I am a class 12 student studying in India. I wish to do an undergrad course in Computer Science from the US. Before I head to the question, here are a few details on my performance:
Academics:
Class 10: 92% (10 CGPA)
Class 11: 85%
(Above average, standing in the top 10 in my class.)
SAT: 2070
Yet to appear for SAT II Phy & Math and TOEFL
I have done social work, and am currently the Director of Technology at a student social organisation called Utopia Pune.
Leadership: School captain in class 10, head of school blog team
Interned to teach computer basics to underprivileged girls.
Won 2nd prize in app making contest.
In process of building a mobile app for our school.
Visited Sweden on a student exchange program via our school.
Question - Being an Indian Citizen and having lived in India most of my life, education in the US is pretty costly. What are the chances of me getting a good scholarship from a university? I’m looking at universities like UT Austin, SUNY at Buffalo etc.
Not just that, are there any other colleges you can recommend for a CS undergraduate course that are affordable and where the chance of me getting scholarship/aid is high?
You need to do some investigation on which schools will give funds. You are picking colleges that don’t have/won’t give to internationals or Out of Staters. This is the case for many public colleges that draw on funds from state taxpayers. It doesn’t matter what your qualifications are if they don’t give money.
@mom2collegekids
On a 4 point scale, my class 9 & 11 score is about 3.3, Class 10 is about 3.7. (By literally converting percentage to GPA. I do not know how its actually done otherwise.)
My SAT score is split as M:780, CR:600, W:690. This is on my second attempt and I do not plan to give it again.
My scores might stand a little low, but I hope that doesn’t cause significant damage if I’m looking for a good university, considering I’m doing a lot of tech-related co-curricular activities.
Again, I want as much aid as possible only so that I can reduce my loan amount.
Also, I was wondering whether I can get more scholarship for the 2nd semester if I perform really well at university… or I should be prepared to pay a full amount for 4 years.
Thanks!
@Gumbymom Thanks! The 65 college list is especially helpful!
It is very important to understand that the best package is offered to freshmen-- they will give you a package that should be good for 4 years… You will not likely get any increase after freshman or any other year. Sometimes there are small department awards you can earn. However that is not to be counted on. Also transfer students don’t usually get the best aid. Colleges award merit aid to incoming freshmen to attract them to sign up. Need aid is awarded on the assessment of family finances and should not change if earnings remain similar.) This freshman class grades and scores are published so this is important. Grades for continuing students are not published. Grades for transfers are not published. Do not ever think you will get more aid later.
Consider looking at test optional schools. Some may have money for internationals. That said, some of them will want to see test scores to be considered for scholarships.
As an international without top stats, it’s possible you will be full pay - does anything in the above link (schools that cost $25,000 or less per year) appeal to you or are you looking for prestige?
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About 30k per year… although I will have to take a loan irrespective of the condition.
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So, are you saying that your parents will pay NOTHING??? If not, how much will your parents actually PAY? And where would you get those large loans from? (BTW…that is way too much to borrow)
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Also, I was wondering whether I can get more scholarship for the 2nd semester if I perform really well at university... or I should be prepared to pay a full amount for 4 years.
Is the loan in addition to the $30K, or instead of the $30K?
From what entity will you get the loan? (I do not believe international undergraduate students will qualify for any US loans.) Will your parents qualify for the loan?
If you’re expecting to come to the US and get a computer science degree funded by merit awards and loans, I have some real doubts about whether that is feasible for you. Your SAT score is good but not great, and the colleges that are most likely to give huge financial aid to international students will likely be looking for much higher scores.
Can you clarify? Your posts are ambiguous. We can’t tell if the $30k per year is from your parents or is that the amount that you’ll be borrowing each year.
For instance, if a school were to cost $60k per year, and you got an award of $20k per year, would your parent pay $30k and you’d have to borrow $10k per year?
@Madison85 The condition refers to if I get a good scholarship. From my family side, I cannot expect a very large contribution and thus, irrespective of the amount of scholarship I receive, I will have to apply for loan.
I wish to clarify about how much my parents can pay. They CAN pay upto $30k per year for my education. For everything else beyond the 30K, i’ll require loan.
Hence the point is that although I want a good university (considerably known), I want one where I will stand to get more scholarship or aid.
I completely agree with all of you that its going to be difficult, but that’s the reason I started this thread in the first place.
Also, about my academic performance: In India, high school studies are pretty detailed. I’ve read up that calculus etc. is taught as AP syllabus in the US, while here in India, its in our mainstream school syllabus. Moreover, the Indian education system throws far more importance on academics and grades over the USA education system. Also, although we do a lot more math and science, we fall back in English, and hence the bad CR score on the SAT (although I scored about 93% in English in school in the last 3 years)
Considering this situation, will my scores be read by colleges comparing my performance with other students of such a background or will I be compared to a student from the US? I’ve heard (might not be true) that colleges in the US know that Indians have a different educational background and thus will not compare an Indian’s scores directly with a US student’s. Do clarify if I’m wrong.
Thanks for the continual help. Again, sorry for replying very late.
Read all the links in this thread. The low cost schools are listed there, as well as schools that give guaranteed merit aid. You need to check to see if you are eligible for any of those, and if they are granted to international students.
Your parents can pay $30,000 a year, which quite frankly sounds like a lot for an international student. Need based aid calculations will be based in their income and assets…so it is very possible a college will expect them to contribute more of their income and assets calculate it to be so.
So…you want a “name school”. Let’s say you got accepted to a school with a $60,000 price tag. Where will you get the remaining $30,000 in loans? It won’t be in the U.S.