Match Me, a cluless indian student pls [international, 42/45 IBDP predicted, business or economics, <$20k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • International student
  • India
  • IBDP Private School

Cost Constraints / Budget
20 K USD per annum EFC

Intended Major(s) Business/Economics

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 42/45 IBDP
  • ACT/SAT Scores: Will give in march but getting 1530 and close on practice papers

List your HS coursework

*IBDP *
Maths AA HL, Business Management HL and Chemistry HL
SL Subjects - English Language and Literature, French B and Physics

**Awards - **
15 awards received in 19 MUN’s i delegated at, Grand Delegate(best in the whole conference) award at an international mun with over 1600 delegates, Cambridge ICE with Distinction, School Chess Champion, National French, Finance and Economics Olympiad finalist

Extracurriculars
Model United Nations Delegating and Chairing
Participated in over 35 MUN(19 delegated and 16 chaired) conferences winning 15 out of the 19 MUN’s i delegated in, serving as delegate, chair, and vice chair. Gained valuable experience in debate, diplomacy, and leadership by working alongside college-level participants in various committee roles, enhancing public speaking and negotiation skills.

Model United Nations Organizing and Event Management
Played a key role in organizing 9 MUN events (5 times Core team) with over 1000 total delegates, overseeing event planning, delegation management, and logistics coordination. These efforts resulted in a combined revenue of INR 10.9 lakhs and a profit of INR 3.16 lakhs, demonstrating strong financial acumen and operational efficiency in managing large-scale academic conferences. Conducted workshops to guide younger students into MUN’s

MUN Integrity Verification Organization
International Affairs Coordinator of an org dedicated to verifying the authenticity of chairs and vice chairs’ experiences in MUN conferences. Helped MUN organising committees ensure credibility by detecting and preventing fake credentials in chair and vice chair CVs. Managed the country heads of 6 different countries and a total of 50 conferences

Event Logistics and Entrepreneurship (Supply Business)
Chief Operations Officer for a business supplying delegate kits, certificates, and trophies to six Model United Nations conferences, generating INR 7,00,000 (close to 10000 usd) in revenue this year.

NGO, Co-founder, Saw that indian kids lack protein so distributed protein powders and other essential to government school kids from the profits of my mun; 30 people impacted

Co-founded a think tank for the youth by the youth, had participants from over 15 countries to debate and give their viewpoints on the issues

Volunteering – Taught 15 students for IGCSE Business Management for free.

Delegate for this year’s - UN Youth delegate SDG 5 Gender Equality campaign

Secured an internship with international (small US-based) Consulting firm in April

Paid Research Assistant for a Wharton Professor and Unpaid RA for UCL professor

btw i am a junior so any profile building advice would be really helpful

Essays/LORs/Other
LOR - Likely to be strong since i restarted my schools dead mun and made their the first edition under me a very big success

Schools
Cornell Dyson or UPenn Wharton Confused which to go for ED
Ivy league’s + Stanford + Notre Dame

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As you probably already know, these are all highly competitive for admission with VERY low acceptance rates and especially for international students from your region.

If you really want to attend college in the US, you need to at least consider some less reachy schools.

Re: ED…both of the schools you mention (Cornell and UPenn) I believe are need aware for admissions. This means that your level of financial need could be considered when your application for admission is considered.

ED…if you get accepted, you are supposed to accept and attend. Considering your high need for financial aid, I’m not sure I would suggest any ED applications. You need to be able to consider the net costs amongst acceptances.

You also need to plan to return to India once your bachelors is completed. Most international students will be required to return to their home countries. Your visa will be a student visa, not a work visa. You might get a OPT job, but that is not guaranteed, and also isn’t forever.

I read your ECs…and frankly, I can figure out how you were able to do all of these things and go to school. Just make sure you don’t look like you are exaggerating these ECs and what you are actually doing.

Regarding what else can you do? Continue the things you really enjoy. You don’t need a LONG list, but ECs that show commitment are good to have.

And lastly, you absolutely need a sure thing for admission, that is affordable, that you would be happy to attend. This is likely in your home country. Perhaps there are some European universities to consider.

@MYOS1634 @Mwfan1921

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If that is your real name, please change it to something more anonymous. How Do I Change My Username?

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Agree. You’re targeting highly selective schools and when you ED, you are saying that you will attend, no matter what. If your family can only pay $20k per year, you need to have other affordable options.

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I have a question, assuming i will apply with financial aid in ED/EA that’s my plan of action, is there chances that i may get accepted no aid even if i have mentioned i will be needing aid and am submitting my CSS and/or FAFSA Profile ?

And according to my current profile, can you recommend current universities which would be suited for me ?

And, If not too much to ask can you point out my area’s of improvements and how to address them ? I am moving with the mindset of improving my profile to the best of my capabilities and hope universities would like my profile that much they would want to have me with full or close scholarship. My family income is 120000 usd.

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Thanks for your advice and implemented the same

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I have a question, assuming i will apply with financial aid in ED/EA that’s my plan of action, is there chances that i may get accepted no aid even if i have mentioned i will be needing aid and am submitting my CSS and/or FAFSA Profile ?

And according to my current profile, can you recommend current universities which would be suited for me ?

And, If not too much to ask can you point out my area’s of improvements and how to address them ? I am moving with the mindset of improving my profile to the best of my capabilities and hope universities would like my profile that much they would want to have me with full or close scholarship. My family income is 120000 usd.

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Yes.
When you apply early decision it means that you want an “early decision” and that is the only school that you will attend if admitted.

That’s why a lot of students, needing financial aid, choose NOT to apply “early decision” because they won’t have a choice.

The accepted student won’t be able to compare other financial aid offers from universities because they have to withdraw applications from other universities. They’re committing to that specific ED university.

Early decision is a contract between you and your parents, and your high school indicating that you will attend regardless of any financial aid. The financial aid departments at some universities are completely separate from admissions. They have their own offices, sometimes in other buildings. With need aware schools, like Cornell and UPenn, they will pick and choose what they can give you.

Most schools aren’t providing full rides nowadays. They might choose to give you $10,000 a year because you said you would ED to their school, attending no matter what.

The schools are all on budgets; they have to use the budgets that they have, to attract the students that they want. A lot of the budgets are used to attract athletes, underrepresented minorities, and talented international artists and musicians.

Apply wherever you think you can get in, but you can’t expect schools to fully fund you, especially those schools that are extremely competitive for admissions. Be cognizant that you’re asking a foreign country’s universities to fund ~$400,000 for an elite education.

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To clarify, if you are not a US citizen or Permanent Resident, you are not eligible to submit FAFSA. Most colleges giving aid to internationals would require the CSS Profile.

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A question, i have read if i am not getting enough sufficient aid then i can choose not to attend my ED university, and if financially not possible to go to that university with the aid provided isn’t that true ? and to clarify i am aiming for aid close 75% which i am aware is a lot and if accepted with that aid package to upenn or cornell, i would be more than willing to go to either of them and dont cornell and upenn have a policy of meeting 100% demonstrated need so sorry but i am unable to get how i would be getting insufficient aid. I have done the calculations and net price calculator also comes to close to 20k usd.

can you point out my profile’s area’s of improvements and how to address them ?

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do you mean are you able or unable to figure out my time management’s and should i or should i not exaggerate about my EC’s if i can back up those exaggerations with evidence ?

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It’s not what YOU think you need; it’s what the school determines that you can pay.

They decide based on their calculations. If your parents own property, they may decide that your parents can sell their property to fund your education.
You’re an international student. You are considered what they call “cash cows”. You bring the money to the university. So they don’t have to fund you the way in which you want to be funded.

You also don’t have to be admitted. It’s the university‘s choice. These schools get hundreds of thousands of applications from all over the world. If they have a similar student who can fully pay, who do you think they’ll accept?

You’re in the same boat as hundreds of thousands of students in the US whose parents cannot afford the schools.

The state universities tend to be less expensive, with exceptions. State and public universities are funded by their own states and hence are obligated to the state’s residents. Schools like the University of Michigan or the University of California systems are going to be expensive for non-residents.
You need to research international scholarship opportunities. These might not necessarily be at the schools that you consider prestigious. Your budget is $20K a year. That’s not a lot of money for American universities but you need to research where you would be admitted with funding.

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Yes, that would be your only “out”.

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Both Cornell and Penn are meet full need but need aware for internationals schools. So if the applicant qualifies for full aid, they do not pick and choose what they can give you. But they can decide to reject you outright based on your level of need.

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There are a handful of colleges that are need blind AND meet full need for intentional students . If you google “need blind and meet full need for international students” you should get the list.

These colleges will not be aware of your financial need when you apply so they won’t reject you because of high need. And if they do accept you they will meet your need as they calculate it. Make sure to run the NPC for each of them — they may all calculate your need differently .

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Based on this number, I don’t think Cornell or UPenn will come close with enough aid to meet your budget of 20k/year. Therefore, you should not apply ED to either one.

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I can not understand! Sorry about the typo.

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And what would your thoughts be about exaggerating EC’s if i can back them up ?

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Noted, thanks

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Noted, and how do you think my profile stands for need blind universities ?