Just got a likely letter by the way!
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Nice. From where?
I guess you missed when you wrote this.
Thatâs why someone asked you what you meant by full ride. To some itâs tuitionâŠto others itâs tuition, room and board and even books.
So iâll go back to - if you need aid (your words, not mine) and you have a full ride already, even at a lower ranked school, youâre basically done. That will be your US choice if you decide to come here. You can wait and hope for the others - but theyâre going to be pricey if you get in (short of the couple that meet need for international students).
btw - tons of leaders and very successful people come from all level of schoolsâŠthe pedigree thing has taken off beyond what is necessary in perception - youâre not doomed to failure if youâre not Ivy.
People are trying to help you and some need more info. No reason to not be polite to them.
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I was being polite? I just asked him why he was asking me this question. I need aid but have a small budget and would rather go to a school even if it means taking 5k/year in loans. I just have free tution at ETH zurich and guaranteed admission, for example, but I do not feel a match.
As my counselor said, âyou might be successful if you go to Harvard, but you donât need Harvard to be successfulâ. I know that if I want, I can accomplish great things, but I was mentioning the actually 1 full ride and 1 full tuition (+need based so that might equal full ride) just to give an indication.
I thought impolite - but thatâs neither here nor there.
With American schools costing $80K in many cases and with likely limited aid for an international - unfortunately $5K a year in loans is - well itâs not gong to get you close.
Congrats on the likely letter. But are you likely able to afford that school?
Sounds like you have a great opportunity here at a lesser school - you didnât name - and a great opportunity in Switzerland.
I hope you get what youâre looking for (a full ride to a school on your list) - but itâs a home run that any US school is willing to offer you a generous full ride - so youâve already won - and youâll likely have to decide between it and the Swiss school.
You still have more time/acceptances - but in general, education is an investment - and unfortunately, $5K is just spending money but doesnât remotely cover the cost of any school in your considerations set.
Good luck.
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Oh no, no no⊠I expressed myself wrong. I have a lower budget but I said that for a school that would meet my need with loans, I would be ready to take out 20k total over four yearâin addition to my contribution during college.
Thank you for the kind message. I applied to nearly 70 schools so I really hope that will pay off. Statistically, if I do not get in, it might be that I am just not made to be there 
Also, I am looking for a full ride but I absolutely do not know how the schools will calculate that. Estimators do not work for international students, so I am definitely unsureâŠ
My likely letter schools typicaly awards a small part in merit and and a little loan each year, which I am highly considerating since I love the school so freaking weaking much.
Thanks by the way to all the people responding.
Debt is not your friend - you can love a lot of schools so freakâin much - especially the ones you can afford.
And now I know why you took off sophomore year - you had a lot of apps to write.
OK - we killed this one - good luck.
Hahahahah I did It was my dream so I spent a great part of my summer writing PERSONAL and not generic essays. I just did not want to regret not applying to enough schools later⊠(Hiding my addictiion because writing essays has become my passion)
Ok, I would like to hear your point then. I tried to talk about that today with someone and would like to get another opinion: honestly, is 5k so much debt? It is 20k that I can reinburse once I start working and salaries in Switzerland are so much higher than those in the US.
Iâm not saying $5k is too much.
Iâm saying $5k + merit and many schools you applied to have no meritâŠyou would need to borrow a lot moreâŠeven with some need aid.
Your list is all $320k plus for four years. And few offer merit on your list.
Have you run the NFC on the schoolsâ websites? Even if itâs not fully accurate for international students, it should give you some kind of a ballpark figure. Is that number affordable for you/your family? Or would you still need significant aid in order to pay that number?
If the number is affordable for you & your family, and the school accepts you, AND they meet the need of international students, then youâre golden.
If the number is not affordable for you and your family, how do you intend to pay? $5k/year is for loans for U.S. citizens, not international students.
If the NFC number is not affordable for you and your family, it is possible for you to get merit aid to help get to a price that your family can pay. But again, most of the colleges on your list do not have merit aid.
Depending on what you intend to study and whether or not you need to go to graduate school, $5k/year ($20k total) can be a lot of money, or a manageable amount. But when you have options that will get you a great education without debt, that is where you want to go. Because when you have debt your options are more limitedâŠwhether that is in what career field you choose to enter, which job(s) to accept, what place you want to live (both location and type of housing), and so on. The more debt you have, the bigger the burden. Depending on if you go to graduate school, that can be another big debt burden (much bigger than $20k). Be very, very careful with taking out loans.
But congratulations on your acceptances and the offers for both free tuition and a full ride. That is absolutely wonderful! You should be very proud of yourself and your accomplishments.
Just another consideration for that $5K per year: health insurance. You are required to purchase a health insurance policy to cover any possible injuries while you are a student in the US. It is not an option. A lot of those fees can run about $5K per year. These fees are not covered by scholarships and grants.
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No, some schools offer loans for international students. I did run the NFC and the number was indeed affordable.
Thank you for the long and kind message. I do not plan to go to graduate school, and if I do, it will be in Europe where it is less expensive. I already received the decision for 15 schools that offered merit aid, so that is why you think all those schools here have only need. I know that needing aid is so hard but I truly hope a college will see the potential in me. I will keep you updatedâŠ
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Thanks for the comment.
Washington and Lee prereads are done by the Admissions Office. There are a fair number of international students there.
If you already have a full ride to two schools I hope that allays any anxiety you may have. 90% of the schools on your list are high reaches for every student, so they are high reaches for you. That means your odds of admission, like those of other applicants, are low.
Unless itâs different for international, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, Stanford, MIT, CalTech, Gtown, W&L, Hamilton, Williams, Tufts, and VassarâŠno merit aid.
I know they are done by admissions officers-who donât know the Swiss grading system. I might seem pretentious but itâs just the reality of coming from an underrepresented country. Most Swiss kids who go to the US go to IB schools, so they have no coule about the high school in Switzerland
I believe that tufts and Vassar do have some? 30% sure so I donât know haha! But yeah most of those high reaches are need based. I believe that my higher chances are at Dartmouth, and lower at Yale and Harvard since I didnât get an interview
