<p>Hi, I wanted to ask your opinion on which school could be a safety for me.
I am an international student from Croatia, and can pay almost nothing (maybe $2000-$3000).</p>
<p>Standardized testing:
ACT: 33 ( 32 E, 36 M, 29 R, 36 S, 8 essay )
SAT Math Level 2: 800
SAT Physics: 790</p>
<p>Public high school (99% attend college later)
GPA: 3.83 UW - we have rigorous courseload, 14 subjects
TOP 10%</p>
<p>EC’s
National Computer Science competition in 1st grade - 3rd place
National Computer Science competition in 2nd grade - 5th place
National Computer Science competition in 3rd grade - 5th place
Croatian Olympiad in informatics 2nd grade - participation
Croatian Olympiad in informatics 3rd grade - participation
For two years worked on a project in Physics with collaboration with Physics Institute
International Young Physicists’ Tournament in Taiwan, 3rd grade - 14th place
about 5 merit summer camps from Computer Science and Physics
International Summer School of Science - I was a team leader, my team and I wrote a science paper in CS - presented it on an International Science Conference in Zadar, Croatia (4th grade)
Ice skating - recreationally
Skiing - organized skiing with friends in France (I organized one of the trips)
Latin school choir - 2nd and 3rd grade
Academic choir (one of the best in Croatia) - started it now in 4th grade
Volounteering - was a teacher of CS on a summer camp and for about 4 months in a computer club in Zagreb</p>
<p>Common app essay: really good
Teacher recs: above average</p>
<p>This is a basic outline (I probably forgot to mention something). Do I have any safety options?</p>
<p>I strongly believe they, no matter how good you are, a university abroad will never be a safety. And, by the way, I’m international too. Anyway, Croatia is now part of the EU, so you will be considered a domestic applicant in most universities in Europe (we have great universities!).</p>
<p>International students who need financial aid don’t have safeties.
If your family cannot afford more than $2-3,000, then you should apply to Berea College. In order to apply, applicants need to have high financial need. Only 5% internationals are admitted but they’re all given a “full ride” (donors and alumni gifts pay for room and board, so that by working each week to help the college, you cover your expenses.)
Then you should apply to the schools located in states were fewer applicants want to apply, ie. NOT New York, New England, and California, but rather the Midwest and the South, perhaps the Midatlantic and, as a European, the Pacific Northwest (many internationals who apply in the Pacific Northwest are from Asia).
Then you should look at the financial aid forum and look for the sticky threads about the competitive and automatic scholarships and apply to those that interest you.
Then look into all the tech schools: Olin, RIT, RPI, WPI, etc. and add the big names: Stanford, MIT, HarveyMudd, CalTech (your published paper and work with the Physics Institute will definitely help you so make sure to highlight that).</p>
<p>*Note: I think you don’t mean 1st grade, 2nd grade, but rather 1st year of high school, 2nd grade of high school, etc.?
In the Us, 1st grade is the class you’re in when you’re 6 or so. The 1st level of high school (age 14) is called “9th grade” or “freshman year”. The last year of HS is “senior year” also called “12th grade”.</p>