Head hurts. Help please.

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Because I am a going to be a first-generation college student, I am lost. I am clueless as to which colleges i should apply to; I absolutely am not worried about fitting in a school since I am a very congenial person. Please humor me until the end of this post.
So I immigrated to the US from a third world country in Asia three years ago. Separated from my parents, I was depressed the first semester of my freshman year, and had a C in Math(PreAP Algebra 2), and my grades were abysmal on the whole.

Second semester, I realized something was wrong and asked for help to one of my teachers. He was really encouraging and I had all A’s the second semester.

Sophomore year I had all A’s. mostly A pluses.

Junior year I had 100s in a few classes, still mostly A pluses-one A minus.

The only regular class I took was Spanish 1. I enjoy challenging myself and absolutely despise giving myself free time. By the time I graduate, I will have 17 AP credits and will have taken all the enticing science and math classes in my school: AP Physics 1 and 2, AP Physics C (both mechanics and the other one), AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Stats, and Calc 3.

Now this is where I am lost.
Where would I be on the applicant spectrum?
Clearly, I did not take 5 AP classes my Sophomore year. I was never thinking about colleges when I signed up for classes. Well, I know I screwed up here. Nothing I can do about it!
Obviously, being economically disadvantaged, I can throw expensive schools out. I do not want to graduate too much in debt. My PSAT score was crap; it didn’t even let me become a semi finalist. I took the SAT without studying and got a 1930 a few months ago. I will be retaking it after studying a little. I have been working, saving money to pay for college tuition in case I go to UT austin, where I have auto admission, so I still cannot study a lot for the SAT.

I am only looking for three things in a college: health insurance, financial aid (since I know I won’t qualify for scholarship with my freshman year grades), and research opportunities. I am primarily interested in Computer Science. I was second in state for some Math contest related to UIL. I interned at UN in the third world could try I was born in last summer as a Computer Programmar and used Java ad a front end and mySQL as backend to design a database management system; of course I had help. I know HTML, PYTHON, C, C#, JAVA, CSS, PHP, SCRATCH(LOL), and BASIC(rofl, who uses this language today?).

I guess I have a bit more to put on my resume.

My point is, I would like to go to some school that particularly emphasizes research, something like MIT. But obviously, MIT is not an option because they do not consider your circumstances like that they say that they do.
Is affirmative action going to hurt me(an asian)? CC posts indicate so.
(I just recalled that I admin two websites and also developed an android app.)
I would indubitably love to go to a top-notch school because they have a lot of research opportunities, and they would cover my fees. In all honesty, do I even stand a chance against those stupendous awesome Intel finalists, Olympia winners, robotics contest winners, AMC perfect scorers and the like?

I have a good work-ethic. I am amiable. I am an atheist. I have two jobs this summer(saving money for college paraphernalia like laptop, and … 32 gigs of RAM, liquid cooling, Nvidia!!!). anyways, I was rejected from MITES and SSP(interesting, free summer programs). I was only an alternate in the MIT Inspire contest.

on the whole, should I waste my time on application to a good school like Berkley and MIT? or should I just go to UT austin? please do not give preach “you do not know which colleges you will get into until you apply.”
I just have been preoccupied lately. I am not even ranked very high-clearly not in the top 3%.
also, I attend an excellent suburban high school.

2

If you have the grades, apply to Stanford and other top tier engineering colleges. There’s plenty of schools that will shovel cash at you with your resume, and you just need to find them.

Stanford
Georgia Tech
UCLA
Cornell

Whenever I look at rates, I always keep in mind that nothing ever posted here is definitive, and almost all of it is probably untrue. Take almost everything with a grain of salt, I’m sure you’ll be fine!

Rate me!

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1787582-chances-ill-chance-back.html#latest

3

Sounds like you have everything that would make you a strong candidate for almost any school. I take it you are still considered an International student. is that right? So you might want to look for ones that provide support to international students and as I’m sure you know MIT is such a school.If you were an alternate for Inspire then you already know MIT views you well. Don’t know why you say " But obviously, MIT is not an option because they do not consider your circumstances like that they say that they do." My observation is that they do consider life circumstances but that does not mean that every student who might do well at MIT gets in to every program they offer.

Nice to see what a difference a teacher made in your life.

4

I just got my scores. I took 3 practice tests and here’s my new score:
reading 640
writing 700
math 730.
do u think I should retake the test? or do I have some leeway on the reading because I recently immigrated?
I am sorry. I have no one to ask college related questions during the summer.

5

btw, this is what I got on the actual SAT that I took in june. this is the official score.

6

I am not considered an international student because I have a green card. I will be competing nationally.

7

will affirmative action hurt me?

8

Potentially. But highlight your background from your birth country. Try out a practice test for the ACT and see how you do. Your SAT score is still low for some top tier schools, but if you still are a pretty good candidate for plenty of other colleges.

Rate me back please!

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1787582-chances-ill-chance-back.html#latest

9

Don’t re-take the test. Aim for top publics. Who says UT Austin isn’t good?
Try TAMU, Arizona, UGA, GATech, Virginia Tech. You can get merit-aid from many of the publics.
Your most recent SAT score is good.
Don’t look at expensive privates or UC’s (Berkely, UCLA aren’t worth it).
You have potential!

10

but publics cost a substantial amount though. UT Austin instate is about $15000 a year. that’s pretty close to our family’s income (we are the lowest tier economically).

and I also need full coverage health insurance other than medicaid because I want to get the benign tumor out of my freaking hand.
and also, do publics have good research opportunities?

11

Public scholss have amazing research opportunities, great helth care opportunities, and cost far less than private schools while usually offering significant financial aid…

Look at schools similar to what @jdschooled5 said , i.e. U Washington, UT, TAMU, U Arizona, ASU, U Michigan, MSU, Va Tech.

You’ll find amazing opportunities at a much more affordable and valuable price than most private schools!

12

I don’t want out of state tuition. too expensive. also, is the health insurance free?

13

I think you should definitely apply public but don’t single out any private schools, because they can b generous with financial aid. I do not know that much about southern schools, but I think you are a competitive applicant wherever you will apply.

14

@an6rew I would scratch U Washington from that list. Their financial aid packages for OOS students are pretty abysmal, only about $10,000/year.

@peanut10 I assume you’re in Texas? UT Austin is an amazing school for CS, has tons of research opportunities and is known around the country as a well-rounded university. If you have auto-admit, I would take it and go. You’ll probably get great financial aid and scholarship money, and you won’t have to bear the expenses of moving to a different state. If you’re really unhappy, you can always try to transfer.

15

Emphasis on your disadvantages (though honestly, you’ve overcome them with heart) will strengthen your application way more than affirmative action will harm it. Please apply to Stanford and look for scholarship opportunities like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I have solid faith in your ability and I look forward to hearing more from you!

16

do u think I have chance at MIT? they would offer me full coverage financial package, if accepted, and Massachusetts has free health insurance. also, MIT has a research program called UROPE which would allow me to do research even during the summer (no travel costs).
right I have already taken linear algebra. if that helpd.

17

Always apply where you feel you would best have your needs satisfied. It is worth a try, and if you do succeed you get exactly what you want from college. So yes, apply to MIT and the UROPE research program. And again, make yourself a stellar application that matches the needs of MIT and what they want from a student. Good luck!

18

You have an excellent shot, apply to both Stanford and MIT. As a CA native, I know for certain that Stanford WILL pay all of your expenses if you get in (if your family makes less than 125k, it’s free).

19

what about MIT? I was rejected by the summer program, MITES, but… is my SAT too horrible? I don’t really think I have any disadvantage. I was not born in the US so I am already grateful for everything I have. But I still want to be a Computer Scientist. I am taking a Quantum Computations class through UC Berkley X this summer along with a class on Artificial Intelligence Agents from CaltechX. I have already taken linear algebra and might take topology next year. this is all I have. honestly, do I have a chance against other applicants?

20

With your current SAT score, you would have an extremely low chance at MIT. If you’re able to raise that score a couple hundred more points (no easy feat) then you’d be a realistic candidate.