<p>I have applied to too many dream schools and I need to apply to some matches or high matches. ( I have already been accepted by my safety and I'll be more than happy to go there by the way. )</p>
<p>So about me -</p>
<p>I am an International Applicant</p>
<p>Need considerable financial aid ( Can afford $5000 a year at the most )</p>
<p>I have 4 slots left in my Common App but I have more than 4 choices; the choices are :-</p>
<p>Franklin and Marshall College
St. Olafs College
Dickinson College
Lafayette College
St. Lawrence University
Trinity University
Colgate University
Connecticut College
Colorado College
Macalester College</p>
<p>Please help me out! The deadlines are so near.</p>
<p>Hey!
Colgate and Dickinson are no easy stuff.
But the rest are pretty doable! Just pick randomly Macalester? St. Olafs?
Sorry about the Bates thing.
Clear your PM’s please?</p>
<p>Have you verified that these places offer the type of financial aid to international students that you would need? Have you verified that they are likely to think that you need as much aid as you think you do?</p>
<p>Run this information past the international aid experts in the international students forum, and see whether they think any of these will work for you. Look for any comments by b@r!um. She knows this subject very well.</p>
<p>While these places may be academic matches, since you need aid, they are reaches. Your only matches or safeties here are those institutions that offer guaranteed merit-based scholarships. </p>
<p>^ Thanks! I am very grateful to you since you helped me find some automatic full rides, I did get two - ULM and Troy and one more - McNeese which is not automatic but still. :)</p>
<p>I did research about these colleges; the college websites and some College Confidential threads do say that these colleges not only offer to meet the full demonstrated need of International students but also are very generous with the aid packages overall. So I am hopeful.</p>
<p>I will apply to atleast 4 of the above mentioned colleges, I just need to know the best combination out of them.</p>
<p>What is your likely major? What part of the country would you like to be in? Is a religious affiliation important to you? How easy do you want transportation to and from campus to be?</p>
<p>My suggestion would be to check each website for information about how to get there. This will be on a page with a title like “visiting campus”. Here’s the page for Dickinson: [Dickinson</a> College - Coming to Campus](<a href=“http://www.dickinson.edu/about/visit/maps-and-directions/Coming-to-Campus/]Dickinson”>Coming to Campus | Maps and Directions | Dickinson College) As you can see, while it is easy to get to Harrisburg, you still need to get a taxi or an airport shuttle, or find someone who can give you a lift for the 30 minute trip to Dickinson. If you like that school, check through the website and any college Facebook pages for details about how students get there. You will want to be able to get away occasionally during the school breaks.</p>
<p>I am undecided about my major and I do not have any other special preference. Only thing, I’ll like to visit my cousins living in CA and MN during breaks.</p>
<p>I just want to decide on the best combination of 4 colleges where I have reasonable chance of getting accepted with enough aid.</p>
<p>What country are you from? Because honestly the people and climate are incredibly different in Minnrsota and Cali. Right now in Minnesota I can look out my window and all I see is snow and it is also 16 degrees (fahrenheit) outside, could you handle when it gets down to -10 degrees and you have to walk to class cause I have known a couple kids that ended up transferring to a different school in the south just because they could not handle the weather. Also, in Minnesota there is going to be a lot less diversity than California. There is a lot of white Christians with some diversity of race and religion thrown in there but not a ton.
However, if you are OK with all that St.Olafs and Malcaster are great schools! I have friends who have attended both and they all love both, though, I would say my more quirky friends tend to attend Malcaster and more traditional tend to attend St.Olafs,.
That is just my opinion so take it with a grain of salt but my best advise is to just research the schools individually the best you can.</p>
<p>Frankly, with such high need, there may not be any “match” schools that will work for an int’l. Not many match schools give “full need” to int’ls. And, many would be “need aware” as well.</p>
<p>The amount that your family can pay is about the cost of “int’l travel and personal expenses”. That means that you need aid that covers tuition, room, board, insurance, and books. That’s A LOT of aid…at least $200k for all four years.</p>
<p>I do understand all the points, taking every thing into account like College’s generosity, acceptance rate, scores and GPA, which four out of the above colleges should I apply to?</p>
<p>Stay away from Dickinson. Nobody in the US knows of this school anyway and have an atrocious admissions/ financial aid staff headed by Rick Hickman. Even in the US ppl think “Dickinson” is “Fairleigh Dickinson” (which would actually be an improvement). There are so many other schools u are considering that are so much better. I’d hate to see you waste your time!</p>
<p>AmericanDream–smart to be thinking about this in advance, as many schools do not offer fin aid to int’l students. Can’t speak for others but do know that Dickinson offers same fin aid opportunities to int’l students as it does to domestic.</p>
Macalester? St. Olafs?