Connecticut College or Trinity College?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey.</p>

<p>I'm an international student with a very HIGH financial need and I would like to know which of these 2 colleges is better in academics and which is known for giving more financial aid.</p>

<p>I also want you to know I got rejected last year by Trinity, probably because I had a very high financial aid. I have better my application since then. Improved my essays with the help of someone, my SAT score, and my ECs.</p>

<p>Which would you guys advise me I should apply RD? Trinity or Connecticut? Both seem to me like good colleges, but I really don't know which one is the best.</p>

<p>My other options for applying are: Oberlin, Lafayette, Macalester, Grinnell, Brandeis and Colorado college.</p>

<p>I just have money to add only one between trinity or connecticut. I appreciate your help</p>

2

<p>Don’t bother with Trinity. Connecticut is similar enough that fit should be fine, and your odds are much higher.</p>

3

<p>If there has been no substantive change to your application, there is no reason to believe that you will get a different answer from Trinity.</p>

4

<p>Does Connecticut offers better aid than Trinity?</p>

5

<p>Yes at Connecticut at least you have a chance at admission + Financial aid.</p>

6

<p>Thanks MYOS! How selective is Connecticut for International Students?</p>

7

<p>Both Connecticut College and Trinity College claim to meet 100% of demonstrated need. Both are need-aware ([Colleges</a> Where Need for Aid Can Hurt Admission Odds - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/03/23/colleges-where-need-for-aid-can-hurt-admission-odds]Colleges”>http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/03/23/colleges-where-need-for-aid-can-hurt-admission-odds)). They are similar in selectivity.
<a href=“http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/trinity-college-admissions-gpa-sat-act.htm[/url]”>http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/trinity-college-admissions-gpa-sat-act.htm&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/connecticut-college-admissions-gpa-sat-act.htm[/url]”>http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/connecticut-college-admissions-gpa-sat-act.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>According to their 2012-13 Common Data Set files (section H7), last year Trinity awarded more aid to internationals than Connecticut. At Trinity, 146 internationals received an average of $51,003 in financial aid. At Conn College, 57 internationals received an average of $48,208. Perhaps Trinity simply received more international applications with greater average need. You could try using the two schools’ online net price calculators to estimate how much financial aid you are likely to get from each one.</p>

8

<p>Guille, since Trinity prioritizes international aid for athletes and since you were already denied, it simply makes sense to apply to Connecticut. Unless you’re an athlete and have improved your performances since last year.</p>

9

<p>Only by applying can you know for sure how your score/essay/EC improvements will play out at Trinity. The two schools are similar enough that anything holding you back at Trinity may produce the same outcome at Connecticut. If you want to submit a significantly safer application, choose a school that is less selective than either one. A slightly less selective choice (a LAC in the Northeast that also has pretty good aid for internationals) would be Skidmore College.</p>

10

<p>tk: the difference is that Connecticut doesn’t massively prioritize its international aid funds for athletes.</p>

<p>I second Skidmore :slight_smile: as well as Wheaton.</p>

11

<p>MYOS, how do you know Trinity prioritizes international aid for athletes? Do you see a policy statement on their site, or data somewhere? Are you basing this on personal experience? </p>

<p>According to Trinity’s CDS (section H2Ap), they do not award any institutional non-need-based athletic scholarships or grants. They only awarded 10 merit scholarships to freshmen last year. All other aid presumably was need-based. Prioritizing it for athletes would be stretching the concept of “need-based”.</p>

<p>If Trinity is doing this, how do we know Conn College is not?</p>

12

<p>According to a person I met here who has been helping me on my college application, Skidmore doesn’t offers good aid for internationals. I mean, she told me it does offers aid, but they barely offer any aid above $40k, and what I need is more than that. </p>

<p>Many have advised me that if I want to apply to Trinity I should do it ED2, but I don’t want to spend an ED2 on a college that rejected me last year, which is why I’m seeing if I should apply to it RD again. My CR score from last year improved by 110. I also have been doing more interesting ECs, and my recommendations are supposed to be better. I also edited my average/mediocre essay from last year.</p>

13

<p>I know like six international kids at Skidmore on full rides. That’s barely scratching the surface, because it’s personal experience.</p>

14

<p>For 2012-13, Skidmore awarded need-based or non-need-based aid to 80 degree-seeking international students. The average amount awarded was $53,523. This was higher than either Trinity’s or Conn College’s average. Skidmore awarded a total of $4,281,849 in aid to internationals, compared to $7,446,464 awarded by Trinity and $2,747,848 awarded by Conn College. </p>

<p>Here’s a list of 25 colleges said to offer relatively good aid to internationals (although they are need-aware in international admissions):
[Top</a> 25 Financial Aid Colleges in US for International Students (Need-aware) - Desperate Guide: Undergraduate College Financial Aid, Scholarship](<a href=“http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware]Top”>http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware)</p>

<p>Less selective schools on the list (relatively speaking) include Skidmore, Dickinson, and Union.</p>

15

<p>I would not say that Dickinson and Union are less selective, even in relative terms. All these schools are equally competitive for international students who need financial aid.</p>

16

<p>So do you advise me to apply to Skidmore college? I read many reviews on internet and they give aid to very few internationals. Probably less than 30</p>

17

<p>At Skidmore, your odds of getting in are low, but if you’re in you’re funded. You need to think about your profile vs. the profile of the top 25% admitted students: are you well above that or not?</p>

18

<p>I’m sorry but I haven’t searched neither dickinson nor union nor skidmore so I don’t know about the stats of internationals.</p>

<p>My stats:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9 UW
SAT: 2090
I took the IB Diploma, which people say is tantamoun to APs</p>

<p>Rank: 3/64</p>

19

<p>

</p>

<p>Try to consult an authoritative source. Look up the precise number in the Skidmore College Common Data Set, section H6.
[Common</a> Data Set](<a href=“http://www.skidmore.edu/ir/facts/common/]Common”>Common Data Set)</p>

<p>For 2013-14, the number was 98.
For 2012-13, it was 80.</p>

<p>These numbers are greater than the total number of admitted international freshmen (55 in both 2012-13 and 2013-14.) So they must refer to the total number of undergraduate internationals receiving aid.</p>

<p>Of course, these numbers aren’t fully meaningful without knowing how many international students even applied. I’m unaware of any source that breaks out those numbers. Unless you can find them (maybe Skidmore admissions would tell you) I think you have to assume that selectivity for internationals is in line with overall selectivity. So I would assume that even for internationals, Skidmore is less selective than Stanford, Brown, Penn, Williams, and most of the others on the list of 25 I cited above.</p>

20

<p>Oh selectivity for internationals is almost the same as with domestic applicants.</p>

<p>However, if you’re an international with aid, your selectivity becomes harsher. Your admission chances can drop from 30% to almost 5%, and I don’t know if Skidmore really gives good aid to internationals who apply on RD.</p>