International Student looking for full ride

@MYOS1634 : Could you please cite your source for the above ^ comment, or otherwise fully document your conclusion. I don’t grasp how Grinnell or Carleton have admissions policies or rules that “discourage or forbid students with high financial need from applying early.”

Because there’s a limited budget for internationals (separate from Americans’), need-aware/meet need elite colleges* want to have the best way to allocate funds and for this they need to have an overview of all internationals applying. That’s why they prefer RD or may offer EA applicants a financial aid package later on. To be blunt, if you have $200,000 for your international incoming class’ financial aid, you can’t afford to blow $100,000 on two top students in the ED round when you could have 3 equally top students in the RD round use that amount. However since top colleges are competing with the likes of Harvard for the internationally-top students, they’ve relented their policies.
(BTW internationals are encouraged to apply earlier than the deadline.)
Up until the 2016 cycle both Carleton and Grinnell explicitely requested that international students anticipating significant financial need apply in the RD round only. Traces of this have been erased from Grinnell’s website but can still be found on Carleton’s

  • The situation isn't the same for need-blind/meet need colleges, of which there are 5: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, and Amherst. The budget there is not limited in the same way so that they can admit as many super needy applicants through the early round as they wish and be pretty certain these financial aid packages will be unmatched by other universities.

Sorry for taking a few days to post, I’ve been quite busy and forgot.

I just got a message back from Loyola Marimount University, apparently there is, indeed, a full ride merit scholarship for which internationals can compete, for a reference on SAT scores, they pointed me towards the last class profile (http://admission.lmu.edu/apply/first-yearapplicants/freshmanclassprofile/) which indicates that a SAT score of 1340 would place you in the 75th percentile, which in turn means that aproximately 300 students have a SAT score of 1350 or more.

I am currently trying to find out how many full ride scholarships they offer so I can add some better reference, but I suppose with your academic profile you should be able to get one without problems.

By the way take University of Houston off the list, the Tier One Scholarship is not offered to internationals.

Other interesting choices seem to be Duke University and Central Arkansas, I’m going to contact them next for information but their websites are pretty straightforward and it seems like they’re both good options.

@41ADAN Thanks. Duke is on my list already. Their need based aid is pretty good. I’ll see if I can find something on Central Arkansas too.

@gigichuck I just found out University of Chicago offers 100% need based financial aid to internationals. Unfortunately, it does not seem to have engineering programs.

^ however it does have excellent CS programs in case that’s of interest too.

@41ADAN @MYOS1634 I want to major in Electrical/Electronics and/or Computer Engineering/Science so yeah, I’m applying to Uchicago.

I did check Central Arkansas and apparently they have full ride scholarships for intls and for those you need essays and SAT scores. I’ll probably not apply, because they need my WAEC result, which comes out around this time of the year, and so won’t be availabe come application season.

Have you looked at Rice? I’d love to apply but they don’t give waivers for anything.

Typically they mean predicted WAEC results (+ in July confirmation you got the diploma)

@MYOS1634 My school doesn’t give out predicted scores till graduation >:) lol by that time results are out already. Plus, application fee showed no signs of being waived. I think I’ll email them about it.

Can’t your school offer some prediction (understanding they’re not binding) as to what level you’re expected to reach? Surely there’s a sense by December whether you’ll barely scrape by or earn your diploma with flying colors?
BTW near UCA there’s Hendrix, which has one very big scholarship and several smaller ones and is a very very good college.

@MYOS1634 We usually take 6 MOCK exams before WAEC. We’re in the middle of the third one, and the last is usually in February or March, depending. Anyway, they could probably make some prediction based on continuous assessment. Honestly though, my sister’s predicted scores were horrible and her real result was stellar.

Last time I checked out Hendrix I saw something like no aid for internationals. Must’ve been seeing double. I’ll check it out.

Does USC offer any full ride scholarships? I can see the full tuition + stipend merit aid but some posts on CC keep referring to full ride.

Tentative question 2: Who’s willing to read my essays, or refer me to someone anyway?

Go to the essay section of the website to ask for readers. You can always send it to me too. No matter what, never post it openly anywhere on the internet.

USC may offer “full rides” based on need but to the best of my knowledge those are only for American students. They’re need aware and even very poor students are expected to contribute what may be their parents’ annual salary. Look at threads by a former poster named laylasparks.

@MYOS1634 Thanks!

I checked out @LayraSparks posts. I sort of remembered the name from my early days of surfing the entire International Students section. Turns out she didn’t get a full ride. USC’s off - though their app looked really fun.

How’s Tulane’s aid? I’ve gone through their website, but anything else?

@gigichuck I contacted them a while ago about it, this is their response:

“We do offer a full tuition Global Scholarship ever year, but that only covers the cost of tuition. Even if you are among the 10 students awarded the Global Scholarship, you’ll still need to have the finances to cover your room, board and transportation, which runs at about $20,000 USD per year. If you think your family can come close to covering that amount, it will be worth it to apply. If not, because we are a need-aware school, we might not be able to admit you for financial reasons. However, you have nothing to lose by applying- there is no application fee and we are on the Common Application. It’s up to you!”

@41ADAN :)] :)] That’s actually pretty funny. Are you planning to apply there?

;)) I actually meant to use this but for some reason I kept tapping ^^ Couldn’t see it till I posted it

Why is it funny? Its a very honest response, that they offer a few full tuition scholarships for internationals (they do for domestic students too) but they are not need blind, and there are other costs associated with attendance. Its clear, and direct. Many schools will ask for proof of the ability to pay to get to/from ones home country and campus and the ability to cover other ancillary costs (insurance, lab fees, room/board, etc). The primary reason that students drop out is financial, and schools are looking to improve their retention and graduation rates. This is real life, like it or not, and colleges are a business, not a free source of $.