Business or Economics with Merit Based Aid

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am an Indian Citizen who lived in Singapore for 10 years and have shifted to Houston, TX last year. I am now a senior, am looking at my options, and have decided that I will most likely double major in Business and Economics. My Class Rank is weak, due to transfer of credits from a different system, and my ECs are weak for my Junior year due to the shift.</p>

<p>Indian Citizen,Male, Greencard holder, Texas resident, lived in Singapore From 1997-2007</p>

<p>Academics
GPA: 3.89/4.0 (UW)
: 6.32/6.5 (W)
Large, fairly competitive high school (top 7% have perfect GPAs)
Ranked 15% (74/469)</p>

<p>SAT Scores: Composite: 2130
• Critical Reading: 730
• Math: 760
• Writing: 640</p>

<p>ECs
• Cricket Team in Singapore, National Champions
• Member of the Executive Council in the Drama Club in Singapore
• Wrote/Acted/Directed two award winning plays "Wannabe Terrorists" and "13 minutes on the subway"
• National Honors Society
• Filmaking Society</p>

<p>TALENTS
• Odyssey of the Mind World champion and Silver medalist (represented Singapore)
• Writer-Director of short film “Denouement”</p>

<p>VOLUNTEER WORK
• Performed in a play for local orphanage
• Volunteered as Videographer for local Church (I am not Christian) 4hrs/week for a year
• Filmed Public Service announcements in Singapore
• Replanted Rain forests and cleaned out Old Folks Home in Sarawak, Malaysia</p>

<p>HONORS
• Invited to University of Texas- Austin’s “Honors Colloquium” as one of the top students in the state
• Recommended by Principal for Introduction to Microeconomics in Houston Community College (course not offered in High School).
• Bilingual: Fluent in Hindi (‘A’ in Cambridge “O” level Examinations) & English</p>

<p>Essay
Humorous and hopefully unique</p>

<p>I need some advice on schools with strong Business and/or Econs programs (priority to business) that will give me some merit based aid. (maybe $10K/y?)</p>

<p>So far, i have learnt of Rochester and Wake Forest.</p>

<p>Anyone has more insight?</p>

2

<p>chicago and mit</p>

3

<p>Will I really qualify for merit aid in those schools? Always though i should aim lower, so that colleges may sweeten the pot for me.</p>

4

<p>UT-Austin and Texas A&M are your best bet. You really can’t beat UT-Austin in terms of business. However, that rank may severely hurt your chances of getting in.
USC also gives decent merit aid.</p>

5

<p>Try Washington University in St Louis. They offer merit scholarships, and have highly rated undergrad business program. The Economics department is very strong and faculty members readily encourage undergrads to do research (60% of undergrads are involved in it). </p>

<p>The business and econ programs have a high percentage of international students. Every single PhD candidate in economics for the past couple of years has been international. I don’t know if that appeals to you at all, but I think it’s very interesting. </p>

<p>Your test scores are in Wash u’s middle 50% test score range. I would work on improving your class rank. Your EC’s sound pretty good.</p>

6

<p>Test scores are near the top 1/4 for Rhodes, and HS GPA is good. We’ve got a growing international student body, more of our students come from TX than any other state after TN, and we have a business and economics bridge major. The business/econ department is I think the biggest academic department on campus.</p>

7

<p>My rank is what will hurt me in UT Austin, because of the top 10% rule. I think i am a little under qualified for WASHU, because if I don’t get merit aid, i can’t afford it. USC sounds promising, and Rhodes gave me a chance to apply without paying the application fees, so that might be interesting.</p>

8

<p>Check out Grinnell, a LAC in rural Iowa. Generous merit aid and Economics (but no business).</p>

9

<p>A good place to look at is right in your current city: RICE! They give generous merit aid, but it is still very hard to get merit aid. They do have merit scholarships just for international students though.</p>

10

<p>You are correct in your strategy of aiming lower for more merit aid. Unless HYPS are fighting over you, the top schools are unlikely to give you much. I’d look at Santa Clara, USD, Fordham, BU level schools. You want to be at the top of the pool.</p>

11

<p>[Undergraduate</a> Programs - Fox School of Business | Temple University](<a href=“http://www.fox.temple.edu/ugrad/index.html]Undergraduate”>http://www.fox.temple.edu/ugrad/index.html)</p>

12

<p>Babson or Bentley def.</p>

13

<p>What scares me about Babson and Bentley is that if you end up deciding that econ/business isn’t for you, then you’ve just got to transfer. Even worse, you won’t really have a ton of opportunities to find out if another major is for you. Obviously it works for some people, but I can’t imagine having done it myself.</p>

14

<p>Thanks for all the replies.
Babson and bentely restrict options too early IMO. Anyway, i have come up with a list, could you critique it/ chance me. Is it too top heavy?</p>

<p>Harvard- I know i have no chance, but mom wants me to do it.
Rice
Cornell
Emory
UT Austin
Texas A&M
University of Rochester
USC
NYU</p>

15

<p>You will get an automatic 9k/year at Indiana, with the possibility of getting more after freshman/sophomore/junior year.</p>

16

<p>Do all these schools give merit $$ to Internationals??? Are you sure?</p>

<p>I’m wondering because I’m helping another int’l student find some merit money, and I’m finding that a lot of schools exclude int’ls from getting merit money.</p>

<p>It would help :slight_smile: if people posted the website info (or link) indicating that $$$ is available for int’ls. :)</p>

<p>For instance…</p>

<p>Indiana U</p>

<p>International students are eligible for: IU Distinction, IU Prestige, and IU Recognition.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.scholarships.indiana.edu/pages/automatic.php[/url]”>http://www.scholarships.indiana.edu/pages/automatic.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>IU Distinction - $36,000 ($9,000 per year)
The IU Distinction Scholarship is awarded to the best and brightest out-of-state students who meet each of the following criteria:
Out-of-state student (domestic and international)
Minimum SAT score of 1330 or minimum ACT score of 30
Minimum GPA of 3.80 on a 4.0 scale </p>

<hr>

<p>IU Prestige - $20,000 ($5,000 per year)
The IU Prestige Scholarship is awarded to students who meet each of the following criteria:
Indiana resident or out-of-state student
Minimum SAT score of 1260 or minimum ACT score of 28
Minimum GPA of 3.80 on a 4.0 scale </p>

<hr>

<p>IU Recognition - $8,000 ($2,000 per year)
The IU Recognition Scholarship is awarded to students who meet each of the following criteria:
Indiana resident or out-of-state student
Minimum SAT score of 1170 or minimum ACT score of 26
Minimum GPA of 3.70 on a 4.0 scale</p>

17

<p>I believe a greencard holder is considered a Permanent US Citizen and eligible for federal aid.</p>

18

<p>Yes, i am a permanent resident and am eligible for Federal Aid.</p>

<p>Not to be rude, but could we get back to my list? Deadline coming up and i need to write the appropriate essays.</p>

19

<p>oops…sorry, I missed the green card part…my apologies…</p>

<p>Since you need merit money scholarships (F/A is often student loans, and your family’s income may interfere with determined “need”)…therefore…</p>

<p>U Rochester</p>

<p>U Alabama - very strong business program and you’d get free tuition (worth about $80,000). No essays needed to apply for application or for scholarship app. EZ online apps. Apply by Dec 1.</p>

<p>Miss State</p>

<p>Tulane</p>

<p>Indiana U</p>

<p>Arizona State</p>

20

<p>Just a word of advice – don’t list that you were invited to the UT Honors Colloquium as an Honor on your college applications (for any school other than UT). It’s not really an honor or award. It’s a means for UT to market to high achieving high school juniors in Texas.</p>