I’m not sure if I’m first generation to college, because one of my parents have a four-years degree but not a bachelor’s degree, and the other was not a full-time college student.
Cost Constraints / Budget
My parents can only afford <$50k in total per year. we’ll fill the CSS profile
Net price calculators show that I can get $50-70k of aid (but they might not be accurate for internationals students)
Intended Major(s)
Biochemistry, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Materials
Would like to minor/take extra courses in anthropology/music composition
After undergrad plan: OPT 3years, and then graduate/phD
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 4.13/4.3 up until G11 semester 1, I’ll make it higher this and next semester (my school calculate it out of 4.3, so I think it translates to 3.84/4)
Weighted HS GPA: 4.3 (AP weighted 0.5 more than internal courses)
Ranking: I can’t see it, but my college councilor says that I’m the top ones
SAT 1540
HS coursework
English: AP language (currently taking)
Math: AP Calculus BC (5), AP Statistics (currently taking)
Science: AP bio (5), AP chem (5), AP physics 1 (currently taking)
History and social studies: AP Seminar(4), AP Research(currently taking), internal history course
Will take AP Physics C, Multivariable calculus, AP English literature in G12
Awards
Biolympiads
High school full scholarship
Grand prize in a research paper competition in my country
Grand prizes in school science fair
Extracurriculars
5 years (will be 6 years when I finish HS) of research in bio, molecular bio, bioengineering, biochem, materials, etc. (* I consider this the strongest aspect)
Eg. Aptamers, superhydrophobic biomaterials
Participated in many forums/conferences/meetings in science research
Participated in summer programs in research (not in the US), applied to Garcia summer research program but results haven’t come out
Organized events and interviewed many scientists, professors
Violin (11 years), established and led the chamber music ensemble (we do both music and community service), participated in acapella/musicals
Few essays, digital humanities projects in sociology and anthropology/religious studies, participated in a feminist club
Essays/LORs/Other
Subject teachers and outside-of-school research mentor
All will probably be very competitive (subject teachers 10/10; research mentor 9.5/10 or so)
Schools
I prefer schools with a lot of research opportunities, strong in biochem/polymer materials science/engineering, good in music, allow certain course selection in music and anthropology (without majoring in them).
Either honors program in R1 research universities, or LAC with strong/various STEM and research opportunities would be great.
Please see if these schools below fit me or recommend other suitable schools:
Honor College in SUNY Stony Brook (need scholarship)
Honor Program in Michigan State University? (need scholarship)
Santa Clara (need scholarship/financial aid)
Rice? (need scholarship/financial aid)
Smith? (need scholarship/financial aid)
Williams (need scholarship/financial aid)
Caltech (need scholarship/financial aid)
Brown // Notre Dame
Princeton
Thank you for reading such a long post. Please help. Thank tons.
Purdue has a great polymer and materials program and would come in at your budget without needing financial aid. Lots of research opportunities for undergrads.
Just a word about honors programs at R1s - they are very competitive and you should consider entry to be a reach. It is generally a separate application process for honors.
My concern is that you have already mapped out your future life in the US without a number of considerations.
There’s no guarantee that you will get an OPT for three years in those disciplines. It will be difficult because you’ll be competing against students with those degrees who didn’t get into med schools and are changing focus to graduate level studies.
Graduate level PhD is based on the professors, who are conducting research of their own choices. You have to match with someone that’s doing the same thing that you plan to do, and that’s not easy, but it’s also competitive because they have their own students that they like.
Plus the politics in our country currently are changing daily. You don’t even know if you’ll be accepted by any university. All you can do is try, but if I were you, I would not put all my eggs in one basket. You need to have alternate choices in your home country.
Yeah, I know they are very competitive . I think Purdue Honors could be applied with some supplementary materials/essays in additional to the general application, so if I don’t get in Honors I could still possibly be admitted as a general applicant. What do you think are the chances if I apply to Purdue Honors?
I have been checking out some professors who align with my research interests (eg. in Princeton, UAkron, etc.), and I plan to get in touch with them during my undergrad study, perhaps by undergrad research opportunities or other approaches. If I keep in touch with them throughout my three years of OPT, would it be easier to apply to their PhD programs?
I’m also considering Germany or Switzerland if I can’t be accepted by any US universities. I can’t speak German, so I could only apply to a Bachelor’s program taught in English and learn German when I get to the country. Are there anyone familiar with these?
Yes many students are accepted to Purdue without being accepted into honors.
Purdue offers honors to 10% of their class with equal distributions across colleges. Students apply to competitive majors have a more difficult path to honors. It should be considered a reach for even the strongest students.
Congratulations on building such a strong profile in high school! As an international student, you may want to make sure you are converting your GPA properly, as it’s not always a matter of doing a straight conversion.
With respect to the colleges on your list, these are my guesses as to what your chances might be.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
Michigan State
Likely (60-79%)
Santa Clara
Stony Brook
Toss-Up (40-59%)
Smith
Lower Probability (20-39%)
Low Probability (less than 20%)
Rice
Williams (this school is quite different from the others on your list in terms of location and there is no engineering offered here)
Caltech
Brown
Notre Dame
Princeton
A few other schools that you may want to consider include:
U. of Delaware: About 20k undergrads and very well-reputed for chemical engineering; an extremely likely admit
U. of Massachusetts: About 24k undergrads and is part of a consortium with Amherst and Smith (among other liberal arts colleges) so you can take classes at those other schools, but it also has the full resources of a big R1 institution. This would be a likely admit.
U. of Rochester: About 6800 undergrads, so more mid-size, like many of the low probability schools on your list. Strong in engineering and sciences but also phenomenal for music and a popular anthropology department to boot. This would be a toss-up for admission, leaning towards a likely.
All classifications as to your chances for admission are guesses on my part.
Yes. I don’t have many requests in terms of location. For LACs without engineering, for instance Williams, I also consider Biochem concentration and materials science studies.
I’ll probably put UMass Amherst into my consideration (I heard that it has great campus food ), and I will also look into U. of Delaware and U. of Rochester. Thank you for these recommendations! That said, I would also need a decent amount of scholarship to afford any of these schools. I only took SAT once, should I retake it for a higher score so that it may be more advantages in applying for scholarships?
Delaware offers $5-18k/year in scholarships for international students (source), and I’d be pretty stunned if you did not receive enough in scholarship money to bring this within budget. (Sticker price is about $55k.)
UMass’s website indicates it offers merit of $10-18k (though I feel as though I may have seen some $20k awards) and international students are eligible for these merit awards. I suspect you would be likely to receive one. (Sticker price is about $55k.)
U. of Rochester does offer need-based aid for international students (source) and international students are also eligible for merit scholarships. Rochester says that half of students receive a merit award, with the average being $14k. There is potential for big scholarships here, but it’s certainly not a lock that you would receive one sufficiently large. But I think it’s possible for this school to get within budget.
That is entirely up to you. You have an excellent SAT score already, and I am doubtful that a higher one will change the merit aid picture at Delaware or UMass or at most other colleges. Do you feel as though you would do much better if you took the SAT a second time? Is it a hardship to take the SAT (location or cost or time)?
Your score is definitely within range for very competitive/rejective colleges, and if you do not receive an acceptance, nobody will be able to say that it’s because of your current SAT score. If taking the SAT is not a hardship, you may want to take it a second time because students will often perform better the second time simply because they are more familiar with the test. But if you were practicing for the first test in testing conditions (timed practice sessions, etc), then there may not be as much of a difference in score if you were already pretty familiar with the formatting.
My parent found that the total cost for UMass in 2025-2026 is >$66,000, while the total cost for Engineering at U. of Delaware in 2024-2025 has reached over $68,000. Tuition fees are increasing every year, so by the time I enroll in 2026, their total costs will likely be >$70,000. U. of Rochester’s total cost for 2025-2026 is over $92,000. The financial aid statistics table for the Class of 2027 international students (compiled by Jennie Kent and Jeff Levy) shows that Rochester provides an average aid of $40,000 to international students. I assume that if these three universities can offer me their highest possible scholarships or financial aid, they could fall within my budget. I’ll also email them to learn more about their scholarship opportunities.
Btw, I really appreciate your way of evaluating the chances for my list of universities. So Thanks again.
As for retaking the SAT, I’m still hesitant. My mom doesn’t want to spend more money on it and thinks that traveling a long distance for the exam is quite a hassle. Yet, she also worries that my score is not high enough, for she saw many students with 1590 or 1600. I were to retake it, I would definitely need to do more practice to get a higher score. If I don’t, I’ll just use that time to focus on my gpa, research and other activities.
It sounds as though your family is looking at the cost of attendance. There is no set formula for how schools set their cost of attendance. Some schools are much more generous in defining things like travel, personal expenses, and books than others, even if they’re in the same geographic locations (like New York City). Thus, to make it easier to compare schools, I find that looking at the tuition and fees plus room and board (sometimes referred to as direct-billed costs) makes it a fairer comparison. For schools that have additional engineering fees, you should add those on.
Just the other day someone was talking about how there are fewer “target” schools for highly-qualified students than there used to be even five years ago (which some people view as the 50% chance schools). For a strong applicant, it is not at all surprising that many schools will be likely or extremely likely admits. And when trying to find a school that is likely to meet a $50k price point, there are not many 50% chance schools in that category.
That said, however, you may want to look at Brandeis (Boston-area, starting an engineering program, but very solid academically, including in biochem). It would probably be a toss-up school and does offer merit aid (and, I think, need-based aid) to international students.
I see. Thank you.
I also want to clarify that I’m not set on majoring in engineering, but it will likely be one of the two — a Bachelor of Science or Engineering. I’m just really interested in research, so I suppose my future could be in academia, industry, or both. That’s why I’m also considering some LACs. I could major in Biochemistry or any related science majors as long as I get to research in my areas of interest. However, many LACs have high tuition, so I’m unsure whether I should apply for financial aid or scholarships. If I submit the CSS Profile, I might receive around 60–70k aid, but need-aware schools may hesitate to accept me(?). On the other hand, if I apply for scholarships, I might only receive around 20k (or so?), which would still make it unaffordable.
I’m also not entirely unsure whether I should go straight into a PhD program after undergrad or work for a few years first. A PhD provides a certain level of income so I wouldn’t starve, and I’m open to a career in academia — so why not? On the other hand, I’m also fine with going into industry or perhaps even starting a business later. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these two paths after undergrad? What factors should I consider and prepare for? I’d greatly appreciate any advice or opinions.
. I think Purdue Honors could be applied with some supplementary materials/essays in additional to the general application, so if I don’t get in Honors I could still possibly be admitted as a general applicant. What do you think are the chances if I apply to Purdue Honors?
), and I will also look into U. of Delaware and U. of Rochester. Thank you for these recommendations! That said, I would also need a decent amount of scholarship to afford any of these schools. I only took SAT once, should I retake it for a higher score so that it may be more advantages in applying for scholarships?