Financial Aid, yes/no? Chance?

Student Lounge International Students
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<p>Well, I have a bit of a problem. I want to apply to a few schools that some might say are quite the reach for me. Or not...I'm not really sure. </p>

<p>I'm from Slovenia and I finished high-school this year, so I'm basically taking a gap year this year and plan on going to college next year.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.1/5 for the last year of highschool (this is the one that counts, right?)
Our GPA is a bit different than the USA one, since I no of nobody who has a 5/5, plus I go to a top school in my country so our curriculum is quite demanding.</p>

<p>We don't have ranks.</p>

<p>SAT I:</p>

<p>Math: 800
CR: 600
Writing: 700</p>

<p>= 2100</p>

<p>I plan on retaking it on October 9th though</p>

<p>SAT II:</p>

<p>Math: 700
German with listening: 720</p>

<p>Plan on retaking in November.</p>

<p>I haven't taken the ACT and I probably won't, but I've taken our high-school final exam thing, that is very similar to the ACT, but it's harder since none of the questions are multiple-choice ones, except half the part of the chemistry. You take 5 subjects, 3 obligatory and 2 of your own choosing and you can take a maximum of 3 on a higher level. I had Maths (Higher Level), Slovenian (Higher Level), English (Higher Level), Chemistry & German.</p>

<p>I got a score of 28/34, which translates to an A, scores from and including 24 translate to an A.</p>

<p>I've been playing the piano for 13 years, been on TV, played with the national symphonic orchestra, done charity concerts & recitals, played with some renowned musicians, and been on a summer piano-school that lasted 2 weeks in Vienna 2 times under the mentorship of a renowned pianist. I also help the local group of...err people with Down Syndrome, and have started a vocal/music-performance group along with my piano mentor for them. I've also done 2 competitions, though I do not really like to compete, I like to perform.</p>

<p>I've trained karate for 8 years and participated in some competitions.</p>

<p>I've had the national scholarship that is awarded to the 2% of the students in each year that have the highest IQ + a bunch of National Awards regarding Science, Math, Languages...school subjects in general, for 4 years.</p>

<p>I can speak Slovenian, Croatian, English, German & Spanish fluently. I'm also learning French. I'm not as good with writing in spanish as I am with the other languages though.</p>

<p>I've trained modern dance for 3 years.</p>

<p>I've had some literary works published in school magazines as well as in national ones. Poetry & prose.</p>

<p>Oh, I dabble in graphic design if that has any importance and I design pamphlets or invitaions to concerts or school events...this is my DA account if anybody is interested.
romantze's</a> Gallery</p>

<p>I think...that's about it. Oh, I have good recommendation letters from my teachers and my piano teacher.</p>

<p>As far as majoring goes, I plan on double-majoring in Music + Computer Science or Business. Maybe a minor in Art? I'm not completely sure.</p>

<p>So...my school list is a bit long x). I plan on reducing it very soon (:</p>

<pre><code>* Amherst C
* Bard C
* Barnard C
* Brown U
* Bryn Mawr C
* Campbell U
* Carleton C
* Colby C
* Colgate U
* Colorado C
* Dartmouth C
* Dickinson C
* Emory U
* Gettysburg C
* Goucher C
* Grinnell C
* Lafayette C
* Lehigh U
* Marist C
* Middlebury C
* Oberlin C
* Pomona C
* Rice U
* Smith C
* Stanford U
* Trinity C (CT)
* Tufts U
* Vanderbilt U
* Vassar C
* Villanova U
* Wellesley C
* Williams C
</code></pre>

<p>Could any of these schools be considered matches? And if not, I'd really appreciate if you could suggest some to me. I'd also appreciate any safety-school suggestions.</p>

<p>Right, so...here's the most important part of my question.
Is asking for financial aid going to hurt my case a lot? I mean, I /might/ have the means to fund my education, but it would require me to humiliate and beg and crawl before my grandfather who will no doubt mention this every single time and rub it in my face ifinfact he would give me the money. My parents are divorced and my mother can only partially (quite a small part that is) fund my education.</p>

<p>So, if I click yes on the "will you be asking for financial aid" am I going to be rejected if, perhaps I would have been accepted without asking for it?</p>

<p>I hope I made sense here :/</p>

<p>*EDIT: I forgot to add that before taking the SAT I & II I didn't even know how the tests looked, so now I'm studying for them, I think I should improve my score by at least some.</p>

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<p>Oh, maybe I should add that I’ve been in my high-school’s orchestra for 4 years (our highschools only take 4 years and you can’t really get in a school…well…anything in primary school) and I’ve been part of a musical we produced that we performed all around the country and also in Brussels, for some European-Union…thing. The orchestra had 2 concerts a year for New Year & this…national culture day we have going on here (:</p>

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<p>Oh, I’ve also gone to some summer programs, learning English & German.</p>

<p>English when I was 13 & 14</p>

<p>once in England, Cambridge and once in Slovenia (that was more or less pretty ****ty, learning wise)</p>

<p>both times for 2 weeks</p>

<p>German when I was 17 & 18 (this year) </p>

<p>both times in Berlin for 3 weeks, and I have certificates of language proficiency</p>

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<p>Wow thats a lot of schools that you are going to apply. I cant really comment on which school are match to you, but all of them are good schools as far as I am concerned. If you are applying to the likes of amherst, stanford an Darthmouth. I would advise you to apply to need blind schools (where your ability to pay doesnt affect your admission decision). Need blind (for international) school I knew of are : but please check the colleges individually for their policy might have changed this year.
MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Massachusetts
Harvard University in Massachusetts
Princeton University in New Jersey
Yale University in Connecticut
Williams College in Massachusetts
Middlebury College in Vermont
Dartmouth College in New Hampshire
Amherst College in Massachusetts</p>

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<p>No, no, no…I’m not applying to all of those at all. It’s just a list of school I really like (:
I’ll narrow down my list to about 7-9-ish</p>

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<p>Applying for financial aid would hurt your application quite a bit at most of these schools. This has nothing to do with you personally - funds for international students are quite limited and competition for them is keen. I am not “chancing” you or discouraging you from applying for aid. That’s just what reality looks like.</p>

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<p>

Colleges want to see grades from your last four years in high school. More emphasis will be placed on the most recent grades, but all of them count.</p>

<p>

Didn’t you say you were fluent in German? What went wrong on the test day?</p>

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<p>So…only “sure” way to get into…anywere basically is to have full financial support?</p>

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<p>I was stressed out that day I took the tests, that’s why both the subject test scores are so bad, because my mother was in a car accident so I didn’t concentrate and was completely out of the loop :/</p>

<p>Right, my last four years.</p>

<p>1st year - 4,9
2nd year - 4,5
3rd year - 4,0
4th year - 4,1</p>

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<p>I wonder if I have the slightest chance of getting a merit scholarship :/?</p>

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<p>^ your GPA is kinda low, tbh. of course i’m not sure how rigorous you curriculum is so you might as well just apply and see how it goes. you’re planning on retaking the SATs so that should probably help</p>

<p>good luck! :)</p>

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<p>As I said before, our GPA is very different from the US GPA, taking into account only exams, our grade percentages are also different. For example to get a 5, which is the highest grade you would need 95%, not 90% for an A like it is in the US.</p>

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<p>

I don’t know what those grades actually mean in your home country, but a downward trend is always problematic.</p>

<p>

Yes, but you may need to adjust your college list. The list of schools with generous merit-based aid is pretty distinct from the list with generous need-based aid. On the other hand, most need-based aid for international students is merit-based anyway: whether you will get aid depends on your merit, how much you get on need.</p>

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<p>Could you possibly suggest a few school with good merit-based aid? I’d really appreciate that.</p>

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<p>Also, financial problems aside, could you tell me which of these school might be considered my reaches/matches?</p>

<p>Safety school suggestions are also, extremely welcome (:</p>

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<p>One college that will offer meri aid to International students is Rollins College in Florida. Last year Northeastern also offered few students almost full cost as meri aid, but they were just 4-5 from the whole world.</p>

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<p>

I am afraid that we cannot do that. We don’t know what your grades mean, what your letters of recommendation look like (these are extremely important at selective colleges!), and you don’t even have final SAT scores yet. That aside, none of us is a trained admission professional.</p>

<p>Re merit aid, the best approach is to take a list of all colleges you might be interested in (e.g. use the Collegeboard tool to search for all four-year colleges offering your major) and then check the scholarship opportunities at each one. Visiting 400 college websites almost seems like a rite of passage for international applicants :)</p>

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<p>Definitely check out Bard Conservatory and College where all the musicians are required to get a double degree. You sound like you would fit in very well there, and they are generous with financial & merit aid for international students. All of your varied interests would be well met at Bard.</p>

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<p>Well, thanks a whole lot everyone (:</p>

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<p>Take a look at Grinnell and Macalester in the Midwest. Both have about 12% international students and both offer generous merit aid. Your grades (the downward trend) is likely to hurt your chances but it’s worth a look in any case.</p>

<p>As for significantly improving your chances of admission almost anywhere, I would definitely try cultivating a little humility where your grandfather is concerned. A sincere show of gratitude a few times a year shouldn’t be too hard to summon up when someone is handing you money.</p>