College suggestions for an international?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi there, I'm a high school senior studying in Canada and I'm wondering which American schools are good matches for me. Any help would be appreciated!</p>

<p>Stats:
Korean male, studying in Canada for 2 years, but lived in different countries including the US (5 yrs)
Public HS, 2000 students, well-known International Baccalaureate Programme</p>

<p>Rank: unknown..1st decile i think
GPA: 3.7 UW (will improve, dont know how to weight)
SAT: 2190; 760 R, 780 M, 650 W(groan) - will retake and boost writing for sure
SAT II: World History 770, will take Math II and Japanese (both 800s hopefully)
IB Predicted Score: 37ish (yeah, i slacked a bit last year)</p>

<p>ECs
- some minor sports..swim, cross country, soccer..
- lots of musical: lead trumpet in 1 year of learning, self-taught guitar and performing in 6 months, school senior and jazz bands, tours, very fast learner and a late music fanatic
- Model UN conferences, some recognitions
- youth parliaments
- other leadership stuff including a government program at Ottawa
- lots of community service (free musial performances, charity concerts, community centre)
- school clubs: cofounder and vp of music club, will make another club this year, members and exec in lots of others
- 99 percentile for PSATs but int'l..not eligible for the scholarship thing
-volunteered at a community development project in Nicaragua this summer for a month with a friend</p>

<p>Extras(?):
- a very international background, my dad being a diplomat..korea, u.s., indonesia, canada.
- fluent in english and korean, learning japanese, mandarin, spanish (all college level, all of them i started learning last year, spanish just after the month in nicaragua), i guess gifted in languages, very passionate
- skipped esl in my first year in canada as gr.10 (last grade completed in english was gr.5) and got straight A's..got into IB in another school the next year, taking rigorous courses (4 higher levels plus an extra IB course: spanish).
- hopefully the fact that i hadn't had the time to really get used to canada my new school would explain my low IB grades..</p>

<p>Interested Majors: mostly humanities
Philosophy
International Relations
History
East Asian Studies/Languages
Education</p>

<p>Some ideas are: </p>

<p>Yale
Columbia
Dartmouth</p>

<p>Williams (ED school?)
Middlebury
Amherst</p>

<p>Berkeley
Johns Hopkins
U Chicago</p>

<p>Things looking for:
- preferably an LAC-style education: more interaction with professors, small class sizes, better discussions, tighter community, nice campus
- diversity of student body, nice people with a passion for their studies, artistic, musical, philosophical students
- good departments for the majors indicated above..thinking to major philosophy and IR and minor history, or something like that
- good prospects for more advanced studies
- some prestige would be nice</p>

<p>But here's the catch: I need financial aid. I think my dad earns around 60,000 a year and I also have a little bro who's also aspiring to get into a decent school. I know there are only 9 colleges that are offering need-blind, full-need admission for internationals, so I am considering them as my prime choices.</p>

<p>Please recommend me some colleges that would match my style and need. Any other advise/comments welcome.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Look for merit aid offered to internationals--you'll probably need full tuition--which means redefining "decent school." What matters more to you, education or prestige?</p>

<p>You might also want to look at smaller colleges in Canada.</p>

3

<p>UC Berkeley does not offer need-based aid to internationals, and reserves the bulk of its merit aid for in-state applicants.</p>

4

<p>I value education more than prestige, hence the reason I'm more attracted to the smaller LACs. I won't apply to the bigger ivies just for the ivy name, and its probably a bit difficult for me to get into the ivies I mentioned (yale columbia). I'm more or less aiming for the top LACs Williams/Middlebury/Amherst, which, I believe, provide a solid education as well as decent financial aids to internationals (need-blind as well as full-need). I like JHU, Berkeley, and U Chicago, and other schools like Gtown, but I don't think they provide much aid for internationals, like alamemom mentioned, unless they find you 'exceptional.'</p>

<p>Do you think I am a good fit for the LACs and what kind of chance do I have in getting into them? </p>

<p>Also, I'm not a Canadian citizen, so I will be treated as an international here as well..and its very expensive to study here as one.</p>

5

<p>You have the same chance as anyone--a crapshoot. I think you should look at second- or third-tier LACs that offer generous merit money; no suggestions from me, unfortunately, but the CC archives contain a wealth of information. You have the stats, more or less, for top-tier schools, but FA international will knock you down one and merit another.</p>

6

<p>amor_fati your picks of schools are nearly exactly the same as mine.
and i am applying as an international too.</p>

7

<p>Do you drink? Because that is all that Williams students do.....drink. Do not expect an amazingly diverse group of students if you come to Williams. Mostly the athletic culture dominates with a very small touch of theater.</p>

8

<p>Check out Tufts</p>

9

<p>Look for schools that are truly need-blind to internationals (e.g., Yale).</p>

10

<p>To my knowledge there are 8 schools that are truly need-blind towards internationals (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, MIT, Amherst, Williams and Middlebury), and they are all well known for their generous FAs, so those are what I'm aiming for. I just calculated my predicted family contribution at Williams and its below 5000, which is amazing. If you're an FA international like me, these are the schools to aim for. I think most other schools are tough for FA internationals. I'm aiming for the LACs in particular because they provide great all-around education and there's probably less competition among internationals because of their non-ivy status. Am i correct?</p>

<p>Any other takes on my chances on the mentioned schools? Even a vague reach/match/safety thing would be great..thanks.</p>

11

<p>I'm in the same boat as you! But those Need-Blind schools that you are pointing out are extremely difficult to get into. We internationals need some safer bets, just in case the need-blind ones don't work out.
So anybody have any idea on Tufts, Northwestern, Bates, Colby, Pomona, Grinnell and Oberlin for giving almost full rides to internationals?</p>

12

<p>Grinnell College is known to be rather generous with financial aids for internationals.</p>

13

<p>Thanks!!!!!</p>

14

<p>^^ Grinnell is generous, yes, but need-aware (of course)--and it will not give more than half-tuition of need-based aid to internationals. Wesleyan (CT) has an extremely competitive full-ride merit scholarship for Asian internationals, 2 per country; the scholarship is equally as reachy as need-blind schools, but hey, another ticket in the lottery (also easier if you come from an obscure Asian country, as opposed to China or India).</p>

<p>As I said earlier, you should look at full-ride merit aid at lower-tier schools--the LACs, in particular, will still give you a great education, even if no one's heard of them (true of LACs in general).</p>

<p>Research is important, though. For instance, Beloit (WI) will cover 40-50% of CoA for international students, as well as offering up to 4 full-tuition international merit scholarships (tuition only, not room/board/fees). But their website clearly states that they won't give full rides to internationals.</p>

15

<p>Wesleyan's Freeman Scholarship is ONLY available to applicants from the following 11 Asian countries - China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam (2 per country).</p>

16

<p>Ah, not India, I see. Thanks for the clarification.</p>

17

<p>So, no full rides from Grinnell? What about Tufts, Northwestern?</p>

18

<p>Check out <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/151609-international-student-aid.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/151609-international-student-aid.html&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

19

<p>Good list- you've obviously researched. Williams is a good bet - they're also need blind and will give 100% DN. I think you have a good chance there. like wise for Amherst. Other suggestions include UPenn, Middlebury (If you can handle cold), and maybe Brown and BU (try for scholarship)</p>

20

<p>Columbia is definitely not going to give you a "tighter community," not with NYC at your doorstep.</p>

<p>Other schools that match your interests and abilities are Penn, Brown, Stanford, Swarthmore, and Emory.</p>

<p>A lot of globetrotting polyglots like you wind up in Penn's super-elite Huntsman Program, which combines a BA in international studies with a Wharton undergrad degree. </p>

<p>Swarthmore lets you enroll in classes at nearby Penn, which gives you both LAC intimacy of Swarthmore and access to the larger academic resources of a major university like Penn. Best of both worlds?</p>