<p>Hello I am senior in Virginia. I came to U.S. five years ago, so I do not know many colleges. I received 2170 on SAT1 and 4.2 for GPA. I am also going to take SATII for Physics and Math2 and I am expecting to get over 750 on both. I played in both school and travel D1 soccer teams. I am also participating several clubs like Beta, Robotic, EDGE, and Cultural Club. I am strong in both math and science, but I do not excatly know what I want to do in future. I want to go UVA and Carnegie Mellon, but other than those two, I do not know where to go. I will appreciate advices from experts. Thank you.</p>
<p>I also have taken 12 advance classes (4 AP and 8 AICE-Cambridge Program) and 5 honor classes, and my class rank is 12 out of 400.</p>
<p>What do you want to study? What type of environment do you want?</p>
<p>Your stats are spot on for UVA (assuming SAT per section breakdown is even).</p>
<p>I hear many good things on this forum about University of Alabama Honors Program. If your Math/CR is 1400, they offer free tuition.</p>
<p>Also good things about University of Pittsburgh. I expect your stats stats would yield merit at Pitt. I assume if you like Carnegie then you like the area it is in which is right near Pitt.</p>
<p>Have you considered other VA state schools? One with a higher acceptance rate than UVA?</p>
<p>William and Mary leaps to mind. </p>
<p>Tell us more about:</p>
<p>1) Size
2) Geographics (urban/rural/suburban), part of the country, hours from home, weather
3) Financial need-what can your family afford (run the EFC and talk to your parents)
4) Are you interested in Engineering? (That rules out some schools)
5) Other deal-breakers (single sex, religious, etc…)</p>
<p>UVA is a great option. You are lucky to live in Virginia.</p>
<p>Pitt is nice and would work out quite well whether you stayed with math and science or decided to major in some other area. Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland as well. Both offer merit aid. U Rochester is nice, too, and offers great aid to NMSF students if you happened to qualify. Case and Rochester will have more wintry weather than Pitt and Carnegie Mellon; are you okay with snow?</p>
<p>I am guessing that you are a male student. I have a few other thoughts if you happen to be female.</p>
<p>Hello…</p>
<p>In your other thread, you mention that you’re an int’l with a visa living in VA. You asked about getting FA at CMU and UVA. As you know now, those schools don’t give FA to int’l students. </p>
<p>What is your situation so that people can make proper school recommendations for you? How much will your parents pay? If you need FA to go to school, then you need to apply to schools that give FA to int’ls, or you need to apply to schools that give big merit scholarships to int’ls.</p>
<p>The most important question is:</p>
<p>How much can your family afford to pay for your education? You need to sit down with them, and find out how much money is available. You are an international student. There is not a lot of financial aid available for international students. This will limit your choices.</p>
<p>Once you know how much your family can afford, you can use any of the college search engines to find places that fall within your budget.</p>
<p>I only have a vague idea about what I want to do in future. I like and am good at math and science.
I do not care about size and location of the school, if the school is well known and good.
Since I can not get financial aid, I am going to get loan, so tuition does not matter to me.</p>
<p>Also someone told me about Cooper Union. Is it good school and if it is, do I have good chance to get in??</p>
<p>*Since I can not get financial aid, I am going to get loan, so tuition does not matter to me.
*</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>How are you going to get a loan? Who would loan you the money as a int’l student???</p>
<p>What are your financial safety schools? These are schools that you can afford without loans by covering the costs with merit scholarships and family funds.</p>
<p>I have three aunts and one uncle who are U.S. citizens, and they said that they are going to help me out.</p>
<p>You need to sit down with your aunts and uncle and find out exactly how much help they can give you. Can they help you come up with USD 250k to pay for four years at an expensive place, or can they help you come up with USD 80k to pay for four years at a cheap place? </p>
<p>You also need to think about how you will pay back those loans after you graduate. USD 80k will leave you in crippling debt for years, and USD 250k will be almost impossible to pay off in anything like a reasonable amount of time. There is a good loan repayment calculator at [Student</a> Loan Calculator - Calculate Your Student Loan Repayments](<a href=“http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/sla.jsp]Student”>http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/sla.jsp) As an international student, you are only eligible for the loans that fall in the category of “other”.</p>
<p>Okay I will do that with my aunts and uncle, but can you guys tell me which school should I look for with my GPA and SAT score, without considerting financial issue.</p>
<p>If money were no object, you would be a viable candidate for any of the colleges and universities that your US citizen classmates with similar stats are viable candidates for. You can generate a likely list with any of the college search engines such as [College</a> MatchMaker - Type of School](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>That said, as an international candidate who will most likely need some financial aid, all bets are off. Sad, but true. You owe it to yourself to get real about the money. If your high school guidance counselor has worked with a number of students who classify as international applicants, he/she may be able to provide useful advice for your specific situation.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>Take a look at the midwestern LACs, especially those with very large endowments who want to attract international students. (Asians are still a minority in the midwest-unlike the coasts). </p>
<p>I would look, for example, at Grinnell, a top LAC in Iowa. 12% of the students are international, they offer generous financial and merit aid to top students and have a huge endowment (which means new facilities, small classes, money for research, etc…) They are especially strong in the sciences. You will need top grades and very strong math and science scores to get admission with significant financial aid. And you have to be happy with a small, rural school. </p>
<p>An urban alternative might be Macalester, also 12% international. Take a look at Hendrix, Rhodes, Beloit, and Lawrence as well, which have less money but are also less academically selective and therefore might offer more dollars to attract a top student.</p>
<p>*You owe it to yourself to get real about the money. *</p>
<p>I completely agree. I know that the student and parents want their child to go to a top school no matter how much it costs. They are willing to go down a destructive path of huge loans when it’s totally not necessary.</p>
<p>Believe me, if the family needs to take out mega loans, then they don’t have the income to pay back mega loans. </p>
<p>There is absolutely NO REASON to take out big loans for an engineering degree. Period. Any school with a good engineering program and facilites can suffice. </p>
<p>Hello…my H and my brothers are engineers who are upper management. They all hire engineers. They don’t pay people more money for having graduated from elite schools. (an exception might be an extra $5k-10k for a MIT or Cal Tech grad). Everyone else starts at the same pay. And, once you’re hired, NO ONE cares where you went to school. ALL they care about is your effort and work.</p>
<p>Believe me, if you and your family are burdened with big debt, you’re all going to be very frustrated to see that engineers who went to state schools are being paid the same as you are (and they won’t have the ugly debt).</p>
<p>I realize that your parents are non-English speaking immigrants who don’t understand American schools. Since they don’t speak English, it’s going to be even more difficult for them to earn the money to payback mega loans. Don’t burden your parents with such loans. It’s not necessary. Not at all!</p>
<p>Okay. I understand you guys but can you guys still give me a list of colleges/universities that I should look for? I really need help with that. I will talk about financial issues with my parents and aunts. Thank you for helping me out.</p>
<p>“And, once you’re hired, NO ONE cares where you went to school. ALL they care about is your effort and work.”</p>
<p>That is so true. It pretty much never even comes up in most workplaces. Maybe it’s different in investment banking (I keep hearing it is), but in marketing / advertising (my field), nobody gives a hoot.</p>