Bates provides good financial aid to international students and the application is free for internationals. If you are not a citizen of the United States, you are not required to submit a fee or a fee waiver request.
Thanks. Bates is on my list 
Guys, what’s your take on Wesleyan University as a non-Asian international student? Many thanks in advance.
Guys, what’s your take on Wesleyan University as a non-Asian international student, also Bryn Mawr College? Since both have need-blind financial aid I guess.
Wesleyan is not need blind and for internationals it is especially competitive.
And there is more than one Weslyan. Be sure to be noting which one you are looking at
What’s the best ivy for engineering and the best private uni, excluding Stanford and MIT, for engineering? I’ve checked out the rankings but they contrast with people’s opinions. Like people say Harvard engineering isn’t so good but it almost always shows up in engineering top 10.
You answered your own question. Opinions vary. Some will say such-and-such is “the best,” others will disagree. So pick what sounds best to you – it’s safe to say you will get a good education – and a respected diploma – from any of the ones in the top 10.
Pursing engineering at a big technical university like MIT or Stanford has advantages and disadvantages. While these big engineering departments offer a plethora of opportunities, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. I took a few upper-level undergraduate and lower-level graduate engineering courses at Stanford, and every single one of them had upwards of 100 students. Some were taught as MOOCs and were entirely computer-graded (except for a final exam). Some had so many students that we couldn’t fit into the largest lecture hall, so the lectures got recorded and whoever did not fit into the room could stream it afterwards.
Given my experience at Stanford, I can totally understand why someone might choose to study engineering in a smaller department, where upper-level courses will have 10-20 students instead of hundreds. Forget about finding the most _______ (prestigious, selective, rigorous…) programs - ask yourself which programs are best for you.
If you are going to pay attention to rankings, you should read the methodology to see what criteria programs are getting ranked on. Endowment? Class size? Upwards social mobility? Publications per faculty member? General reputation?
Do the ranking dimensions align with your own priorities?
When I was applying to graduate programs in mathematics, I was amused that some famous universities universally ranked near in the top of each math specialty, even for specialties that were not taught there at all. The ratings were compiled by asking university administrators (not mathematicians) and mathematicians (from all fields) to rate the strength of the math departments of other universities in each subfield. No wonder that the results were pretty useless.
So this is an opinion-based question.
Do you think it’s better to be a jack of all trades or a master in one? To be versatile or to specialise? What’s your view? In college applications, of course.
Thanks.
@gigichuck, do you think that the mountains or the seaside are a better place to go for holiday? blue a better color than red?
Neither is intrinsically better than the other- but one may be better for you than the other. Generally speaking, in academic terms, the US system suits generalists better than the UK system, which really suits specialists.
In college applications, as in much of life, things tend to work out best if you stay true to who you really are.
As an international who needs lots of aid, unfortunately you need to be both… Excellent at everything and exceptional at one.
As an international who needs lots of aid, unfortunately you need to be both… Excellent at everything and exceptional at one.
I’m in a very similar situation, with an annual income of about 18000€ my only chances are universities that have full ride for internationals. I’m looking into colleges with engineering programs though, so the options I’ve found might not be a good fit for you.
Having a SAT score of 1390 (I know, it sucks, I’ll be doing it again in October, aiming for a 1550) and an average of 7.8/10 in 11th grade I’m looking for merit-based scholarships (other scholarships simply don’t cover full ride for international students) and contacting the universities about them, so far I’ve found these to be reasonable:
University of Alabama in Huntsville - Here’s their chart for the grades you need https://i.gyazo.com/caa5149193cdd1eacd30e8efdc377382.png basically a 4.0GPA and a 1520 in SAT for a full ride.
Loyola Marymount University - They claim the typical international student receiving aid has a SAT score of 1250, so let’s assume you’ll need a 1360 or (probably) more to get full ride.
University of Houston - http://www.uh.edu/tieronescholars/benefits/ minimum score of 1360 in SAT to be eligible.
I’m looking for more but it’s a slow job, will probably post again tomorrow with a couple more if I find them, the list given by @b@r!um in page 5 looks promising so I’m looking at those colleges now.
By the way I suggest that even if your GPA is lower than the minimum the university has you contact them, being an international this is the easiest part to get through as far as I’ve been told.
@41ADAN Thanks! I’m looking at engineering programs too, but I really like LACs so I’m willing to compromise, maybe major in Maths or something.
So my mind has been on this issue: Several schools EA vs one SCEA/REA if there’s no clear favourite school. Like, MIT, Caltech & Uchicago all have EA and then there’s Princeton SCEA and Stanford REA. I’m kind of torn.
One one hand, if I apply EA, then technically my chances don’t exactly increase because there’s nothing binding about it, but I get at least 3 decisions early. On the other hand, SCEA gives a teeny boost, but then I’m an international student who needs a lot of aid, and they may want to see the rest of the applicant pool, hence chances of me getting deferred, if not rejected. EA schools may also defer me, but at least I wouldn’t have wasted my ‘early shot’ on any one school.
Pros vs cons, anyone?
SCEA/REA at a college that NEED BLIND/MEET FULL NEED FOR INTERNATIONALS.
That means Princeton or Yale, basically - Stanford is need-aware.
With that, you CAN apply to public universities with merit scholarships - do that too.
I haven’t seen any evidence that applying ED/SCEA increases chances of admission for a generic applicant at the tippy top universities.
Sure, the nominal admission rates may be higher, but the pool is also rather different from the RD pool. You’ve got the recruited athletes, the legacies with a history of donations to the university, ‘celebrity’ applicants (e.g. the children of heads of state), prodigies with pre-existing ties to the university (e.g. I have met high school students who were taking graduate-level courses at a university and applied with letters of recommendation from the faculty there), etc.
Are any of you aware of evidence that applying early increases the chances of a generic applicant?
That said, I wouldn’t apply ED in the hopes that it would increase my chances. I’d rather get a bunch of EA decisions early and be in a position to compare financial aid offers.
^ in the specific situation of an international who needs a lot of financial aid from a generous need blind meet need University that may only admit 2 students from his/her country, it may have tipped the balance a few times.
I don’t think anyone has conclusive evidence (since we can’t double test and have the same student apply rea and rd to the same school) but overall, in the specific case above, with the student applying rea and getting into a highly selective university v. applying Rd to other highly selective universities, rea> Rd.
Some highly selective universities discourage or forbid students with high financial need from applying early (Grinnell, Carleton, MIT).
So technically the SCEA route for Princeton is the best?