Which college should I apply ED to as an intl student?

[u/cleofromIT]

Hey guys! I'm an international student applying for Fall 2027, test-optional, with good stats, ECs, and essays. I'm from a very low-income background, so I’d need a full ride to attend.

My list includes:

Vassar

Wellesley

Wesleyan

Bowdoin

Amherst

Bryn Mawr

Mount Holyoke

Smith

Emory

My dream schools are Barnard and NYU, especially Barnard.

I'm confused about whether I should apply ED to my dream schools or the safety ones. I had a dip in 11th grade, and I don't have my predicted scores to prove I've recovered yet, and won't have them till the ed1 deadline, I don't know what to do honestly.

If i submit ed to any of my safety schools, I'll get rejected since the latest score would be the 11th grade that'll be accounted and it's bad. Like, yeah.

So if I wait till RD or ED2 I'll have the predicted scores to show I've recovered. The scores are the only thing holding back my app (apart from my need for financial aid ofc🙂‍↕️)

I'd appreciate some good advice and help 😭

(And I don't want reality check, I know what I'm getting myself into😶)

Thank you!

[u/SomeStrawberry6025]

ED won't get you a full ride. they won't have any motivation to give you any aid bc it won't be a factor you consider in deciding to go, since you are agreeing to go when you apply. you don't qualify for federal need-based aid if you are international.

try EA to harvard, princeton, mit, yale, amherst college, dartmouth, bowdoin, williams, wesleyan, and berea college. you need high stats for most of these, but they give full rides to qualifying internationals.

edit: punctuation

[u/Ok_Equivalent_2175]

what are your stats like?

[u/Ok_Equivalent_2175 → u/[deleted]]

same here man😭ive got decent ecs ig but thats all… sat really wasnt for me

[u/cleofromIT → u/Ok_Equivalent_2175]

Ayeeee finally someoneee😭😭😭😭

[u/AC10021]

Unless you come from a foreign high school that regularly sends students to American colleges, and that AOs know and trust, it is a bad idea to apply test-optional. An AO has no metric for knowing if your school is academically rigorous or has a lot of grade inflation, so a transcript is meaningless. Standardized testing like SATs, ACT and AP scores are needed to understand if you’re academically qualified.

[u/cleofromIT → u/AC10021]

Yup, ik that. I don't come from a foreign high school, but over 60% of students at my high school leave for either US or UK.

[u/AdWonderful162 → u/cleofromIT]

If that is so, you might be at a "feeder" school.... EDs are deeply personal choices, though, and you need to love the school to ED there. It's not always driven by "best chances" logic.

Your list is all either need-blind or "meet full need of admitted students" for internationals, so financially there are no wrong ED choices. But think about where you would be the happiest, but also be at least somewhat realistic, to avoid ED-remorse down the road.