<p>@ormdad You need to understand that it’s not about the “the money for fees, the time for supplemental essays, and you genuinely like all of those schools”. It’s rather that internationals simply have no other choice given the competition. Most of these OP’s schools offer application fee waivers and OP may qualify. The fit part is important, however. There are many schools that offer aid to internationals and I believe OP can create a list of schools according to ‘fit’ as well.</p>
<p>The University of Rochester is far from what I would call generous.</p>