Internation Student who needs financial aid?? PLEASE HELP

College Search & Selection
1

<p>hello everyone,</p>

<p>so here's my story: i did 7th to 10th in an American International School in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Went back to my home country of India to do 11th and 12th, which didn't quite go according to plan: my percent average for both junior and senior year was around 60% (keepp in mind that a fail there is 33% !!). I then repeated 11th and 12th in an american system in a small Caribbean country (Guyana).</p>

<p>Over these last two years, these have been my notable courses/ec's/achievements:</p>

<p>4.2 weighted gpa (from last year),
its a tiny school so class rank is not exactly relevant (theres like 8 kids in our GRADE lol)</p>

<p>AP Spanish
AP Music theory - got a 3
AP Physics - got a 4
AP Econ - got a 4 on the Macro exam
2120 on SATs</p>

<p>honor roll last year
ambassador's award for academic excellence
ap scholar</p>

<p>I'm currently taking AP Bio, AP Comp sci, AP Calc BC, and AP English (language and composition) - i intend to take the ap exams at the end of the year as well.</p>

<p>lead tenor in a local choir group - we've appeared on television and have won several competitions, we also sang at charity events
pianist for the girls' school choir
started a club to teach elementary kids guitar
started 'donations for kicks' - where we organized soccer matches to raise money to donate to orphanages in the city.
hosted a radio show on a local station
class rep both years
member of key club
captain of the school soccer team</p>

<p>now seeing as i'm an international student who needs a !@#$ton of financial aid (i'm talking like $40,000 or more per year), i wanted to apply early decision to either colgate or lafayette (they meet demonstrated need and they're my absolute favs).</p>

<p>i also came across this post on cc which reminded me of the grim reality of my situation: <a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/safety-schools-international-student-needing-financial-aid/"&gt;http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/safety-schools-international-student-needing-financial-aid/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>so yeah, given all this, which college would you suggest i apply early decision to? or are there any others you suggest where I could get acceptance and a sizable amount of financial aid? i know how important early decision is to internationals, but it especially so for me, so i really need to make it count!!</p>

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<p>Since you are in need of an substantial amount of financial aid, you should not apply anywhere ED. You should only apply ED, if the school is your absolute first choice and you are WILLING TO ACCEPT any amount of Financial aid they give you. Applying ED will not allow you to compare FA packages and your final FA package amount will usually not be available until Spring 2015.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/safety-schools-international-student-needing-financial-aid/”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/safety-schools-international-student-needing-financial-aid/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>this ask the dean link clearly states the case for why i should apply early decision. Colgate and lafayette are my top schools, so i would be fine if they didn’t completely meet 100% of my demonstrated need. my question was regarding whether i could even get accepted into colgate (1st choice) or lafayette (2nd choice), considering my background.</p>

<p>would it be smarter to consider schools other than these? i reallyyyyyyyyyyy want to get into colgate; its just that being an international student plus my financial aid needs, PLUS having repeated 2 years… considering all this, is it conceivable to get into colgate, if not with the most ideal financial package?</p>