<p>I am an Indian Student.
My annual family income is <15000$ and I have not been preparing for IIT(Indian Institute of Technology). I am in 12th grade just now , scored 94.4% in 10th . I took the SAT exam on the 1st of June. Didn't achieve a good score(1850). I still have my 12th board results in hand(ISC) which is the main factor considered in universities of Singapore and Hong Kong. But, I have had this INTENSE craving since childhood of studying in a good US university.
Is this the convention ? Can people having a family income of 100K+ afford US education ?! This isn't fair ! There is another problem with me- I have a poor extra-curricular record ! So, the universities like UPenn and Cornell are crossed off my list because they require a hell lot of extracurriculars ! So, what on earth am I supposed to do now ?!</p>
<p>^Most schools in US don’t offer financial aid to international students. In fact, many schools see international students as cash cows!</p>
<p>I would strongly suggest you get your bachelors degree in your home country where it might be affordable. Then come here for grad school.</p>
<p>This isn’t fair!</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>You think it isn’t “fair” that US colleges don’t have funds and seats to provide an education for every low income student in the world??? Do you realize that there are a gazillion low income high school students in the world?</p>
<p>It’s not going to be the lack of your extracurriculars that is going to be an issue so much as your test scores. Just like in your country, the test scores are a vital part of your record, and for those like you who do not have the extracurriculars, it becomes even more important. Coming from India, there will be many, many from your country with much higher test scores. </p>
<p>But being a US citizen isn’t going to help in terms of the colleges you have mentioned at the test score level you have.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids speaks my mind!! Just because you always wanted to go to school in the US doesn’t make you entitled to do so. Your application, your financial aid need, etc. might not be sufficient. Not enough extra-curriculars? Your own doing. Not fair? Life is tough.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Listen, I’m afraid that your stats are insufficient to get into a US school that’s going to make it affordable for you. I wish it weren’t the case. </p>
<p>A path that I’ve seen more successful in cases like yours is to go to university in India, study engineering, and then do well enough to get into a school like Utah State University for graduate school. This is a school that is filled many Indians who go this route. There are more schools like that who need graduate students. There is a shortage of graduate students in the US who want to get their degrees at lower ranked institutions. The professors at these schools earn research grants but don’t have the pedigree to get US students. </p>
<p>When the tech economy is healthy, many of their graduates go on to get H1B visas for practical training and eventually earn their green cards. </p>
<p>Graduate school in the US is often fully funded.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Depends on the field. That is not really true in many liberal arts fields, I am afraid.</p>
<p>It depends on the field. In many filelds even TOP US universities are in big need of international grad students. (One example: MIT - 60% of grad students are international - fully paid.) For liberal arts, law, med, ed, business - it is extremely hard to get any aid/grant/stipends even for the best US students.
OP mentioned IIT, so I assume, his interest is in engineering.
Definitely he had much better chances after graduating from one of the top Indian IT.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies guys ! I will try Minnesota . I have had a look at its profile and it offers aid to international students. I will try obtaining a good result so that I have a chance of going to some university of Hong Kong or Singapore or I will drop the next year and try to go to some place in India.</p>
<p>Where are you seeing that UMinn gives FA to int’ls?</p>
<p>College Board’s website…</p>
<p>^Good luck.</p>
<p>University of Minnesota does not provides aid to international undergraduate students
[Financial</a> Aid](<a href=“http://admissions.tc.umn.edu/costsaid/finaid.html]Financial”>Financial Aid | Office of Admissions)</p>
<p>“The University of Minnesota cannot offer financial aid to international undergraduate students. Please visit our page with costs, visa, and scholarship information for international students for more details”</p>
<p>[eduPASS</a> | Financial Aid for International Students | Schools with Aid for Undergraduates](<a href=“http://www.edupass.org/finaid/undergraduate.phtml]eduPASS”>Schools with Financial Aid for International Students - eduPASS)</p>
<p>You have to check each school out and even email admissions and financial aid for any recent policy changes. THings have been changing very quickly so even policies in place from last year may be outdated. </p>
<p>If you want to give it a try, go right on ahead and do so. But do also prepare to keep your options open in your own country, For US citizens, finding a school that will give a significant amount of aid or scholarships is difficult. Most students go to school part time, working to make ends meet and living with family. Going to a sleep a way college is truly a luxury.</p>