Another option is to apply to universities in other countries, such as Canada. One daughter for example applied to McGill and I do not think that they even asked about ECs. The applications for the top schools in Canada are also quite easy. I have joked that they only want to see a high school transcript and contact information so they can get back to you. This is a slight exaggeration, but admissions in Canada is relatively straightforward and is very stats-based.
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The US in fact is a real outlier in terms of weight put on non-academic factors, a byproduct of the robust (and expensive) residential college experience.
And even then, that really only applies to a relatively small fraction of US colleges, even selective US colleges. Most admit primarily “on the numbers”, and that will often include Internationals . . . if they can pay what these colleges want to charge them.
But if you need a lot of aid even to afford those colleges, well, that’s very, very competitive for Internationals. And they can basically afford to demand things most Internationals find it very difficult to do, because they are already planning not to make those offers to most Internationals who need them.
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Often overlooked because everyone wants to talk about a small subset and it seems most internationals want a freebie from one in this subset. Just not how it works with few exceptions.
Yeah, with somewhere around $25K in annual budget (including everything, like travel and mandatory insurance), a high numbers International with good English scores is probably going to be able to go to a US college.
But if they either have a much lower budget than that, and/or will only consider US colleges that are famous internationally, then they pretty much automatically need a good Plan B for outside the US. Because US offers meeting such criteria are incredibly scarce for Internationals.
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Do they offer full rides to internationals?
So apparently some do - a few highly competitive ones - but it seems to get them you need the kind of profile that would also make you attractive to top US colleges. Example:
Mostly no.
There is one exception that I know of, and it is very, very, very competitive. That is the Lester B. Pearson scholarship at the University of Toronto. You need to get your high school to nominate you even just to apply for this scholarship. If any particular international student is very close to being the top student in their high school, and if they want to go do the U. of Toronto, it might be worth getting their high school to nominate them, but it is a long shot.
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Be sure to also focus on seeking out affordable options in your home country.
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If you need financial aid, be aware that only a handful of colleges are need-blind for internationals, meaning that they don’t take need into account when deciding on admission or rejection. Amherst College, Bowdoin College, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, MIT, Princeton University, and Yale University. There may still be merit aid, scholarships or need-based aid offered elsewhere but those schools are truly need blind for you.
Washington & Lee as well.
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So If I get into them and if I am below the threshold so I will automatically get scholarship and the aid will not diminish the chances I have?
Are public universities in Germany still free for international students? I don’t have first hand information but remember seeing it on CC not too long ago.
So the promise is that Admissions will not directly take into account your need status when making their initial decision.
There is an open question about whether it might be a factor indirectly, say through applying admissions factors that don’t require knowledge of your need status, but nonetheless predictably limit the number of high need Internationals they admit.
And realistically, the need blind colleges are typically harder for International admissions generally. It is again a question whether you are always better off applying to one of those, versus a college which is need aware for Internationals, but does have a decent International aid budget, and is not quite as selective for Internationals in general.
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Remember too that the school determines your level of need, not you. For many people, this isn’t an issue, but for some – particularly those with an ability but not the desire to cover a portion of the costs – this is another challenge.
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I think you’re confusing the steps to admission.
Your chances are already diminished because you need aid.
Your chances are also diminished because, as you’ve stated, your extracurriculars are not strong.
Add to this, the fact that those few schools receive thousands of applications from international candidates who require funding.
The competition for seats at those small schools is immense and intense. They probably select a handful of international students from various countries . A number of international students can pay for their education.
Unless you are an Olympic athlete, have had international fame (think Malala, Greta, etc.),
or have set yourself internationally apart from the rest of your countrymen, then your chances are closer to 0% at those schools. But prove me wrong. Apply to those schools.
An issue you have, that needs to change, if you want to become educated in the US, is your attitude about class systems and work.
If you apply to a school that is going to “give”you money, they will have conditions.
One of the conditions may be working for the university in “lower class” jobs. A large number of US students HAVE to work on campus doing these “lower class” types of jobs to make the university work.
Our students are happy to be admitted and people don’t look down at someone being industrious and doing what they have to do to get their education paid for.
Students work bussing tables, cleaning tables, restocking, refilling and cleaning meal containers. Some students work by cleaning lab areas, and working in restaurants as servers and cashiers.
When our daughter was considering Harvard, we contacted Harvard and they connected us with a young woman who was from our region, to give us a tour.
We went in the summer. She was late for our visit and then explained that she needed to finish her job.
She couldn’t afford the plane fees to return to Los Angeles, for breaks, so the way she paid for her room during summers was to clean rooms and toilets on campus. Our daughter made a face, but continued listening
This was at Harvard.
Her regular job, during the semester, was in one of the restaurants. She tried to get a job in one of their libraries but those jobs were “assigned” and not easy to get.
Her attitude was: “I’m at the best university in the world, and if I have to clean a few toilets at Harvard, then cleaning a few toilets isn’t going to hurt me or my future.”
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The colleges I cited as being need-blind are among the most selective in the US and some are quite “holistic” in their admissions, meaning they take more than academics into account. Just wanted to be clear since I posted that list of schools! The point was actually that not that many schools are need-blind. This does not mean you have no chance of aid- or admission.
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Yes I understand but the point of the discussion was to get advice of ECs so I can improve them. Yes It is hard to get into these uni but I want to put in the work to get into them thats why I wanted tips.
You have got a fair bit of advice, and rejected some of the suggestions such as part time work as not being suitable for your economic class, or that things such as clubs and competitions are too difficult. (I will note that all the ECs that might be suggested are (as they should be) things that will help round you out as a person, both academically and otherwise.) Are there any of the suggestions so far that you think you will take on board?
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And Notre Dame.
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Considering all the help people gave me here for which Thank you to all of you, I have realized that I am doing a form of procrastination regarding my ECs by asking questions over and over again and in the end gaining nothing. I am just going to stick to things that I like and have fun doing because the goal is to be human rather a robot which in turn might give me a better chance for the colleges I want to apply. I have decided to do the following:
- Prep for SAT
- Making a website that I mentioned in my post to solve a problem in my debate circuit
- Doing a national Maths Olympiad exam
- Debate/MUN which I find fun and enjoyable
And for job that people mentioned it’s not as black and white especially here where I live and for reasons which are hard to explain if you dont live in a place like here I cannot do them. For the job related thing my relative works in an machine fan engineering firm for which I trying to convince my parent to ask for me to shadow the relative and later on I can do a paid internship there but thats a bit of Daydreaming ngl.
And again Thank you for helping me, everyone who participated in the thread.
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