<p>Are there any colleges in the US that offer non-single-choice and non-binding early action programs along with the provision of need-based financial aid for international students?</p>
<p>The University of Chicago.</p>
<p>Bard College (perhaps? but depends on how much aid you need)</p>
<p>I actually need a substantial amount of aid. I am thinking of applying to a highly selective university for early decision. So, I was thinking of a more realistic college for EA. So, can anybody recommend any other colleges ( less selective than UChicago)??
@International95 Thanks for the response.</p>
<p>Do not be vague about how much you can afford as what would be considered ‘substantial’ differs from person to person.</p>
<p>Earlham, Sewanee, Colorado College and Bennington, perhaps? However, all of these schools (except Colorado College) would only give you your decision in around February, so they wouldn’t do much in the way of saving time and money and work for RD apps. Expect to pay around $12k for Earlham, at the least (it offers a combination of merit and need-based aid to cover up to full tuition, generally). Bennington is more generous, but is also more selective than Earlham. There’s also St. John’s College in New Mexico and Maryland. It has quite a few international students, so I suspect it at least offers up to full tuition.</p>
<p>That is all, at least from what my research has indicated.</p>
<p>Note that schools like Sewanee and Colorado are certainly ‘highly selective’ for internationals seeking aid.</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>I, for one, would not bother to apply EA to many schools, esp those that don’t promise to meet need (incl. Earlham, Bennington and St John’s).</p>
<p>Okay. By “substantial”, I mean I can’t pay more than $8-10k a year.
Yeah, I have been considering Colorado for a while. I will research other colleges you mention too.
By stats, I assume you mean my grades and like??
Well, I completed my high school not from an internationally recognized curriculum. So, there is no GPA and the like. But my percentage score easily puts me in the top 0.1% of my country’s high school population. I have not taken my SATs. I am going to take them in the coming Oct and Nov. From what I infer so far, I expect to get at least 2100 in the reasoning test and 700 in each of the subject tests: Chem, Math II and Physics easily. I took my TOEFL recently and got a score of 112.
I have done some social service and taught a remote school in my summer holidays after completing the 10th grade. I also served as the VP of my school’s Science and Tech. club. Apart from that, I don’t have much spectacular ECs.
Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>You’ll get better advice the more information you provide. We really can’t respond meaningfully to handwavy statements. </p>
<p>
What do you mean? That Western universities don’t accept your country’s national curriculum for college admission? That you did not follow any standardized curriculum at all (e.g. because you were homeschooled)? That your high school followed your own country’s national curriculum rather than an “international” curriculum? Something else entirely?</p>
<p>@b@r!um No, I didn’t mean that. Sorry. I just wanted to say that I did not come from a curriculum like A-levels or IB. The western universities totally accept it. Yeah, I meant my own country’s national curriculum : the HSEB +2.</p>
<p>You may want to look at less competitve schools then because you must be able to show finances to pay for school before most colleges will admit you.</p>
<p>@cauldroncastle, in all honestly an international student applying for EA, and wanting a significant amount of adi will in most cases get deferred( assuming they even want you). </p>
<pre><code> The college won’t be sure how much to allocate money for International student so early in the admission process.
</code></pre>
<p>@bktohelp What about binding ED then?</p>
<p>Why would you apply for binding ED if you need financial aid? It only causes problems later when you’re admitted but find out you can’t afford it. Schools don’t like that sort of thing, and it could complicate your odds of getting in somewhere else. </p>
<p>Any Early admittance almost guarantees that you wont get the kind of money that you are seeking in order to attend that university.<br>
If you decide that you must apply early, to any university, assume that you will be paying full costs. </p>
<p>The early “decision” types of students are indicating that if they are accepted to their dream university, they are willing to be admitted, at ANY costs, and are willing to forego any financial aid in order to just get in. Many of these ED students find out later, that they really can’t afford their dream school, after their parents note that these decisions, made by the following April, aren’t free. </p>
<p>Guys, note that OP is an international student. For internationals seeking aid, there is a select group of schools that offer full need to all internationals. It makes absolute sense to apply ED to a school that offers that kind of aid as financial aid apps for internationals are usually simpler and thus differences between expected EFC and college-calculated EFCs are very, very small. </p>
<p>I appreciate the sentiment but please do not give ‘American’ advice to internationals seeking aid.</p>
<p>@cauldroncastle, don’t do ED, thy are like a trap. Here is what i will suggest, try to raise your SAT score, to 2200+, .
If you are interested, there are plenty of state schools, that will give financial aid, if you get above a certain SAT score.</p>
<p>@International95 Thanks for clearing the confusion. I am actually seeking advice about that particular group. @bktohelp Yeah, I’ve found that some state schools are considered better for engineering than top liberal arts colleges but I only see merit based aids in their list which don’t even cover the whole tuition. I simply can’t afford that.</p>
<p>@cauldroncastle, <a href=“IMPORTANT: Links to AUTOMATIC/GUARANTEED Merit Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-to-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>This schools , if you have a sat(M+CR), above a certain score will give you scholarships,and in some cases give full tuition. I suggest applying to purdue, is is a really good school, and are generous with international students.</p>
<p>But if that doesn’t work for you, i only other option i can think of is applying to a highly selective schools. When you apply to need blind schools, your financial situation isn’t put into consideration(i find that to be dubious). If you get accepted there and your income bracket is less than 60,000 USD annually, then in most cases you are not expected to pay anything. As ideal as it sounds, it is tarnished by the sheer difficulty of getting in. Example of this schools include: HARVARD,MIT,PRINCETON…</p>
<p>Let me share a stats from my classmates,</p>
<p>She in an international student like you(East africa), SAT 2190, and subject scores where on the mid 700’s , GPA 4.0,. Got into Princeton with full financial aid.
He is an also an international student (East africa) Sat 2230, 800 on the subject tests.But with a GPA , of ~ 3.2, got into Amherst,and got a full financial.</p>
<p>I think u should also check out Amherst. What i am trying to say is if u have a good stats, you should have decent chance of getting what you want.</p>
<p>Purdue is <em>not</em> generous to international students.</p>
<p>Are you sure he had a 3.2 GPA? That’s very surprising. Anyway, need-blind schools are only for the most competitive students, and although having need won’t hurt you, the competition certainly would. Amherst’s acceptance rate for internationals is 7%. At Vassar, for aid-seeking intls, the acceptance rate is 9%ish. Clearly the need-aware status doesn’t matter THAT much as the odds of an international getting accepted to either school are the same, really.</p>
<p>UChicago has EA, is need-blind, and in the recent past, met full-need for most/all internationals.</p>
<p>Hard to get in to, though.</p>
<p>Yeh, U of C admits only 15% of their freshman students internationally that is about ~200, over 100 countries top students send in applications, you need to be one of those lucky ones. Since the admit rate for internationals must be ~3-4%, instead of the normal 8%. And based on the following statement directly from their web site, I am not sure if it is “need blind” or not.</p>
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<p>^^ How do you know if he is not the Boston Marathon winner from EAST AFRICA? </p>