Less selective schools with generous financial aid

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, guys :)</p>

<p>Can you help me find some not so selective schools that offer full financial aid to internationals? </p>

<p>I applied to some american colleges last year, but most of them rejected me. I’m aware that I applied to reach schools, but that was simply because those schools offer very generous need-based financial aid to internationals, since my financial situation requires full financial aid package.</p>

<p>What I’d like to ask you is to write down all the schools that you think might be a high match for my stats. I know there aren’t many of those, because less selective schools tend not to offer full financial aid for internationals. Unfortunately, the financial part is crucial for my attendance, so it really decreases the number of match schools. </p>

<p>Here are some of my stats:</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 (my school system doesn’t weight GPA)</p>

<p>SAT: 1650 (I did the SAT twice and this is the combined score)</p>

<p>TOEFL: 98</p>

<p>Class rank: top 5%</p>

<p>Extracurricular activities:</p>

<p>Youth Leadership Program: Participant
Program was sponsored by the US Department of State Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. I was one of 18 selected participants, out of 1500 applicants. I spent three weeks in Seattle and one week in Washington D.C. The goals of this program are to enhance the understanding of democratic process and discourse, build understanding between fellow participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, empower youth to have a voice in the debates shaping the future of their communities, and to provide the skills and contacts for youth to conduct projects in their own cities.</p>

<p>Children with disabilities center: Project manager
I held several workshops and implemented a project of making and selling jewelry at this center. The project was very successful and it was recognized by the American ambassador who expressed his gratitude at the Independence Day ceremony. I was chosen as one of ten most inspirational young people of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the same event.</p>

<p>Red Cross: First Aid Team Member
I have been volunteering at this movement for 5 years now. I’m a member of First aid team and I have organized and participated in projects such as: Let's do it!, Design your own charity, PHV, Gifts for children's smile, Stop TB, Blood Donor Day, etc.</p>

<p>Violin player
Played the instrument for 8 years now; Finished primary violin school; Straight A student with a lack of competitions to participate in.</p>

<p>ASuBiH: Vice-coordinator
Association of High School students of BiH,local team Pale; Our task is to provide the encouragement and opportunity to realize the ideas of our peers;</p>

<p>Volleyball: Middle blocker
Local volleyball team "Mokro"; Year and a half of active playing; Won many games on the local level.</p>

<p>School newspaper: Editor
Successfully wrote and edited many articles published in two years' time.</p>

<p>US Alumni Association in BiH: Active member
Using the experience from the US, Association works on the realization of projects in the field of economic, political and educational development.</p>

<p>Recommendation Letters: Very good; I also have an additional recommendation from US Cultural Attache.</p>

<p>From my perspective, I think that my SAT score might be a roadblock. It can make the admission officers doubt the rigor of my high school. However, my high school is really good, with 15 obligatory subjects throughout every year. It fulfills the criteria for most colleges (4 years of both math and sciences, and two foreign languages, as well). The only problem is that all my subjects are taught in Bosnian, so it was really hard for me to do well on the SAT.</p>

<p>I'd appreciate any help! :)</p>

2

<p>There are only six US schools that offer need-blind and full-need admissions to international students - and they are all very competitive: <a href=“Schools Awarding International Financial Aid”>http://www.internationalstudent.com/schools_awarding_aid&lt;/a&gt;

</p>

<p>Other colleges give financial aid to international students, but most are need-aware for international students – meaning they look at your family’s ability to pay when considering your application. </p>

<p>From the pull down menu on the above link, select colleges by state and see the average financial aid award given to international students, which is usually less than the cost of attendance. Look carefully at the # of International students attending a college (usually a large number) and the **# of International students receiving aid at that college<a href=“usually%20a%20low%20number”>/b</a>. </p>

3

<p>Unfortunately the colleges that meet full need for international students are extremely selective. </p>

<p>For need aware schools, they could choose to reject because they don’t want to give you aid. For need blind schools, they can’t reject you because you apply for aid. </p>

<p>As for merit aid, as far as I know, most merit aid is only offered to American students, but I will have to research more. </p>

<p>Amherst College — need-blind
Barnard College — need-aware
Bates College — need-aware
Bowdoin College — need-aware
Brown University — need-aware
California Institute of Technology — need-aware
Colgate University — need-aware
Columbia University — need-aware
Dartmouth College — need-blind
Hamilton College — need-aware
Harvard University — need-blind
Haverford College — need-aware
MIT — need-blind
Middlebury College — need-aware
Oberlin College — need-aware
Occidental College — need-aware
Pomona College — need-aware
Princeton University — need-blind
Smith College – need-aware
Swarthmore College — need-aware
University of Chicago — need-aware
University of Pennsylvania — need-blind in Mexico and Canada, need-aware elsewhere
University of Richmond — need-aware
Vassar College — need-aware
Wellesley College — need-aware
Williams College — need-aware
Yale University — need-blind</p>

4

<p>Take a look at <a href=“http://www.edupass.org/”>http://www.edupass.org/&lt;/a&gt; , especially <a href=“Guide for International Students to Choosing a School in USA - eduPASS”>http://www.edupass.org/admissions/schoolsearch.phtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Note that most of these schools are not need blind for internationals, but do give some aid to them.</p>

<p>t</p>

5

<p>First, not many schools that are generous and no so selective that would provide full aid to international students. Second, your credential would not be qualify for merit aid or even acceptance to most schools that offer such aid. Sorry to disappoint you, but that is the reality.</p>

6

<p>Gibby’s link is excellent. </p>

<p>The fact that a school is or is not officially need aware may not tell you much about your prospects for FA as an international. For instance, Princeton is officially need blind for int’ls, Bates is need aware, yet the percentage of Princeton’s class made up of international students is slightly smaller (5.17 percent vs. 5.64 percent at Bates), the percentage who receive FA at Princeton is substantially smaller (22 percent of international students vs. 61 percent at Bates) and the average amount of FA awarded internationals is smaller ($24,774 vs. $36,536 at Bates). This may be due simply to a higher percentage of wealthy foreign students applying to Princeton, or it may have to do with qualities the admissions committee at each school is looking for, but in any case, the fact that Princeton is need blind and Bates need aware doesn’t seem to make the prospect of receiving FA at Bates any dimmer than at Princeton.</p>

<p>Both Bates and Princeton offer FA to international students that is made up entirely of grants and campus work study. There are no loans for int’ls at either school.</p>

7

<p>As to the OP’s question, take a look at Gibby’s link. St. Lawrence, Conn College, Lawrence, Dickinson, Skidmore and Lafayette look like good deals for international students. With the exception of Lafayette they’re all pretty small schools so they may or may not be the OP’s cup of tea.</p>

8

<p>Unfortunately, schools like Conn Coll, Franklin & Marshall and Lafayette are very much reaches for internationals seeking aid (especially “full financial aid”). This year, 700 aid-seeking internationals applied to Conn and it admitted about 30. It’s a very difficult process, whether you apply to Brown or Dickinson. Also, OP, your SAT score is simply terrible, and until you get around a 2050, your chances are really bad at every school that promises to meet need of international students.</p>

<p>I do not know where you got those stats for Princeton, @Sue22. In the year 2013-14, the average aid awarded to an international at Princeton was $40,088, and 71% of internationals received aid. Let’s not spread misinformation, now.</p>

9

<p>Thanks, everyone, you’ve been very helpful!
So, basically what you’re saying is that none of the institutions, from the pond of 3000+ american colleges, isn’t willing to accept a bad international test taker, since she doesn’t have enough funds? Nice… </p>

10

<p>P.S. What about test optional schools? Are there any generous ones out there? </p>

11

<p>

You’ll have to spend some time cross-checking the school’s on the FairTest link below with the aid they give from the link in post #1: <a href=“ACT/SAT Optional List - Fairtest”>http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>To provide financial aid, college’s need to charge the full fare to some students at their school, and many colleges are finding there are plenty of international students willing to pay the full sticker price. </p>

12

<p>Schools that are SAT-optional (not test-optional – you still have to submit SAT 2 scores/TOEFL scores/etc) and offer need-based financial aid to international students: Trinity (CT), Hamilton, Colorado, Colby, Bryn Mawr, and Middlebury. Schools that are test-optional for international students: Mount Holyoke, Bates, Wesleyan University, Sarah Lawrence, Bennington, Hampshire, Pitzer, Connecticut, and Bowdoin.</p>

<p>I just spoon-fed you a list of schools you could potentially apply to, and I certainly hope you will do your research as applying as an international student takes a lot of dedication and research. Unfortunately, however, all of these schools are very selective. My advice is to do well on the SAT so that you can apply to other schools as well. If you can’t score a 600 on the critical reading and writing sections, you have to ask yourself if your English is up to par, and whether or not you could survive in a selective American school.</p>

13

<p>

I’m sure that you could find colleges where you would be accepted, but without being offered the financial aid that you would need to attend.</p>

<p>Colleges accept students and award financial aid based upon their institutional goals. Most schools just don’t have the money to give generous aid to international students. If they are able to afford generous scholarships to international students, they will likely get many international applicants, and will select to give those awards to the students who will be most likely to be successful at their school, and will meet other institutional needs, such as improving their median SAT scores. </p>

14

<p>You will need to do a lot of independent research to see if you can find a school that will fill your need. The SATs hurt you for sure. Unfortunately US colleges don’t have the unlimited funds that would be needed to give full aid to all needy domestic students no less international students. You should look into school in your home country as well, maybe they will give you a better shot at getting the aid you need.</p>

15

<p>Your TOEFL score is good but may not be good enough to get big FA/Scholarship. It puts you above the 77% and below the 83% rank of undergraduate level students (<a href=“http://www.ets.org/s/toefl/pdf/94227_unlweb.pdf”>http://www.ets.org/s/toefl/pdf/94227_unlweb.pdf&lt;/a&gt;). Your SAT is far from being competitive with many other international students. It is very important to improve your English ability so that it will not be a barrier of your learning in the US.</p>

16

<p>Why not a university in Europe? Many of them are free.</p>

17

<p><a href=“How to Get Your U.S. Student Visa”>http://studyusa.com/en/a/33/how-to-get-your-u-s-student-visa&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

</p>

<p>So if your family cannot cover your costs, it may not make much sense for a college to offer you a place unless it also can cover 100% of your demonstrated financial need. Only about 60 colleges (most of them very selective) claim to do that even for US citizens. Those 60 colleges only have enough places for a small fraction of all international students who want to study in the USA. </p>

<p>You could try your luck with some of the following:
<a href=“http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware”>http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware&lt;/a&gt;
The least selective of these include Skidmore, Dickinson, Hampshire, and Union.</p>

18

<br>

<br>

<p>You need to stop and think about your question.</p>

<p>If there were such a school, guess what would happen? A gazillion int’ls would apply and then SUDDENLY the school would no longer be not-so-selective…right?</p>

19

<br>

<br>

<p>Our univs are not charities. There are schools that will ACCEPT you, but they are NOT going to give you $35k+ per year to go to school here. Why would they? They wouldnt do that for a domestic student with similar stats.</p>