Hello, I am a 12th-grade student from Egypt attending a specialized STEM High School11. I am applying as a low-income international student (requesting a full fee waiver 2) and would appreciate a “brutally honest” human review of my profile and Personal Statement.
The Stats:
School: STEM High School for Boys - 6th of October (Top-ranked specialized school in Egypt).
GPA/Rank: School does not provide rank, but it was mentioned in my rec letters that I was 3rd in sophomore year 1st in math and mechancics 2nd in physics and chemistry 3rd in geology and 4th in biology, 4th in junior 1st in mechanics and chemistry 4th in physics, 4.0/4.0 GPA, I ranked 33rd out of 15.6k students on the national admission test for this school (~0.2% top scorers).
SAT: 1500 (790 Math, 710 RW).
Curriculum: Heavy Honors coursework in Physics, Chemistry, Mechanics, and Advanced Labs.
Honors & Awards:
Selected among top 30/20k+ applicants for national contest.
11th place out of ~6,800 STEM peers in the Egyptian Chemistry Olympiad8.
1st place among 50 African teams in the 2023 International Physics Brawl9.
Graduated top 15/120k in Digital Egypt Cubs Initiative.
Physics Mentor/Organizer (IPhR): Led a global physics competition for 2,550 students across 82 countries. Built an AI-proctored exam platform.
STEM Admission Mentorship: Built a system that helped 1,300 low-income students prepare for STEM entrance exams. Boosted acceptance rate 12x (72% vs <6% national average).
CS Club VP: Trained 800 students across 8 CS fields; founded a GenAI program that raised $145k in value/funding14.
Personal Statement Summary:
My essay uses an extended metaphor of a “Director” in my head who yells “CUT!” when I doubt myself15. It traces my journey from being paralyzed by doubt (the “$9+3=11$ kid”) to over-confidence (losing a Physics Club presidency), and finally to a healthy balance where I use doubt as a “stress-test” tool for my engineering projects.
My Questions:
Does my Personal Statement metaphor (The Director) come across as too abstract, or does it effectively show my growth in leadership?
Can someone free enough help me be reviewing my p.s. and a couple of supplements?
As a low-income international student, is my “Additional Information” section doing enough to explain the scale of my projects (like the $145k raised or the 1,300 students mentored)?
Are there specific “Need-Blind” or “Full-Need” schools that would value this specific “Builder/Hacker” profile?
If you’re applying for Fall of 2026 and haven’t submitted any applications yet, you are way behind schedule. Can you clarify if you applied to ANY schools yet?
In that case, you should build you school list today and get cracking on those applications. Many of the meet full need for international students schools are highly selective and many have application deadlines coming up very soon(around January 1). Most schools has several essays to write. There is a place on this forum for essay help.
You have a LOT of work to do. Start with finding schools that will meet your need.
There’s only 10 or 11 meets need and need blind. It’s not a question of liking a certain profile. There are others that meet need but are aware - Cornell, Denison and more.
Most schools will also require an English proficiency exam score above a certain threshold. Usually TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo, etc. You need to check what each school requires. Have you taken an English proficiency exam?
The above colleges are BOTH need blind for admissions and meet full need for all accepted international students.
They are all highly competitive universities.
There are other colleges that are somewhat less competitive for admission and will meet full need IF you are admitted as an international student. BUT these others are need aware for international students.
Gtown has limited aid. They are need blind though. It may be a recent change I thought I read b4 they meet need but apparently they don’t. Or no longer do.
As an international student, I would reach out to financial aid there for a clarification on this. What I read also says aid isn’t necessarily guaranteed for subsequent years…and that would be a bigger concern!
So…do reach out to Georgetown…either that, or just eliminate them from consideration.
I’ve taken the Duolingo English Test and scored a 140, also my SAT Reading&Writing is 710, and my medium of instruction in school for the last 5 years was English, so most of the schools will waive English proficiency for me.
I’ve also already built my list, it contains all the need-blind schools that meet the full demonstrated need AND some of the need-aware ones that are also so generious like UPenn.
I have also already written some of the Essays as superessays, such as the “Why This Major” superessay, etc.
I mean, I am having my shot and planning to go to college in my country. If I didn’t get accepted, it would be challenging, as we are currently in the mid-year of our country, and exams are approaching (I didn’t study due to being in the admissions process), but I hope I’ll score well anyway.