Is my college list OK?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I’m an international student and I’m looking for colleges/universities that can give me enough (almost full) FA. My stats are not important right now but I’m interested if those schools I have chosen are “right” for me. I would appreciate it if you could tell me if any of those schools differs from the others greatly or is known for poor FA for internationals (though I chose them from a list which indicates schools with good FA to internationals). Also, please tell if some of these schools just doesn’t seem to fit the list. </p>

<li>Yale (SCEA)</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Oberlin College</li>
<li>Colby College</li>
<li>Bates College</li>
<li>Washington and Lee University</li>
<li>Macalester College</li>
<li>Trinity College</li>
<li>Union College</li>
<li>unsure, maybe Dartmouth. Please recommend smth</li>
</ol>

<p>I have done exhaustive research but am still afraid I got something wrong.
I’m interested in Political Science (or International Relations) or Psychology
Thank you for your help!</p>

2

<p>Maybe you could tell us what kind of characteristics you're looking for in a college? And what kind of stats you have? That'd help us to narrow down your list.</p>

<p>Also, if you're interested in international relations, you should definitely consider Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, and Claremont McKenna. All well-known, well-regarded IR programs. Not sure about the finaid, though.</p>

3

<p>Look at URochester!</p>

4

<p>I'm from Estonia and a rising senior</p>

<p>High School - small, very competitive, often said to be the best in my country (the competition for one place was 1/20 the year I entered), has sent some people to Harvard, Columbia, Vassar, Oxbridge and 100% of its graduates go to a four-year university (also have the highest examination results in my country). If I would stay in Estonia I would go to the leading university in here.</p>

<p>GPA - about 4,6/5 or 93% but it's not actually calcualted. This is based on my course grades and I have about 110 courses in high school. </p>

<p>Rank - also, school does not rank, but I should be 3/29 (I know, small class. But again, very very competitive)</p>

<p>Courses - we don't get to choose our subjects but follow the national curricula. so, we have about 20 different subjects throughout high school (meaning that every year I have the same 20 subjects) This gives a very strong base but has a negative effect on my GPA. This year we actually had some electives and I had the most difficult course load possible.</p>

<p>SAT - not taken yet, but shouldn't actually be very difficult. I'm sure I'll get atleast 2000 on the reasoning test and 700 on subject tests (French, US History, MathII)</p>

<p>Backround - white, but grandmother from a small minority group and grandfather from Ukraine</p>

<p>Awards:
III place in History olympiad 2006
III place in G5 debating contest (G5 - the 5 best schools in Estonia) 2007
A diploma from the President's Historical Research contest 2006
A diploma form the National Archive for Historical Research 2007</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:
1996-2006 gymnastics/showdance
2008 ballroom dancing
2001-2004 art school
2006-2009 debating (one of the organisers of Tallinn Open - an international debating contest)
2008-2009 judge in various debating competitions
photography + photo editing
2008-2009 the school choir
2008 „Security Policy and National Defence“ – course in university, earning college credit, will continue in autumn (with a different course) </p>

<p>Work experience:
2007 - translated scientifical research from English into Estonian
2008 summer - worked as a shop assistant in a phone shop</p>

<p>Volunteering:</p>

<p>2008 – Clean Estonia
2007 – planting trees
2006 – cleaning forests from garbage
(all this is very popular in Estonia and is almost the only volunteer work possible)</p>

<p>As for my college preferences... I'm not sure. I seem to like almost every environment - small town, big city, you name it. I've lived in both and understand that both have their pros and cons. I would like to go to a smaller school (15000 undergrads is too much). I'm mostly looking for east coast schools (easier to travel from Europe + I like the weather). </p>

<p>With many schools I just feel they are right for me. Yale, Oberlin and Colby seem to be my favourites right now. With the others I'm not so sure, maybe I just don't know enough about them.</p>

<p>highhopes - Thank you! I'm definitely going to check out those schools :)</p>

<p>themachine8 - Great! Thank you for your advice</p>

5

<p>From what you've said, your list looks fine to me - a good set of reaches, matches, and safeties. For a couple additional reaches/matches, look at some of the schools I mentioned earlier - again, since finaid is a concern, I'm not sure if all of them will be compatible for you.</p>

6

<p>Thank you. Anyone else?</p>

7

<p>Williams offers good aid for internationals.</p>

8

<p>Georgetown is need-blind for internationals, you should definitely look at it. Brilliant for IR as well.</p>

9

<p>Thank you!!
I didn't know that Georgetown is need-blind. I always thought that they give almost no money to intl. students...</p>

10

<p>Dartmouth and Middlebury have need-blind, and often very generous, international aid. Dartmouth will be tough with less than a 2250 however.</p>

11

<p>1) I don't think GTown is need blind for internationals. I'd look into that.
2)I would suggest UPenn. Very good for IR, the CAS is only a couple thousand students, and the international financial aid is hard to beat. I should probably qualify my suggestion by saying that I'm a Penn student studying Estonian on my own and the prospect of having a native Estonian-speaker on campus is quite delightful (We already have 1 Estonian; I think he's sick of my semi-regularly assaulting him with questions about noun inflection).
3. I've heard Macalester is an excellent, excellent environment for internationals. Also, check out Colgate in upstate NY</p>

12

<p>Flid, Washington and Lee does not fit. It is a pretty conservative school and most of the other schools on your list are liberal. I would add MIT.</p>

13

<p>Thats any awesome list, i'd love to go to any of those schools</p>

14

<p>I can attest with complete certainty that Georgetown is need blind for internationals.</p>

15

<p>I don't think that MIT is a good fit for someone with the OPs academic interests.</p>

16

<p>Why not? MIT is among the top 5 in Economics and Business and among the top 10 in Political Science and Psychology. Unless the OP is interested in History, English or the Classics, MIT fits the bill nicely. Plus, MIT is EXTREMELY generous toward international students (need blind and guarantees to meet 100% of demonstrated need) and favors female applicants. I'd say MIT is a winner.</p>

17

<p>uI shall second (U)Penn for both its phenomenal and tight-knit IR community, it's unparalleled undergraduate breadth for IR-type studies, and its financial aid which is especially generous for students from less common countries (common like, say, Canada, Britain, Australia, France, Korea, etc) </p>

<p>Like Yale, Dartmouth and Williams, however, Penn is not a sure thing for admissions. But certainly worth a try! Feel fred to message me with any questions. </p>

<p>And also, good luck dealing with your Russian neighbors. Don't let them derail the marvel of E-stonia! :)</p>

18

<p>Boston College provides full financial aid, and it seems like a good match for your stats.</p>

19

<p>Firstly, I must thank you all. All the schools you recommended are great and once again I have so many options.
I have considered MIT before but it requires a science SatII. I'm a bit concerned about that because although I like (and am good at) both Bio and Chem it seems that the SAT requires different knowledge from what I have learned. Still, for a long time I have thought about replacing my French SAT with something else. So, I might as well give MIT another chance.
UPenn is a university that has moved on and off my list several times. It's one of the schools that seems to admit many Estonians (so does Stanford...and by many I mean one per year) so that might give me an edge. </p>

<p>Secondly, a few days ago I became a happy owner of a list with schools that give generous FA to intl students. So, I changed my list a bit:</p>

<p>1) Colby College (definitely going to apply)
2) Bates College
3) Yale University (SCEA - I'm not sure if it's a good idea... the SCEA pool is more competitive, but it is my first choice..)
4) Princeton University
5) Berea College ( I was impressed by its promises to pay for everything and give a new laptop. However, it seems weird to me. what's the catch?)
6) Washington & Lee University ( It being conservative does not worry me)
7) Oberlin College (definitely going to apply)
8) Grinnell College (thought that it gave less FA than it does + has a thing for East Europe ;p )
9) Macalester College</p>

<p>So, as you can see, I took off some schools that were easier to get into. I guess that all the schools in my list are reaches for me as I need FA. I would like to have a safety (or at least a match) but can't find one. I must admit that I have quite a hard time choosing the schools as there are so many great universities and without a chance to visit them before applying I don't really know what I'm getting myself into. </p>

<p>So, I guess I need a safety...</p>

<p>And once again - I'm so thankful for all your help</p>

20

<p>Anyone? </p>

<p>Safeties or matches greatly needed...</p>