how difficult is it to get financial aid?

<p>hi everyone i finished my junior year this year and am searching for universities. i think duke is the type of university i would like to go: good social background, good academics, good at sports. however my biggest concern is that i want to go to university with financial aid. so i have a couple of questions:
*does applying to duke early affect their decision to give financial aid?
*is it common for them to give financial aid to international students?</p>

<p>although many colleges claim that ED or RD has no effect on finaid, the fact is, it does. by talking with my counselor and friends who are graduating, applying ED definitely puts you at a disadvantage in terms of finaid. although duke offers 100% finaid of demonstrated need (for U.S. citizens and permanent residents though), applying ED will still get you that full finaid, but you might get a lot more loans and work-study than if you applied RD (and got accepted, of course). however, for international students, admission is not need-blind nor does it guarantee to meet 100% demonstrated need. in fact, your chances are greatly boosted by not requesting finaid since many international students can afford to come overseas. one of my friends is an international student and simply put, if she were not international, she would be accepted at places like penn, columbia, etc (maybe not harvard and princeton). however, since she's international and requested finaid, she was waitlisted at every top20 school she applied to, and in the end, duke accepted her off the waitlist and she STILL had to pay full tuition.</p>

<p>well i see... then i have to lower down my expectations i guess? and apply to a less ranked school? another choice in my mind is wash u. but i thought that duke experience would be somewhat different and more rewarding..</p>

<p>yes, duke is ranked higher than washu by usnews, and some consider it better in terms of undergrad experience. however, seeing how you're international AND need finaid, i hate to say this, but look into even lower ranked schools (including state schools) that provide outside scholarships for international students</p>

<p>Duke is ranked higher and has a significant international student body, however internationals don't get much financial aid so I would look into lower ranked schools (i.e out of the top 20 or so) for schools that offer scholarships</p>