Match Me (Class of 2026) Shanghai international division of traditional [US curriculum] school, 91/100 GPA, no ranking, Physics) [international student]

I’m a grade 11 students from Shanghai, China.

Standardized Exams:
ACT 32/ SAT 1460, GPA 91//100 Weighted, TOEFL 104

Special Buff:
Low-income, 1st-gen

AP
G104: Calculus BC (5), subscore: Calculus AB (5) Microeconomics
(5), Macroeconomics (5).
G11
6: Physics 1(?), Physics 2(?), Physics C: Mech (?),
Physics C: Elec (?), Statistics (?), Computer Science A(?).

Extracurricular Activities:

  1. Dean’s List: H-week (Exchange Program during semester in
    Harvard for 1 week) (national top 5%)

  2. Outstanding student intern of HSYLC (Summer Summit hold by
    Harvard in Shanghai) (top2%)

  3. BPA national excellent team honor (for low-cost blood
    centrifuge)

  4. Leader of Junior Achievement Club in School (Members+39 1yr)

  5. Physical Visualization APP (designed for High school students
    ,350+ users)

  6. An AP Physics Teacher on YouTube (348 followers, accumulated
    177.6k views)

  7. SPC Global Gold Award (Senior Physics Challenge)

  8. Half-professional Basketball Player for 3v3 (Registered in
    District, 9 yrs)

  9. Drama Actors in Children’s Palace (2yrs).

Budget:
I’m considering applying for subsidies or getting scholarships, so the budget is not an important factor.

Please match me to universities and TELL ME if there is anything I can improve. Thank you!

Subsidies and scholarships from where?

And what is your family’s budget aside from that?

What do you plan to study?
Do you have other preferences (location, weather, etc.)?

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I prefer to focus on the employment starting salary and U.news ranking.

I will focus on the employment starting salary and U.news ranking.

Starting salary for what kind of job? By and large, companies do not offer different compensation for the same job to equally qualified candidates based on their school.

If you are not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, you should not expect to work in the U.S. beyond one year of Optional Practical Training (OPT) (or up to three years if you are a STEM major). Securing employment sponsorship is not easy, and it’s getting harder.

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Where will you apply for scholarships?

If you get no scholarships, what can you pay ?

What area will you study ? A scholarship can be impacted by the major.

US News is not the way to pick a school, will not pay for a school, and does not represent the strongest in a specific major.

Unless you can pay out of pocket, budget is your biggest issue unless you have secured a scholarship at home.

That’s right. I’m wondering which school level I can achieve based on my profile.

There are nearly 4,000 universities in the U.S. Without answering some of the questions asked here, you can’t expect anyone to realistically match you to schools.

Starting salary and U.S. News rankings are not a good way to start a college search.

What do you want to study? There are hundreds of different majors and schools all around the country that are good choices for particular majors.

How much financial aid do you need? Some schools provide full need for internationals(as they define your need). Some don’t provide any. Some are need blind, some are need aware.

Until you really answer some of the basic questions, you won’t really get very useful responses here. Take some time to figure these things out and come back at a later date to get some feedback.

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Is the 91 weighted or unweighted?

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Getting a huge scholarship is a tall order, even more so for an international student from an over-represented country. More details are needed. Note that you must have your finances in order before you can get a student visa. Also, the above posters are correct in saying you cannot expect that a US education will allow you to stay in the country long term.

Be sure to seek out college options in China as well as exploring US colleges.

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weighted

Supplementary info:

  1. Budget: 90-120k/year
  2. Major: Applied Physics (As I mentioned in the title)
  3. Location: Not limited.

Get it, thanks

My dad’s company will give a certain amount of scholarship for the employees’ kids who will go to university and own over 80/100 GPA 40k/year.
I’m wondering which factor of university is the tech-company most focus on? Is there any authoritative List?

For other posters’ reference - a 91 in an international schooling system is not the same as in the US

@MYOS1634 can validate, but I think a 91 is equivalent of a 4.0 or at least close to it.

You said you want to major in physics, but that isn’t a major that’s usually relevant to tech jobs.
Also, the tech industry hires students from a very wide range of schools.

I will take graduate school for Engineering or Finance rather than searching for job immediately.
I think 91/100 is equal to 4.0/4.0. At least, my counselor told me so.

For physics, a safety but top rated program is U of Arizona.

U of Colorado and Arizona State are also strong.

I note these are safeties.

A 32 ACT will be unlikely to get you in the highest level.

RPI and Florida Tech would also be strong safeties.

But colleges come big and small, cold and warm - so you should look at more than ranking. Job. placement - if you are going to grad school right after, undergrad or pavement stats matter little. And where you go undergrad is unlikely to impact grad school at the masters level for a top finance school you will need to work in between. From physics to engineering, you will need to take engineering pre req courses after you graduate to be ready for a masters - from those I know who have done this.

Rochester is popular with international students - a slight reach but realistic if you can pay $90k Case Western would be similar. Rice a reach but outstanding.

Arizona is your best bet for safe admission, one of the tops for physics and value.

Good luck

So useful, Thank you!

Assuming you meant CU Boulder, I’d have it as likely but not safety with a physics major. However, there won’t be much funding at all from the school so it’s probably not feasible for OP. The Arizonas will be safeties with OP’s GPA. Looks like funding would be $20k from UofA which with their $40k contribution would put them close to target. ASU looks like with scholarships cost of attendance would be $35k so also in range. Funding numbers subject to change, I believe UofA’s has already been falling.

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I prefer to choose Top30 or UC system.