<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I am an international trying very hard to find middle/low tier colleges ( small universities with high acceptance rates ) offering full rides based on merit to International students.</p>
<p>My stats are as follows:-</p>
<p>GPA 3.5ish
SAT ~ 2300 ( 1550 CR+M )
Extracurriculars - Good leadership positions in school.</p>
<p>Can people out here please help me create a good college list. I only want to apply to safeties and matches, no dream schools at all! CC has too many heartbreaking rejection stories!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Is there such a thing? If so, I’ve never heard of it.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you repost this with a more descriptive title in a place like the financial aid forum. Try “Merit Money for Internationals?” or something like that. </p>
<p>There are some schools in the US that have automatic merit money for specific stats, such as Arizona State and U of Alabama. Whether they offer it to international students is another matter. (I doubt it.) From what I’ve read, they seem to mostly cover tuition, not room and board.</p>
<p>How much aid do you need? Do you need a full ride? If so, there are no safeties or matches in the US for you, just reaches. Period.</p>
<p>If you need some money, but not a full ride, there may be some matches. Start with the threads on guaranteed merit-based aid in the Financial Aid Forum.</p>
<p>@happymomof1 - Unfortunately I need close to full ride. :(</p>
<p>So can you please let me know a few reaches where I’ll atleast have a good shot… ( I hope you don’t mean Ivy League type extreme reaches. )</p>
<p>What I mean by saying that you have only reaches in the US, is that it will be as hard (if not harder) for you to get in anywhere in the US with the money you need, as it would be for a US student with perfect grades and a perfect SAT score to get into Harvard.</p>
<p>There are several threads on aid for international students in the International Student Forum, and there are several threads on guaranteed merit-based aid in the Financial Aid Forum. You need to go to those two forums, find those threads, and read through them for ideas. None of us can do this research for you because any information we have is old, and we don’t know the specifics about your situation.</p>
<p>Another good resource for you is your closest office of EducationUSA. After you’ve taken a look at the website, follow the links to find the office near you. [EducationUSA</a> | Find an Advising Center](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.info/centers.php]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.info/centers.php) The counselors there are expert at helping students in your country find good places to study in the US. They will be able to tell you if anyone with your profile has been admitted here recently, and whether or not that student received the kind of financial aid that you need.</p>
<p>@happymomof1 - thanks a lot, I do understand that getting a full ride is very difficult but fortunately I have found one college offering full ride merit aid through a reply to my post at the Financial Aid forum.</p>
<p>Thanks, I’ll try to download it! :)</p>
<p>Americandream13 -</p>
<p>I saw that you found mom2collegekids in the Financial Aid Forum. That is great! UAH may be the only place that can guarantee that kind of scholarship to an international student just based on your grades and exam scores. I didn’t realize that is comes so close to covering everything until I looked it up this afternoon. As soon as your application is processed there, you should have that acceptance and package locked down, and you can take a look at other options is you feel you need to.</p>
<p>While you are doing your research, please investigate the added on expenses that you will have for travel to and from your home country once or twice each year, any new winter clothing (not so important for Alabama as it would be for Minnesota), etc. Those are things that won’t be covered by the scholarship at UAH. You will need to find the money for those somewhere else.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>