Hi guys. I’m an international student. I’m stuck between 5 schools for ED-- Brandeis, Colgate, Grinnell, Middlebury and Smith.
Factors:
Financial aid-- My demonstrated need will be a lot.
Some of these colleges have less acceptance rate but a lot of ED applicants and some are opposite. That’s also confusing.
I’m looking to major in CS, probably at a school with a little extra emphasis on technical aspects.
Any advice on which of these 5 to apply ED to will be extremely helpful 
.
You aren’t going to like my response, as it will echo the advice you have gotten on your other threads.
If you need financial aid, you really should not apply ED. You have no idea how each college will determine your family’s contribution and you will be locked in without the ability to compare offers.
Applying ED will not offer you the advantage you think it will. Most applicants admitted through ED are athletes or legacy students. I know you don’t think that is accurate but think about it - Middlebury (as an example) has 800 student athletes, which you can reasonably assume is 200 students per class and this year, 357 students were accepted ED. That doesn’t take into account the legacy students. Colgate has 25% of the student population participating in varsity athletics so the situation won’t be more optimistic there.
Lastly, you should read the course offerings for CS. Some of these schools will not offer the depth of technical classes you are looking for.
Thanks for the last 2 paragraphs. These were really informative!!
As for the financial aid part-- Students are allowed to decline ED offer if they are still unable to pay the remaining costs after the provided FA.
Honestly if I get admitted to a good LAC, I wouldn’t even worry about this. I really like liberal arts curriculum, which is why I wanna attend an LAC. I’ll probably try to study few technical aspects on my own.
You may want to broaden your search a bit and include EA schools as well. The best financial aid often goes to students that apply early so - even if you pick a school for ED - also be sure to apply EA to some schools in case the ED school doesn’t work out.
Based on what you have written, consider Grinnell and Smith. These schools offer notably flexible curricula that would allow you to focus on the more quantitative aspects of your education. Their computer science departments are excellent; they are well funded with respect to financial aid. For somewhat different reasons, Colgate also could be good (see the article linked below, which mentions its computer science department). However, its (overall) acceptance rate for international applicants in a recent year was a scant 1 out of 12.
Yes but you lose the ability to use the offer to potentially negotiate aid at a “peer” school.
Well
I think you’re describing a problem which doesn’t have a solution.
There’s no way to see how much aid schools will provide. But there is no harm in applying ED school… Cuz who knows, maybe they provide the exact amount that’s affordable for me:person_shrugging:
If you need 100% COA and would turn down anything less due to financial reasons, then ED isn’t a risk. If you expect to have some family contribution, school A could be $20k/year and school B $10k/year. If you ED to A, you will never know that was half price.
^^^ This. Additionally, say your award at the ED school is more than you want to pay but workable. You decline the offer and send in RD applications but every other school is a rejection or costs more money. You are stuck because you turned down what ended up being your best option and you can’t go back and ask them to accept you again.
I realize that many students apply ED for the perceived acceptance bump they think they might take advantage of, however, that is not it’s intended purpose. The acceptance bump is supposed to be because it is a school the applicant really wants to attend above all others. I don’t think you choose a college for ED. You either know which school you truly want to attend and apply ED or you don’t apply ED.
And can financially afford. Which generally eliminates international applicants requiring aid, since for most colleges, the NPC is inaccurate for them.
Also, a standard disclaimer: meeting full need means the college’s definition of full need, which may differ from the applicant’s definition.
Even if you apply to a school ED or EA, consider submitting other RD applications early (well before the RD deadline) to schools that might offer you merit aid. At some schools that offer merit aid, you will be more likely to get it if you submit your RD application early in the fall. Obviously, if you apply ED, read the terms of the ED program carefully to make sure you are allowed to do this.
If you really want to study in the US, consider expanding your list of schools to increase your chances of getting the aid you need. Check out Case Western and Olin College of Engineering. Both give good merit aid to international students.
Finally, people are giving you good advice on this thread.
Op is an international student. This is highly, highly unlikely to happen.
Odds are likely 1 in 50 for an international pplicant needing aid. Either the LAC will provide sufficient aid, or (being need aware for internationals) will not admit him/her.
While hypothetically OP could compare offers in reality what happens to internationals who don’t apply ED is that, if the "international " pool of money has been mostly used up during the ED round, they’re just not admitted.
Oo, what’s your budget?
I think what they mean to say is that the amount of cost they calculate that I can pay might be inaccurate and even after need-based aid, I might have to pay some cost which I didn’t anticipate.
Considering that my family’s annual income is less than 15k $, It’s impossible for expected contribution to be 20k and I highly doubt that it would be 10k. My expectations are that it would be around 5k or less, then I’ll accept the offer. Otherwise, I’ll have to decline.
I understand the problem you’re describing… But there’s no perfect solution to it🤷.
Let’s say that A expected me to pay more than 5k a year and all others rejected my application. For me, both of the above are a rejection. There’s no way in hell I can arrange more than 5k a year… So yeah.
@merc81: The cited article–The 10 Most Wired Colleges In The Country–is outdated as it is over 7 years old.
Basically, you have to apply to colleges where the NPC indicates your family contribution would be near 0 and student contribution low, with work study.
When you run the NPC, remember you don’t qualify for the federal loans, so that a college would have to show 'expected contribution: 0" for you to actually have a ~5.5k cost, except at colleges that meet need without loans.
You’re basically entering the lottery since you’re only allowed to afford health insurance and plane tickets, you need the college to want you so much they’ll pay for you to come. So you better have something exceptional no one else has that they want (both parts: exceptional/that they want matter).
Then you can apply for merit scholarships at directional universities which would likely be less competitive.
What “comparing offers” means is that, since colleges all calculate need differently, what your family would have to pay would be very different from college to college. For instance, if your family makes 65K (middle class in the US - keep in mind everything costs 5 to 10 times more than in certain parts of India) the results of the NPC could go from 30K to 0 depending on the college!
However, since most internationals who need “a lot of aid” typically mean “EFC 0” there’s nothing to compare: either the college provides a full ride, or the student can’t attend.
The article contains information relevant to the OP that has not, and will not, change, such as noting that Colgate “was one of the first colleges to introduce an independent computer science program.”