FULL financial aid for intl students

Paying for College
1

<p>Hey everyone. I'm an international student interested in biomedical sciences, biology, biochemistry, neuroscience, and the like. At the same time, in politics, but just as a minor.</p>

<p>Here's my profile:</p>

<p>-Public school
-Top 6% (48/799)
-English as a foreign language
-During highschool I had every single year: math, biology, chemistry, physics, history, english, spanish, psychology.
-GPA: 4.0
-SAT (I've just done the SAT, I'll do it again on november) </p>

<p>Math: 760
CR: 630
Writing: 650</p>

<p>TOEFL: 100</p>

<p>-President of the English Debate Club
-Science Club at my school
-Won 2 english debate tournaments
-Model UN in my home country
-HACIA Democracy (Harvard's Model OAS)
-World Schools Debating Championships
-Summer Schools at universities in my country
-Science projects and fairs
-Science summer camps
-First Generation student</p>

<p>My family cannot afford US education. I need a full scholarship.</p>

<p>I'm thinking of:</p>

<p>Harvard and Dartmouth (as reach)
Williams, Middlebury and Swarthmore
Bates, Vassar, Connecticut College
Emory and Colgate
*What about WestVirginiaU and Georgetown College as secure options?</p>

<p>What are my chances? I want to apply to 4-5 colleges, Which ones do you recommend me? </p>

<ol>
<li>Which ones offer the best programs in sciences? </li>
<li>Which ones offer the best financial aid packages for intl students? Is a plane ticket affordable working on campus?</li>
<li>I'm a Christian. Which ones have christian org or groups? How's christian life there? I've heard that Harvard is very anti-christian.</li>
</ol>

<p>I need FULL financial aid. Any reccomendation??</p>

2

<p>Harvard, Dartmouth, Williams, Middlebury and Swarthmore are school that I am certain offer full demonstated need for international. The first two are need blind too. I don’t know about most of the others. However, Emory does not offer any need based aid to internationals and the only aid they provide is through the Emory/Goizueta scholars programs. These programs are scholarships that are pretty hard to get. They also provide a tiny amount of other scholarships but they are not full tuition. Georgetown has a limited amount of aid for internationals but it is need blind. West Virginia probably gives no financial to internationals since it is a state school.</p>

3

<p>None of the schools you have picked are safeties or even mid range possibles for you if you need full financial aid to go to college here. Your test score are not up there to be competitive for the more generous schools, and most of them are not need blind for International students any ways. </p>

<p>You need to look for schools where your stats put you in the very top of the student pool. Not such well known colleges. You can certainly apply to any of the ones you listed as “lottery tickets” but realisticaly, if you want a fighting chance of getting accepted with all expenses covered, you need to dig deeper into what is available. There are literally many, many students applying for very few spots at these schools, and even fewer are there for international students who need full freight paid.</p>

4

<p>Cpt: I hope you realize that the admissions process is holistic. The OP will be looked at in the context of things he/she has went through. The OP lives in an environment where English is not the predominant language and this may explain why he/she received less than stellar SAT verbal/writing scores. Although you may argue the contrary, not every CC user comes from a wealthy ivy educated family in urban areas of the Northeastern part of the United States. It is true that the OP does not have really high chances. However, neither does a 2400 SAT scorer. Please look beyond test scores and hooks. There is much more to it than that.</p>

5

<p>Increase your SAT in November and you have a good chance in Colgate.</p>

6

<p>West virginia U doesn’t give aid to int’ls. Why do you have that on your list?</p>

<p>There aren’t any safeties for int’ls that need full aid.</p>

<p>There are some safeties for int’ls who have high stats and who can pay about half of their costs.</p>

<p>Are you premed? If so, be aware that US MD schools accept VERY FEW int’l students. Most MD schools accept NO int’ls. If you are premed, you’re best to go to college in your own country and go to med school there.</p>

7

<p>You have two threads using two different screen names…you’re not supposed to do that.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1562929-advice-intl-student-chile-can-i-accepted-these-colleges.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1562929-advice-intl-student-chile-can-i-accepted-these-colleges.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

8

<p>Moderator’s Note
Op, please be reminded that registering under multiple user names is against the TOS. all threads under other user name have been deleted</p>

9

<p>You should add Skidmore to your list - they are very generous with accepted internationals and your stats are closer to the high end of their applicant pool than some of your other choices. However, like all your options, it’s a long shot as there are very many more qualified international students looking for full aid than full aid slots looking for qualified internationals.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

10

<p>I agree with Cpt. The list in the OP is top heavy…and seems more based on financial aid than acceptance possibilities. No, not all students are from wealthy northeast households. But the international applicants to these very tippy top and generous schools is a very competitive group. At some of those schools, the acceptance rate is under 10% for all applicants…meaning 90% are not accepted. It is thought that the acceptance rate for international students is even lower. In that group of denied students, there are many (if not most) who have outstanding application packages.</p>

<p>You have to be accepted to be able to benefit from the generous financial aid these schools offer.</p>

<p>I agree…retake the SAT in November. Then look for places that guarantee merit aid, and acceptance. Or look at places that guarantee admission (that is impossible!) with sufficient need based aid to attend.</p>

<p>Bottom line…have a well balanced list of schools…don’t just apply to those tippy top schools. Be more open minded about your college application list.</p>

<p>And lastly, FULL RIDES are not very plentiful even for U.S. citizens/permanent residents. They are even less plentiful for international students.</p>

11

<p>Thank you all for your help. Carmen617, thank you for the information. I was wondering in which colleges I could be in the top of their application pool. I’ll look up for Skidmore. </p>

<p>Does anyone else know more colleges that due to my profile I could be in the high end of their application pools? I really need to rely on this, because I think I have little chances at the current colleges in my list.</p>

12

<p>I looked up for Skidmore, and though they offer aid for non-US residents, they clearly state</p>

<p>“In most cases, full scholarship aid is not available; some family contribution is required”. I don’t know if I should apply just in case due to the fact that their admission rate is 42% according to Collegeboard, and I because I think I’m in the high section of the applicants.</p>

13

<p>I do not know the cut offs for University of Alabama, but I think you are in the range. They do provide scholarships to international students. I think you would not get a full ride, however. But you might get tuition. That would leave about $10,000 a year or so for you to fund.</p>

<p>As noted above, full rides including tuition, room, board, fees, transportation (and especially from abroad) and personal expenses are NOT plentiful in number. Plus, even at the most generous schools for need based aid, a student contribution is usually required. There are very few totally free rides out there. Just FYI.</p>