Help chance a rising senior :) [international, 4.0 GPA, mechanical engineering]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Thank you so much advance for taking the time to sift through all this :sob::sob:

Demographics: For a bit of context lā€™m applying as a mechanical engineering major. Iā€™m super interested in product development & creative tech

Iā€™m applying as an international student, Middle Eastern (Egyptian currently living in Saudi Arabia) middle class girl (~$80-120k per year, will be needing aid).

Academics: 4.0 UW GPA (98-99% avrg)

Took the SAT quite a few times, just got a 730 on the English section actually (yay). My math score still sucks, Iā€™ll try to fix that over the summer

1400-1480 rough estimate for now?

Will probably also take the iLets or Duolingo, not concerned at all about those tho

l attend a private all girls international school (around 60-70 girls in my grade)

No APs because my school (& my entire city) doesnā€™t offer them.

Our yearly coursework includes 12 subjects every year including English (Literature & Grammar), Arabic, French, Bio, Chem, Physics, History (or Business&Econ depending on the year), Religion, Physical Education, a math subject (Alg 1 for 9th, Alg 2 for 10th, Pre-Calc for 11th, Calc + Stats for 12th).

Projects so far:

1. Founder & Director of a local student powered creative event plug (my actual child, ! love her so much, will be incorporating her into my essays + I wanna continue work on this throughout college, so I might mention that as well)

Launched with a 2 night Jazz Night & Silent Art Auction event

We featured 30+ pieces donated to us from 15+ artists from 7+ countries all over the world. Garnered the support of 10+ sponsors and partners. 15+ local brands and businesses as vendors, 3 live performances. National news article being published about the launch and achievements.
Hired/paid for our second project, whichā€™ll be a private art collection showcase + local brands, activities, sustainable integration, etc. this August!!
Was thinking of submitting to the Diana Award? Will definitely boost my project, & me, do I have a shot at that?

2. Finance & Enterprise Manager @ the ARAMCO F1 in Schools program
I spent 500+ hours over 5 months working in our regional hub. Raised over $8,000. Also assisted in CAD/CAM work with engineering team

(One of my favorite personal projects that I did throughout this program as one of my ā€œscorecard innovationsā€ was bringing together F1 artists from around the world to create original pieces for our team. The judges loved them, even offering to purchase some of their favourites, and it ended up inspiring other teams around the region to collaborate with artists as well. ā€”-> this inspired the idea for project 1ā€™s launch event!!)

I was also a team support member for two teams this year (guiding them through the program, offering help & support), team #1 won first place in regionals w the best verbal presentation award, team #2 won second place regionally w the best team identity award!!

3. Creative Director @ NYC based nonprofit focused on providing underserved students with electronic devices
Lead campaign strategy + visual direction to boost device donations and expand community reach. Helped drive efforts resulting in $300K+ worth of tech redistributed to underserved students. Partnered with 10+ major organizations across NYC

4. Chief Marketing Officer @ student-built STEM learning app
Handled user acquisition, strategy, and growth for an education app built entirely by high schoolers. Reached 1K+ downloads within 3 months post launch. Target: global middle/high school

5. Ambassador + Mentor @ selective national foundation program
Selected as a Distinct Ambassador for one of the most competitive student leadership programs in the region.
Mentored 800+ students across 2 cohorts, 200+ hours of personalized guidance and support

6. Head of Outreach @ pioneering MUN organization in the region
Led all outreach for the first org to establish MUN locally; strengthened platform visibility and school partnerships.

7. Kode With Klossy Website Development Camp.
ā€”

All my projects are very student focused, roles are very communication/ideation focused. I think theyā€™re the best reflection of me, which is very hard to find as a non Saudi girl living in Saudi.

Iā€™m not sure who to ask for rec letters yet, if anyone has any input on that

I think I can come up with some pretty solid essays, I already have my Common App essay idea + a very rough draft (if anyone whoā€™s already graduated is willing to take a look at that & tell me what you think that would be super awesome!)

Please let me know my chances & match me with schools that fit my profile!! I want to bring it down to 12 maximum, please let me know your opinions!!

Thereā€™s also no US safeties, since my safeties are unis in my home country

ā€”
CAIRO, EGYPT (domestic) (safety-ish, but would still be super super happy to attend)

AUC ā€”> MechE

NGU ā€”> Medicine (6yrs)

ā€”

ABU DHABI, UAE

NYUAD ā€”> MechE

ā€”

DOHA, QATAR (EDUCATION CITY) (SO PERFECT, only downside is that all the aid is in the form of loans. Zero interest, but still a LOT, esp since they cost the same as the US campuses)

CMU Q ā€”> Something eng or CS related

Cornell Q ā€”> Medicine (6yrs)

ā€”

US - All MechE or alternative major (plan A schools, would be a lot cheaper than the others if I get aid. Also all my family lives in the US, so if I do end up in Cairo Iā€™ll be alone)

UPenn ā€”> ED 1

Vanderbilt ā€”> ED 2??

Rice ā€”> ED 2??

URochester

Northwestern

WashU

Cornell

Duke

Notre Dame

Dartmouth

Case Western Reserve

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I focused a LOT of my time & energy across all years on my first 3 activities, which I love sosososo much, so I donā€™t have a huge laundry list of activities, but Iā€™m very happy with that.

I donā€™t really have honors other than the news article? 1st place physics fair project @ school? Technically KodeWithKlossy is a scholarship, I could put it in honors instead of ECs? Again, opportunities are ridiculously hard to find here. For example, in my cohort of F1iS, from the hundreds of students in the program, there were only 6-8 international students nationwide

My school does sporadically send a student or two to a T20 every year. I live in a super small city, kinda underdeveloped compared to other cities here, but a few kids have managed to do it over the years. And nationwide, a pretty good number of students end up at T20s-50s (although a majority of them went to ISEF & other fancy programs, which arenā€™t available to me as an immigrant)

Is there anything else I need to do before application time? Other than the essays & finding all the fin aid docs I need to submit

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Where in the US are your family? Do you want to be in the northeast specifically or are you comfortable anywhere in the US? Do you have a solid budget for what you can afford to pay out of pocket? Do you expect to work in the US? I feel like your list is a little top-heavy given your test scores as an international.

Also, have you considered NYU Abu Dhabi?

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Nailing down your budget is really critical, the total amount you can pay for all of tuition, housing and dining, mandatory health insurance, travel, and other costs. Youā€™ll need to know that to make sure any college you are looking at even has the sort of aid you will need.

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Backing out the math score at 670-750, the lower end of that range is not going to work for an engineering major at most of the US schools youā€™ve highlighted, and the overall number at the lower end might be too low too. Itā€™s hard to know exactly because some schools were test optional last cycle but are no longer, like Penn, but their middle 50 SAT was 1510-1560 last year. A number of schools on your list are still test optional for the next cycle and you should carefully think about whether or not to submit scores, with their published middle 50s as a guide to that.

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My family all live in the DMV area, Iā€™d love to stay closer to them on the East Coast, but I donā€™t really mind where I go

I think the max my parents can pay out of pocket for everything is around $20-30k, including all expenses. So I definitely think Iā€™ll be needing some significant aid

NYU Abu Dhabi is on my list!! NYUAD
Itā€™s a very long shot tho, like 4% acceptance, but meets full need!

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The schools on my list are the ones Iā€™m pretty sure cover 100% of demonstrated need for everything for internationals, but itā€™s really hard to find info on all the things they cover

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Iā€™ll try to lock in as much as possible over the summer, but would a 1400-ish really hurt my chances dramatically for ED @ Penn? & other schools as well

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The rule of thumb is that scores below the middle 50 are not likely to be competitive. Obviously the schools do admit people below that range but they are often ā€œhookedā€ - legacy, recruited athletes etc. 1400 is a very good SAT score in general and there are many schools that it would be competitive at, but the very top tier of US schools generally would want something 1500 or above. And Iā€™d say if you want to do engineering, probably at least 750 for the mathā€¦a good number of stem applicants at those schools will have an 800 math score. Are you getting SAT tutoring? You say youā€™ve already sat it a number of times - are you seeing improvement/understanding what you need to work on?

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Iā€™ve taken the SAT around 5ish times?? My highest score is 660, lowest is 600, so not much progress.

Same with English, my highest score is a 730, lowest was a 700, I think I can do a bit better there too

I shouldā€™ve studied better throughout the year, there was a lot going on, Iā€™ll do by best to work hard this summer & try to aim for higher scores in the fall of my senior year

11

If not tutoring, are you using something like the free resources on Kahn Academy? There is a level at which you can ā€œwork smarter not harderā€ to improve results on SAT. If youā€™ve taken it 5 times without much improvement Iā€™d recommend you change the study strategy/approach, and Kahn Academy has been helpful for many. Also make sure you have used YouTube etc video tutorials on how to optimize using Desmos for the math section.

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Run each schoolā€™s net price calculator with your parents to get cost estimates. The meet full need schools calculate how much they think your family can pay, fin aid isnā€™t based on what your parents think they can pay. The NPCs arenā€™t too well designed for internationals (e.g., have to convert everything to US dollars) so keep that in mind. Hereā€™s Pennā€™s NPC:

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The Net Price Calculators are currently set for students starting college in fall 2025. Most colleges will be resetting them for students starting in 2026 soon.

Anything you get nowā€¦should be viewed as an estimate.

If you do the NPC now, use tax year 2024 information because that is what will be used for the 2026-2027 academic year.

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So it is critical to understand there are two very different categories of ā€œmeets need for Internationalsā€ colleges in the US.

There is a short list of colleges that are both meets need for Internationals AND also ā€œneed blindā€ for Internationals. In the past such colleges typically have had under a 3% admissions rate for Internationals, not least because there is an incredible demand for such offers. Some more have recently joined that list and we donā€™t have that data yet, but I suspect it will quickly be similarly competitive.

The much more common combination is being meets need but also ā€œneed awareā€. What this means is if they donā€™t want to give you the offer you would need, they wonā€™t admit you and give you a lower offer, they will just reject you instead.

When I have looked at data for such colleges and made some reasonable assumptions, it looks to me like normally high need internationals at best still only have a low single digit acceptance rate, and for high enough need internationals it could be under 1%, or indeed essentially 0%.

Note their total International admit rate may be much higher. That is because they are admitting full pay, or at least low need, Internationals at a much higher rate than high need Internationals. Which they can do because they are need aware. Indeed, it appears to me at many such colleges, full pay Internationals may be admitted at around the same rate as domestic applicants. It is apparently only needy Internationals that are admitted at far lower rates.

So the bottom line is really high aid offers are extremely competitive no matter where you are looking.

I do, however, like to suggest that high need International engineering applicants at least check out Lafayette. Lafayette is a smaller college but it actually has a good ABET-certified engineering program, and at least a decent budget for International aid.

Another idea is to maybe look at some engineering programs that could get to your budget just with merit aid. It would be tight, but you might be able to swing the cost at Iowa State, Grand Valley State, the University of Mississippi, or so on. I think some Internationals conclude those programs would not improve on their non-US options, and that is fine. But if you really want an actual good chance of doing your engineering degree in the US, you may need to consider such programs.

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With the advent of AI, all schools are (or will be) essentially need awareā€¦ If it can be done, why wouldnā€™t theyā€¦? The trend as weā€™re seeing play out in real time is less federal funding to support (money is fungible) international studentsā€¦

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Why would AI make a difference. At need blind schools, the admissions department has no idea what level of financial need any student has. The admissions and financial aid departments are very well separated at these schools. What would AI have to do with that?

Regardlessā€¦the 10 schools that are both need blind for admissions and meet full need for all international students are highly competitive colleges.

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AI will be trained on the factors that correlate with need, so high probability identification can be madeā€¦ Those with predicted high need would likely be triagedā€¦

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If interested some schools offer creative design and technology as a major. I am not sure if it can be paired with mechanical as a double major, but sure can be added as a minor.

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As OP may not be familiar with how US schools operate, I feel itā€™s important to clarify thisā€¦

You donā€™t need AI to determine an applicantā€™s financial need. Schools can simply look at the FAFSA or CSS Profile submitted by students applying for aid.

Some schools simply choose not toā€“either because they are wealthy and can meet every admitted studentā€™s financial need, or because they donā€™t promise to meet need at all (like almost all public schools).

This is what OP needs to keep in mind.

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International students donā€™t qualify for federal financial aid.

As for AI, itā€™s definitely not needed to identify students who need financial aid and/or how much a student is likely to need. Most highly selective schools use College Boardā€™s Landscape data which shows several factors associated with ability to pay. These factors are shown for each applicant at the neighborhood (census tract) and high school levels. Some colleges also choose to see answers to various application questions such as parent education level, jobs, and whether or not the applicant applied for FA. Maybe AI will at some point be used for FA but for now it doesnā€™t seem colleges need that, thereā€™s plenty of other ways to inform whether or not an applicant has need and the likely level of need that an applicant has.

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