<p>So, I'm a students from Mexico. I have a good (?) GPA (3.85) so far, have done good ECs and will take the SAT in February.</p>
<p>But I won't turn this into a chance thread.
I have a question that has deprived me of sleep:
Which Colleges are need-blind for internationals?</p>
<p>I've heard only the Ivy League has need-blind admissions (And that's only because I'm Mexican...). MIT is need-blind but has a quota.</p>
<p>I want to apply to UC Berkeley and UCLA, but since they're state colleges, I'll won't get any financial aid. If I had the money, those would be my top schools.</p>
<p>So, Where do the international students get money? Other than their family or College they're applying to, that is.</p>
<p>Well there are loans from banks and what not, also there might be some organizations in your country which sponsor students’ educational endeavors. There are also other forms of financial assistance from colleges other than need based, such as scholarships and merit-based aid. One other thing, not all colleges are limited with aid to internationals, you could also try some LACs and other private schools with large endowments.</p>
You should NOT limit yourself to the need-blind schools. The chances that you will get into one of those are close to zero. There are some need-sensitive schools with quite generous financial aid policies for internationals, mostly small liberal arts colleges (need-based aid) or lower-ranked universities (merit aid). Unfortunately, as an international student with financial need, you might have to settle for a college “below your league.”</p>
That’s mostly it. There’s also bank loans from your home country, and some countries have government-sponsored programs that pay students’ tuition in certain majors in exchange for a commitment to work for the government for X numbers of years afterwards. But the two biggies are family and college’s own financial aid funds. There’s actually quite a bit of financial aid out there if you are willing to look beyond the top universities.</p>
<p>Well, I have family in the US who could be cosigners, but I’ve heard lots of horror stories when it comes to Student loans.</p>
<p>The institutions in my country that give financial assistance usually only give student loans with interests rates even higher than on US (8-15%!).</p>
<p>And when it comes to other colleges… Well, they aren’t need-blind. It would be very hard for me to enter (For example: There are no international students at Stanford who get full financial aid.).</p>
<p>And the most I could afford to pay would be 3000-3500 per year (pathethic, I know).</p>
That’s the whole point of applying to Ivy League schools.
I wouldn’t have a problem applying to school “below” my reach. But these schools don’t give financial aid to internationals.</p>
And is there a chance I could get accepted in them?
I can only apply to Private Universities, isn’t it? Public Schools don’t give Financial Aid to Internationals, right?</p>
That’s the entire point of applying to need-sensitive schools. Your chances are better at a less selective need-sensitive school that selects 50 out of 300 international financial applicants than at a need-blind school that gets 2000 applicants for 100 spots. Most of the top 50 liberal arts colleges have significant financial aid for international students, as do some of the lower-ranked universities.</p>
<p>That aside, Cornell is notorious for admitting international students with insufficient financial aid to attend.</p>
That depends on the state and the school. Some public universities do have scholarship for international students, but the top ones typically don’t.</p>
<p>What you should do - what most international students do at some point - is to take a big list of all the colleges that you might consider attending and then check each and every single one of them for financial aid opportunities. I went through 400 colleges back in my days.</p>