How Finances affects admissions'.

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>Hey everybody...
Finally, January 1st came! Wow, everything sent now. Definitely a relief.</p>

<p>Ok, I posted something a couple of weeks ago about chances to get in some colleges.
Now I have another question, that was prompted after a discussion with an admission counselor. Here it is:</p>

<p>Notwithstanding all the other parts of my application, will my chances to get in a college, as an international student (France), will be higher if I don't need financial aid?
Not that I have a ****ty application and just billions, but a girl told me that an international application would definitely be advantaged by good finances (cover full tuition).</p>

<p>Thanks by advance for your replies...</p>

2

<p>Yes, definitely.</p>

<p>Asking for aid = lesser chance of admission, as it places you in an extremely competitive pool.</p>

3

<p>Only very few very rich colleges (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Williams, Middlebury) can afford to make need-blind admission decisions for internationals. </p>

<p>There's a rumor saying that when an international student does not apply for fin aid, he is treated like every other American applicant. (I actually think that at some colleges your odds of admission might be even higher as a full-paying international student than as a domestic student with the same profile)</p>

<p>But when you need aid, your chances of admission generally decrease dramatically. At some colleges you will only be eligible for merit aid (e.g. NYU, BU, BC), others offer a very limited amount of need-based aid to internationals (e.g. Haverford funds exactly 3 international students per year, Tufts about 10, Colby less than 10 - out of 900 fin aid applicants!!!)</p>

4

<p>Barium I am not questioning your opinion, but where do you get these stats from ?</p>

5

<p>Haverford:
Haverford</a> College Financial Aid: Frequently Asked Questions</p>

<p>Colby:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/colby-college/202370-welcome-new-college-rep-colbyadmissions-9.html?#post4125501%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/colby-college/202370-welcome-new-college-rep-colbyadmissions-9.html?#post4125501&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Tufts:
Tufts</a> University - Studying Abroad in the US - Facts & Figures</p>

6

<p>Well you either know your colleges or have a lot of free time haha. I just used the collegeboard's international student option under a college and it said how many students they gave aid to and how much in aid. That really helped when I was searching for colleges.</p>

7

<p>^^ I did a lot of research when I was searching for colleges a year ago.</p>

<p>The Collegeboard figures are useful as a starting point but you have to be very careful interpreting them. For example, the figure of international students receiving aid includes Canadian students who are often treated like American students as opposed to international students financial aid-wise.</p>

8

<p>Everyone who's posted so far's asbsolutely right---don't apply for financial aid unless you REALLY need it! I graduated with an International Baccalaureate, a 3.7 GPA, and had a 1350 SAT and got turned down from my safeties school because I applied for aid. I only asked for it because there was no way my family could pay for tuition, though. </p>

<p>The only need-blind schools for internationals are Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Williams and Middlebury (as far as I know), and their admission rates tend to be in the 10-15%</p>

9

<p>Oh, by the way, if you applied for fin aid and regret doing so, I think you can take it back...One of my friends did it because a school sent her a letter telling her that they liked her app, but with fin aid, her chances were close to 0.</p>

10

<p>Thanks for all your replies. So basically, you confirm that not applying to financial aid boosts my chances to get in about any college (except for 100% need-blind ones).
That's good to know...
Best of luck to my fellow applicants!
And Happy New Year, too. With best wishes of hard-work hopefully rewarded.</p>

11

<p>hey all international applicants to Penn, are the majority of u applying for aid? I just want to get a general idea of whether or not most foreign applicants apply for aid or not?</p>

12

<p>i was deferred by duke ED. I'm international applying for FA. they admission counselor actually sent me an email telling how extremely competitive it is. </p>

<p>There is a thread somewhere that list the amount of international students applying for FA being accepted by each college.</p>

<p>o btw, I have been in the US since elementary school :-( too bad college only cares for that green card, whihc i'm in the final stage of waiting, what a luck</p>

<p>o well.</p>

<p>good luck everyone applying for financial aid</p>

13

<p>o and barium is right, an international not applying for aid is treated the same as a normal domestic applicant for schools such as uchicago.</p>

14

<p>You mean that, selectivity-wise, my chances to get in will be as high as for an American student?</p>

15

<p>There are lots of colleges which PREFER international students because they want to boost their diversity stats. Check the sites of colleges you are inerested in (I know Cornell doesn't give financial aid to internationals for instance -- but they tell you that from the start). </p>

<p>Many top colleges (ivy or LAC) say if they want you, they will finance you. If you have a good application overall, you may even have an advantage as an international!</p>

16

<p>makes u wish u had a lot of money...</p>

17

<p>yeah i wish i had a lot of money...</p>

<p>...a lot of money as in i don't have to go to school kind of rich, not rich enough to pay my way kind of rich.</p>

<p>whoa, that was confusing.</p>

18

<p>lol... what would you do if you had that kind of money?</p>

19

<p>Does it improve my chances if I say I'll pay 8-10K instead of 1-3k per year?</p>

20

<p>it does affect your chances unless you are applying to top 10-15 or need blind schools</p>