Low income international student looking for Math and Philosophy Schools

[final cedar]

• Location/Region: International Student. I would prefer East Coast Colleges but I'm not too picky.

• Major: Mathematics with a minor/ possible double major in Philosophy.

• GPA/Test Scores: 4.0 GPA, SAT Practice tests above 1550, retaking it this august. Took it once on May but I was extremely sick and bombed it

• Curriculum: I would like to take classes in Psychology and cognitive science, as well as music composition. I also want to participate in the Putnam.

• Size: Preferably under 10000 students, less than 10:1 Student/Professor ratio.

• Costs: I will be needing full financial aid, family income is below $15k/y.

• Schools I'm Currently Looking At: ED at either Yale or Princeton; Virginia Tech, UPenn, BU, Purdue, Duke?

• Additional: I would prefer for the college to be located in a suburban environment/small town, and for it to be walkable. I really like Collegiate Gothic architecture. I'd like decent public transport that can take me to larger cities (Princeton for example being nearly equidistant from Philly and NYC). Extracuriculars are important for me, especially if not sport related. Application fees are not an issue.

[nova horizon]

Yale sounds like it exactly matches your criteria

[final cedar]

Would you say it would be better for me to ED there instead of Princeton? Not sure if this is the thread for that or if i should go to #954425230896545792 but I've been going back and forth between the 2 for a few days now

[nova horizon]

yale has a math and philosophy major, gothic architecture, close and accessible to nyc (new haven line), need blind for intls (same w Princeton tho), and seems a little more tight knit

Again I am a little biased to yale tho so do consider other opinions

[final cedar]

That does make sense. Any suggestions for targets/safeties?

[lethal estuary]

Yale has only SCEA

And so does Princeton

But it does like like Yale will be a good fit if you get in

[final cedar]

single choice early action right

[lethal estuary]

Yup

[final cedar]

so the deadline is later than ED

but its still binding

[lethal estuary]

It is not Binding

And the deadline is the same as ED I believe

[final cedar]

interesting

ill have to research that more

much appreciated

[lethal estuary]

Also look into Williams College

Idk about the architecture

[final cedar]

will do

[lethal estuary]

Williams is need aware, however

But they do give good aid to intls

[final cedar]

williams seems great

[uncut narwhal]

architecture is fire

[final cedar]

I'm having a really hard time coming up with safeties/targets with my $0 EFC

[glass mauve]

With your stats you could get a full ride at ASU, OU, possibly UTD. While none of them individually satisfy that, you could easily get in an honors program that’s better. Also Rice for Math/Phil is a great choice, incredible music program also.

[final cedar]

is rice need blind with grants and scholarships only?

nevermind i looked it up

the recs are much appreciated too, thanks

[final cedar]

Yale is scea though so I don't think I'm allowed

[final cedar]

Why did I think it was private?

Alright, I'll have a look at their aid offerings

[slender ferry]

@final cedar highly suggest you consider yale. we have one of the best philo departments globally, and you would probably be interested in the Directed Studies program. definitely show both your math and philo sides as yale is actively recruiting STEM students.

[final cedar]

The more I hear about it the more I feel like I belong there

Definitely applying early

[slender ferry]

i got in yale rea, and i'm definitely interesting in supporting fgli applicants

let me know if you have any questions :D

[final cedar]

Will do, thanks!

[uncut narwhal]

ooh whats directed studies

[final cedar]

"Directed Studies offers a select group of first-year students an intense interdisciplinary introduction to some of the seminal texts of Western and Near Eastern cultures. Working in discussion seminars with top Yale faculty, DS students learn to analyze complex texts and to put them into conversation with one another across time and genre. DS helps students develop their abilities to engage in thoughtful discussions of fundamental social, political, philosophical, and cultural questions, and through frequent feedback from faculty and dedicated DS writing tutors, to write clear and persuasive analytic essays." from the website

sounds really cool

[uncut narwhal]

that sounds awesome!

[final cedar]

oh btw im not a first gen student i dont think

college is free over here though so i dont know how that would apply

based on what ive read i dont qualify as a fgli student

[slender ferry]

fg/li you are li

[final cedar]

that I am

[slender ferry]

i highly suggest you indicate that in your app if you are interested

[slender ferry]

so you are fgli

[final cedar]

do you have to be one of the two or both?

im a bit confused

[slender ferry]

(i am doing DS which is why i am encouraging you here, plus it keeps you on their radar)

[slender ferry]

either or both

[final cedar]

ah then i am

sorry for the confusion

[final cedar]

well ill look deeper into it

[slender ferry]

cool.

[final cedar]

thanks again

[slender ferry]

no problem!

[hollow stratus]

Hi! Here are some suggestions that will give need-based aid and fit your criteria. I think a lot of LACs will be pretty good choices.

Unlikelies: Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams, Colby, MIT, Stanford, + basically all ivy leagues (ESP dartmouth)
Reaches: Washington and Lee, BC, Hamilton, Middlebury, Colgate, Bates, Tufts, Wesleyan, Notre Dame, Vassar
Targets: Bucknell, St Olaf, Brandeis, College of the Holy Cross, Villanova, URichmond
Safeties: RPI, Wheaton College, Washington College

[slender ferry]

Disagree with the “unlikely” category. Just put it with reaches

[hollow stratus]

I separated them cause there were a lot of reaches

it's just under 10% avg acceptance rate

vs. 10% - around 30%

Villanova and URichmond are both a little under 30% though

[final cedar]

thats a lot of colleges

planning on applying to swarthmore from there

how conservative is notre dame btw? ive heard contradictory stuff

[uncut narwhal]

wait wdym indicate?

[slender ferry]

there should be a place to indicate what majors or programs you’re into

[uncut narwhal]

ohh, so i could put for example, political science, sociology, and then directed studies or something?

[slender ferry]

yeah

[final cedar]

Should be better than my backwards town then

I keep fluctuating between having too many and too few colleges on my list

[hollow stratus]

Yeah, I would just do some research on the colleges to narrow it down a bit. There are a lot of schools that fit your criteria (hence my massive list).

[final cedar]

I don't really see how some of those fit tbh

Like stanford

[final cedar]

alright so after a lot of spreadsheeting and videos i think i have a tentative list.

was not impressed by swarthmore's showing at all

[final cedar]

rice did better than yale but slightly worse academically

[final cedar]

my list so far

[hollow stratus]

Dartmouth 🙏

[waxen bough]

uchi math + phil is peak

[uncut narwhal]

my guy asu and vt is ur only real safety are u comfortable possibly going to those schools

[final cedar]

absolutely

the alternative is going to school here in kosovo and pretty much any US college is better than that

[uncut narwhal]

honestly since ur an intl i suggest adding LAC's

[final cedar]

do you have better safeties in mind?

i was looking at dartmouth and it almost made the list

UChicago was very close to making it but im a little scared of the safety around campus tbh

[uncut narwhal]

i mean williams, bowdoin, amherst-all need blind no loans for intl. hidden gems and REALLY GOOD programs

[final cedar]

dk how rational that is but i come from the middle of nowhere

[final cedar]

those are reaches too though right

i can only apply to 10

[uncut narwhal]

yeah but honestly you seem pretty solid

[uncut narwhal]

ohh why 10?

[final cedar]

the american advising center over here pays for up to 10 application fees

[uncut narwhal]

fee waivers my guy!

[final cedar]

i have about 0 dollars of my own

yeah i have to get it through them apparently

at least thats what they said

[uncut narwhal]

what???? you can email unis to get fees waived

[final cedar]

plus i dont know if i could really keep up with more than 10 applications anyway

ive got a pretty busy schedule starting sept

[uncut narwhal]

i mean since your intl you should really go all out. ik its hard for intls

[final cedar]

ill consider it and talk to them again

if i were to add some to my list what would you suggest

other than the ones you just mentioned

bowdoin really does seem like a solid school

ive heard mixed things about amherst

[uncut narwhal]

yeah but might as well try. they have really nice programs and are need blind. i'd also consider adding maybe some target schools? but how do you want ur list to look like? balanced (with targets), or like shotgunning.

[final cedar]

well im not too sure

my safeties are over here in kosovo

US safeties are a step above in quality

are there any target need blind schools?

vtech does seem like a really great school and thats toeing the line between target and safety

[uncut narwhal]

honestly no but i'd look for schools that give a LOT of merit aid

based on stats

and ec's (if you have good ones)

[final cedar]

would it help if i sent an EC list?

i dont really know how impressive they are relative to each tier

[uncut narwhal]

i dont think that matters unless you have decent impact/leadership tbh

stats is what really drives merit aid.

[final cedar]

i tutor and founded some clubs

but most of my ecs are olympiads and personal stuff

[uncut narwhal]

i think u alabama is a good safety (plus if you score high on the sat you get a full ride)

decent math programs, really nice honors college

[final cedar]

oh thats really good to know

how high are we talking

full disclosure ive already taken the SAT once when i was really sick with the flu and i absolutely bombed it

[uncut narwhal]

here: https://scholarships.ua.edu/freshman/out-of-state/

[final cedar]

but ive done really well in practice exams since so im hoping that was a one time thing

[waxen bough]

the issue is full finaid is hard esp for intl for non reaches

[waxen bough]

are you sure if this is intl as well

[uncut narwhal]

mb here guys https://scholarships.ua.edu/international/

@waxen bough @final cedar this is the correct one

[final cedar]

well the freshman merit scholarship table looks nearly identical

[waxen bough]

ok ye it is

also check out u of arizona

[final cedar]

thats UoA

just to clarify, my current SAT score is 1390

[waxen bough]

completely honestly stanford fits perfectly w ur criteria! our math program is wonderful, really really good philosophy too (esp in logic) + crazy psych/cogsci. also in a suburban environment with easy public transport to SF (caltrain+bart = ~1 hour total commute). 7k students.

[final cedar]

i was more talking about the soft factors like campus architecture and location

thats good to hear about philosophy, i was planning on specialising on logic or epistemology

nothing concrete yet obv

[uncut narwhal]

stanford is v pretty

[final cedar]

maybe id have to visit because it just doesnt do it for me

based on videos and the virtual tours

[uncut narwhal]

you could add cornell?

[final cedar]

cornell is nice from what ive seen but nothing about it really attracts me fsr

same thing with harvard

ive got absolutely no complaints and id be thrilled if i got in but there are plenty of colleges that i just prefer

anyway im more pressed about the safeties right now

does vtech do merit scholarships

[final cedar]

uni. of southern mississippi apparently offers pretty good aid

[final cedar]

SCEA: Yale

Rice University

Vanderbilt University

Washington University at St. Louis

Duke University

Brown University

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Virginia Tech

Arizona State University

UoArizona

UoAlabama