<p>Hey people, i've just become a member of CC. I am a resident of Madras (Chennai) in India. I will be shortly entering my 12th grade. I am having difficulty searching for colleges that offer full-aid to International students. I want to get into the science stream (Computers science or Physics). Any tips for choice of college and approaches to applications?</p>
<p>I'll be taking the SAT I first on June 4th. I have studied in a small, private ICSE Board school for ten yrs without much achievement at the interschool level (but i topped the school in my tenth grade). For 11th and 12th i'm doing CBSE. My grades convert to A- which isn't too impressive, is it?</p>
<p>One college you might want to take a good look at is Franklin&Marshall College. It is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I will be attending Franklin&Marshall this upcoming year. Franklin&Marshall admits many internationals every year. They give a lot of aid compared to many other colleges. When I was searching for a college I was looking for a college that would give me full aid, and F&M was able to give me a full ride. I would suggest you visit their website at <a href="http://www.fandm.edu%5B/url%5D">www.fandm.edu</a>. There is a lot of information concerning financial aid for international students, such as yourself. I believe that you should definitely check out Franklin & Marshall College;)</p>
<p>Hope this helps :)</p>
<p>P.S. If you have any questions about anything else, I would be happy to help you. </p>
<p>Thanks for your help. But I am actually looking at computer science or biotechnology related majors. My percentages, though among the top in my class look mediocre when i translate them into grades. In my final exam (11th standard), to be most specific, i got these marks:
English: 87; Maths: 92; Physics: 87; Chemistry 93; Computer Science 91.
So that averages to a 90% which is equivalent to an A-.</p>
<p>Some institues demand an FAFSA (excuse my lack of awareness, but what is this?). It asks for a green card, which i don't have. By when should i fill in this application, and if i am not a green card holder, how else can i make myself eligible to fill it?</p>
<p>Since many of you would have a good idea of what college suits what kind of person, i'll just open up myself. </p>
<p>I am genuinely interested in physics and computer science and i feel i have an aptitude for all the physical science subjects. My interest in Biology comes into the field of structural biology and computer-related informatics.</p>
<p>An IIT requires the kind of one-track drill that i cannot bear as i am heavily involved in extra curriculars like Karate, Track and Field, Soccer, Guitar and all. I am currently helping out manage the medical records of one of the top hospitals here in Chennai (Shankara Netralaya) as a volunteer. I am also an editor of my school magazine. I perform in dramatics with great passion. But most of these are very amature occupations, as in, i have not competed at any level. I can just account for being among the best within my school.</p>
<p>The CollegeBoard is the most complicated match maker there is. Finally there was no college in the whole of the US that seemed to suit me! Before i specify weather conditions or size of student body, etc., i want to know how much of a chance i have to get into a good University.</p>
<p>I am not to well informed about the admission system into American colleges so i feel i could do with some help.</p>
<p>If you are not well informed, you should spend some time and search this site and internet to get the information.</p>
<p>As far as scholarships, yes many schoold do give, but the number is limited. You have to be exceptional student first to get admitted and then to receive Fin Aid (luck also plays a role. Do a search on mercurysquad a very brilliant and talented young man from India. He was rejected rom MIT. Also do a search on addides, sucharita and akasbansal and see their profiles and compare yourself. They were admitted to Princeton and Duke). There are few Indian kids on the board who did get fin aid, but there are lot more who were rejected as well. If your target is top 10 or 20 university, you may be disappointed. There are many domestic kids with stellar credentials who get rejected or wait listed from those schools. If you are determined to come to US you should also apply to schools that your family can afford. If fin aid is the only way you can come to US, lower your sight from top tier to lower tier schools (if you do a search on this site some one had published a list of schools that give fin aid to Internationals).</p>
<p>Bottomline: be realistic in your expectations and be prepared to do the research.</p>
<p>Welcome to the crazy world of CC. First things first...if you want to apply to the top schools in the US, promise yourself that you will not get addicted to CC. This thing is a huge time killer and I am glad that I did not find it until December.</p>
<p>I think that with your pre-planning initiatives and your good ECs, you have as good of a shot to good schools as any1 else. As such, simba and ritz mentioned, check out diff. links on this site and you will get 'some' info. I would not recommend the Indian Thread, coz there isnt much info out there...</p>
<p>to get the names of colleges and to compile a list of schools that is good in what you are looking for. Dont look at the ranking, coz rankings will be different in 2010, when you graduate</p>
<p>also, you sound much wiser than ppl like me, who woke up in August worrying about their admission list etc. So use this time well for essays (which no matter what other people say, can do wonders to your apps) so start drafting a generic personal statement that you can build off on; while you wait on the other essay questions to be released</p>
<p>finally, research! research everything that you need to know about college apps. use cc and cc'ers (esp., mercurysquad, astrix, etc. who will be around for some time) as resources. there are shocking things that you would learn that you did not know (for example: I did not know that i can get application fee waiver from my school, until all the apps were done and had spent tons of $$ on it! :eek: ) so learn from mistakes of idiots like me...and on cc...they are dime a dozen :p</p>
<p>Well simba, i couldn't yet find anything on this site that would give me a list of colleges at the lower tier that give Indians (or international students) full rides. Such colleges are mostly liberal arts colleges. I'm looking at physical sciences. Not many people on this forum have their eyes on science.
Thanks a lot,
Varun</p>
<p>just remembered....if you want to really look at strong applicants for 2009, search on</p>
<p>purityandchastity (MIT, Caltech, etc.) from Nepal
perfectdark9 (MIT, Caltech, etc.) from Lahore
hendrixfan (Yale, Stanford, Columbia, etc.) from Delhi
Ritz (as the 1 above) Harvard EA from Delhi
as simba already mentioned, AkashBansal (Duke, Cornell, etc.)
flamethrower (duke, georgetown, etc.) from Bombay</p>
<p>all these applicants got into more than 1 good school (so it aint a fluke)...which tells me that these were the strongest south asian applicants on cc</p>
<p>hey varun. since you're coming out here for undergrad, forget wanting to go to a great prestigious college. i'm an indian-american, and my dad came to the US to get a doctorate in what is not a very prestigious college compared to the Harvards and Yales, or even state schools for that matter, and now has an amazing job in D.C. </p>
<p>My advice to you? Look into the lesser known colleges, dig a bit deeper into the 2nd tier colleges, those that are less well-known. Those colleges are the ones that are in desperate need of diversity, and will dish out some good money for a kid like you. Your star will rise, if you work hard, but don't limit yourself to the college with prestige. In the end, the Princetons and Michigans won't give you the aid you need to afford school here. And trust me, I know how much the rupee is worth out here, and you're gonna need all the money you can get. In the end, YOU WILL MAKE THE COLLEGE not the other way around.</p>
<p>P.S. feel free to email me or PM me with questions, bro.</p>
<p>Varun
Apply to Duke.
I know for a fact that they have a limited supply of Full Scholarships (RObertson scholarship ... it mite be like robertsonscholars.org).
They take and actively want international students for this.
THere is a supplemental app for this that asks for community service involvement, etc --> check their website for the program goals, etc. I was a finalist for this scholarship and it seems like it fits your personality.
Duke is top school that is actively recruiting top students.
Of course, you will have to take tests like the SAT Is, SAT IIs, etc and earn top scores.</p>
<p>varun the advice on this thread is excellent but I'd say its possible for you to get into the top schools with loads of aid too because I got into Princeton and my Class X! marks were much worse than yours, but my test scores were excellent</p>
<p>So which schools would you enlightened folks suggest for science? </p>
<p>immajap88, the 2nd tier of schools are generally not the ones who dish out full aid (is what i was told). Is that true?</p>
<p>Sucharita, are you doing science at Princeton? Do you think it would be a good idea to include Princeton on my list?</p>
<p>And another thing i need some quick advice on is the SAT Critical Reading section. I am really bad at that. Ofcourse it will take improvement in vocabulary to do better, but my problem is time. I read very slowly and find that if i actually read the entire passages, i don't have time to complete the section. On the other hand, if i simply refer to those lines indicated in the questions, i find it hard to get the context. What are your strategies?
Thanks for your time,
Varun</p>
<p>
[quote]
Sucharita, are you doing science at Princeton? Do you think it would be a good idea to include Princeton on my list?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>varun, take it for its worth...but i'll tell u my experience.</p>
<p>I applied to 20+ colleges and have never regretted that decision (infact, I am very very happy that i did). The reason being that, initially i was planning to apply for 10 and if i look at the list of my 10 colleges - i would have got admitted to 5 colleges (lower top tier, second tier) with minimal aid. Because, I applied to 20+ colleges, i got into top tier schools with full aid.</p>
<p>admission process is really weird...some1 will get into MIT/Princeton, but will get rejected by random second tier school...u never know, who will admit you and who wont...</p>
<p>Many people will disagree with me (as i myself questioned this before i did it) but the truth is, go around and ask intl going to ivies about how many ivies did they get into? I can bet you that for those applicants, who apply to more than 1 ivy (or all the 8 ivies) 60% only got into 1 (at least on cc thts the case).</p>
<p>you look at the indians who applied to multiple ivies, most of us just got into 1 (exception, hendrixfan)...so spread your bets...and use your time wisely...also most of these colleges have application fee waiver, so if you do the applications online (which is what i did) it should be a relatively inexpensive process (compared to foregoing admission into a top tier school OR shelling out $190k)</p>
<p>I'm not sure about international students, but I know that domestically, the University of Maryland Baltimore County is dishing out some mad money. Look into that.</p>
<p>Also, I'm not saying that you CANT get into a top school, I'm just saying don't LIMIT yourself to those. If you are a hardworking student in this country, the sky is the limit no matter what school you go to.</p>