I am looking at a possible CS major (though it might change). Location doesn’t really matter, though I don’t want the university to be completely in the woods. Also, I’m a male.
Demographics
I’m a US citizen by birth (born abroad) but have never been to the USA.
Study in one of the top high schools of my country.
First generation college applicant
Can pay $3-4k a year maximum from my parents, after that it’s any jobs I find in the USA.
Academics
GPA: I get O & AL grades, but they round up to something like 3.75/4. Workload is challenging than most, but not the most challenging.
SAT: 2110 (CR630, M780, W700) I am giving it in Oct again and I am averaging 2250 in diags, so 2200 perhaps.
SAT II: Yet to give, though I am expecting a 2300+
- Class Rank: Top 20% (It's not great but in my school every year, there's atleast 4-5 Ivys as international students)
Extracurriculars (In no particular order)
Was the head writer and head designer of a magazine that is published and sold really well.
Heading a sub-event in a national level olympiad.
Designed posters, flexes etc for a multitude of regional and national level events.
Have freelanced (Work (Paid))
Interned at a big IT firm that showed me alot about how the IT industry is going here.
Taught a 100 kids in a class on how to Graphic Design (is this volunteering?! they weren't underprivileged)
Interned at a writing website. A fair portion of my work for them has gotten picked by the editor and won Article of the Week. Also a featured writer there now.
Founding member of an NGO (though I just freelanced there as well. FB page running, making worksheets etc)
Having taken part and won at a multitude of science olympiads.
Have wrote for some other websites temporarily (for free .-.) and took part in some design competitions (won none :/)
MIGHT code an app and a website. I know how but can't find the time. Maybe after the Oct 3 Sat. DO I NEED THIS OR ARE MY ACTIVITIES FINE WITHOUT IT? They are pretty focused on 3 genres. :/
So I don’t have a top, top application and I need full aid, which includes dorm expenses and all. Can you recommend any college, ANY college where I stand a good chance of getting in and it meets my aid? I’ve heard of Trinity College, and maybe places like Macalaster, Lafayette as a slight reach.
Oh, and I cannot establish residency in any state. So it’s private unis for me.
They can’t pay more (4k is the limit, they’re comfortable at 2-3), we’ve got the documents ready and everything done. Family income >50k a year (don’t wish to disclose more).
"MIGHT code an app and a website. I know how but can’t find the time. Maybe after the Oct 3 Sat. DO I NEED THIS OR ARE MY ACTIVITIES FINE WITHOUT IT? "
Don’t bother. Everyone and their dog is coding an app or creating a web site these days. It’s not particularly interesting by itself. If you are doing this to promote some interest of yours, some cause you are committed to, as part of a job or volunteer experience, that’s fine. But otherwise, it’s just the latest form of resume padding. Your ECs look fine in any case and this would just dilute the overall impression.
As for schools, do a search on CC for threads related to schools which provide generous financial aid. This question has come up often. The general rule of thumb is that you need either a school with a very large endowment that uses it for financial and/or merit aid, or a school that is using their limited endowment to attract top students who might not otherwise choose to come.
I went on collegedata.com. I did a search for schools that state they meet 100% of demonstrated financial need, have majors in “computer and information science”, and are categorized as very or moderately for entrance difficulty (as opposed to most). Here are a few that came up:
Boston College
Carleton
Oberlin
U of Rochester
Carroll Univ (only one listed a “moderately” for entrance)
Play around with the search function to find a list you are interested in, then run the net price calculator on the various college’s websites with your families specific financial information.
You are saying their income is greater than $50K per year? I don’t know what “we’ve got the documents ready and everything is done” means.
Have you run any net price calculators on the college websites yet? You need to do that on some of the meets-need colleges above and see what they expect your family to pay. Since you have to travel from overseas, and likely don’t have medical insurance that will get you a waiver from purchasing insurance from the college, those will need to be included as you look at the cost of attendance. That alone could run you $4,000 for those two items.
Your comment that you will just have to pay more from “jobs in the U.S.A” may or may not be feasible. It depends on how big the gap is, and the net price calculators can tell you that. Also, these types of schools will expect you to take out federal loans as part of your aid package ($5,500 freshman year, $6,500 soph, $7,500 jr & dr).
@N’s Mom, Hmm…really? In my school, there’s only 2-3 guys who can do it. Wouldn’t this be used as being interested in your major? But ah well. Could you answer my volunteering question as well (in relation to teaching EC)
@palm175, Thanks!
@intparent, Oh sorry, I meant less than 50k/year. I kind of meant documents in the extent that I have the financial aid documents I need ready and $4k was the maximum figure me and my parents came up with. I know it’s v.v. low but I am looking at raising my SAT score and possible applying to those need-blind and meet-full-need colleges like Vanderbilt, Duke (reach) and Lafayette, Vassar (slight reach/match). I have ran 1-2 NPCs and they stayed within my range.
Check out some of the following schools on the list, which are less selective than the tip-top schools (Ivies etc.):
College of the Holy Cross, Colorado College, Connecticut College, Macalester, Oberlin, Smith (women only), Trinity College (CT), URichmond
All of the above are liberal arts colleges. There don’t seem to be too many “mid tier” national universities that claim to meet full demonstrated need. However, you might want to check out universities that offer automatic full ride/full tuition merit scholarships for minimum stats. http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Okay… but you will want to run all the NPCs for the colleges you apply to. And look carefully at whether they include travel and health insurance in the costs they include. And if the travel numbers seem high enough. You typically can’t stay in the dorms over winter break, so you likely will need to travel round trip twice.
Also, while the colleges above say they meet need, not all of them are need-blind in admissions. So a student with less need may be admitted over a student who needs a lot of need if they have the same qualifications.
I can’t easily link right now, but I admit that I usually refer to the Wikipedia list to figure out who meets need AND is need blind for US students. Google “meet need colleges” and scroll down a few results to find it – they have categorized top colleges by the various combinations of meeting need/need blind. Because you have very high need, you are going to have a better chance at a school that is not need blind if you have stats in the top percentages for that school.
Teaching kids to do graphic design is tutoring and tutoring falls under volunteerism unless you were paid to do it.
Maybe I’m just jaded - I come from a major urban metro area and every middle or upper middle class school has at least a few kids who are doing apps and/or web design. (My D was one of them.) Since they are all competing against each other for the same schools, it’s hard to see how that, by itself, is going to differentiate them. If it’s part of a larger commitment to something, then maybe it becomes memorable. Otherwise, yes, it’s an EC and it demonstrates interest in your area of academic interest - but it’s no where near as interesting as some of the other things you have done. I’d argue for keeping the focus on the stuff that matters to you.
Be sure to run net price calculators on each school’s web site – although there is more potential for differences if the parental income and assets are in a non-US country. Remember that when colleges say that they “meet need”, each college’s definition of “need” may differ from what you think you need and what other colleges think you need.
Seeking large merit scholarships may yield more options:
The full-need schools and near-full-need schools in that selectivity range would be St Olaf, Gettysburg, Dickinson…
In which region of the world? Asia is insanely competitive, Africa much less so.
Macalester would be a good match for your stats.
However, lock in some of the full rides ’ applications (both automatic and competitive) because 2-3K is very little and colleges don’t care whether your parents feel they can’t pay more.
The $4k from your parents will only cover your int’l travel and your health insurance…do you and your parents realize that? None of their contribution will cover a dime’s worth of your education.
At most, you might be able to earn about $3k per school year while working. During the summers, if you dont return home, you may be able to earn $4k-5k, but since school aid doesn’t cover summer expenses, your earnings would end up going towards living expenses.
I think Loyola Maryland meets need, but not sure if that’s true anymore.
@MYOS1634, I’m in Asia, Pakistan. Yep, it’s pretty competitive. I have the advantage of US citizenship over internationals so according to my research I get some perks in the aid department. Places like Columbia are generally viewed here as super need aware (thus many people don’t apply there with some other similarly ranked institutes offering better fin aid opportunites) for internationals while it’s need blind for me. So I am looking at places like these.
@mom2collegekids, I don’t really know whether that $4k would be reducing my tuition fee by a feeble amount or it will partially cover my living costs and I don’t mind that either way. What I should have phrased my question should be, are there any colleges where I stand a shot of getting a ~150% scholarship (meet full need) without being Duke/Vanderbilt level? Or no chance am I better applying to local unis at my country? I guess that means that the college is committed to meeting financial need for all applicants (since it’s highly unlikely I’ll stand out alot in a university that can actually meet my need)
I don’t know how much I get for the PELL grant as I haven’t really lived in the US. But it would be something I gues.
On that subject, are these terms “need-blind” and “meet full need for all applicants” as set in stone as they sound? I guess even most need blind institutes need people who can pay full freight.
BTW, there are people in my country who as internationals make it to big places in the US and are paying under $5k to the uni. They had better creds than me but I know that this route is pretty much possible.