Please explain why you want to get your degree in the United States. As someone who is not a citizen or permanent resident, you will likely be required to return to your home country after you get your bachelors degree. You won’t immediately be able to apply for jobs here.
So…what is your plan?
I am an Iranian 18-year-old 12th grade student. I applied to some US colleges this year. University of Rochester and Brandeis University rejected me in their ED I and II, but SUNY at Buffalo(UB) and New Jersey Institute of Technology accepted me. However, their scholarship amounts are not enough. Due to current economic situation in Iran, I need at least a full-tuition waiver. SUNY at Buffalo, which granted me 10000 USD tuition scholarship, may consider me for further funding opportunities, but do NOT guarantee that. So now I am thinking of applying for the next admission cycle. But because I intend to get into an Iranian university this year if I couldn’t get more funding opportunities from UB, I have to apply as a transfer student, not freshman. And unfortunately, funding is MUCH MORE limited for international transfer students. I am now considering WashU, Cornell, Case Western Reserve University, University of Rochester, and University of Miami for next year. They offer financial aid for international transfer applicants.
This is from your previous post. You were accepted to SUNY Buffalo and NJIT but without enough funding. Now, you are applying to schools that accept even LESS students because you think you’ll have better chances??? You’re going in the wrong direction and are completely misguided.
What are you planning on studying that makes you think you have to go to school in the US??? We have over 3000 colleges and universities and they are all very unique and different.
What international students don’t understand about US schools is that every single college and university was developed within communities that may or may not appeal to everyone.
They all differ in cost, location, size, personality, weather, student population, course availability, timelines, housing, transportation and anything else I can’t think of at the moment. All of these factors affect your success at a university. If you can’t make it through the year, you go back home.
It sounds as if you really don’t care what kind of a school it is as long as it is in the US and that the school fully funds you. You need to understand that the schools will ask you what you will bring to them and why you would fit. You haven’t really answered that question. Why should they give you full funding if you don’t fit their school?
ETA: SUNY Buffalo is a college funded by the State of New York’s tax-paying residents. That means it is a public school with minimal dollars and your parents do not reside there and pay taxes. They are not going to fund a full ride. They can’t because they would have to ask the State for more money.
NJIT is also a public college and that means they have to ask their tax-payers to fund you because your parents don’t reside there and pay taxes.
@MITPhysicsAlum I think you are being unnecessarily harsh with a 17 year old.
First of all, I disagree that having the 1,000th best score out of the 1.4 million test takers is a low bar.
Second, you misunderstand the Iranian people and culture by asking why this student wants to study in “The Great Satan”. I have visited Iran, relatively recently, and the people are overwhelmingly pro-American and extremely welcoming.
Which, is what the CC community is supposed to be.
Perhaps. Am I being unnecessarily harsh with a Yale aspirant? Are we doing him any favors by doing his research for him? And, as as @aunt_bea points out, he’s moving in the wrong direction. Are we doing him any favors by remaining silent while he continues in the wrong direction, so as not to hurt his feelings?
Agree.
This student has previously applied to other schools and is searching for, what appears to be, full funding. The “harshness” is that money doesn’t grow in trees, and admission to a US university is harsh. This is just a website providing reality checks with approaches to admission.
As an adult, information from a website will be a lot less “harsh” than what real life will entail if the student finds a fully funding program.
Dear madam/sir,
First of all, I need a full-TUITION scholarship. My family can support me with the rest of the costs. I applied to SUNY at Buffalo and NJIT because they award tuition waivers. Because the scholarships they provide cover about 40-50% of tuition, I want to take ACT and reapply.
About Iranian universities, I have many relatives who have gotten their BS’s here and got into US universities like Virginia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, NC State and UCSD. Since most of Iranians get their BS’s in Iran and go to the US for graduate studies, I thought it is easier to get a BS in Iran and then go to the US.
“The Great Satan” is a ridiculous phrase of the regime, not normal people. I do not want to talk about these issues here, but just wanted to say Iranian people have different views about US and west.
I search for universities which are accepted by Iranian Ministry of Science. SUNY at Buffalo and NJIT are accepted. If I just wanted to go to the US to escape from Iran, I would have applied to liberal arts colleges which provide tuition waivers, but are not accepted by Iranian Ministry of Science. Such as Colgate University, Denison University, University of Richmond,… . Even Amherst college is not accepted by Iranian Ministry of Science, so applying to these colleges is pointless for Iranians.
As I mentioned before, my family can support me with the costs other than tuition. So I applied to SUNY at Buffalo and NJIT because they award tuition waivers.
Is the University of Alabama, University of Arizona, or Tuskegee University accepted by the Iranian Ministry of Science? Those are some schools where you might be more likely to receive a full tuition scholarship.
Yes dear sir/madam. All of these three universities are accepted. Thank you for your suggestion. I will look up.
Also University of Texas at Dallas offers full tuition and even full ride(Eugene McDermott) scholarships. But the problem is my mother’s disagreement about sending me to Texas… I know Texas is a huge state and conditions vary in each area, but, because the most of Iranians are in California, and my family members are in Virginia, my mother prefers I study in eastern coast. I know Alabama and Arizona are far from Virginia, but, because of negative reviews on Texas(due to drug trafficking issues), my mother is unnecessarily worried.
You haven’t really answered @thumper1 's question, and I think you aren’t listening to what @aunt_bea is telling you. This is likely to be a huge obstacle to your plans.
If you are the 500th best student in Iran, and each US school takes one student on average, you shouldn’t be planning on Yale. You should be planning on something closer to #500. Buffalo is maybe #350-400 worldwide, so that’s close.
Scholarships are meant to entice students to go to the school that is offering them as opposed to elsewhere. That usually means lower-ranked schools trying to “poach” students from higher ranked schools. So if Buffalo isn’'t giving you enough money, you need to look at even lower ranked schools, not higher ranked schools. (Yes, the very top ranked schools meet full need - but that’s relevant for the #1 and #2 students, not the #500)
If those schools are not accepted by your national body, you have your answer. I realize that’s not the answer you want.
Coming at this from another direction, about 10,000 students from Iran are in the US. The vast majority are graduate students. I am guessing 1000 undergrads - probably fewer - but we’ll go with 1000. The #500 student is therefore in the middle of the pack. He or she is not getting a full tuition scholarship at a school he or she just barely got into; he or she will need to go downmarket. Yale is the wrong direction.
Again, If those schools are not accepted by your national body, you have your answer, even if its not the answer you want.
Well…we don’t have a really clear answer to any questions here. But Yale does guarantee to meet full need for all ACCEPTED international students. The trick is…you have to be accepted and have financial need. There is no merit aid.
Yes they do. And if they accepted 500 students a year from Iran, the OP would be in great shape. But they don’t. It’s more like 0.1% of that.
I replied to this question privately.
Yes, you did reply privately. Please read my response to you.
@MITPhysicsAlum what would you like to hear from the OP? That their chances are futile and they will give up their hope of studying in the US? Because it seems like that’s the only answer that will satisfy you.
This OP needs a lot of financial aid to study here. My opinion is he needs to target schools where there is a strong likelihood his need will be met either through need based aid or merit aid. And of course, to get either type of aid, he needs to get accepted to the college(s).
It’s fine to apply to Yale as long as he understands that acceptance there isn’t guaranteed, or even likely…but you can’t get accepted if you don’t apply.
But other schools need to be on the list.
He withdrew his application RD from Harvard because he was afraid he would be rejected. So…he needs some more likely options than…Yale.
@AriaAfrouzeh, I have been following this thread with great interest. You’re getting some very good advice.
One thing I’ll add from the parents’ perspective: I used to think the only great schools were the Ivy League schools and a few others (sometimes referred to as the T-20 or T-30, etc, with the “T” standing for “Top”.) Now, I realize how naive that was/is. There are a huge number of great schools in the US and all over the world.
What I do like about the US higher ed system is that it allows for flexibility. Say you want to study biology and then you realize you hate it (that was me!). Within reason, you can change without starting over again.
The folks here truly want to help, but you have to help yourself. As others have asked, why the US? Since you have family members who came from Iran to here, have you spoken to them and got their advice? And keep in mind that if they did this more than just a few years ago, college admissions here in the US has changed a lot (it is unrecognizable to someone like me who went to college and law school decades ago).
Hopefully, you have a sense that this will not be easy, but I am a big believer in trying to achieve your dreams. But you have to do the research to make sure these dreams are attainable.
You were deferred from Harvard REA? I am no expert, but that sounds promising (still not sure why you withdrew). You strike me as a very intelligent person. Use that intelligence to understand the complexities, but do not ignore what you have at your disposal: university in Iran. There are so many online fora for getting additional knowledge beyond any limitations you perceive with that route.
I would encourage you to find your passion and go for it wherever you might be. The US is far from being perfect, and if your dream is coming here and that alone or going to a T-20 school, that’s far too limiting. If you have access to a computer and the internet, the world is already available to you.
I wish you the very best.
Thank you so much for your kind advice:pray:
I really appreciate it.
I’d like to hear why he wants to study in the US.
But I’d also like him to be realistic. “I want a free ride at Yale” is a fine aspiration. Not everyone gets that. I’d like to hear what is his Plan B. If it’s “Yale or bust”, as it seems to be, it might not work out as well as he or she hopes.
Dear madam/sir,
I will tell you privately.
Also I am a "he"