I’m looking for schools that could potentially offer me the scholarship such that i have to pay around $2000-$5000 anually in overall tuition and room and board. My parents can only afford above mentioned amount anually, so financial aid is really important.
My extra curriculars are: District level winner at essay writing competition, Regional level winner on table tennis,and several volunteering works(social service).
My CIE A-levels result: 1A* and 3A’s.
I recently took sat and expecting to get about 1400. (might be little lower)
My intended major is Electrical Engineering.
I am really stuck in selecting a university that suits me.
Please share your ideas, Thanks!
There may not exist a university that meets all of your expressed needs. Universities with engineering majors don’t typically offer super generous financial aid to international students.
That said, let’s run through your options.
**Low-ranked universities with full tuition, room and board scholarships./b Here’s a good compilation of universities with significant scholarships. You will have to check by hand which of these scholarships are open to international students: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Very selective universities with need-based financial aid for international students. That’s your Harvard, MIT and Stanford. You can try, but odds are you won’t get in.
Liberal arts colleges. They may be the best option out there for good-but-not-great international applicants with financial need. Alas, most of them don’t have engineering majors. There’s a few exceptions, like Smith or Swarthmore.
Many liberal arts colleges advertise 3-2 engineering programs where students can supposedly earn a Bachelor’s degree in engineering by transferring to an engineering university after 3 years at the liberal arts college. These programs used to be very popular among international students. However, most engineering universities have discontinued their financial support for international 3-2 students. While you might be able to get financial aid from the liberal arts college for the first 3 years, you would have to pay out of pocket for the remaining 2 years at the engineering university. Not a good option for you.
Complete your Bachelor’s degree in a different country, come to the US for a PhD. PhDs in the US are typically funded. This route might take longer, but you would end up with an American university degree that you did not have to pay for.
Pick a different major. Some students in your position will compromise on their major and choose something that they can study at a liberal arts college, where financial aid is available to them. Computer science, physics and math are popular options.