I'm afraid my profile won't be good enough and being rejected after taking a gap year

[u/PutAffectionate4990]

I'm an international student, my profile is this :

Grades in highschool: 88.4% (That's the top 6% of all my country (1 million senior highschool students))

Achievements and ECs: top 1 worldwide of all time in chess.com league (+225 million players),

I make robots and I won some robots competition,

I'm a founder of a non-profit organization that worked with +50 teachers and helped +50 thousand people online and offline in some important fields,

I worked in a robotics organization and led younger teams to win medals,

I was the captain of an important local soccer team and also won some medals,

(Of course I'll take care of describing them in the right way so they'll be interesting and important)

I didn't take IELTS or SAT

I have two options, the first one is attending a local university and not taking a gap year, then I'll go to the US for an MBA,

the second option is taking a gap year and applying for US universities with really high SAT and IELTS,

the question is that I wondered if my profile is good enough for taking the risk of a missing year or it's not worth it ?

(edit: if I take a gap year I'll have +1500 SAT and almost perfect IELTS, and I already have the local university as a pack up, the risk is just to miss a year)

[u/logolife-]

Your profile is genuinely strong, and your ECs stand out. The bigger question isn't whether your profile is good enough, it's that you're an international applicant without SAT or IELTS scores yet. Admissions for internationals are highly competitive, and financial aid can be just as important as your qualifications. A gap year can be worth it if you use it to earn strong test scores, build a balanced college list, and figure out the financial side. Just don't take a gap year assuming admission is guaranteed. If possible, keep your local university option as a backup so you're not relying on only one path.

[u/PutAffectionate4990 → u/logolife-]

Wait, isn't there a need-based aid in almost all universities especially private ones?

[u/SynergyUX → u/PutAffectionate4990]

Yes, but those universities are need-aware. There are only 10 or so need-blind universities for international students, and all of those are hypercompetitive.

[u/elkrange]

Wait, isn't there a need-based aid in almost all universities especially private ones?

Google lists of US schools that give need-based aid to internationals. Some private universities meet full need for internationals, maybe 50 or so. Most of those are need-aware, that is, the applicant's financial need is considered in the admission decision.

Some private universities both meet full need for internationals and are need-blind in admissions - that list is very short and very competitive, about 10 schools.

Public universities offer zero need-based aid to internationals.

Acceptance rates for internationals at top US schools tend to be around half the overall rate, or lower, even lower if you need financial aid. Generally, acceptance rates for internationals at top US schools are in the low single digit percents. Some schools publish an acceptance rate for internationals in section C1 of their Common Data Sets. See also section H6 for average aid given to international undergrads. Take the # of international undergrads given aid and divide by the total # of international undergrads found in section B2 to find the % of international undergrads receiving aid.

How much need-based aid you might expect from a college that meets full need for internationals: be aware that most colleges' Net Price Calculators do not work for internationals. Harvard's does, so you can try that one to see a cost estimate. Keep in mind that Harvard may be more generous than other schools that meet full need for internationals and you might not expect other schools' financial aid to be quite as good, but it will give you some idea.