Demographics
Ethnicity: Mexican
Residency: Mexico
Gender: Male
School: Small Private School with around 250 students (Scholarship)
Other special factors (first generation, legacy, athlete, etc.): Low income
Intended Major(s)
Biotechnology, Microbiology, Biology, Molecular Biology or Genetics
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.96-4.0 (I dont know how to calculate it properly, but im 99.5 in mexican grades)
Class Rank: We dont rank students, but im 1st of my generation
ACT/SAT Scores: Haven´t taken but planning to take SAT
Coursework
APs: We dont have APs, planning to take a Physics AP online course
IB: I take IB Career Related Programme (the only one offered in my school), this involve taking Maths, English and Literature. We also have a Pre-college Area where I am in engineering and a Preparation Area where I am in Business
Awards
National Science Fair Qualifier (11th grade)
Bronze at National History Olympiad (9th Grade, I would have continued participating but the olympiad had no more editions since that year)
State Science Fair Qualifier (11th grade, the date for 2024 was changed so there was 2 state science fair in the same year)
Best Grades of the Year in my generation (I achieved it since secondary school, looking to have it also in 12th)
Research: Since participating in the state and national science fair I am working with a tree of my state and its fruits and seeds. Will get one article published in a book of the state science fair and looking to publish an independent research work focused on the tree.
School Government (12th grade) : I am part of the elected Student Council in my school for this year.
Leadership Academy (10th-12th grade): Leaded a team in my school´s Leadership Academy last year and this will be my 3rd year participating with social projects in my city
MUN (7th-12th grade): I participated in my school MUN since secondary school, another school MUN in 10th grade and I will be part of the High Command of this year MUN
Volunteering (11th-12th grade, +600 hours): Im tourist guide on the weekends, its an activity that I really love. I help with both english and spanish speakers tourists and i helped in the translation of touristic material of my city´s government.
State Youth Council (12th grade): Representant of my city in this event with a law initiative.
Melodica (Since 2nd grade?): I play the melodica since I was in elementary school, it is not directly an extracurricular I guess because I didnt participated in anything big, but I like to find the notes of my favorite songs by myself and I practice at least 1 time per week.
Work: I work around 24 hours per week in the little business of my family, Im learning to code to help the business to implementate a simple data base because we dont have it.
Coursera: I dont know also if it is an extracurricular but I did a chinese course and Im doing a genetics course
Languages: It is most a hobby but I like a lot to learn languages, I am able to present me and I know other basic phrases in Italian, Chinese, Portuguese and French, and Im learning to write in Hebrew by myself (There is no objective in this, specially in the last, Im only curious I guess)
Essays/LORs/Other
I havent asked for it yet, but my Science teacher who mentored me in science fair accepted to do one and I think ill ask to my history teacher for the second
Cost Constraints / Budget
Ir appears that Im marginated in the US lol, looking for need-based aid
Schools
I dont know, maybe chance me for Ivies, T10, T20, UCs and all of that or match me for another options if its possible, thank you.
You likely will need to remove UCs from consideration as they do not give need based aid to out of state students and merit aid is competitive and small.
You also need to check each college of interest…because some don’t give aid to international students, some have limited aid for international students, and some give the same aid to international students.
Most colleges here do not meet full financial need. And many are need aware for admissions for international students (including some of the schools in the categories you named above).
I think meeting your price point, as an international student, could be your biggest obstacle.
What does this mean?
Give us a little more information like geographic preference, college size, etc. and you could get some good suggestions.
Thanks for your advice! Yeah, looking it, I dont think I would be able to cost any UC or obtain the Chancellor´s scholarship.
About what my family can pay it would be a little amount considering I have a brother, and as I said our income bracket is very low in the US standards (<30k I guess)
About what Im looking for my college experience, I think I would want to have research and internship opportunities, you know, I want to continue with the research work I did this last 2 years
Oh yeah, sorry if it was vague. Talking about ranking we dont have thinks like 5/400 or any like that, I think the best way to explain this is that expecting to continue with the current grades I would be the equivalent of the Valedictorian that american HS have
Talking about geographical preference I would like a university in an urban environment. Also Im from a mild weather so I wouldnt like to study in regions with a climate like Texas.
As i said to the other reply, I would like to study in a place that offers me research and internship opportunities, because I want to continue with the research work I currently have
Your ability to pay will be your biggest issue attending college in the US. There are only 8 colleges that are need blind for admissions and guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students.
It sounds like your parents really can’t contribute to your college costs at all. Is that correct?
Are there any affordable options in your home country?
Yeah, it is correct and Im aware that my income is the biggest problem when applying.
It would be ridiculous if I only had the US options in my list. I will apply to other universities like UNAM and BUAP, but considering Biotechnology and Microbiology my home country is not enough advanced in that, and I would like to try to get admitted in a university with a better level.
Any university in the US is a reach for me, i guess, but I would like to try.
What do you plan to do with a degree in biotechnology or microbiology? Is there a lot of work in Mexico for people with biotech and microbiology degrees?
Once you get a degree from a US university, and as an international student, you’re expected to return to your home country after graduation. The US will educate you, but does not guarantee to keep you in the US, nor to give you a job/sponsorship.
If I get into a US university I would propably need to try to get a scholarship from CONAHCYT (now it will be a state secretary) and it includes the return to my own country as a clause. Anyways, I dont want to be in the US more than the necessary time to get a degree, return to Mexico is in my plans.
Research scholarships/sponsorship are difficult to get in Mexico, but with an international is easier to get it, because as I said before, I want to continue my current research.
I also want to continue my education but would like to teach in my own country, because if Biotech or Microbiology are things that you can only learn outside the country, I want to help to reduce this necessity.
You are a strong student and I’m wishing you the best. Below are some schools that I would check on whether they offer aid to international students. These are not the need-blind, meets-need schools for international students that will get supremely high numbers of strong applicants. But, because they don’t tout that about themselves, you might stand a slightly better chance for admission at these, though these would still not be easy to get. They would just be easier to get than the other ones.
Boston U. (MA): About 18k undergrads
Brandeis (MA): About 3700 undergrads
Georgetown (D.C.): About 7900 undergrads
U. of Rochester (NY): About 6800 undergrads
Washington U. (MO): About 8100 undergrads
Also, have you looked into the Inter American University of Puerto Rico? Their costs are far lower than in the continental U.S. and would run about $15k/year, which perhaps your country would cover in scholarships. I would take a look at these campuses: