<p>I am an international student who can probably cover about 25-30k a year. Obviously, international students who need financial aid have an extremely difficult time getting in to college, so although 15 would be too much for a normal domestic applicant, it might be necessary for someone like me. I'm not sure if I have enough schools with acceptance rates above 40-50% and whether or not I should take off some of the <20% schools. Here's the list:</p>
<p>-Harvard
-Yale
-Princeton
-U Chicago (First choice)
-Brown (maybe first choice)
-Amherst
-Rochester
-Macalester
-Dartmouth
-Duke
-Georgetown
-John Hopkins
-Tufts
-Howard University (Presidential Scholarship)
-Adams State</p>
<p>I'm also worried about all of the essays and applications I would have to write and fill out. However, I do believe I have time as school doesn't begin here until the 3rd week of September. The beginning of the school year is also really slow because we always have to incorporate new students from other countries. But is it just too much to do? Should I trim the list to maybe 10 schools?</p>
<p>EDIT: Here's my bio:</p>
<p>My Majors: Economics, political Science and maybe IR.</p>
<p>GPA:
Weighted: 4.25 or so
Unweighted: 3.87</p>
<p>SAT: 2330 (800 CR, 760 M, 770 W)</p>
<p>SAT II:
Spanish with Listening-800
World History-800
US History-800 (predicted)</p>
<p>APs: 5s: Micro Economics, Macro Economics, European History, World History
4: Literature</p>
<p>ECs: </p>
<p>-Football Captain. Believe it or not, but it's actually pretty big where. I live and we travel to other countries to play other teams.
- Lead electric and acoustic Guitar in my school band.
- Class President staring this year
-I've spent my past two summers building a 2,500 square foot home from scratch with just my father.
- A LOT of time spent teaching and Learning English, Turkish, Russian and Spanish in various countries and schools.</p>
<p>Hooks: Diversity</p>
<p>No, in the position you are in.</p>
<p>There, I posted my credentials and my entire life’s value (sarcasm). I think I can gain admission to any school with a bit of luck, but maybe that’s just because I’m a little over-confident in myself.</p>
<p>I would like to stick in some colleges on the west coast as I really want to live in California. Attending a UC would be lovely but unfortunately the aid available to international students is non-existent. I can’t seem to find any good-value schools on the west coast either.</p>
<p>You have a lot of reaches in your list, international or not, it makes really difficult. It’s the same as lit the fire under these application fees. Maybe you should do better research, it’s true Ivies gave good financial aid but you must have at least good chance to get into and not just blindly apply. Diversity is not a hook for you.</p>
<p>Assuming that you have verified that the Howard Presidential scholarship is available to you as an international student, and you apply early (automatic, but first come first served), then Howard can serve as your safety.</p>
<p>For all others, be sure to check whether you as an international student will be eligible for need-based financial aid or merit scholarships that you will need to be able to afford to attend.</p>
<p>I hate to see a list with HYPMS and equivalent for the sake of applying with no reason at all</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus</p>
<p>I emailed Howard two days ago about its availability and they still haven’t replied 
If it’s not available then I will have to find another generous scholarship program, but Howard seems lovely so I hope it works out. Especially with the political experience I may get to enjoy in DC.</p>
<p>@DrGoogle </p>
<p>Application fees aren’t a problem. I’m currently attending private school on a full-ride private scholarship, which pays all of my application fees as well. My school will send my SAT scores so really no damage is being done to my family or myself.</p>
<p>I was running out of time to edit my post so I don’t no why I stuck diversity in there. 
</p>
<p>@artloversplus </p>
<p>I’ve been into Yale for a long time and the main reason I’m applying to Harvard and Princeton is because they are need-blind for international students. But I realize that everybody begins to roll their eyes whenever they see HYPSM on this forum and I understand it. If I had to trim the list down Harvard and Princeton would probably be the first two schools to go.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t apply to more than two safeties, 5 matches, and 5 reaches.</p>
<p>What is it that you mean my by reaches and matches? As far as I see, my test scores and GPA fall perfectly in line with those of the average students in these schools. Of course, schools with acceptances rates below fifteen are reaches for everyone, but I wouldn’t necessarily call Tufts a reach for me.</p>
<p>For example, my SAT scores fall into the 75th percentile at Duke and way above the 75th percentile at John Hopkins. Academically I don’t view any of these schools as reaches.</p>
<p>Of course, Duke and JHU are far, far away from being sure things. The fact that I need aid only lowers my chances, but I would not classify them as reaches. </p>
<p>You can think what you want, but I think it is a reach in IR, which is a very popular major at Tufts and a little harder to get in to than, say, English. Think of the “average” more as a suggestion than something you can stake your life on. Most applicants with your stats get turned down by Tufts. It’s just a problem of number of seats in a classroom. They don’t want all the students that are mirror images of you; they want to build a well-rounded class and don’t really care much about the great student that you are. This isn’t personal; it’s statistical. You could get into ALL of your reaches, but statistically that is not likely based on the info I have. I have to turn in. Good night.</p>
<p>I probably won’t apply as an IR major, right now I’m looking to double in Political Science and Economics. But I have dual citizenship and have lived in 3 countries in the past 3 years. I have studied in languages that are not my first language. I think I would fill out a classroom nicely anywhere. </p>
<p>I don’t mean to sound arrogant or egotistical, but I really do believe I’m a qualified person. I only want to know if I should maintain my list as it is or trim it down. </p>
<p>It’s 2 AM on the east coast so have a goodnight and thank you for the advice. Everybody on CC is always out to humble me and at least it brings me down to earth </p>
<p>^That’s an interesting comment considering the fact that Duke has higher SAT scores than Dartmouth and Brown. It is definitely a reach. </p>
<p>Duke’s 75th percentile SAT scores: </p>
<p><a href=“http://admissions.duke.edu/images/uploads/process/DukeClass2017Profile.pdf”>http://admissions.duke.edu/images/uploads/process/DukeClass2017Profile.pdf</a></p>
<p>Verbal - 780
Math - 790
Writing - 790 </p>
<p>I was not aware that 2360 < 2330. Thanks for clearing that up (insert sarcasm).</p>
<p>Test scores are only part of the story. A 2330 does not entitle you to anything at competitive schools with acceptance rates below <25%.</p>
<p>Anyway, since you can afford around half the cost of attendance, your odds are better than those of many internationals. However, it is silly to apply to HYP just because they are need-blind. There are many schools that promise to meet need of internationals even though they aren’t need-blind. </p>
<p>Howard, from what I gather from the news, is failing financially these days. I would be careful about keeping Howard as my safety. Also, you could look into schools outside America? HKU would be quite within your budget, and it’s a very fine school indeed.</p>
<p>You may find some of the comments I made on this thread helpful:</p>
<p><a href=“Please suggest me some good colleges with high financial aid! - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1666989-please-suggest-me-some-good-colleges-with-high-financial-aid-p1.html</a></p>
<p>15 schools is probably the minimum an aid-seeking international should apply to, unless you get lucky. A friend of mine, an aid-seeking international, for instance, applied to only 6 schools: Amherst, Bowdoin, Washington & Lee, Grinnell, Macalester and Colby. She got into Bowdoin–only Bowdoin. I have seen people who applied to 10 schools get in nowhere as well. I would say you should add 3-5 more schools and make them LACs like Hamilton and Mount Holyoke (if you’re a girl) etc. You need to cast a very wide net so that you have options come April 2015.</p>
<p>@International95</p>
<p>I always love your posts because you are very helpful, especially for an international student such as myself. I completely agree, SAT scores don’t entitle me to anything.</p>
<p>You’re also the only person to answer my question, so thank you, again. I will make sure to keep a close eye on Howard. I’m honestly not sure if I should apply to more universities like you suggested. I’ll consider it, but I’m not sure were to apply. </p>
<p>From what I gather, you attend or attended Reed. I’ve considered adding it to my list but I’m not sure what life is like in Portland. Any thoughts? How is the Financial Aid for internationals? Are the economics and political science departments good? How is the campus and the weather? Are there any ski resorts near the school (I’m an avid snowboarder). </p>
<p>Do you know of any decent LACs that are in Cali? </p>
<p>@hidall1 When I looked it up the 75th percentile was exactly a 2330. Obviously these things change year by year. Don’t get sassy with me. The point was that I am academically qualified to a apply to these schools. Obviously, academics aren’t everything nor do they guarantee anything, but I merely meant that I deserve to apply. </p>
<p>There’s the Claremont Consortium. And in April I learned of this college called Soka University of America, which is need-blind for all students and offers free tuition for those with incomes <60k, in addition to merit aid to make up the difference. A poster was deciding between that school and Reed, and I have no idea what he or she or they decided to do.</p>
<p>Reed is very, very generous to international students. It promises to meet your need if admitted and I, for one, was offered more aid than I expected. Reed owns a ski cabin, actually. ‘Good’ depends on what you hope to do with your degree. In 2012, for instance, after Williams (7), Reed produced the most number of economics PhDs (5) (amongst LACs). My impression is that a lot of political science majors go on to law school. I can’t answer your other questions just yet, but you can ask those questions in the Reed forum.</p>
<p>Well I plan on getting a master’s degree in International Affairs afterwards so enough to learn my stuff and learn it well. Of course plans change, but that’s it for now.</p>
<p>The ski cabin is a relatively big plus for me, I’ll make sure to look into that in detail. I also believe Reed has an open curriculum which is something I value highly and it’s student body seems pretty cool.</p>
<p>The Claremont Consortium sounds very interesting based off of what I gathered from Wikepedia in five minutes so I will look further into that. Thank you for the suggestion. </p>