<p>I am posting on behalf of a final year Australian hs student. He was caring for his now deceased father during high school and so scattered a few Bs, 2 Cs in gym, one C in geography. A great deal of adversity, working part-time when needed, mother had to quit, now living in public housing. His mom went back to school.</p>
<p>He is interested in Cornell or equivalent type school. Needs full aid, probably down to the flight to get here from what I see.</p>
<p>I am wondering about people's opinions. For starters, what does it mean for him to be an Autralian applicant. Any hidden gem schools that might favour him for same reason. Do foreign students get treated the same way for aid if accepted s (that's a big one)</p>
<p>His interest is physics. Extremely polite and decent individual , which is what has prompted this post.</p>
<p>Needing aid is the complicating factor. He will be competing for (limited) spots and funds against top students from around the world. Usually, to get into one of the top schools like Cornell (or to get a full scholarship/financial aid) you have to have exceptional grades and exceptionally high SAT/SAT II scores, and more than a bit of luck. </p>
<p>The sad family situation could probably mitigate the lower grades – but he will need to be an outstanding applicant in every other way in order to stand out. </p>
<p>Being Australian generally will be neither an advantage nor a disadvantage. His competition will be mainly other Australians followed by other international students. The parents’ financial situation is the key to aid and amount of aid given. American public universities have no aid for international applicants; many private schools will love to admit him, but will not offer enough to enroll. </p>
<p>I would recommend reading through the international students forum on this site – plenty great information there.</p>
<p>The kind of aid that he would need is very difficult to come by - in truth, nearly impossible to come by. His best option is to find a way to study in his home country. If he does well at university there, he will have good options for post-graduate work at any number of universities around the world.</p>
<p>katliamom and happymomof1 , thank you so much for taking the time. i did pursue the links which were provided.</p>
<p>it is quite interesting that it seems somewhat hard to find good statistics and helpful information. i get the feeling that US colleges may prefer to evaluate kids on a case by case basis as regards aid offers to foreign students. </p>
<p>us news and world reports has a list of ten schools that provide good aide to foreign students.
i recall that Skidmore popped up on that list, but the info was somewhat contradicted on an Amazon e guide called Desperate student … something something… </p>
<p>I wonder how many Australian kids try for US colleges. Is it possible that it is a rarity and that colleges may like adding that particular element of diversity? anyone know where to find that stat?</p>
<p>I am also wondering how Harvard handles Australian applicants. Due to its 30 billion dollar endowment i feel that Harvard may be able to accomodate foreigners better than schools with less in the bank.</p>