Dear International Students Seeking Financial Aid: YOU CAN DO IT!

Paying for College
1

I’m writing this post because I wish I had found something like this two years ago, when I first decided to apply to US Colleges.

To all my fellow international students: do not be discouraged! You can earn your place at a college, no matter your financial situation! And you do NOT have to be a genius; you just gotta believe in yourself and work your butt off.
To prove it, here is my story.

I’m an international high school student from Greece. My family earns less than $65k.
At the beginning of my junior year, I started to become more and more disappointed with the educational system in my country. I wanted to work hard and climb the socioeconomic ladder and escape the vicious cycle of financial instability most young Greek people are going through. That’s when I decided to apply to the US.

I was always a good student, but I knew that financial aid for students like me is limited. If I really wanted to study in the States, I would have to exceed every expectation. I raised my SATs from a 1970 to a 2290 in a year and worked hard at school and my extracurriculars. I applied to every need-blind college I could find and to a ton more full-need schools. I wrote essays restlessly. But the deadlines were closing in, and I had never felt more insecure.

I thought about the prestigious schools I was waiting answers from. I thought, “why would they ever choose me? I’m not extraordinary. I’m not the best in my class, nor have I won any important awards. And I also need financial aid! Why would any college pay to have ME, when they could have a wealthy competitor with better grades?”
Boy was I wrong.

A week ago, I accepted my offer of admission to Harvard. So do not be discouraged, dear international reader. You might think you have nothing going for you right now, but that will make the victory even more sweet. As I stayed hunched over my desk, sleep-deprived and hopeless during the December holidays, I only looked forward to one day: the day in late March or Early April that everything I had worked for would pay off. And it finally came.

Now, you might be thinking: this person must have spent a ton of money on tutors and SAT prep schools! What a hypocritical thing to say! I don’t have that kind of money! Well, surprise surprise. Neither did I :slight_smile: I studied on my own with the help of prep books and the only person who has read my essays is my little sister. I am NOT a varsity athlete or a talented musician. I am just an honest student that decided to take a risk. It paid off.

In conclusion: NOTHING can stop you from achieving your goals. Take risks! Work hard and dream big! You will be surprised by the results. And remember, you ARE worth it! You do not have to be perfect to get into a good school. You just have to become the best version of yourself. Be confident in your abilities, because you can indeed do anything! And NEVER, EVER limit yourself to fulfilling others’ expectations. They don’t know you! They have no idea what you are capable of!

There is hope, my friends.
Please contact me if you have any questions. I would love to hear from you.

2

Lovely!

May I ask, how was your essay? What did you write about?

I have an amazing application but i just don’t know what an essay should be about or how it should be structured.

3

What other full need schools did you apply to? I am looking for international FA friendly, but still good schools, as I have back up back home.

4

@KingYusHalo your essay should definitely be about something you love, whatever that may be. One of my peers wrote about her wardrobe changes during high school! Someone else wrote about their eating disorder. Your essay can be humorous or serious, but it has to be YOU. I recommend brainstorming 5-10 topics and developing the ones you love the most. Then, you can pick the one that you find it easier to write.
I wrote my commonapp essay on a sexist incident that happened in school and how that inspires me to pursue a career in science even more. I made sure to make it enjoyable to read, by adding interesting quotes and dialogue. As long as it flows smoothly, your essay does not have to adhere to a single structure. I can send you my essay if you want, so you can see what I am trying to say.
One last tip: dont be afraid to get personal! As long as it isnt TMI, you can write about your personal life too.

5

@tapewhiteout after receiving my decisions, i believe i didnt do that good a job at picking full-need schools, but here they are:

Davidson (accepted), Tufts (waitlist), Uchicago (waitlist), columbia (waitlist), stanford (rejected), vassar (waitlist), UPenn (accepted), Johns Hopkins (rejected).

As you can see, apart from Davidson, none of these are safeties! So if i were you, i would find other schools a bit lower than these. Sorry if this wasnt helpful

6

I’m not sure how much you can gauge this, but how about LACs Wellesley, Holyoke, Barnard or similar co-ed equivalents such as haverford/smith?

Thanks, I’m thinking about applying to Uchicago, and Upenn and Columbia also!

I was wondering what you thought the strongest part of your application was apart from SAT scores/GPA/rigour?
Also did you ED/EA anywhere and how did you chose this?
Sorry about the ton of q’s, I’d love to see your essay too

7

Thanks a lot @seniorburnout

It’s still a long journey ahead but i’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Did you apply through SCEA? Do you think that it’s an advantage?

8

@tapewhiteout I was not accepted by any of the traditional LAC’s apart from Davidson, so my experience with them is not the best, but if I could reapply, I would definitely consider adding some of the LAC’s you mentioned to my list. I might have not gotten into Amherst, but I got into Davidson, so my guess is that applying to more colleges with stats similar to Davidson’s would not be a bad idea.

In my opinion the strongest part of my application was the essay I wrote for the “additional info” section of the CommonApp. I basically wrote about living as part of a single-parent family (my mother has passed away) and our emotional and financial struggles. I just believe it expressed what I have gone through and how I have persevered. However, I do not recommend you use this section unless you really believe that your application does not fully reflect who you are. Do not use this section to write about trivial things. It is, after all, optional, and it would be better not to write anything at all than to fill this section with useless information.
But remember, this is MY application. Your application could have other strong points, equally valid. But do not ever underestimate the impact a good essay can have.

@KingYusHalo I applied everywhere RD, but once again, if I could reapply, I would definitely apply somewhere Early Action! Waiting 4 months for my decisions without knowing I had gotten in anywhere was absolutely terrifying. I thought I wouldn’t have enough time to put together a decent application, but, looking back, I definitely could have! So yes, apply Early Action, even if it’s a safety school. At least that way you will not start getting paranoid in March, like me.

9

Being from Greece probably helped – I am guessing it is an under represented country. Also, posting your essay is not a great idea --it just encourages plagiarism.

10

Well, Harvard is need blind for all applying students, so your financial situation doesn’t really matter as much for this case. If it was Dartmouth, then yes, because they are need sensitive.

11

@intparent personally, I believe reading essays has really improved my writing, and there is nothing wrong with implementing others’ techniques into your own work. Of course, plagiarism takes it to a whole other level, but anyone who copies my essay will get caught because universities check very thoroughly with special software.

Also, saying my nationality helped is not polite. I’m not saying I had to face the same kind of competition as Asian applicants, but Harvard would not have admitted me if I was not qualified. Implying that I got into Harvard because of my nationality is just insulting and does not take into account the amount of work that I have put in. Besides, Harvard leaves nothing to chance. If they thought there was a 1% probability that I am not good enough, they would not have admitted me. Plain and simple.

12

@CaliCash that is true, but you are not considering other privileges that I did not have access to because of my financial situation. For example, I couldn’t afford to attend a private school or have special tutors. The amount of activities and travel I was allowed to participate in was limited. A student with access to all of this extra help is supposedly one step ahead of the game. And colleges do not take that into account.

13

“This probably boosted your chances” isn’t the same as “You didn’t deserve to get in, you useless pond scum,” so…chill…

Anything helps. Your high SAT score “probably helped.” Your high grades “probably helped.” That’s not a bad thing. Those are all positive things that contributed to your app being competitive and successful.

Congrats!

14

@bodangles hahah yeah, I guess you are right… I am just so sick and tired of people saying that I was lucky to get in. Sure I was lucky! But why does everyone focus on the parts of my app that I could not control, rather than the ones that I could - and did - control?
Everything in life needs a bit of luck. Everyone understands this. Telling me that my achievements are not completely based on my hard work is redundant and suggests that I don’t acknowledge this fact. I do know that I am lucky, and I am extremely grateful. Still, saying that my nationality helped just sounds mean, especially considering the difficulties I have been forced to face EXACTLY BECAUSE I am Greek. Living in this country has it’s own difficulties, and people are very quick to dismiss them because they have not experienced them.

Even if you do not agree with my point, that’s all right. It could just be a matter of different perspectives. But really, there is a limit to how many times I can hear that my success is the product of some luck without taking it personally.

15

The point I am making is that students from over represented countries probably can’t take much inspiration from your story. If you were from China or India, you would likely be sitting on just the Davidson acceptance with insufficient financial aid to attend. If they expect the same results you got, they will likely be disappointed.

16

@intparent thanks for clarifying. I see your point. However, let’s agree that expecting to get into any Ivy/Top 20 school is naive. Personally, I never expected to get in anywhere. 2 weeks before I got my acceptances, I was planning my gap year. I was almost certain that I would fail, but I still applied. That is what I wanted to convey in this post. For me, attending ANY college in the US felt like an impossible dream. Many international students (Asian or not) probably feel the same way that I was feeling when I was in their position. But what would have happened if I had told myself “Why bother, you’re never gonna get in”? I would have lost an opportunity of a lifetime! I was hoping that my experience encouraged a person that normally would not apply to give it a shot. You honestly never know what will happen until you actually do it.

You are totally right about the expecting part. Students should expect nothing from the process, but they should still give it a go.

17

“And colleges do not take that into account.”–> This is not true. Especially for an elite college. Your family income is higher than the average for a US citizen. It’s also worth noting that 65% of Harvard’s class of 2019 went to a public school, so clearly private education is not the gateway into Harvard.

18

You do not know my family income or my background. You know Greece is going through a financial crisis, right? What gives you the idea that my family income is even close to the average of a US citizen? You obviously do not have enough information to make an accurate judgement on my family’s financial abilities.

Also, 10% of US students attend a private school. So 10% of students earned 35% of the positions at Harvard. I’d say that is a pretty big difference. And remember, we are talking about Harvard, which has one of the most diverse student bodies, socio-economically speaking. For other colleges, the statistics are way more favorable to kids attending private school.

19

Didn’t you post that income was less than $65k in your first post? I’m guessing that is how @CaliCash knew…

“My family earns less than $65k.”

20

I think you have a lot of misconceptions about US incomes, schools, kids, etc that you have only seen from this skewed group that posts on CC.

The average US family’s income is less than $65k. The overwhelming majority of kids go to public school here, do not have tutors or privilege!

And finally, generally, colleges “expect more” from private school kids and those with privilege. A lot of colleges prefer public school kids…

“Also, 10% of US students attend a private school. So 10% of students earned 35% of the positions at Harvard.”

The math does not work that way…