<p>When I read CC board I always get the idea of less stellar intl students with no hooks having no chance to get in the American schools, if applying for FA. In most cases it's true, if applying to some very competitive schools like Ivies and other TOP50 schools, but those colleges don't even make a 5% of all colleges out there in the States. If your dream is studying in States, I would like to encourage you to apply, because it turns out that, there are other 2nd and 3rd tier schools out there, who seek students just like us.</p>
<p>So I suggest making a list of colleges where ''the B student'' got accepted, mentioning the FA need&awards, student's GPA, test scores and ECs (and awards), and essays for the intl students who think they're more of a ''B student''. </p>
<p>So I'll start</p>
<p>GPA 3.2-3.5 depends on how they calculate it
ACT/SAT 24/1710 (as average as it can get :D)
IELTS 7.0
ECs: 7 years of equestrian, exchange year, 1 year of volunteering, also some extra academic courses, some international, national and school contest finalist+ got some awards as well. In general I would say it's the strongest part of my application.
Essays: The people that have read it and the school that rejected me told me they liked them, but I would say they're more on the ''normal'' side.
Perhaps it's useful to mention that I know (can communicate would be a better term, lol :D) 5 languages, but I didn't emphasize it in my app.
FA Need: plan to pay around 10,000$, but not more than 15,000$ a year</p>
<p>Acceptances:</p>
<p>Juniata College (insufficient aid- 16,000$ a year)
Colby-Sawyer College (~34,000$ a year, technically affordable)</p>
<p>Rejections- so far only one from EDII Kenyon College. I will try to update it with future decisions.</p>
<p>Yeah, I feel kinda depressed when I read CC… I always get the impression that every accepted international applicant is at least brilliant. Anyways…</p>
<p>GPA: 3.68
SAT: 2000
SAT Subjects: 710 FR/670 BIO-E
TOEFL: 115 iBT
Class salutatorian
ECs: Lots of volunteering, 2 yr work experience, some extracurricular academic courses, 3 ESL diplomas from the University of Cambridge, 3 DELF diplomas from the French Ministry of Education, coordinator of a local and a presidential political campaigns, piano classes.
Essays: some were very insightful, others not so much, but generally well written and with good content.
FA Need: can pay up to 15K a year.</p>
<p>ACCEPTANCES: None yet, did not apply ED to any college.
REJECTIONS: Kenyon college, RD. (I was sort of disappointed)</p>
<p>Also applied to other 12 colleges, ranging from Yale to Macalester (safety school which I don’t even know if it’s safe anymore).</p>
<p>It’s still early, you haven’t received all decisions yet, just wait and see.
If all fail, I would suggest you to apply to community colleges or smaller universities. There are many options, since there are like thousands of colleges in US</p>
<p>There are plenty of colleges and universities in the US that are happy to admit international students who are “B Students”. However, it is almost impossible for a student like that to receive the kind of scholarships that would bring the Cost of Attendance (COA) down to the $10,000 to $15,000 range. For scholarships like that, the student must offer something very, very special to the college or university.</p>
<p>Colby-Sawyer reviewed my FAO, without any requests from my side, and gave me another thousand to completely cover my need. So I guess they really want some intl students.</p>
<p>UW GPA: 3.3 (no grade deflation)
SAT I: 2350
SAT IIs: Lit 800 | French 720
ECs: art & design, creative writing & journalism, drama & musical, psychology
FA need: My EFC is close to 0 tbh.</p>
<p>Accepted:</p>
<p>Mount Holyoke ($54,000/year)</p>
<p>Waitlisted:</p>
<p>The University of Chicago (first choice/dream school/Hail Mary app)</p>
<p>Rejected:</p>
<p>Sewanee: The University of the South</p>
<p>Waiting on:</p>
<p>Reed (my other first choice, would absolutely love to go there)
Vassar (don’t expect to get in)
Whitman (don’t expect to get in)
Union (discovered after applying that Union expects its internationals to be able to cover at least $7,000/year, so…)
Trinity U (TX) - deferred EA
DePauw (placed on a financial waitlist of sorts, applied to the Honors program)</p>
<p>General comments:</p>
<p>Um, don’t give up hope? I’m a poor slacker and I got into a great school, so.</p>
<p>I could suggest TCU and SMU, both are in texas, since they give great merit awards…their overall applicant pool is not as competitive as it is at top schools which give merit aid to internationals (uchicago, unc, duke) or which are need-blind for internationals (harvard, yale, etc…).
so the pool from which they draw their merit candidates is also not as competitive and you might have quite good chances, especially with strong extracurriculars and leadership commitment!
and besides, these schools often have only one applicant from a specific country since they are not as known as the ivies, so that is an additional hook…</p>
<p>Thank you! They’re not bad, but my grades more than make up for it Many many Bs, quite a few Cs, a couple of Ds, and one failing semester grade… I still don’t know why I wasn’t rejected outright by MHC and U of C.</p>
<p>My advice is, try to be as honest as possible in your application and hope that the person you truly are is at least a little appealing to colleges.</p>
<p>Woah, yeah, I guess personality really matters a lot! I also have tons of B and one C almost every semester. And I got that terrible hungover, unprepared SAT score as well … So I can’t prove them my academic capability unfortunately… Oh well, maybe next year. But MHC with fullride (right?) is pretty impressive!</p>
<p>I have 2170 SAT and 3.83 GPA, and Clark gave me $32,500 per year. I am incredibly blessed.Already waitlisted at WUSTL, didn’t get the scholarship at Wesleyan, and got rejected from Cornell So I’m really glad I’ve got this one and it’s giving me such generous fin aid, really really feel lucky. Do check Clark out guys, it’s been really generous to me :)</p>
<p>Yeah, I know! I was really worried that no college would meet my financial need, but Mount Holyoke is really generous to international students.</p>
<p>I looked into Clark when I was deciding where to apply, it’s a really cool school (and very strong in psychology and geography, iirc)! Congratulations :)</p>
<p>i was also accepted to Colby sawyer college with 35 000$ fin.aid, still waiting notifications from other colleges. i didn’t even submit my SAT, TOEFL for Colby. GPA: 3.76. exchange year, internships and volunteerings. </p>
<p>I was about to make a similar thread but seeing as there is already one, I figured I’d raise it from the dead. Two sets of applicants have already received their admissions’ results by now and it would be infinitely helpful for those of us, B-students, to know of other such schools who’re willing to take a chance with students such as us. :-)</p>
<p>Anybody get any luck this year?</p>
<p>So far, we’ve got these:
Colby Sawyer
Mount Holyoke
UChicago (it would appear that essays are of utmost importance here)
Many many Bs, quite a few Cs, a couple of Ds, and one failing semester grade… I still don’t know why I wasn’t rejected outright by MHC and U of C.</p>
So I’m really glad I’ve got this one and it’s giving me such generous fin aid, really really feel lucky. Do check Clark out guys, it’s been really generous to me :)</p>
:-)</p>