Choosing a US college for UK student

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>So I am struggling to find at least 15 colleges of interest. I have used the college board search, and I found about 8 with my specific preferences, however, when I gave a little bit of leeway, I got 60. I want to in the end have 2 ambitious choices, 2 realistic choices, and two insurance choices. However, I can't even decide on 15 Universities, because there are soooo many!!! </p>

<p>I want to major in Chemistry. I want a University that has financial aid for international students. I want a rural/suburban environment, and a small/medium amount of people/campus. I have no religious or gender preferences. </p>

<p>Any help/guidance as to what I should do would be helpful. I am interested in MIT and Harvard as my ambitious choices, but I have no idea what to choose for my realistic choices, or my insurance choices.</p>

2

<p>Here’s the deal:</p>

<p>There are very few “safeties” for international financial aid applicants. The only safeties would be colleges with guaranteed merit scholarships for your grades and test scores. </p>

<p>In the absence of guaranteed merit aid, you need to consider every college a “reach” application. Even colleges whose general admission statistics are way lower than yours will be getting 1000 applications for 10 international financial aid packages. There’s a huge element of luck involved. </p>

<p>Since the competition for limited financial aid is so fierce, international financial aid applicants typically apply to 10+ colleges.</p>