<p>Hi all, I'm an international student-hopeful from Singapore, taking the SAT in a few weeks and the ACT a month after. My practice scores have me hovering at 2100 for the SATs and around 31 for the ACTs.</p>
<p>Some of my info:
Highest Qualification: Polytechnic Diploma (enrolled after 10 yrs of basic primary/secondary education)
Diploma GPA: 3.7
- High % Financial Aid Required (Only one parent working)
- First Generation College Student (One younger sibling)
Recommendations from my lecturers should be pretty good.</p>
<p>These are the schools I'm applying to:
Reaches: Amherst / Vassar / Carleton / Reed
Matches: Colby / Oberlin / Brandeis / Macalester / Occidental
Safeties:Trinity / St Olaf / Gettysburg</p>
<p>(This is the list after I had already cut 7 colleges because the application fees were getting too high; $480 saved!) [Dartmouth, UPenn, Duke, Middlebury, Bard, Bates, Williams]</p>
<p>I understand that being an international student with high financial need, none of the schools can really be considered Safeties, but I'd like to know what you guys think? Should I apply to a few more colleges? Currently the total application fee only runs up to $410 USD which is still do-able for me.</p>
<p>My main worry is the competing against other Internationals, especially those with comparable results and plenty more hooks, not to mention those that can afford full tuition. I'm aiming for Amherst, Vassar or Oberlin; They seem to have the kind of environment and class profile I'd do well in.</p>
<p>@raiyne Bates waives the application fee for international students. You don’t need to apply for the waiver-it’s automatic for non-US citizens. (See #7 in the link)</p>
<p>I’m from Singapore too! Are you planning on applying to NUS/NTU/SMU at all? For me I’m applying to similar schools as you, but without any real safeties because I’ll go NUS if I can’t make it to US colleges I want to go to. It’s really hard to get into need aware schools as an intel that needs a lot of financial aid (I’m in the same boat as you). But if you have really good results (I’m not sure how good is 3.7 in poly standards?) you can try applying for some of the local scholarships with the government bodies/private organizations. Some offer scholarships to poly students but you’ll have to serve a 6 year bond afterwards.</p>
<p>Need based aid is based on what the colleges determine you need which may or may not be what you actually need. The first step is establish your minimum estimated family contribution by using a net price calculator for each college. This will give you the maximum amount of need based aid you might be eligible for – however you might not get that full amount. </p>
<p>After you’ve determined that your EFC is workable, you have to look for colleges that “guarantee to meet full need for internationals.” These are few and far between. </p>
<p>In addition to need based aid some colleges offer merit aid, but awards are unpredictable, especially for internationals. Consequently if you’re looking for merit you have to cast a wide net. </p>
<p>@gonzo1
Hmm, not sure if you were referring to the one in Texas. For the record I was referring to Trinity College in CT, which seems to be less selective than others, with a 30% acceptance rate and I’m definitely at or above the 75 percentile of their test score range.</p>
<p>@Sue22
That’s great, thanks for the heads up!</p>
<p>@skisse
Hello! I decided to just focus on my college applications for the moment and apply to maybe NUS or NTU as a last resort, depending on SAT/ACT results etc. 3.7/4.0 in Poly is pretty good I suppose? I guess it depends on course difficulty, which can vary alot, but hopefully the admissions boards view this number favourably. I’m not too keen on the local scholarships with bonds, having already served 2 years in NS against my will lol, but I’ll definitely look into them if I think my test scores aren’t solid enough. If all else fails I may just wait and apply for enrolment in spring term 2016, if perhaps I was not accepted but wait-listed by many schools. I view the local unis as a last resort, as I really don’t think much of our educators and especially the peers.</p>
<p>@momrath
Yes indeed, it was quite time consuming to dig through all these colleges. I have roughly estimated my EFC, and it certainly is do-able, especially as the colleges I’m applying to try to meet full need, or at least >90% for all their enrolled students. Competition will be tough, I hope my essay and recommendations will shine through and display my college readiness, despite being a bit of an underachiever in my CV.</p>
<p>The fact that a school is not one of those 6 does not necessarily mean that they will not accept an international student with high need, or award adequate aid. However, in my opinion it does mean that Trinity, St. Olaf, Gettysburg etc cannot be considered safeties.</p>
Are you planning on applying to NUS/NTU/SMU at all? For me I’m applying to similar schools as you, but without any real safeties because I’ll go NUS if I can’t make it to US colleges I want to go to. It’s really hard to get into need aware schools as an intel that needs a lot of financial aid (I’m in the same boat as you). But if you have really good results (I’m not sure how good is 3.7 in poly standards?) you can try applying for some of the local scholarships with the government bodies/private organizations. Some offer scholarships to poly students but you’ll have to serve a 6 year bond afterwards.</p>