Hello!
so , I just received my December SAT score and I got a total of 2370 :
800Reading
790Math
780Writing
I was planning to go to college in the united states but I gave up on it when I saw the financial obstacles in my way, but when I got this score I was thinking that it might change the setting you know.
so, any suggestions? I mean, colleges that give automatic merit scholarships for high SAT’s, ways with which I can benefit from the score, etc… ?
thankyou!
What’s your standing in HS and what’s your GPA?
Many merit scholarships are open to internationals.
What classes did you take, and what are your extracurricular activities?
Where are you from?
Why don’t you go to the AmidEast and join CCC; they will help you.
@LizzieElizabeth I think that depends on the qualifications of the applicants. My sister is an International Student who received 80% financial aid.
I don’t know whether you were browsing school scholarships or private scholarships…
but many schools, besides Ivy leagues or top LACs, that do give scholarships tend to give it in need+merit combination, or merit only. Those kinds aren’t really guaranteed unless it’s like: Full tuition with 1400 math+CR and 3.5GPA
Northeastern lets international students qualify for the scholars institute which is a full ride scholarship for EXTREMELY high achieving students. It will be based on much more than SAT scores though.
The Scholars program at Northeastern is a full tuition scholarship, not a full ride.
There are basically two options.
a) There are a number of schools that have full scholarships available to highly talented individuals many of these are limited to countries, or have other restrictions. For example, UK citizens can apply for the Georgia Tech President’s scholarships, but Dutch citizens cannot. There are many sources that collect odd scholarships for highly talented students, and you should investigate the merit scholarships at the schools you are interested in attending.
b) If you have the talent to get into one of the six schools in the US that are both need blind for admissions and guarantee to meet full financial need for four years for financial aid, then you are set. These are Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton, Dartmouth, and Amherst. While a 2370 alone will not gain you admission to any of these schools, it is at least competitive with all of the them. Though admission at any of these is very, very, very competitive.
Also, there are schools that are need aware and guarantee full need met scholarship if accepted. However, those are extremely difficult. Or, you can apply for full ride MERIT scholarship in schools like U of Richmond, W&L, Emory, UNC-CH’s Robertson Scholarship.
Schools like Kenyon and Macalester are known to be relatively generous with aids for international students.
I’d like to clarify the situation regarding NEED-based aid for internationals. Need-based aid is by the far the most prevalent and potentially generous source of financial aid for internationals. The catch, however, is that you have to demonstrate need. You do this by submitting financial documentations (e.g., income received, taxes paid, property held, savings) to the colleges’ financial aid department and they determine how much aid they think you deserve based on their internal formulas.
Schools that guarantee to meet full aid do just that, though the proportion of loans and work-study in the package may vary from school to school.
So how do you get an idea in advance of how much need-based aid you are likely to receive? For US students the colleges’ net price calculators that are found on their websites are a relatively reliable estimate. For international students, the NPCs are a good starting place, but are less reliable. At least they will give you the maximum amount to expect, i.e., you are unlikely to get more, though you may get less.
Once you have your Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) according to the NPC, you should call or write the financial aid department and ask them for more information. They may or many not give you an estimated figure.
If your EFC works, then good, apply to a wide range of need-only schools. If it doesn’t work then you have to move on to schools that offer merit aid to internationals. Some schools offer both need-based aid and merit aid. Some (including many of the most well known US colleges) only offer need-based aid, period. If you don’t qualify for need-based aid, then you won’t get merit aid.
The six schools that are both need-blind and guarantee to meet full need are all good options; however, they are very (VERY) selective and because they are need-blind, get a lot of international applicants. There are many other academically solid colleges that are need-aware meaning they will consider your level of need when they review your application, but are still quite generous with need-based aid for internationals. Basically if you get in, they will figure out a way to make it work AS LONG AS YOU CAN DEMONSTRATE NEED.
Here is a partial list of schools that guarantee to meet full need for internationals. I’m sure there are others, but these are the ones that I’ve found so far. If you are a high achieving student from a low income family, consider these: Amherst, Brown, Chicago, Colby, Dartmouth, Davidson, Emory, Grinnell, Hamilton, Harvard, MIT, Macalester, Middlebury, Penn, Pomona, Princeton, Richmond, Rhodes, Stanford, Swarthmore, Vassar, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Williams
Merit aid is based on achievement and usually not related to income, though some merit scholarships only go to low income students. You have to read the fine print about eligibility on the colleges’ websites. Some are country specific, some go to achievement in the specific disciplines like sciences or the arts. The amount you receive can vary widely and can be difficult to predict.
If you are a high achieving student from a middle or high income family consider these:
Alabama, Bard, Carlton, Chicago, Clark, Davidson, Dickinson, Emory, Fordham, Grinnell, Howard, Kenyon, Louisiana, Mt. Holyoke ,North Carolina, Northeastern, Rhodes, Richmond, Rochester, Scripps, Smith, Wooster, W&L, WUSTL
6 need blind schools AND 100% need GUARANTEED with NEED based scholarship:
HYP
MIT
Amherst
Dartmouth
*Pomona college ONLY IF you finish 4 year HS in US school.
Need aware and 100% or close to 100% need GUARANTEED with NEED BASED scholarship
Carlton
UChicago
Grinnell: 85%
U of Richmond
Stanford
Vassar
Swarthmore
Upenn
Washington and Lee
Scripps(only if you are a female)
Colorado College
Bowdoin College
Brown University
Pomona College
Rice University
Vanderbilt University
Occidental College
Davidson College: about average 75%. Very few got 100% need met.
Oberlin College
Haverford College
Need aware and not guaranteed, but has given good amount of need based aid to internationals:
Macalester College
Mount Holyoke College(Female college)
Bryn Mawr College (one kid I know got a full ride)
Cornell University
Kenyon Cllege
*I am pretty sure there are more…please add.
Schools that offer very generous and 99% guaranteed merit scholarship
University of Alabama*: GUARANTEED full tuition if 1400 math+CR or 32+ACT AND 3.5 GPA
*If you are engineer major, you get 1250$/semester scholarship for 4 years. Also, if you are selected for Emerging Scholar Program, a program for about 100~150 students per semester to help get involved in researches, you get 150$ each semester for a year.
Howard University: full tuition+room+board if you are 1400 math+Cr/32+ACT and 3.5 GPA. You can get full ride if you have 3.8 UNWEIGHTED GPA, 35+ACT or 1500 math+CR SAT. Apply ASAP to get it.
http://www.howard.edu/financialaid/grants_scholarships.htm
Schools that offer very generous AND VERY COMPETITIVE merit scholarship
Louisiana State University:
http://catalog.lsu.edu/content.php?catoid=2&navoid=194#Entering_Freshman_Nonresident_Scholarship_Programs/
These scholarships are CONSIDERED if you meet minimum requirement. International students are automatically considered for these merit scholarships as well.
Fordham University: Full tuition+room CONSIDERED if you are top 10% in HS.
Washington and Lee: full ride Johnson Scholarship.Essay required. Extremely Competitive
UNC-Chapel Hill’s Robertson Scholarship: full ride, hardcore competition.
U of Richmond: Bonner scholarship full ride.
Clark University: LEEP scholarship full ride. It has been created just a few years ago.
Lewis and Clark College: The Barbara Hirschi Neely Scholarship. Full Ride
add:
Emory Scholars Program
Washington and Lee also has one.