<p>Good day,</p>
<p>I'm a Turkish-Bosnian dual citizen who's studying in Turkey as a Junior with 3.62GPA for the first three years. 31 on the ACT, 1460 on Sat. I have received recognition for my research into Bio fuel production from paper waste and cotton based textile waste with the latter being recognized by T</p>
<p>“While I prefer…” What were you going to write?</p>
<p>Can your family pay anything? </p>
<p>Your stats are good, but not strongly competitive for ivies/elites who have a lot of aid to give to int’ls who qualify and who are admitted.</p>
<p>You need to retest for higher scores to increase your chances for top schools that give int’l aid.</p>
<p>MOst schools do NOT give aid to int’ls. </p>
<p>What is your M+CR score?</p>
<p>if your family can pay a good amount, then there are some schools that would give you merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Heh, I must’ve been overexcited. While I prefer Game Design and Dev as a major, I wouldn’t mind Computer Science as well.</p>
<p>I’m sorry for the mix-up, my overall SAT score is 1980 an my M+CR is 1420. I’ve taken ACT without writing and scored a 31.</p>
<p>My mother can only pay 40k over the course of 4 years. I believe that doesn’t even cover a quarter of the totals.</p>
<p>Thanks for the fast reply.</p>
<p>It’s likely that you should pursue a degree in your home country. It’s very unlikely that you’ll find a university that will offer you essentially a full ride. $10,000 per year would really only cover room/board, and not even that at some schools.</p>
<p>For Comp Sci, The University of Alabama would give you free tuition and 2500 per year. Not sure if your family’s $10k is enough to pay for all of your other costs. Int’ls have to also show that they have their personal expenses and travel money covered. It would be enough if you were a domestic student, but showing all funds could be an issue. </p>
<p>You have a couple of issues…your stats and GPA aren’t high enough for top schools that give lots of need based aid (and that’s even if you qualify for aid and admission at these top schools).</p>
<p>You need to read through everything (and I do indeed mean everything) at [EducationUSA</a> | Study Abroad, Student Visa, University Fairs, College Applications and Study in the U.S. / America](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.info/]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.info/) Then you need to make an appointment with the counselors at the advising center closest to where you live. There are two in Turkey: [EducationUSA</a> - Find an Advising Center](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.info/Turkey]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.info/Turkey) If you can’t visit in person, get in touch with them by phone or email, and find out what kind of help they can give you. The staff and volunteers at EducationUSA are expert at helping students in your country find good places to study in the US. They can do for you what a good guidance counselor in the US does for students here. They will be able to tell you where students like you have been accepted in recent years, and if those students got enough financial aid.</p>
<p>You also should spend some time in the International Students Forum [International</a> Students - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/international-students/]International”>International Students - College Confidential Forums) Look for anything by b@r!um who is the resident expert there on financial aid, and anything by EducationUSAtips who is the official representative of that organization.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>You need to talk to your family…</p>
<p>I don’t think you’d get accepted to a school that would give you enough need-based aid.</p>
<p>However, if you get a merit scholarship from a school, you will still have to show funds that you can cover the rest of costs. </p>
<p>Happymom probably knows the rules for int’ls working in the US…there are some strict rules, but they can work some. That might be able to help you a bit…but you have to show your funds first…you can’t rely on earnings.</p>
<p>@happymomof1 Thank you. I’ll definitely read that site and I’ll also give b@r!um a pm. I’ve been to EducationUSA’s offices, they said that they’re mostly for grad students.</p>
<p>The said 40k is mostly liquid. We have little to no income because my mother is unemployed and my father is deceased. The financial audit is a non-concern.</p>
<p>I’d gladly work on-campus given the opportunity. I’d work anywhere as long as it’s legal.</p>
<p>By the way, were my extra-curricular achievements a total waste of time?</p>
<p>*The said 40k is mostly liquid. We have little to no income because my mother is unemployed and my father is deceased. *</p>
<p>I don’t understand…if your mom has no income, how can she spend $40k on your education? How is she going to live? What will you live on during the next 12 months?</p>
<p>were my extra-curricular achievements a total waste of time?</p>
<p>Not if you learned something from them.</p>
<p>ECs are sometimes over-rated unless you’re competitive for highly selective schools. For most schools they usually don’t compensate for less-than-adequate scores unless they’re amazing hooks. Often, ECs are just used to down-select from top applicants. </p>
<p>If your stats were more competitive for the top schools that give the big need-based aid for int’ls, then your ECs might have helped you get selected over someone similar stats and lesser ECs. </p>
<p>Are you still a junior? It’s confusing because you say that you have grades for 3 years. Will you soon be a senior?</p>
<p>Do you know what your ranking is?</p>
<p>Excuse me for my improper phrasing. The ~40,000$ is reserved for my education. My mother will be able to get by without sacrificing anything.</p>
<p>I will be a senior in 8 days. We are still on our summer break. I’m not sure of my ranking because my school has 40-50 students in the 2012 class and we are subdivided into 2 parts. The Science and Mathematics Track and The Social Sciences Track.</p>
<p>I suggest that you work as you can and saving some money…can you work part-time during the school year and full time during the summer? </p>
<p>Every dollar you can earn/save yourself will make things easier and help cover your personal expenses while in college.</p>
<p>I’ll be taking some time off while I finish up all the TV Shows I’ve been watching, make sure I get no distractions during this time-sensitive period.</p>
<p>I would like to thank everyone who’s helped me directly or indirectly in this past week. Without you I’d probably have given up on my dream of an education in the US. UA sounds like a great university and that’s just scratching the surface. b@r!um sent some tips over PM to help me search for a good college. Things are looking way better than when I first came here and you people are to thank for that.</p>
<p>I’ll update this thread as I move on with the applications and such.</p>