<p>Hi everyone,
I am an international sophomore at Franklin & Marshall and a student worker at International Admission Office. I start this thread so that anyone interested in F&M can come and ask questions. I will try my best to answer or direct your questions to someone who can help.
Thank you!</p>
<p>Hi,
I’m going to apply to F&M this year and I wanted to ask a couple of questions.
first, what are the minimum scores required for TOEFL?mine is 90.(also please be aware of that I AM an INTERNATIONAL student studying in a school which it’s language is not English)
Second, what are the common scores of SAT for international students who have admitted there?Do international student need to take SAT?
Third, how often do international students receive need-based Financial Aid? What are the chances for them?
thanks,
looking forward to hear from you.</p>
<p>Hi prbabayee,
We prefer to see a TOEFL score of around 100. However, we have accepted students with a TOEFL score of 90, depending on the circumstances. As F&M evaluate applications in a holistic manner, there are many other important factors such as academic performance or essays. </p>
<p>SAT is required for international students. The only exception is students from countries that SAT is not available, in which case the SAT requirement will be replaced with a writing sample requirement. The combined Critical Reading and Math SAT average for all admitted students last year was 1307. The middle 50% of SAT scores is 590-680 for Critical Reading and 630-720 for Math. However, these statistics include all American applicants as well as international applicants. The average scores in different countries vary, and we only compare students within one country, not between different countries. In other words, you will compete with only students from your country.</p>
<p>F&M meets 100% need of its accepted students. The financial aid package includes a large portion of grants, the rest are loan and work study. As long as you are accepted, you don’t have to worry about financial aid. However, it is worth noting that the admission for students who need financial aid is more competitive. </p>
<p>Besides this forum, you can also email to:<a href=“mailto:intladmissions@fandm.edu”>intladmissions@fandm.edu</a> if you have more questions. I hope my answer help.</p>
<p>I am going to have a skype interview for F&M, what are the possible questions? How long does it usually take?
thanks</p>
<p>Hi chelseachiang,</p>
<p>Have you had the interview yet? Sorry that my response is kind of late this time. I will still answer the question so that people coming to this thread in the future will have more information. The 20-minute informative interview is basically between an international student worker in the admission office and an applicant and is a lot less significant compared to any parts of your application, so don’t worry. It is a casual conversation, a chance for both the school and the applicant to get to know each other. The questions will be about you (what you do, your interests, how you know F&M, etc.) I would suggest that you take this as an opportunity to show your interest in F&M and prepare some questions for the interviewer as well, because s/he has been at F&M for a while and will have helpful information for you.</p>
<p>Hi,
May I have a question:
Are all people in F&M college called “Diplomats” or only the sport team?
Thanks in advance</p>
<p>Hi Phongtheha,
Although the term “Diplomats” is used more often for F&M’s sports teams, it can also be used for F&M students. </p>
<p>Some fun facts that I found on the school’s website:
During a 1935 game against Fordham University, the Franklin & Marshall football team was penalized for an unusual activity in the typically fast-paced game—a lack of activity, period. Because of their “penchant for oratory,” the F&M players spent too much time in the clubhouse during halftime, apparently expounding on their game plan.
A New York sports columnist dubbed them “the diplomats.”
The epithet stuck, and Franklin & Marshall today rallies around a mascot that espouses nonconfrontational, polite dialogue. This doesn’t make the College’s sports teams any less formidable, however.</p>
<p>Thanks ronile
I asked because f&m’s supplemental essay topic is quite confusing: “what does it mean to you of being a Diplomat”
So i wonder whether “diplomat” here means the literal “diplomat” or it refers to being a member of f&m, which can turn out to be the “why essay”</p>
<p>I thought it had to do with Ben Franklin and Paris, that kind of thing…</p>
<p>@dudedad: nope. That’s not this year’s topic
@ronile: i’m planning to apply for ED next week. Yet I just took the November SAT, whose score is only available on November 21st. Is it ok if I use the rush score sending immediately when the score is available?
Thanks</p>
<p>@Phongtheha:
- “Diplomat” in the essay topic refers to F&M student, so you can basically write anything about what being an F&M student means to you. It is similar to a “why” essay, and personally I think the topic is even broader.
- I asked an admission officer about sending November SAT score and as she replied I understood why we didn’t post that information on F&M website. If you send a rush report AND the report arrives on time, we will accept that. However, if for some reasons the rush report does not arrive on time and we don’t have your score ready for evaluation, we will move your application to ED2 round or RD round if you prefer, and except for that nothing will affect the way we review your application. Most of the time the report arrives on time, but we want students to understand that it is not 100% certain and we can’t promise anything, yet at the same time we don’t want to discourage anyone from applying ED. The reason why this answer is so complicated is that we have very, very few days to read ED1 applications and make our decisions. So as I mentioned earlier, as long as the score arrives on time, it is ok.</p>
<p>I am a Nepalese citizen however I am applying from a school in Thailand, does that mean I am competing with Thais or Nepalis?</p>
<p>Hi, I have asked one of the admissions officers and the answer is both will be considered. We will compare you to the students from your country and to the students who receive the same education as you do.</p>
<p>I originally decided not to apply anywhere in the US, just focus on Europe, mainly because I don’t have the time to take SAT subject tests seeing as it’s December and I’m in my senior year of hs. But then I stumbled upon this college and kind of changed my mind. I took the general SAT test last month and the results were not good (as expected because I didn’t prepare) - I got 620 on my CR, 650 on Writing and the biggest surprise of all 540 on the Math section, which is weird cause I’m an IB student taking Math HL and I’ve never had anything below a 4 or a 5. Anyways, my question is - would a really good CV and good grades (39-40 predicted IB score) be sufficient to overlook the bad SAT scores when it comes to admission? Would anyone have an insight on this? Things in the CV include: Secretary general for the national MUN, Model European Parliament international sessions and a committee president at the national, YES scholarship to study in the US for a year, President’s Award and State Department certificate for community service, winner of state competition for business and entrepreneurship, first place and best speaker at a debate tournament, initiator and organizer of various humanitarian actions etc etc. </p>
<p>Oh and obviously I’m an international student. I would really appreciate it if someone could answer me. :)</p>
<p>Oh and I’m also planning to take the TOEFL, where I’m sure I’ll get a score well above 100.</p>
<p>Hi bamfff,
I think for the TOEFL, as long as your score is above 100, it will be totally ok. F&M pays a lot of attention to each applicant’s academic performance, and for the SAT we only care about M+CR score. I think your CR is fine, but your Math score will affect the sum M+CR severely. If you want to boost your chance of admission, I think it’s a good idea to make sure that other components related to academics (especially math) should be as excellent as possible so the admission officer will see that the math score was just an accident. </p>
<p>Now, would a really good CV and good grades be sufficient to overlook the bad SAT scores when it comes to admission? I think it is possible, but unfortunately there’s no guarantee because it is the admission officer who decides what will be sufficient. I hope my answer helps, and I do wish you the best.</p>
<p>Thank you, that was helpful indeed.</p>
<p>I have one more question, is the Financial Aid Form for International Students deadline the same as the application deadline (Jan.15)? I don’t think that is mentioned anywhere on the F&M website.</p>
<p>The deadline for the financial aid form and other related documents is also January 15th, so applicants should make sure that they have every part of their applications sent before or on that day.</p>
<p>Hello ronile,</p>
<p>I am transfer student. In high school, my grades and sats were low. High school gpa: 2.7 Now I am in college with over 50 credits and I have a 3.94, and I have taken challenging college classes. How will admissions view this? Will my sats and high school grades condemn me? Also, should I retake my Sats? </p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Chevyb</p>
<p>Hi Chevyb,
I think a good academic record in college would definitely help increase your chance. I am not quite familiar with the application process for transfer students but I think you might want to strongly emphasize in your application on how much you have changed for the better during your years in college, so that the admission officers will see your true potentials. Your high school records, therefore, can be both your disadvantage and advantage. </p>
<p>There is one thing that I am not sure if you know. Are you an international student? Because F&M’s financial aid policy for international transfer applicants is different (<a href=“http://www.fandm.edu/apply/transfer-student#FinancialAid[/url]”>www.fandm.edu/apply/transfer-student#FinancialAid</a>), which I think is worth mentioning, just in case.</p>