<p>As stated in the title, I desperately want to find out from you guys which colleges you think an international student (with a good 1950+ SAT score and good essay writing abilities) has the best chance to get accepted AND receive good financial aid. Thanks!</p>
<p>P.S Going for Computer Science</p>
<p>How about Bennington? Hampshire? Bennington is generous but Hampshire offers only a little in excess of tuition which is not enough for many students. Earlham was my safety school, and it offered me full tuition. You could look into it. Others who were accepted to Earlham got need-based aid + merit based aid that covered their tuition. You still have to cover the rest of the costs.</p>
<p>Other than those schools, I don’t think there are colleges that ‘super difficult to get into and can provide good aid to International students’. If there were, then everyone would apply to those schools and those schools would no longer be easy to get into. It’s a difficult process to go through and you will need to get lucky. Are you grades all right, btw?</p>
<p>I got 6A*s and 2As in O Level, 2As and 1B in AS Level and 3Bs in A Level… I’m gonna appear for SAT in this November</p>
<p>3 Bs are going to make it hard. Don’t even bother with top LACs.</p>
<p>A-Level B’s are equivalent to American A-'s (the scale is different from ours) so any college in the 25-65 range should be possible (the 25-35/40 range would be reaches, especially depending on how much FA you need). To maximize FA, look at schools ranked above 65 - up to 125 the schools are pretty good overall. How much can your family afford?</p>
<p>There are very few good LACs that convert A Level grades to American standards (Oberlin does, and it doesn’t account for the Fulbright UK translation; the international admissions person told me A Level B = American B) while evaluating applications. Schools like Williams and Grinnell simply view the transcript as is. So when there are so many applications with many A<em>s, three Bs are going to make it very hard to get into the most selective LACs, and hard at selective LACs with financial aid. Like, if you, OP, just need 30k in aid, schools like Gettysburg are in the realm of possibility, but Carleton certainly is not. You don’t need all A</em>'s, but if you don’t even have A’s, Amherst, Swarthmore etc won’t seriously consider your application, unless you have something significant to make up for the grades (not-so-high test scores, however, are forgiven more often). </p>
<p>The ranking thing is a good, rough idea but again, it depends on how much aid this applicant needs. If OP can afford 30k-ish every year, OP could certainly apply to schools like Lake Forest and Lewis & Clark and expect admission and ‘good’ aid. Otherwise the OP will have to research options extensively.</p>
<p>By the way, I had my transcript translated to American standards. Agencies such as WES and IERF, which convert transcripts for schools like Alabama, don’t say that American B = American A-. Here’s the translation:</p>
<p>A* = A+ (4.0)
A = A (4.0)
B = B+ (3.3)
C = B (3.0)</p>
<p>I know purdue is pretty generous with international students</p>
<p>An SAT of 1950 isn’t competitive for merit aid and most schools do not provide need-based aid.</p>
<p>International95: I guess there are different scales. I used Cambridge’s. Because there’s no A- in the British system, I’ve always seen A=A, B=A-, C= B/B+ but obviously it varies depending on the college (and the agency).</p>
<p>I always wonder about students that are not aiming for top colleges and are going for US mediocre. Some of these colleges may give aid, but what are you planning on doing with a degree from one of those? They don’t have placement in your home country, and from what I understand employers from outside the US recognize only a few colleges, and do not the rest, so the degree is worthless in your country, and quite frankly due to recent tightening of immigration laws and a difficulty in getting a job for US students, here as well. Im not asking this to be obnoxious, just out of a sincere desire to know. </p>
<p>@mhmm, from my experience, a lot of international students want to pursue graduate work, and most that I know did. Those who didn’t, started work in business/finance/consulting/analysis/engineering/science (my best friend’s sister went to Bates – which is not a mediocre school, of course – and now works at Credit Suisse) and only a few went back to their countries, where an American education is valued and thus were able to get jobs. In any case, I’ve found that a disproportionate number of internationals go for PhD programs (particularly in science), including students who went to ‘mediocre’ schools.</p>
<p>@International95 Would I need to convert my grades to another scale myself or will the college do that itself? What weight do they give to O Level results? Why are you only mentioning LACs?
I’ll need a lot of aid, I’d assume I can pay about $10k a year. Would it be possible? And let’s say I get around 2200 in SAT. What chances do I have then… I mean, would it be completely futile to even try?</p>
<p>IMHO, you should just report grades as is, the schools you applying to will translate your grades. Each school has its own methods to translate your grades, that is why the international adcoms are there for.</p>
<p>Based on your financial needs, I think your gpa is not competitive for that kind of international aids, no matter what your SAT will be. You can try Amherst and Dartmouth, if you get in that is more power to you.</p>
<p>Would asking for a short list of matching colleges be too much to ask? Please do if you guys can take out the time.</p>
<p>bump</p>
<p>It’s not that easy to do! There are many variables, and no certainties when an international student applies for financial aid. If it were as easy as ‘give me a list of match colleges’ this forum wouldn’t exist. Time for you to do some homework: go on search websites (the one here, collegeboard.com, princetonreview, etc.) and start looking. Check out the number of international students in your targeted schools and the percentage for received financial aid. The information you’re seeking is out there – just no certainties that if you apply to school x, school x will admit you with adequate aid. It’s just not that simple. </p>
<p>It depends how much aid do you need and how much you can afford. If you need full ride and stipend that is one thing, if you can afford $40k/year that is another. with your scores, it is hard to get full ride scholarships anywhere.</p>
<p>I got a full tuition scholarship at Drexel with a 2040 SAT</p>
<p>username</p>
<p>are you an international student?</p>
<p>Yes! </p>