Help an International student find his place in the USA education system.

College Search & Selection
1

<p>As stated I'm an international student looking for a place to study Computer Sciences.Sadly,I would most likely need Financial aid,as well.</p>

<p>After lurking for a long time in "What are my chances?" forum I have completely crossed out MIT and Caltech completely.I was going to apply there just because I've always wanted to try applying to one of them.</p>

<p>Other colleges I've considered to apply are:
-Berkley
-UCLA
-UT Austin
-UC San Diego
-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
-Any recommendations for safety colleges??</p>

<p>GPA:I have not yet received the document stating how much hours I have studied most of my classes,however I'm a straight A student.Most likely will graduate with near to maximum grade on my diploma.</p>

<p>ECs:
-Sports:</p>

<p>Acrobatics(1-6th grade-won 4 silver 3 bronze medals on National level competition // not sure if I should include EC's this early</p>

<p>Dance ensemble(1-6 grade)-won couple of group award //no personal ones</p>

<p>Karate Kyokushinkai(6-10 grade)- 9th Kyu belt</p>

<p>Gym attendance(9th grade-now)-6 days a week/1.5 hours a day //not sure if I should include this or what is a subtle way of mentioning this</p>

<p>-Volunteering:
Volunteer as a guide for Math team from Sri Lanka in the BIMC 2013 Math competition</p>

<p>-Others:</p>

<p>Class president-voicing the class opinion on school meetings</p>

<p>Team building organizer- successfully organized 3 team building events for several classes of my school // not sure if that matters</p>

<p>Member of an Interact club</p>

<p>Member of Chemistry,Programming,Geography,English,Math clubs- passed to higher levels of the National Olympiads in this area but no International level has been achieved.</p>

<p>Self taught myself C++,CSS,HTML,Python-basics, Java- on higher level using in my current 2D game project</p>

<p>My test scores are:
- TOEFL-108
- SAT Reasoning-2110-first take and wondering if I should retake
- SAT Math 2, Chemistry- taking them in October and if needed later in November with Physics one</p>

<p>Any suggestions would be appreciated regarding how can I improve my chances,as well as college recommendations where I could get financial aid.</p>

2

<p>The issue with your list is that it is composed entirely of public schools, which are notorious for giving very poor financial aid to international and OOS students. How much can your parents afford to pay per year?</p>

3

<p>Not exactly sure will figure that out tonight but not even near to 35-40k$ a year.Also where can I see where students receive good financial aid?</p>

<p>Edit:<a href=“international student aid - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/151609-international-student-aid.html&lt;/a&gt; maybe here? </p>

4

<p>Many public universities in the USA do not offer need-based aid to international students.
Berkeley does not. UCLA, UCSD, UT and UT Austin do grant some need-based aid to internationals. Check section H6 each school’s Common Data Set file for the number of international students granted aid and the average amounts. Use each school’s online Net Price Calculator to estimate your own net costs. For example, according to UCLA’s net price calculator, the estimated cost for a family with $40K annual income, no assets, and no residence status in any US state would be about $33K/year. </p>

<p>In general, the most generous need-based aid is available at very selective private institutions.
<a href=“http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware”>http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-6-need-blind-colleges-in-us-for-international-students”>http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-6-need-blind-colleges-in-us-for-international-students&lt;/a&gt;
Your test scores are good, but for an international with financial need, may not be strong enough to make you very competitive for the most selective schools (such as Stanford or the 6 need-blind schools). Many of the others are small liberal arts colleges. Some of those will not have very extensive computer science course offerings, so you’d need to choose carefully. According to the Macalester College net price calculator, the estimated cost for a family with $40K annual income, no assets, and no residence status in any US state would be about $14K/year. </p>

<p>Another strategy would be to look for state universities with relatively low sticker prices (regardless of financial aid). This strategy could be appropriate for you if your family can afford about $25K/year for a school like New Mexico Tech. All the schools on your current list have relatively high out-of-state sticker prices (~$40K-50K+)
<a href=“Best College Values, 2019 | Kiplinger”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-public-colleges/index.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Yet another strategy would be to seek merit scholarships available to international students. The University of Alabama offers full tuition scholarships to students with GPAs of 3.5 or above and SAT M+CR scores of 1400 or above.
<a href=“Loading...”>http://www.thecollegiateblog.org/2012/12/09/national-universities-that-offer-full-ride-scholarship/&lt;/a&gt;
According to the University of Alabama site’s cost information for OOS students (<a href=“Page Not Found | The University of Alabama”>Page Not Found | The University of Alabama), after deducting tuition costs, your remaining expenses would total about $15K/year. You may be able to reduce this amount somewhat by choosing the least expensive room & board options.</p>

<p>Summing up, a new list (adjusted for n-b aid opportunities) might look something like this:
University of Pennsylvania or Brown (very high … maybe unrealistic … reaches; relatively good aid for internationals)
Macalester College (low reach/high match; small urban liberal arts college with relatively good aid for internationals and what appears to be a solid Math/CS program)
New Mexico Tech (public technical institute with relatively low OOS sticker prices)
University of Alabama (guaranteed full tuition merit scholarships for your stats)</p>

<p>Add more colleges from the lists above to create a total of perhaps 6-10 schools (keeping in mind that super-selective private schools like Penn and Brown are very unlikely to admit you). Also keep in mind that you cannot get a visa to study in the USA unless you can demonstrate ability to cover all your costs.</p>

5

<p>What is your M+CR breakdown? </p>

<p>what is your major? </p>

<p>how much can your family pay each year?</p>

6

<p>I have 640CR/790M/680W so 1430 for M+CR?
Computer Science major
And I am not really sure will talk with them tonight for exact number but it expect it to be something small as their monthly income is around 2k$.Maybe if some loans are available.Am i trying to do the impossible here? :(</p>

7

<p>@tk21769
Thank you very much for the elaborate information will look into the lists.</p>

8

<p>Please, if you want to, apply to MIT. It’s hard to get into, but you never know.</p>

<p>Can your parents afford around $12-13k every year? Alabama could certainly be an option.</p>

<p>Look into liberal arts colleges? There are some LACs with strong CS programs, and LACs give great financial aid to international students (it’s very selective, though: we’re looking at 10% or below odds). As an international seeking aid, you will have to make compromises on where to apply and will have to look beyond the schools recognized for their CS programs (so no Carnegie Mellon or UIUC). </p>

<p>Why do you want to study in the US?</p>

<p>PS Macalester is a reach, and the school is notorious for reserving many of its fin aid packages for UWC students.</p>

9

<p>@international95:</p>

<p>What’s UWC?</p>

10

<p>United World Colleges.</p>

11

<p>Alabama would give you free tuition plus 2500 per year for CS, but you and your family would have to come up with the rest. You cant get loans here as an intl. </p>

<p>You need to talk to your family about how much they can pay</p>

12

<p>@International95‌
|Why do you want to study in the US?</p>

<p>Good question.I don’t know really.More and more I’m starting to think about getting BS in UK and then majoring in USA.
The question is why did I struggle with SAT’s and all that. hahah I’ll maybe apply in couple US universities besides the UK ones though</p>

13

<p>Just understand that the What Are My Chances forum is the worst garbage information in this board, and no one there really knows much of your chances or others.</p>

<p>Those 3 CA UC universities are going to cost you 55k per year plus airfare, you won’t get aid as an international at most public schools. Only a rare few less known ones.</p>

<p>Generally you won’t list accomplishment before high school unless it is some rare national award that everyone is impressed with. I would not mention that you attend the gym frequently, but if you are a holder of some high ranking belt you can mention it and it is implied that you had to do a lot of work to get there. Yes organizing events is something relevant and getting far enough to attend a national event even if you don’t medal. </p>

<p>Computer science isn’t some rare thing that only certain schools have. A CS professor at Brown University originally from India, has mentioned his gratitude to Indiana Wesleyan for giving him a scholarship to allow him to attend his undergraduate there. </p>