<p>I'm an international high school student. Most colleges in the US are need aware for international students. Does asking for financial aid significantly hurt your application? Specifically, in UPenn, Rice, and Brown? To what extent does it matter? </p>
<p>If they cannot give you aid and they think you cannot afford to go their school without aid, they will not admit you. They want to manage their yield and maintain as low as possible their admit rate.</p>
<p>So there will be more competition than there would be for a domestic applicant, yes? </p>
<p>much, much more competition</p>
<p>Okay, thank you 
I’ll just have to work on building up a stronger application, then…</p>
<p>Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Amherst, Dartmouth and MIT are need-blind for international students. That means it would not hurt you if you applied to those schools, but remember, they are VERY competitive. </p>
<p>And FYI, Brown is much kinder to international students than U Penn is. I’m not sure about Rice.</p>
<p>Kinder, meaning, more generous aid, or is it generally a better place for international applicants?
And I know about MIT, Yale etc being fully need blind but the competition is insane, even for domestic applicants…Anyway I will be applying to MIT too, even if it’s a complete shot in the dark haha</p>
<p>By kinder I mean that U Penn give aid to 27% of its international population while the average grant is 36k. Brown give 60% of its international students financial aid and the average grant is 42k.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware”>http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware</a></p>
<p>Hmm. I guess it’s useless losing any sleep over this. I can’t raise 50k before I apply, but I can work on building up my ECs and grades…Finding a safety school that offers good aid for international applicants is pretty hard too so I hope I’ll have a shot at a reach school 
</p>
<p>Look for merit scholarships based on SAT/ACT scores and other achievements. There’s a sticky thread at the top of the financial aid forum. :)</p>
<p>Your chances can be hurt in many ways including affordability. So do your research about the schools you want to go to very well before applying. Everything matters these days especially when it has to do with MONEY.
BEST OF LUCK TO YOU.</p>
<p>If you NEED aid, you shouldn’t not apply for aid just because it might hurt your chances.</p>
<p>^ that is even worse.
What will you do when you are offered admission and then you can not afford it. Then you will be lying and that can create even more problems.
So, apply to good schools that you are interested in, and that you can afford - within your financial aid eligibility summary.</p>
<p>That’s why I said op shouldN’T NOT… kinda meaning op should still apply for aid. Does that make sense? If not I’ll rephase: </p>
<p>If you NEED aid, even if it hurts your admission chances, still APPLY for aid.</p>
<p>
U will have no problems. If u can’t afford the offer, then u simply decline it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice guys
American universities are pretty expensive; wherever I apply, I’ll still have to apply for aid. Why would anyone start lying? If it’s a small difference, my family could arrange for a private loan or something. If there is very little or no aid offered, then I will simply decline the offer and not attend. </p>
<p>UPenn, Rice, and Brown are insanely hard to get into for domestic. It’s even harder for int’ls. </p>
<p>You should be pragmatic and look at University of Alabama. I read in other posts that if you meet the SAT score and GPA cutoff, it offers automatic full-scholarships to int’ls. Check on this to confirm that it is correct.</p>
<p>University of Alabama doesn’t offer any of the majors that I want. My scores, GPA and extra-curriculars are pretty strong, and I’ll try and build them up a little more. I think I have a reasonable chance at UPenn and Rice…</p>
<p>OP, NO ONE has a “reasonable chance at” UPenn and Rice, unless you mean your odds are roughly 5% (tops). They will admit very few students who need financial aid. Do you feel confident that, from your entire country, you’re the best candidate applying there? I’m sure you’re competitive but that only makes your odds about 1 in 20 (perhaps 1 in 15 at Rice). There are lots of excellent choices in the US where being competitive for Rice or UPenn would mean better odds at merit scholarships.</p>
<p>What majors are you looking for?</p>
<p>By reasonable chance, I just mean it’s worth a shot applying. I have no delusions; I know it’s very difficult to get into both those universities. I’m looking to major in either cognitive science or biomedical engineering.
Only a handful of schools offer both those programs though.</p>