Well, here we are, looking for chances.

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hi! I’m currently a freshman in a college in my country but I don’t like it very much. I’m planning to drop out and try to get admitted to a college in the US by the end of this academic year (April in my country).
Since admissions to college aren’t dependent on extracurriculars and only on national testing scores as per the policies in my country, my extracurriculars are exclusively the activities I have done for fun before I went full-on for preparation in national college entrance exams in my junior year.

Since I don’t know much about US admissions (Although I have written some US-based standardized examinations for other purposes), I wanted to know what my chances are of getting into some good colleges. I am not applying as a transfer student, I’m planning to start over as a freshman.

Here are my stats:

Intended Major: Unsure, but likely Chemistry, or Ecology/Biology. Some STEM topic for sure.

Currently a freshman in a college, studying for an integrated masters in Chemistry, but planning to leave.

Since my country doesn’t have a GPA system, I have converted my grades in the form of a percentage into the form of the standard US GPA (These are all converted from percentages)
Freshman year- 3.34
Sophomore year- 3.72
Junior year- 3.74
Senior Year- 3.33 (long story, but I messed up).

SAT- 1520
ACT- not planning to take unless necessary
Subject SATs- Math Level 2: 800, Chemistry 770, Physics 730
APs- wrote Chemistry (4) and Physics C: Mechanics (3) without any coaching

Race: South Asian
Location: South Asia (but have a US Citizenship)
Gender: Male
Class Rank: No rank available.

Extracurriculars:

I have been birdwatching and hosting birdwalks in my city since the age of 11. These environmental awareness sessions usually held at waterbodies or well-wooded areas sensitized the residents to the birds and nature around them and how despite increasing urbanization, it is necessary to sustain their existence. I have also appeared on a podcast regarding this, and have been invited as a speaker to the local lake festival for two years in a row. I also maintain a blog for this purpose.

I have written poetry and stories, and have published a book of poetic stories-in-verse I have written. Additionally, a short story I wrote won a competition and was featured in a nationally published book of winners from that competition. My poems have appeared in our school’s magazine and yearbook.

I have participated and won in many quiz competitions; I have finished in the national top 5 in a nature quiz for 4 years in a row, and have won at both a regional and national level at many science quiz competitions. Additionally, I appeared as a contestant in my country’s national spelling bee and finished in the top 16, and national winner in another different spelling bee competition. I was the secretary of the Quiz Club of my school in my freshman year.

I play the violin and have qualified Trinity Guildhall’s Level 3 examination for it. I have played basketball under a team and gone for city-level tournaments.

Community service:
Apart from the birdwalks I have hosted, I have taught and coached underprivileged students to qualify the public examinations of their sophomore year in the year of 2016-2017. I have also taken part in a clean-up drive to beautify the dirty and polluted spaces in our city through disposal of waste and subsequent painting.

Recommendations: have not decided who to request them from, but I am sure they will be good (at least a 7/10?)
Essays: still need to write them, but I write well in my opinion.

Target Schools: Nothing as of yet, since I don’t know much about what colleges are good for what, and what is within a reasonable reach for me, but any STEM-oriented school, or one that has strong programs in Ecology, Conservation Biology (specifically Ornithology), or Chemistry would be a good fit for me. Additionally, I would prefer a college that does not have an extremely high workload on its students, as I would like to continue doing the above extracurriculars in college as well.

Thanks in advance, guys!

2
  1. What can you afford?
  2. Since you have started at another college, you would be considered a transfer. Transfers usually don't get financial aid.
3

The University of Connecticut (UCONN) has excellent environmental science program and chemistry programs, and your SAT score would definitely have you admitted, and could even get you into the honors program.

4

In response to @bopper’s questions:

  1. I can afford most things; but in general, anything without financial aid and having fees above $50,000 would be a big hit and isn’t on my top consideration list.
  2. To be clear, I’m planning to drop out of my current college and reapply to the US as a fresh student; I’m not planning to transfer. Is that possible?

@daddy538: Thanks! I’ll check that out.

Any other recommendations?

5

For any US schools, you are not allowed to just “drop out” and start over again and say that you are a new freshman. If you try to get FA, you will commit fraud.
You would be considered a transfer student and this is not a choice. If you try to hide it and omit your education, remember that you are signing an application that is stating that you are being truthful in your application. It is a big, huge deal in the US.

If they find out that you’ve had a previous college history (and they will), you risk being expelled and will be reported to a clearinghouse, whereby any other university which you try to apply to will have knowledge and will reject you.

6

I’m not planning to hide anything; I will declare that I was previously in a college that I have would have left by the time of decisions. Isn’t a route around transfer possible in that case?

I have not even completed one semester there. I’m hoping to apply as a freshman only on the basis of my US citizenship and due to the higher admittance rate (from my research, I understand the admission rate for transfers is roughly 2%, and my application is definitely not strong enough for that chance to work in my favour).

I doubt my college even has a transferrable credit system to make a transfer viable without joining as a freshman.

Just to make it clear, I’m not currently in the US; I’m planning to leave the college I’m in in my country and apply to the US.

Is this route not possible for me to start afresh, considering I don’t like the current college I’m in?

Irrespective of the legal documentation aspect of it, which, if necessary, I will even mail colleges regarding my drop out and subsequent application, I would like to know what colleges would work for me; the primary purpose of this thread.

7

You have to apply as a transfer. The 2% admission rate for transfers is for very selective schools. I’m not sure you converted your GPA correctly, but if you did, your GPA is low for those schools. Don’t convert your GPA for the colleges you apply to unless they tell you to. At $50,000 per year, you’ll have plenty of options, though.

Montana State University has a good ornithology department and offers in-state (lower) tuition to students with high test scores.

8

No.
It does not matter if you won’t complete the full semester.

US citizenship does not matter. (Domestic students are also required to submit previous university schooling)
It does not matter if your units will not transfer.
You must declare all previous university attempts. You must be truthful in your applications.

Report your actual grades/scores. Do not convert your grades to a US GPA. The colleges have admissions officers that recognize other countries’ scoring systems. Use the WES calculator to get an idea of your scores. https://applications.wes.org/igpa-calculator/