Math: AP Stats (12th), Dual Enrollment Calculus 1 and 2 (12th)
Science: Biology, Honors Chemistry, AP Chemistry, Honors Physics
History and social studies: AP Psychology, AP World History, AP Human Geography
Language other than English: Honors Spanish 4 (12th)
Visual or performing arts:
Other academic courses: Honors Intro to Engineering, Honors CSP, AP CSP
Awards
Principal’s Honor Roll
AP Scholar Candidate
Potential youth leadership recognition from a Kansas-based organization
FCCLA leadership involvement and recognition opportunities
Excellence in Spanish 2 (9th grade)
Extracurriculars
Technology Contributor/Developer: Built digital donation system for nonprofit. Working to enable $5K–10K+ in donations. Focus: improving access to giving for underserved communities in Tanzania.
Conducting university-level research with faculty and PhD students regarding Speech Emotion Recognition. Responsibilities include: Data cleaning, Audio segmentation, Feature extraction, Research collaboration on an NIH-funded project, Potential future co-authorship opportunity.
FCCLA Officer (multi-year leadership involvement at school chapter)
Founder & President of Red Cross Club (12th grade)
SAT YouTube Channel (Founder & Content Creator): Created short-form SAT prep content, ~100K+ total views, Focus on simplifying concepts and accessibility
150+ hours Hospital volunteer supporting visitors and patients at the information desk
I think that these schools are probably all reaches.
A few of these schools such as Colorado College, at least if I have this right, will consider your need when deciding whether to admit you. They will admit a few international students who need significant financial aid, but have a limited budget. Some other schools on this list are very competitive for admissions and are reaches for pretty much everyone.
I think that there is a reasonable chance that you will get an affordable admissions from some school on this list, but there is also a very real chance that you might not. I do not see a safety on this list, although I suppose that I might be missing something.
I agree with the above that these schools are reaches, with Colorado College probably the best chances. You should run each school’s net price calculator, along with your parents, to get estimated costs. You have to first see if these schools would be affordable should you be admitted. NPCs aren’t set up for next year yet, but still run them to get an estimate.
I don’t know the Colorado state requirements for international students attending CO high schools and qualifying for in-state college tuition, but look into that.
Do you have more likely colleges on your list, whether in your home country or elsewhere? You need at least one college that is a highly likely admit that will be affordable…what school is that?
But keep in mind…the net price calculators are often not accurate for international students…and the NPCs are currently set for students starting college fall 2026, and that is not this student. So view any results with caution.
Right, and I said that. Regardless, it’s still best practice to run NPCs for cost estimates. NPCs that ask if the student is international or domestic will be relatively more accurate than those that don’t.
International applicants seeking financial aid comprise our most competitive group of applicants each year. We are only able to fully fund a handful of students out of thousands of applicants.
OP should look at question H6 in each school’s common data set to see what proportion of international students receive institutional aid and how much, on average.
For Colorado College 2024-25 (the most recent year with data in Q H6), 62 of 103 total international undergraduate students received an average of $73k in financial aid.
Congrats on your accomplishments. You are a viable candidate for any college on your list – but they all must be considered reaches. Acceptance rates are in the teens or single digits for most schools on your list and these schools get many more qualified applicants than they have spots available. As an international student, admission is even tougher and less predictable. You also need to consider what colleges will be affordable.
You have done the easy part by picking the “big name” schools you want to apply to. Next comes the real work of finding academic match and safety schools that appear affordable and that you would be excited to attend. Look for some options with guaranteed merit aid, consider in-state publics (if you qualify for in-state rates), etc.
You are an excellent student! congrats. Those schools are reaches for 99% of students out there, so I would pick a couple of those most likely to give aid to international students and shoot your shot. Then add a bunch of targets and likely schools that you can afford (which is the trick, here as an international).
Do you qualify for in-state tuition? I am guessing not since you didn’t mention it, but just in case you do, Mines, CU Boulder, and CSU, etc., have excellent STEM programs..maybe you can commute to one and get a fantastic education? Students really do go there from across the country….One of my own kids is applying from a top private to one for engineering, I know lots of kids going to CU-Boulder, have relatives going to CSU from CA, etc.. Immigrant or Resident Alien | Colorado Department of Higher Education Home
You’re a great student! It’s tough that under H-4 you do not qualify for instate tuition - assuming you’re a child whose parent has an H-3. You’ve developed a strong list of reaches. I agree with previous posters that you’ll want to also look at schools that offer merit to internationals. University of Iowa, Arizona State etc. Have you had a frank talk to your parents about budget. It will help to figure out just which schools will work. Best of luck to you.
A few years ago Colorado College was looking for Colorado students so they were given a big tuition break. I think that program has ended but they may still be favoring in-state applicants and may give good financial aid to Colorado hs grads.
Look at Colorado School of Mines, Colorado Mesa for engineering and STEM (it is a CU program). Mines has a lot of private financial aid so for those scholarships you may not have to be able to file FAFSA.
Are you eligible for Daniel or Boettcher scholarships? I don’t know if you have to be able to fill out FAFSA for those, but they cover a lot.
Please consider your target colleges. They are reaches.
I have two children working in CS and electrical engineering. Both work for large corporate international firms. Just because magazine rankings indicate a “T25” it doesn’t mean it’s the best 25 for CS education.
I get that you’re international and I understand that international parents want “name brand” prestigious colleges and bragging rights, but you also want an all around good experience. My children work beside savvy graduates of state colleges, as well as college powerhouses in CS.
Plus, you may not be eligible to work in CS in the US. My daughter had to layoff staff because contractual work did not materialize. Our son’s employer is not accepting any new applicants. They want to keep their staff working on current contracts. And, if you aren’t eligible for a security clearance, requiring citizenship, all bets are off.
A few schools on this list (i.e. Notre Dame and Emory) seem like interesting choices to apply to for computer/data science. Not exactly known for these majors.
But they are known for offering generous need based aid to international students. This student’s list is going to look different as many schools are going to be unaffordable.
Hi! I’m definitely applying to safeties and targets! My main issue is that a lot of universities even ones that are not name-branded yet good for CS don’t offer many full rides or scholarships for internationals and we are not in a good position to afford a lot of those schools. The idea of targeting a lot of reaches comes from that a lot of them offer 100% demonstrated need. And even if I were to work outside the country after graduation, it is with the hope that “western” education will come with some privedleges.
