<p>Hi guys.
I'm an international student currently attending a top 5 liberal arts college looking to transfer to a school that may provide me some financial aid. I am currently on leave from my college b/c I could not afford to pay the tuition for this semester so I'll probably apply as a Sophomore transfer for the Fall 2013 admissions cycle. So my stats:</p>
<p>College GPA: 3.9
High School GPA: 3.96
SAT: 720/800/800
SAT II (don't know if this matters): Math II - 800, World History - 800, Literature 770
Extracurriculars:
I wasn't very involved with activities during college. One thing special about me though is that I've had extensive work experience--I've been employed for more than a year and a half now, even during the semester, for a company that's very similar to Kaplan or Princeton Review--they do SAT prep kind of stuff in my country. I also have a paper published in an undergraduate journal in my area of study. But I guess this is it for what I did during college...
Rec Letter: One directly told me that her rec letter is going to be "glowing." The other rec letter is going to be at least very good.
Hooks?: I am really not your typical Asian. My major is Russian, so I hope that helps in the application process because I feel like colleges would prefer a Russian major to say an Econ major because honestly, Russian majors are scarce. I also rap--yeah, like hiphop--and being a girl I'm hoping colleges will find that appealing. I feel like with the info I revealed ppl who know me will easily identify me but I need objective opinions and advice so that's why i'm being so open about myself. so even if you recognize me I really hope you just keep that to yourself ;)
Since I'm taking a gap year this academic year I really want to do something that's going to make a difference in my life and hopefully be a positive impact in my whole application process. I'm probably going to focus on doing music related activities, but we'll see.</p>
<p>So, I think I'm a fairly competitive applicant given that I write my essays well and stuff, but being an international student and needing financial aid, I can feel my chances dropping significantly already. So right now I'm considering applying to these schools:</p>
<p>Amherst
Brown
Bryn Mawr
CMC
Dartmouth
Grinnell
Harvard
Stanford
Swarthmore
Tufts
Yale</p>
<p>(I've already checked with their financial aid office and I'm eligible for FA, although most schools are need-aware so my chances are going to drop significantly. but then the need-blind schools are the schools with crazy acceptance rates so I feel like I'm facing like a 1% chance for every school)</p>
<p>So what do you guys think? Do you guys have any recommendations as to the schools I might consider applying? I really don't care about prestige that much so I'm willing to go "down" in terms of rankings or reputation. And do you think this is even worth trying? I feel like my chances are really really slim and all the work I put into this have a high chance of being in vain... but I need that fa money so it's a dilemma. Anyone who's been through a similar situation please give me some advice! thanks a lot for reading.</p>
<p>Since you’re currently attending a top 5 LAC, what makes you think that any of those schools other than HYS will offer you a more generous FA package?</p>
<p>I’m not on financial aid at my current school. I didn’t apply for financial aid when I applied as a freshman because my family thought we could afford four years of education there, but circumstances changed and I now need financial aid so that’s why I’m transferring out.</p>
<p>@entomom um sadly, for international students, if you don’t apply for financial aid as a freshman, you almost always don’t get any financial aid even if your circumstances change. This is true for most schools. Also, even if you were getting financial aid, the amount usually stays the same for all four years even if circumstances change. This is what i’ve found out from experience. Of course things are different for domestics.</p>
<p>I see, the only thing I can say is to be try to be relatively sure before you apply that you will at least qualify for FA at each school, but I’m not sure how possible that is for an Intl. applicant as the NPCs may not work for you.</p>
<p>I would also consider taking Brown off your list because in addition to being need-aware for transfers, they also state that they have limited FA for transfers.</p>
<p>Other than that, I think you have the facts down–it’s possible, but it’s gonna be tough.</p>
<p>First off, well done. Getting a 3.9 freshman year at a top 5 liberal arts college is very impressive (unless you took introductory courses). But enough praise, now we move on to depressing matters. As you know, being international and needy is a double whammy as far as transfer admissions is concerned. You have the right idea applying to full-need and need-blind schools, but the chances of getting in are just too small. I think Dartmouth is your best bet, as they are trying to increase transfer admission by 100 students this year. Amherst, Harvard, Stanford, and Yale are impossible. I would just cross them off as you would be handing them your application fee.</p>
<p>@sometransfer thanks for the info. Will look into those schools.
And if anybody’s interested, Swarthmore doesnt give aid to international transfers. I’m crossing it out from the list of schools i’m applying to.</p>