I got rejected by the safest schools because of finances

Applying to College
1

My Stats:

9th: 8.4/10. 10th: 9/10. 11th: 78%

Honours and Awards:
Winner of the State Level Science Exhibition
Participant in National Level Science Exhibition
Placed 2nd In Shine Cosmo Youth Festival for A Science Model 2014
Placed in Top 10 in FOSSASIA in Google Code In 2014
Participant in Amity International Model United Nations 2013, 2014
Award for Excellence In Olympiads, State Level (awarded to people who do excellent in 2-3 years in olympiads)

Activities:
Self taught programmer. Web Development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, AJAX, SQL, XML, Github), Python, Arduino Microcontroller, C++. Created my school’s social networking site (9th, 10th, 11th)

Published a research paper titled ‘Water Conservation By Controlling The Evaporation Rate In Desert Coolers’ in The Journal of Youths in Science, 2015 (12th, a month of research)

Co-organised, trained and lead a team of over 200 students in 4 MUNs (Model United Nations) in school, was the Asst. Director, Director and Secretary General.

Completed over 30 MOOCs in subjects such as Astronomy, Physics, Psychology, Philosophy, Math, Programming and Aerospace Engineering from Coursera, Edx, Khanacademy, MIT OCW and Udacity.

Created an SAT (Critical Reading) preparation course in a startup – Pyoopel (there’s a story about me in Storypick).

Created a video advertisement for HNLU’s (a national law university) cultural fest which aired on the state’s news channel (IBC 24) for about a week.

Responsible for collecting, editing and organizing information for the school’s ROOTS magazine. (12th)

Student Government: Prefect, Vice House Captain, Captain Intl’ Affairs in 10th, 11th and 12th.

Scores:
SAT I: 2030 (M 750, W 660, R 620)
SAT II: Physics 800, Math II 750
TOEFL: 113/120

Colleges that rejected me:
Colorado College
College of Wooster
Wheaton College, MA
Ohio Wesleyan University

Able to contribute (hahahaha): $11,000

OWU wanted more than $25,000 and…
College of Wooster explicitly said that it was because of my financial situation.

What do I do at this point? What went wrong in my application? Are my qualifications really THAT terrible that I got rejected by schools whose acceptance rate is 70% (I get that the number means more for American citizens, still, WTF!)?

2

With your stats (namely, GPA) Colorado College is certainly NOT a safety. In fact, it has a <20% acceptance rate. I’m not too familiar with Wheaton College (MA) and Ohio Wesleyan University, but I would presume they are matches.

Actually, the above would be for an American citizen. For Internationals (which I realize you now are) admissions are often quite competitive especially given that colleges are NEED-AWARE for internationals. In other words, financial situations DO, in fact, play a role in admissions.

3

Are my stats terrible? What do I do now?

4

You’re stats are not TERRIBLE; they are decent. You’re GPA is a little low, especially you’re 11th grade one, while you’re SAT would be (I believe) about average for the schools you applied to. As an international, your financial situation plays a pretty big role as colleges tend to favor US citizens when giving out financial aid.

I’m assuming you applied early to these schools? Did you apply anywhere else?

I’m not too informed about international admissions, but CC does have a list of schools that have later application deadlines, meaning you could still potentially apply to more schools. However, I’m not sure about the process of admission international applicants. Plus, schools with these later deadlines tend to be weaker academically, and while that would put you in a better position stats-wise, that could possibly mean they have less money to offer for aid, which once again, would be focused more on US citizens.

Perhaps one recourse is to take what Americans would call a “gap year,” where you can find a job or internship. I don’t know if it’s possible to retake the SAT (but maybe!).

Take my word with a grain of salt as I’m not too familiar with the process. Wish you the best of luck!

5

Thanks a ton for your feedback! And yes, I have applied to other schools, but they include colleges like Dickinson, F&M, Whitman, Vassar, Muhlenberg, SLC, Gettysburg and Trinity University. Outside the the common app: University of Texas at Arlington. Considering this, I don’t have much hopes.

What if I get into a top 20 college in my country and then apply for master’s in the States with internships in good places with research experience? Seems like a good idea? I don’t see what taking a gap year would do because it seems like a waste of a year and with 2 more years (BSc in India is of 3 years), I can have my undergraduate studies in cost effective way.

6

I was in the top 10% of my class, by the way.

7

Oh, the top 10% definitely puts your grades into perspective. Does your school send in a Secondary School Report or something of the like that details your school’s stats, or do you have the fact you are top 10% anywhere in your application?

A top 20 college in your country (India?)…I’m not sure how competitive that would be, but the important thing if you do that is to be at the top of your class! I’m certain you could get into a pretty good US post-graduate program given the high number of Indian nationals who are able to complete their masters at American universities.

Judging by your other schools, Vassar probably is the most ‘prestigious’ and is known to have a very diverse and international student body, and could probably provide the best financial aid out of them (except UT Arlington? It’s a state school…I don’t know how that would work). However, you’d have higher stats for places like Muhlenberg or Gettysburg, which, in that aspect, could work in your favor.

But don’t lose hope! Yes, you have been rejected from those 4 colleges, but you have 7 more colleges to hear from. And worst comes to worst, I’m pretty sure you’d be able to get into a top university in India, and then transfer or apply to an American university in the future.

8

Your stats are average, when compared to other students applying to those schools. If the schools are need-aware, they reserve their monies for domestic students. You need a better SAT.

Your 11th grade GPA tells the adcoms that you’ve possibly spent too much time on your ECs at the expense of your grades.

The reason other posters are advising a gap year is that freshman applicants get the most/best aid. Right now, you are being rejected from schools for possibly a combination of needing aid and having average to low stats.

International candidates are not guaranteed financial aid, and, the aid that they may get is based on what the schools think you need, not what you may actually need because the monies are limited.

The suggestion of getting a job is a good one. You are expected to contribute to your education through work and savings. This is what most American students do to help pay for their fees.

9

@GrandBudapest Yes, I did mention that I was in the top 10% of my class and my counselor also did when she was completing her Recommender’s section in the CommonApp.

See, I believe that the high number is due to the wealth of the family of the students. They have a lot of money to spare and so, are very easily able to get into a great institution in the US. Even for my grad school (if I get into a college in India for Bsc), I won’t be able to pay more than $20,000 for 2 years.

I applied to UT Arlington because a senior of my school got in there with full tuition scholarship. Though, I believe she’s paying over $25,000 for 4 years (living and board and stuff). About the other colleges, let’s hope so, thanks for the encouragement. :slight_smile:

Tell me one thing. The sole reason why I was involved in many extra curricular activities (or so I thought) was to get into a good college and learn many things from different areas (so I didn’t really have an OBLIGATION to be involved in an activity, I did it out of my personal interest). Now I realize a bigger purpose-- they helped me decide what I want to do in my life and spend as much time as possible doing that-- Physics. Considering this, I am planning to focus on the following 3 things during my undergraduate studies in India:

  1. Grades in the courses that I take in college
  2. GRE and other standardized test scores (I got 113 in TOEFL, but I guess it would be irrelevant after 2 years so might have to take it again)
  3. Research experience and publication

You see that ECs are completely missing from the list. Is it all right? I do not wish to continue most of the ECs I am involved in right now to focus on more important things. Is it a good plan to take me closer to MS at a top university in the US (with funding)?

@“aunt bea” EC at the expense of grades-- that is correct and was a big mistake on my part. So, are you suggesting a gap year to improve my score and ECs?

10

Gap year is for you to work and retake your SAT and so that you’ll possibly qualify for freshman scholarships. Your eleventh grade scores are not helping. GPA and SAT scores are king in admissions. Financial need, as an international candidate, is always tough. ECs are supplemental information.

If you do more ECs it won’t help. The college’s look at quality of ECs and not quantity.

11

So I better attend and Indian college and then try for MS. Because as you said, funding is a major problem.

12

MS funding can be even worse, that why you may want to wait and do a gap year.

13

But won’t that be very risky?

14

Many US colleges and universities will NOT accept an int’l student who cannot show financial support. The US govt will not issue an education visa to an int’l who can’t show that he has all of his funding. The US doesn’t want students here who will suddenly become homeless or w/o food money because they arrived w/o enough money. The US doesn’t want int’l students who will become stranded here because they lack the funds to return home.

so, schools want to protect yield, so they don’t bother to accept those who can’t show that they can pay for the school (after any aid or merit awarded).

So, if you got a full tuition scholarship, but the remaining costs of room, board, fees, books, health insurance, personal expenses, and int’l travel are more than the $11k that you can show, then the school is going to reject you.

BTW…all those other expenses will likely add up to at least $20k per year. Insurance and int’l travel will probably be $4k for just those two.

15

Pretty sure mom2collegekids is right, sorry to say. I do think there are some colleges known for giving aid to foreign students. Or maybe you should apply to state colleges with rolling admissions, because you have missed the deadlines for most others. Colleges with rolling admissions should be happy to admit a student with your stats, but I don’t know about the financial aspect. Good luck!

16

MS is the US, but why? Do they have a good MS program in your country too? The US Uni experience can be very very expensive, and if you have much cheaper options at home, I would do that. You can always visit the US.

17

mom2collegekids is correct. An international cannot qualify for any financial aid backed by the federal government, and majority of colleges do not offer any need-based financial aid programs separate from those, and that includes all public universities like UTexas. Added to that problem, as an international you need an F-1 (or possibly a J-1) visa to be able to be admitted to and stay in the US to attend college. A requirement for issuance of such visas is that you must establish that you (or your parents) have the finances to pay the total costs of the applicable college for the firrst year. Thus, you cannot possibly attend the majority of colleges in the US with your financial condition unless you get lucky and get a merit scholarship offer that covers all costs in excess of the $11,000 you can show you can pay.

There are a number of colleges that offer need-based financial aid to internationals, backed by their own financial assets, but those, except for some higher ranked colleges, often will provide only some aid (meaning your $11,000 share may not be enough because the aid they might provide won’t meet the rest needed to show you can pay all necessary costs for a year) and even then they can be quite selective on which international candidates get need based financial aid. To explore the issue of which colleges offer financial aid to internationals, you may want to start here: http://www.internationalstudent.com/schools_awarding_aid/

18

Look at colleges where you are well above the average academically, and therefore might qualify for some aid. Guilford,Whittier, Eckerd, Earlham, Willamette, all come to mind. I don’t know whether they would meet your full need, however.

19

It always amazes me that international students don’t realize that they have to either be full pay or a SUPER star to get into college here. US colleges are not here to subsidize mediocre students of the world. Please, tell your friends.

20

Many schools in the US don’t promise international students funding. The funding is often earmarked for students from the US. But they often do insist that international students have enough funds available to cover the cost of college and to use if things go badly to ensure that student can safely return to their home country. Schools put this information on their web site. I bet colleges in your country do similar.