I would really appreciate it if someone would answer my query quickly because the application deadline is tomorrow- November 15th.
I am a US citizen. I don’t live in the US. I want to apply to UW; however, I’m not too sure about whether I should because I’ve read that OOS students do not get a lot of financial aid. I will not be able to attend UW without a decent amount of financial aid. So I was wondering whether or not I could get merit scholarships.
My stats:
1500 in the SAT (750 in math and English each)
I’m giving it again in December and I think I will be able to send those scores.
My essay score is 17/24. I know it sucks, but I don’t think UW considers essay scores.
SAT Bio M: 800
TOEFL: 118/120
My school grades aren’t really good because of grade deflation, and I think my application will make it clear that we have grade deflation in school. Also, I’ve got academic honours, despite bad grades (we don’t have the GPA system). I also did really well in a regional exam, which does not have grade deflation and is regarded as more important than school grades in my country.
My extracurriculars are also good. So, will I have a shot at getting merit scholarships that will cover at least alot more than half of the OOS tuition? Also, can someone suggest schools that are good for Biology and disburse a good amount of financial aid for OOS students. Thank You 
bump
You should also look at private schools that do not consider your state of residence when awarding financial aid.
Merit aid schools include most of the state schools in Alabama. Also look at Arizona, Arizona State, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Miami of Ohio, perhaps others in Ohio. West Virginia.
Check merit aid deadlines, they are often much earlier than general admissions deadlines.
Check out UW’s Purple and Gold Scholarship. I think it’s $5,000 and only for OOS students.
The website lists the merit, there isn’t much. IMO it isn’t worth the application because you won’t be able to afford it and you would quite likely be accepted as a full pay OOS applicant. I assume you have other applications in to schools? It is very late to be starting that now. You need to know how much you can pay, not ask for half OOS tuition, as this varies. Where do you live and have you applied there?
@Sybylla OP is an American abroad, may not be in state anywhere.
Yes. I am not in state anywhere. And nope, I haven’t applied anywhere else yet. I’m applying RD for all schools. I will mostly be applying to private schools because of financial aid. But I’m just worried because most private schools won’t qualify as safeties for me- only matches and reaches. Can someone please suggest private schools that I can add to my list as safeties?
(Also, I didn’t apply to UW).
Also, my family can only afford to pay a maximum of $20000-25000. This includes the loans that my family will take for my education. Also, my parents said that they will pay this much only for a really good school.
For biology, I would look at private liberal arts colleges that give good financial aid. For public university merit aid try statss in the south and southwest, from Alabama to Arizona, but skip UTexas.
A 1500 SAT should give you merit at most of the ctcl.org schools. These are smaller colleges where you will get a lot of personal attention from professors, but not the same environment as being at a large state university like UW.
Have you done your FAFSA? How does your budget match your EFC? You might try some meets full need private schools as well. Some schools that give good need-based aid and might be interested in you would be Macalester, U Puget Sound, Trinity U in Texas. All of these schools give pretty good aid and are in or close to larger cities so they are a bit easier to travel to.
Thanks alot Around here! I haven’t checked my EFC yet. I’ll definitely take a look at the colleges you have suggested. Also, is there any particular reason why I should skip UTexas? Because I thought that they have really good merit aid schemes. For eg, if a student is awarded a merit scholarship > $1000, their tuition fee is reduced to in-state tuition (for OOS).
@blanktae It’s past the application deadline so probably too late, but UT’s merit is extremely competitive. They don’t need to lure out of state students there.
UT Dallas would be a merit aid school in Texas in a city with a major airport.
“my family can only afford to pay a maximum of $20000-25000”
“my parents said that they will pay this much only for a really good school.”
Do you have affordable options in the country where you are living?
The only schools that we found that were under $25,000 per year (total cost of everything) were our in-state options, and schools in Canada. The in-state options were only less than this due to a merit scholarship (they would have been only slightly more without merit). We did not however look in the south nor the mid-west. We live in New England so both in-state and eastern Canada are not too far away.
Admission to colleges in my country of residence is difficult because of my US citizenship. I did consider colleges in Canada. However, the websites of many Canadian universities specify that tuition for non-Canadian citizens is around $40,000 or more. And since I will be eligible for absolutely no aid there, I’m not going to apply. Is there any good college in Canada that you know of with low tuition fees for non-citizens?
How much of that $20-25k/year do your parents intend to borrow? Is that in addition to the ~$5500/year federal student loan?
My parents intend to borrow a majority of that amount. I don’t think it will be in addition to my student loan.
I think it includes the federal student loan.