<p>^^^^</p>
<p>What was your “high level EC”? Is it a musical ability (I see your screen name)? If so, that can be a powerful hook for certain schools. </p>
<p>What country are you from?</p>
<p>Are you a URM?</p>
<p>What schools gave you financial aid and how much did each offer?</p>
<p>Oberlin, Bard, Columbia and some music schools. For each school I got tuition + app half room and board. The two places where I did not get enough FA (two music schools) were in the first case, a place where I applied really late (like one month after the deadline) and in the second case, a state school who gave max 12k to intl, so OP, try to apply before the deadlines and make sure there is no max FA. Yes it was music but I’ve some high school friends who got in with other sort of ECs, pursued at various levels. URM doesn’t apply to internationals. My point is considering your GPA and the fact that since you’re researching for school so early, you’ll have time to really learn about the schools, write relevant essays, match or exceed the mid-50 SAT scores, I think you can get FA. Go check out the “Class of 2014” thread on the intl’ forum, specially the last pages, there is plenty of info there and you’ll see what schools accepted intl’ applying for FA and using the search function, what were their stats.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>you were lucky to get accepted to Columbia with a 2070 SAT. Your music ability is likely what made the difference. What was your SAT breakdown? Did you have one section that was lowish - such as Writing? </p>
<p>Columbia Test Scores Middle 50% of First-Year Students </p>
<p>SAT Critical Reading: 680 - 770<br>
SAT Math: 690 - 780<br>
SAT Writing: 680 - 770<br>
ACT Composite: 31 - 34 </p>
<p>Your SAT score puts you right above the bottom 25% of students at Columbia. I’m not saying this to insult you, I’m indicating this because your situation is unique and others without such a “hook” can’t really use your situation for comparison. </p>
<p>BTW…I didn’t realize that URM status doesn’t help int’ls. Is that true? Since schools report the ethnic background of all students, why would being an int’l be any different?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Music is NOT a hook at most top schools. It’s not a hook even if your kid plays the oboe (like mine does…didn’t help her a speck in acceptances) or tuba. Most of the top schools with generous aid (HYPSM) have a LARGE number of students with excellent music skills and music ECs (my son’s and daughter’s youth orchestra routinely sent kids to HYPSM and places like Amherst, Williams, etc). It would be a strong EC, but not a hook. A hook would be something that the admissions folks would look at and move you to the “to be considered pile” immediately.</p>
<p>I’ll go so far as to say, music is not a true hook almost anywhere.</p>
<p>It would be a “hook” if you had soloed with the NY Phil or Boston Symphony…or the like. Or if one of your parents was perhaps Paul McCartney or Keith Lockhart.</p>
<p>Bassplayer…are you a music major? If so, I would imagine the bulk of your generous financial aid was in the form of a performance award based on your audition.</p>
<p>760 CR 720 M 600 W
Because underrepresented minorities is “for American racial and ethnic groups like Native Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans (particularly Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans) who are underrepresented in a college compared to their prevalence in the U.S. population” (pasted from another thread). I listed various prospective majors, music being one of them.</p>
<p>^^^^</p>
<p>Ahhhh…I suspected maybe a lowish Writing score. When you wrote that you had a 2070, that seemed too low for Columbia. But, since your M + CR score is 1480, that is better. Those scores are more in the mid to high of the mid 50s.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean that your hook was just playing an instrument, because many play an instrument. I thought maybe you were majoring in bass performance and have excelled at that award-wise, and Columbia may have needed/wanted you for that.</p>
<p>Well! I am from Nepal and our economic status is also not good as yours. We cannot pay the room and board, let alone the tuition. As a prospective student, I have learnt that Liberal Arts Colleges give very good aid sometimes you may need to pay nothing at all. However, such awards are highly competitive and at the same time there are only few such LACs that teach engineering.</p>
<p>Perhaps you could apply in the University of Texas branches, if you don’t mind the climate which is oppressive as far as I know. I think that they give full tuition scholarship for students who cross 1200 and full tuition + 2000 for 1300+ in SAT composite. They have a wide variety for engineering option.</p>
<p>fznfire, I don’t know where you saw those criteria for automatic “full-tuition” or “full tuition plus” scholarships at U Texas but if they are indeed true, they would apply to US citizens only or more likely, Texas residents only.</p>
<p>Financial aid for international students at U Texas is extremely limited. This is also the case at nearly all public universities in the United States. Since most of their funding comes from State and Federal sources, financial aid is awarded primarily to State residents. If financial aid is available to international students, it is given only to those students at the very top (5%) of the applicant pool and/or is given out in very small amounts, since international students are not eligible for any Federal aid programs.</p>
<p>Actually, my friends with 1380 and 1250 composite score applied to University of Texas. They were interested in Aeronautical engineering. Both of them got Out state tuition waiver so their tuition is 6000 and have 12000 additional cost to cover. One with 1380 got 8000 scholarship to reduce his cost to 10000 while the other got 6000 scholarship. Perhaps it is not as bad as the website says! This was in University of Texas at arlington!</p>
<p>*Actually, my friends with 1380 and 1250 composite score applied to University of Texas. </p>
<p>This was in University of Texas at arlington! *</p>
<p>Well, UT-Arlington is very different from UTexas!</p>
<p>Yeah! It was at University of Texas at Arlington!</p>