Indian Senior who wants to get into MIT with Financial Aid [GPA: 4.0 equivalent, valedictorian, 1600 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • Gender: Male
  • Race/Ethnicity: Asian/Indian(North-Indian)
  • Income Bracket: Middle Class(Lower middle class by US standards)
  • Type of School: Highly competitive private school (top 5 in country)
  • Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): None

Intended Major(s): Computer Science

Academics

  • GPA (UW/W): School doesn’t do GPAs, only unweighted percentage for each year is given. Scored 86% in junior year(extremely hard courses, salutitorian was 80%)
  • Rank (or percentile): 1/70(junior), 5/120(sophomore)
  • Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc: school doesn’t offer any
  • Senior Year Course Load: (hardest-you can choose max 5 subjects)Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science, English Literature and Language(compulsory)

Standardized Testing

List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

  • SAT: 1600 (no superscore)

Extracurriculars/Activities

List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

  • Programming and Hackathons: 20-30hr/wk since 2020, grades 8-12. Built multiple projects, won MLH hackathons. Built an innovative project which won 2nd in inter-school national innovation league
  • Research: researched about computer memory optimization techniques(getting published in springer), now researching about optimization techniques using v-trees in distributed decentralized networks.
  • Author of a book published by a nationally well-known publisher. Second book on its way
  • Podcast Host: I run a podcast where I aim to empower the Youth by talking to accomplished guests about topics that the youth must know about. Started in March 2024, have gotten nationally well-known personalities as guests.
  • Public speaker: delivered keynote speeches at 5 events with 100-300 people as audience
  • School Captain(Head Boy) of my school: organized 11 inter-school state level and national level events, discipline enforcement, speeches, school outreach, conferences
  • Debate Team Captain: Inter-school nationals individual special commendation(team messed up on the spot), Inter school nationals runners up. Practicing for frank anthony nationals(August)
  • Captain school golf team, 2nd in state
  • captain of school IT and robotics team, recently 2nd in inter-school nationals,
  • Founder of event organizing company, profitable
  • Working on a decentralized system to ensure authentication/trust: recieved interest from blockchain company to invest 5000usd seed.
  • Volunteering: Collect grains every month and donate them to nearby orphanages, 12hr/mo
  • Jobs: Worked as community manager at a company to learn biz and community management(20hr/week, 5weeks). Worked as salesman at an auto dealership and real estate firm to learn sales skills(during junior and sophomore summer)
  • Others: AFS coordinator; Blogger; TEDx organizer; freelance web developer; working on cybersec awareness app.

Letters of Recommendation

I am going to ask these people for LORs

  • English teacher: 9.5/10- amazing writer, says that I am one of the best students in her 30+ year teaching experience
  • Math Teacher: 7.5/10- Bonded with him over the love of Maths, nobody except me understood him well, I was the only person who attended his classes most of the time. Not too sure of his writing skills
  • Have to decide between the two:
    • IT and Robotics coach: 9/10- Nerd bonding. Was flabbergasted by my projects and skills when he first met me. Not too sure of his writing skills. He is a senior doing CS at state uni.
    • School Director: 7/10- Retired Army general, ex right hand of president. He admires my confidence and style of conversation. Not too sure if he will have the time to write a good LOR. He will ask me to send a draft.

Essays

  • I love writing essays, have just now sumbitted me entry to John Locke. I have written over a 100 essays which I post on my website. May recycle some of them. But I have an idea to write an essay about a personal incident that I faced in grade 9 about my religion(Sikh) that had a very negative impact on me but I somehow bounced back.

Schools:

  • Reach: MIT(lore), Stanford, UCB, Caltech, CMU, Cornell, NYU, Vanderblit
  • Target: UIUC, Michigan, NYU
  • Safety: Purdue, Uni of Minnesota

Post Notes:

  • I think my GPA is low but that is the best I could get. Since we have board exams(nation-wide) in grade 12, our school teachers mark us lower in junior year so that we are motivated to work harder in grade 12(bs but cant do anything).
  • I have a lot of ECs but less awards, will they lower my chances?
  • Financial Aid: I would require financial aid to attend school in the US, I do not want student debt

I am open to all suggestions, please let me know how I can improve my application. I will be starting to work on it in the 3rd week of June.

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You are a strong candidate but CS is one of the most competitive majors.

Your list is very reachy. UIUC, Michigan, and Purdue are all reaches for CS. NYU has a 12% acceptance rate so also a reach.

Make sure you have affordable safeties in your home country.

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That’s because you’re converting your marks directly into a 4.0 scale, but that’s not how it works. You’ll be evaluated in the context of your school and if you say you’re the valedictorian at a top 5 school then you’re not doing badly.

But keep in mind that MIT and others like it are extremely hard to get into, and harder still for international students.

You should be aware that’s against the rules. LoRs are supposed to not be disclosed to the applicant.

Then you should remove all schools on your list that don’t meet full financial need for international students. Look up the list via Google - very few will meet your need, and of these only a subset are need-blind in admissions.

This is very important, so make sure you have a back up plan.

There are also no guarantees that you’ll get a sponsoring employer after you graduate. So you should also be prepared to return to your home country after graduation.

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Then cross off CMU and every public university from your list (UCB, UMich, UIUC, etc) since you will be ineligible for aid

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You’re an extremely talented student clearly, but your position is tough. You may be able to qualify for a full merit ride at some schools like Tulsa and Alabama.

I agree you need to expand your list if you want to go to a US university.

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In addition to crossing off those public universities because you won’t get aid…please keep in mind that MOST of your reach schools are need aware for admissions…meaning your level of need can be co side red when your application for admission is reviewed.

MIT has about a 2% acceptance rate for international students.

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OP- you need a budget. A granular budget from your family which shows what you can afford (including travel costs). You will need to show that you have the funds lined up before you can get a student visa to enter the US. “needing aid” is very different from “I can afford $30K per year” and depending on what you need, that will dictate what your list looks like.

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So first, if your school sends kids to US colleges, they will likely be your best resource for figuring out what qualifications you typically need for which colleges.

Second, as others are suggesting, need-based financial aid for Internationals is very limited in the US, many colleges have no budget for it at all or just a very small one, and so it is generally hard to get. Even if a college has a budget for International need aid, typically either the college in general is really hard to get into (not least for Internationals), or they are need aware for Internationals (meaning they will only admit as many high-need Internationals as they have the budget for, and no more).

But many highly-qualified Internationals I encounter seem unaware that one possible way to get access to aid is through merit versus need. Of course many of the most famous US colleges have little or no merit, because they don’t need it. But many other excellent but not quite so famous US colleges have robust merit programs to try to woo the students they really want away from their competitors.

And some of those colleges very much want some Internationals, but usually you have to not just be sort of typically qualified, you need to really be overqualified by their normal standards. And then they might be willing to spend some of their merit budget on you.

OK so combining these points, I don’t really know what US colleges with robust merit programs might consider you overqualified in that sense. But I would be willing to bet there are quite a few. And I would also be willing to bet they are not on your list yet. But if you are willing to consider that strategy, that will maximize your chances of getting an affordable US offer.

Or you can go reach-or-bust, meaning if you don’t get into one of few US colleges with generous need-only aid budgets for Internationals, you will go to a non-US undergrad instead. Which is fine if you are OK with that, but there are in fact options if you are not.

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How much aid would you need per year?

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Your grades will be evaluated in the context of the high school that you are attending. There will be several people on the staff of each school you apply to who are familiar with grades scales that are typically used in India.

You should be applying to universities that meet full need for all admitted students, including international students. UC Berkeley for example does not. Even if you get accepted to UC Berkeley, as an out of state student (whether International, or just from a state other than California) you will not get aid and most likely will not be able to afford to attend.

I am not sure whether Purdue or U.Minnesota meet full need for international students, or whether they have merit aid for international students. However, I would be very surprised if they were safeties for affordability, even if they were safeties in terms of admissions. Similarly, UIUC and Michigan might end up being unaffordable.

You need to have affordable safeties in your home country.

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They do not. And as state funded institutions they do not meet full need for OOS students either.

Minnesota has some - $10-15k per year
Purdue technically does make merit money available to internationals as well, but as a highly ranked, popular school, they give very little merit aid, even to domestic students.

Purdue for CS is most certainly not a safety.
I’m not as familiar with Minnesota

They both will certainly be, and both are reaches.

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You sound brilliant :slight_smile: - congratulations on everything you’ve achieved so far! :confetti_ball:

MIT (and other top universities used to Indian applications) will know that a Class XI 86% average is exceptional. It won’t be converted but, as others have said above, understood “in context”. In addition, because your school is a top5 school, it is a “known quantity” at US colleges used to Indian students and if your school is used to sending pupils abroad it will support you better than usual.

I assume that beside the US you’ll be applying to UToronto (they have a few full tuition and full rides for internationals, apply in the Fall) and Waterloo (scholarships have early deadlines too). I don’t know whether Imperial offers enough in scholarships.

So, essentially, you have a 1600/4.0, which opens some merit scholarships in the South (if their office of admissions convert 75+ in Class XI to a 4.0… or if your GC does.)
Merit scholarships are solely linked to your achievements, not your financial need and may or (more often) may not meet what you need to attend.

Your record is impressive so I understand why MIT is on your list - you stand a chance but that may be 5% instead of 2%…
As a result, you need to explore more meet-need colleges. Unfortunately, they’re just as unpredictably selective.

Harvard Yale Princeton MIT Amherst Bowdoin Brown Dartmouth would be need blind and meet full need (ie., your financial need won’t be held against you).
Everywhere else among the famous private universities and colleges, the more aid you need, the less likely you’ll be admitted. That’s called “need aware”.
(Finally, most public universities are “need blind/don’t meet need”, ie., they don’t care, because they don’t “meet need” so they may admit you but just expect you to pay the fees).

What’s your budget?
When you run the NPC on MIT, is the result affordable?

Really dig into the “need blind/meet full need” colleges and choose one where you’ll apply “early”, ie., in priority, for priority consideration in exchange for a promise of enrollment if the costs are affordable. (ED, REA, SCEA admission plans/deadline. )

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Net price calculators are seldom accurate for international students…so the results should be viewed with extreme caution.

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It gives an idea though - internationals can look at the net cost (without Pell and of course without any federal loan) keeping in mind that’s the lowest the family will be expected to pay but they’ll likely have to pay more. It’s useful to know if the college is definitely too expensive even in the best case scenario.

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Yes…as an estimate. If the NPC comes out very high net cost…then they might need to reconsider.

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Yes. :+1: Sometimes the numbers drive home that what you think you can afford isn’t what the college thinks.
Or sometimes parents don’t realize what the costs are.

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My family can help by contributing $10k/year and I also make about $5k/year from my podcast which is scaling exponentially. I can make $15k/year doing freelance projects, I have my clientage. Rest will have to be covered by aid if I want to attend a US college, which I do.

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Some one else will chime in, I’m sure. To get a student visa to come here for college, you will need to show that you have sufficient funds at the ready to fund your college costs for all four years. This can include received financial aid from the college, money you already have and can document, approved loans. It can not include possible future earnings.

@blossom perhaps can verify this.

You are a strong student…but affordability could very will be an issue for you.

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I cannot run NPC on MIT as an international student. But if I enter that I am a US citizen, I get $6000 usd as the Total cost per year.

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Thank you for all the replies. As an update after reading all the replies, I wanted to let the following be known:

  1. I will update my list of colleges and include more of the need-aware colleges
  2. I want financial aid but if I get an opportunity to go to my Target Universities without financial aid, I will make it through somehow. The priority is getting an admission letter.
  3. My school does send students abroad, but we do not have a very strong counsellor(since she is new and has some family probs) and most of the alumni who have gone to study abroad took personal career counselling. Our school mostly sends students to UofToronto, UBC and other colleges in Canada. Some have been to Waterloo, Harvard, Wharton, but not too many. None has been to MIT afaik.
  4. I have wanted to study at MIT ever since I was a 12-year-old. I had read a book by a famous MIT CSAIL professor, which was life changing for me and initiated me into STEM. I continuously emailed the professor and he agreed to get on a call with me, ever since I have talked to him as a 14-year-old, all I wanted to imitate his personality, learn from people like him and he told me that MIT has had a huge role. I even have a big MIT photo behind my study table. Tldr; I really want to get into MIT, what else can I do to maximize my chances, heck my parents are even ready to let me take a gap if I want to follow my dream of studying at MIT. Any suggestions will be helpful.