Should I bother applying to Stanford?

Interficio
Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:41:29 +0000

OK, so in a few days I will find out my decision for Harvard SCEA. I intend to be a classics major and if that doesn’t pan out, Stanford would be an obvious choice. However, I am an international student who needs financial aid (income ~60,000, lots of debt) and Stanford is unfortunately not need blind in this aspect. I am residing in virginia but only have citizenship in El Salvador (do NOT have green card); thus, while I am hispanic, I am not considered URM.

My stats, briefly:
2290 SAT, SAT II’s: 800(Lat)/800(US)/780(World)/750(Lit),
no ranking, 4.0 uw/4.4 w,
lots of classics related awards with extracurriculars focusing on extensive tutoring as I’ve made it clear that teaching is the profession I am aiming for. I do have leadership as well.
10 AP’s total, 10 honors/preAP total, 6 AP’s senior year

Should I bother applying? It’s getting to be crunch time and admissions feels like a hellhole for me because I can only apply to very elite schools as those are the only ones which could grant me sufficient aid; thus, if I don’t get into them, I can’t afford college. Even the local CC would be financially onerous. However, this dearth of resources on my behalf may just be enough to get an instant rejection from stanford and I don’t want to spend time I don’t have working on multiple essays if I don’t have to. As it is, I’ve procrastinated and have not started my yale, brown, princeton, williams, and colgate supplements. Additionally, the REA thread has not indicated any international students who applied for financial aid so I have no idea of my true chances. HELP!!!

Love, a freaked out student