Beyond the Ivies- Which colleges should I apply to?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I am an international student from India applying to colleges in the US. I come from a less-privileged family with an annual family income of <$5000 which is kind of low even here and will need 100% financial aid to be able to attend. I know the ivies and some of the top LACs offer full need-based aid to international students and until recently only had those colleges on my list. I've now learnt that there are many other colleges that offer full financial aid to int'l students albeit with need-aware admissions. I need help figuring out which colleges to apply to. My stats are:</p>

<ol>
<li>SAT Reasoning- 2320</li>
<li><p>SAT Subject tests:
World History- 730
Biology(Molecular)- 790
AP Psych- 5
(AP exams in India are too expensive, almost $150 each. No waivers available either. I could only take AP Psych)</p></li>
<li><p>I have taken many courses on Udacity, Coursera and edX. I will also be appearing for exams from the National Institute of Open Schooling(NIOS), a government-organisation in India for homeschoolers. My GPA has always been a constant 4.0(No mommy evaluated courses. All external examination bodies)</p></li>
<li><p>The most important factor is that I am a homeschooler. I have homeschooled myself in the last two years of high school to focus on research in psychology. I have created for myself, a very unique curriculum that incorporates learning, research, standardised testing, work and community service. Will being an international homeschooler have an adverse impact on my application?</p></li>
<li><p>My extracurriculars include:
*Winner, Intel IRIS(The Indian science fair that selects students who will represent the country at Intel ISEF). My research project was the best in the country in the 'behavioral sciences category. I narrowly missed out on going to ISEF(Out of the 9 National winners from different categories, 6 made the final cut. I didn't. But I still ended up best in my category).
*Won lots of quizzes, debates and other related stuff. I've also competed independently at several university-level debates and quizzes and won many.
*I am ranked 681 in the world in Scrabble(Rated by WESPA, the body that governs competitive scrabble across the world)
*I am a freelance journalist and have published articles in some of the most popular mainstream publications of India including The Bangalore Mirror, The Hindu and others.
*Lots and lots of research in psychology. This is what I love the most and do the most. Will be submitting papers to peer-reviewed journals. Also, I will send in my research abstracts along with my application.
*Marathon running</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I hope to major in Psychology and Molecular Biology. So the college should have a good psych program and offer decent research opportunities to undergrads. I am not too bothered about size, location or prestige. </p>

<p>I hope someone here will guide me in the right direction.</p>

<p>Thanks a ton!</p>

2

<p>I don’t know of any comprehensive list of full ride schools for internationals, but you could start with this page and from there look at the admissions page of each listed college to see what level of aid they offer for international undergrad applicants.

[List</a> of more than 100 U.S. Colleges offering Financial Aid to International Students.](<a href=“internationalstudent-s.com”>internationalstudent-s.com)</p>

3

<p>Bump bump bump</p>

4

<p>The Ivies do indeed offer among the best financial aid packages. </p>

<p>If you are majoring in Psychology, try the LACs such as Williams, Amherst, Pomona. Also try Johns Hopkins.</p>

5

<p>For you, just getting a full tuition scholarship won’t be enough. Before your visa can be issued you will need to prove that you have enough money to meet your full financial need. In your search for schools that give full scholarships to internationals, be sure to evaluate whether that includes not only tuition but also room, board, books, travel, insurance and personal expenses.</p>