Hey everyone, I’m from Qatar and I will apply for lots of universities next year in USA.
I’ve heard that international students who don’t need financial aid have higher acceptance rate than a normal person applying.
I want to know if this is true or not.
It depends on circumstances. On the one hand, it definitely makes your application stand out, so it will get more attention. My daughter applied from France to reach schools and got in almost everywhere, though she opted for Cam in the UK.
On the other hand, there are many imponderable factors, such as quotas at certain institutions, political concerns, etc. So it matters where you choose to apply. Moreover, getting into the best schools is hard for everyone.
Many of the very top schools are need-blind. That cuts both ways, so at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, etc. it will not matter whether or not you need financial aid. That being said, at schools the next rung down, it may well be an advantage in admissions if you do not need aid. This is particularly true of schools that are need-aware in admissions, but guarantee to meet full financial need.
As @Mikalye said, there ARE many need blind schools. However, whether they will give any aid or scholarship, that is a totally different questions.
Only 6 need blinds schools guarantee 100% need met financial aid. These 6 schools are hard to get in whether you need money or not anyway. Rest, they give sub par amount of money, combination of merit and need, or just merit.
At least in US, international students who do not applying to FA in need aware schools have significantly better chances to be accepted. I mean, what school wouldn’t want full freight students?
Hi! I’d just like to point out that there aren’t many need blind schools for internationals (there was another thread about this a few weeks ago). To my knowledge, there are only 8 need-blind schools for international students (6 of which will meet your need 100%). The 6 that will meet your need 100% are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Dartmouth and Amherst. The other 2 that are need blind for internationals but do not meed need 100% are Georgetown and Cornell. At these schools not applying for financial aid will not provide a boost to one’s application. Outside of these, it should.
@go4cornell
There ARE some need blind schools for international students. However, many students confuse need blind and need met. They are need blind for all applicants, but do NOT guarantee 100% need met financial aid or give any need based . Some schools are need blind and give mix of merit and need scholarship, like Tulane does.
@paul2752 I know there are those kinds of schools. I referred to them when I listed Cornell and Georgetown as examples. I was under the impression however that schools outside of these 8 were need-blind for US citizens and permanent residents but need-aware for international students. I was working off of this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission and conversations with college representatives, however please correct me if I am wrong.
I was under the impression that there are essentially four categories regarding international student admission and aid policies:
We already know that…
FYI, Pomona is need blind to internationals ONLY if they finish high school in US
There are many many colleges in the US that are need aware but guarantee to meet full need if accepted for intls. Upenn, Vanderbilt, Richmond, Grinnell, Rochester, Brown, Swarthmore to name a few.