I think I have a fair chance of getting selected because I am the top 30 students in mathematics as well as the top 24 in CS in my country. I also missed IMO very closely. Hope they overlook that :D</p>
<p>Keep in mind that Princeton only graduates about 35-40 Math majors per year. At Caltech, the number must be a few less than that. There are about 200 countries in the world, any one of which could nearly supply Princeton or Caltech with all the “top 30” Math students they want, even without dipping into the US applicant pool. However, schools like Princeton and Stanford won’t limit themselves to top 30 students in any field. They may prefer one of the top 100 or top 1000 who also brings other impressive qualifications to the table.</p>
<p>So, if you’re serious about going to college in the USA, you owe it to yourself to look beyond a handful of the most famous schools. </p>
<p>By the way, UCLA is one of the few public institutions that does grant financial aid to international students. However, only a relatively small number of international students get it, and the average dollar amount is only about $14K/year.</p>
<p>[Top</a> 6 Need-blind Colleges in US for International Students - Desperate Guide: Undergraduate College Financial Aid, Scholarship](<a href=“http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-6-need-blind-colleges-in-us-for-international-students]Top”>http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-6-need-blind-colleges-in-us-for-international-students)
[Top</a> 25 Financial Aid Colleges in US for International Students (Need-aware) - Desperate Guide: Undergraduate College Financial Aid, Scholarship](<a href=“http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware]Top”>http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware)</p>
<p>I’m not trying to discourage you, but you do need to be realistic and perhaps consider a broader range of schools.</p>
<p>I understand the difficulty in getting admitted to these places. But since I have good colleges in my country, I will go to US only for the top universities and if I don’t get them, rather than searching for any other college in the US, I will settle for the ones in my country.</p>
<p>Check out Cornell I believe they are going need blind for internationals and they have a top notch CS program</p>
<p>Another top CS school is Rice but I’m not sure about their aid for internationals</p>
<p>I see your achievements and recognize how good they are. I don’t think that you’ll have any problems going to one of the top schools you listed. By the way, those are top for a reason. Carnegie is decent for math, pretty good for CS. If you want financial aid I think Carnegie should be full scholarship for you no problem.</p>
<p>EDIT: Wait, I just noticed that you seemed to not be from the US. If that’s the case, I can’t say anything about your chances unless you’re from China or something. I know a USAMO winner who got rejected from all of the top schools you listed actually.</p>
<p>If you’re an int’l and need FA, then take UCLA off your list. UCLA doesn’t give FA to int’ls. </p>
<p>*UCLA does not award scholarships or financial aid to undergraduate students who are not citizens or permanent residents of the United States. *</p>
<p>^ Hmm. Is that a new policy? What are you citing?</p>
<p>According to the UCLA 2011-12 Common Data Set, section H6, institutional need-based scholarship or grant aid is available, and so is institutional non-need-based scholarship or grant aid, to undergraduate degree-seeking non-resident aliens. 137 internationals were awarded need-based or non-need-based aid; the average dollar amount was $14,423.
(<a href=“http://www.aim.ucla.edu/CDS/cdsForm.asp[/url]”>http://www.aim.ucla.edu/CDS/cdsForm.asp</a>)</p>
<p>I was surprised to see this, as public universities typically do not award aid to internationals.</p>
<p>Since UCLA appears to be the OP’s American “safety”, and he needs a lot of financial aid, whether it does or does not grant aid to internationals may be important to him. I’m not sure it is realistic to say he won’t have any problem getting into the other 4. Here is a thread on the implications of IMO participation for selective college admissions:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/914605-would-imo-really-help-getting-me-admitted.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/914605-would-imo-really-help-getting-me-admitted.html</a>
(Note #14: “Only SIX applicants from India got into MIT last year, all of whom were on the real international math olympiad team.”)</p>
<p>Brown is another Ivy League school with strength in math and CS. It offers generous need-based aid to international students (although it isn’t need-blind for internationals). It is slightly less selective than Princeton, Stanford, or MIT. In 2011-12, 167 nonresident aliens enrolled as first year students at Brown (compared to 27 at Caltech, from all countries in the world put together).</p>
<p>tk…</p>
<p>here’s the link: (scroll down to Financial Info)
[International</a> Students - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/intl.htm]International”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/intl.htm) </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s a new policy. I’ve known this for a long time.</p>
<p>As for the Common Data Set…who knows what odd things that is about. Maybe they’re including some odd aid that has been given to Calif illegal immigrants? Or maybe there’s some odd aid given to children of employees who don’t have citizenship? Or some aid given to Employees that are attending UCLA and who don’t have citizenship???</p>
<p>BTW…I can’t seem to get your link to work.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the UCLA collection of Common Data Set Files:
[UCLA</a> Office of Analysis and Information Management | AIM](<a href=“http://www.aim.ucla.edu/CDS/cds.asp]UCLA”>http://www.aim.ucla.edu/CDS/cds.asp)
My numbers (137/$14,423) come from section H6 of the “Fall 2011” CDS.</p>
<p>So the CDS/H6 information and the Admissions information for international students appear to be inconsistent.</p>
<p>Rather than say that you need “a lot of financial aid”, perhaps you can give the net price limit that you are working with. Depending on what it is, there may be colleges whose list price is within that limit even without financial aid.</p>
<p>So the CDS/H6 information and the Admissions information for international students appear to be inconsistent.</p>
<p>The inconsistency could be based on a few things… UCLA may award merit or FA to some illegal alien students at their school. Or they may give aid to employees or their children who are int’ls. For example: if a prof is hired from China and his children aren’t yet PRs, UCLA might have some funds to give to those kids if they attend UCLA. Or if an int’l Prof is hired, and s/he wants to take some classes at the univ, perhaps there are funds for that. </p>
<p>the fact that the aid is listed as $14k strongly suggests to me that somehow UC tuition (fees) are being covered by some source for certain int’ls…employees, their children, or undocumented.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that the rules against aid for int’ls is one directed towards the non-connected/non-undocumented int’l applicant - which most int’l applicants would be…such as the OP.</p>
<p>When you look at the lines above the mention of the $14k in aid…</p>
<p>H6.***Aid to Undergraduate Degree-seeking Nonresident Aliens </p>
<p>Indicate your institution’s policy regarding institutional scholarship and grant aid for undergraduate degreeseeking nonresident aliens: </p>
<p>Institutional need-based scholarship or grant aid is available X
Institutional non-need-based scholarship or grant aid is available X
Institutional scholarship or grant aid is not available *</p>
<p>If institutional financial aid is available for undergraduate degree-seeking nonresident aliens, provide the number of undergraduate degree-seeking nonresident aliens who were awarded need-based or non-need-based aid: 137</p>
<p>Average dollar amount of institutional financial aid awarded to undergraduate degreeseeking nonresident aliens: $**14,423</p>
<p>Total dollar amount of institutional financial aid awarded to undergraduate degree-seeking nonresident aliens: $**1,975,968</p>
<p>The first 2 lines have X’s next to them, suggesting that the answer is “no”.</p>
<p>However, there are 137 who got aid. Along with the earlier suggestions of who those students might be, some of these also might be students who are “close” to getting PR status, and UCLA is funding them while their PR paperwork is being finalized. Or maybe these students are athletes on partial athletic scholarships, so UCLA gives them grants to make the school affordable??</p>
<p>Obviously, there are a lot more than 137 int’ls at UCLA, so those 137 (about 35 per year) must have some “back story” as to why they are getting aid which is counter to the school’s stated policies.</p>