<p>Hello, I am a current junior in high school starting college search. Like many others, I hope to go to prestigious school without any financial obstacle. To clear things up, I want to point out the fact that I am an international student and I am aware of the fact that it is really hard to rake in scholarships and financial aid. I've come to all senses and realized applying only for big, chunky universities is not a very good strategy for me especially because although I do get accepted, I won't be able to attend if the tuition is more than $17,000 due to family financial circumstance. I've noticed Liberal Arts Colleges are less known than many big research-based universities, but I was surprised at the fact that many LACs cover most or even all of the tuition of any admitted students. LACs were also appealing in the sense of relatively low faculty and student ration due to its small class size. I felt LACs will offer more life engaging experiences than other universities and LACs financial aid looked really attractive to me especially because I really need it. My top choice of school is still Georgetown because I want to pursue in International Relations and its reputation and location seemed flawless. However, Georgetown offers a very limited number of scholarships (not financial aid) to small number of international students and of course it is not guaranteed that I will be one of them. Do you think even if I do get a scholarships, the tuition will go down as low as $17,000 or do you think it's better off for me to give up on Georgetown and focus on LACs where I have more decent chance of getting financial aid? can you suggest any LACs that are reputed especially in the field of International Relations? I heard Middlebury has really decent IR program and even for its grad school but I wasn't completely sure about that. </p>
<p>what are your GPA, standardized test score, toefl, and ECs?</p>
<p>Only these American schools will provide any aid to international students:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.educationusa.info/financial-aid.php”>http://www.educationusa.info/financial-aid.php</a></p>
<p><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</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2013/09/19/colleges-that-give-international-students-the-most-financial-aid”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2013/09/19/colleges-that-give-international-students-the-most-financial-aid</a></p>
<p>GPA - 3.97/4.00
SAT - 2230
No toefl
ECs are not that great. </p>
<p>without good ECs that include leadership, many of the schools most willing to give internationals aid, i.e., the ivies and LACs like Amherst, may be off your list. You’ll have to go to the websites I suggested and choose some schools that may give you enough need-based aid. I would discourage you against limiting the schools to which you would go by their size, major, or prestige–if you have to have an American u/g degree. That might mean going to a school like the University of Denver which is strong in IR but not as prestigious as WashU, for instance.</p>
<p>If you come back with the names of some schools out of those websites, perhaps we can help you narrow down further.</p>
<p>‘can you suggest any LACs that are reputed especially in the field of International Relations’</p>
<p>reputed to whom? Whose validation are you seeking after graduating? Getting work in the field of IR is difficult, especially coming out of an LAC. Regardless, I recommend you look up Tufts University.</p>
<p>@jkeil911 I forgot to mention that I live in American Samoa, one of the US territories and speaking of ECs that include leaderships, I am a vice president of NHS at my school, vice president of JSA (Junior Statesmen of America) Official Chapter at my school, certified teen mentor of American Samoa (basically mentoring other students not to fall into wrong direction) and also placed in a few competitions including 2nd place island-wide NHD, 2nd place island-wide Math Competition during my sophomore year and hoping to place again this year. I want you all to consider the fact that it is extremely hard to find any decent EC in American Samoa because this place is just so lack of opportunity. Nevertheless I’m trying to do my best. Do you think college admissions will take into account of this situation when looking at my app? and by “prestigious school” I meant schools that offer decent programs in field of IR and doesn’t necessarily have to be those top notch schools. My apology for misleading you. Could you please name a few “hidden schools” behind the trees that offer decent IR programs, yet are not well known to public as much as ivies such as U of Denver? I prefer better value over overall reputation. </p>
<p>@International95 Yes, I am aware of the fact that indeed, it is difficult to find a job with an IR diploma but I want to pursue what attracts me the most. Do you think coming out of LAC will lessen the opportunity of employment compared to graduating from the University? </p>
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<p>Maybe what you mean to say is something like this:
Many LACs (maybe about 30 of them) claim to cover 100% of demonstrated need of admitted students.</p>
<p>That is very different from what you actually said.
For one thing, few of those colleges award any financial aid at all to more than about 50% of students.
The rest don’t have (or are not determined to have) any need, so they pay the full price.
Furthermore, their financial aid policies/practices may not be the same for domestic and international students. Only 6 colleges claim to be need-blind and also to meet 100% of need for international students.</p>
<p>Are you male or female? If female, look at Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Wellesley. MHC in particular has a lot of aid for international students, and a good IR department and internship possibilities.</p>
<p>Technical question - Is a student from American Samoa an international? According to the DOE website, they are eligible for Federal Student Aid, so they may very well not be considered internationals by colleges. But I would call any individual school and ask.</p>
<p>I would recommend looking at the Claremont Colleges - Pomona, Claremont McKenna & Pitzer, too. They give substantial aid, and will be relatively easy to get to from American Samoa. They all have internship programs in DC and great study abroad opportunities with financial support. I would also look at Occidental. Their aid may not be as good - but they have a noted IR department, and, again, Los Angeles will be a shorter journey from home…</p>
<p>Your status as a foreigner (if I understand you correctly) and your residence in American Samoa (ordinarily an attractive characteristic in a high-scoring student) makes you a difficult person to advise. I can’t help thinking that a school like Georgetown with its long history of global reach would be interested (esp. if you were Filipino) in such an applicant. Whether they would be interested to the tune of 45K/year is the problem. I would put Tufts in this category, too, and perhaps Chicago and Duke. But LACs? I’d go with the usual int’l aid suspects: amherst, williams, bates, skidmore, trinity college, but only skidmore and trinity have IR.</p>
<p>FYI - you are eligible for US government student aid, which by definition would preclude you from being defined as an international </p>
<p><a href=“https://studentaid.ed.gov/eligibility/non-us-citizens”>https://studentaid.ed.gov/eligibility/non-us-citizens</a></p>
<p>That said, you should have an incredibly small peer group of competition from Samoa for LAC’s, which should help. </p>
<p>When you say $17,000 for tuition, do you mean total expenses?</p>
<p>Any of the LAC’s mentioned here could be a fit and might find the necessary financial support. I’m generally a supporter of limited applications (not applying everywhere), but in your case it might make sense to target several schools.</p>
<p>One suggestion: look for programs that “bring in” juniors for an on-campus introduction like WOW (Windows on Williams), DiscoSwat (Discover Swarthmore), Discover Reed, or other programs.</p>
<p>I think you need to clear up whether you are an international student living in Samoa or a native of Samoa, OP.</p>
<p>I apologize for not clearing things up in the first place. I am an international student from Singapore with Singaporean citizenship who is going to school in American Samoa. So I am not a Samoan or a citizen of the U.S. I really didn’t expect this amount of great information and I truly appreciate your thoughts. @MrMom62 @jkeil911 do you still think Georgetown might be interested in student like myself? @staceyneil I’m a male but does MHC accept male students too? any other suggestions? @SpiritManager your schools of suggestion look fabulous but do you think coming out of LAC will make me look less competitive compared to other job seekers who graduated from universities? and lastly this is an open question - do you think Boston University has decent IR program? </p>
<p>sometimes it comes down to GU’s desire for singaporeans and your parents’ relationship to seat of power. We cannot know these things, of course, so write a good essay that mentions your international experiences, apply, and be patient. </p>
<p>If you are male (or identify as a man bla bla – this stuff would be far more complicated for internationals), then no, you cannot apply to MHC. You would be mostly looking at LACs, unless you have something exceptional to show for yourself, which, by the sound of it, you don’t. However, you can always apply to Georgetown, Tufts, Brown, Stanford etc to see if something works out (sometimes it does for some, usually due to amazing essays – I know a few). Sometimes you do get lucky (you do need excellent grades and test scores, though). But most times you don’t. So to be safe, apply to mostly LACs. Earlham would make an excellent safety school, and it is known for its global service programs and social science departments. You would definitely get the aid you want, and this I say from experience. You could also consider applying to my school, Reed, which is very generous to international students (many of us got more aid than we had anticipated). Also, the political science department is fantastic, and the IR professor we have is <em>amazing</em> (he worked for the Pentagon, for one, and his classes are filled with international students). Macalester is also a school to look into for poli sci/IR. </p>
<p>In light of understanding your citizenship status, I highly recommend that you STAY AWAY from the Claremont Colleges. These schools do not really care for international socioeconomic diversity, for whatever reasons. Schools like Tufts, however, though inhibited by their modest endowments, have strong interest in promoting international diversity in their schools, so they give as much aid as possible to internationals.</p>
<p>You’ve got excellent scores and a really interesting background @akskrjdf321 . Here are a few recommendations, FWIW.</p>
<p>Consider applying to a range of schools, from internationally known schools such as Tufts to the smaller LACs (including the “Colleges That Change Lives” schools). Very generally speaking, if you look at the top 100 LACs in the US News ranking, as you move down the list and toward the midwestern and southern US regions, you are more likely to be offered a higher amount of aid from those schools. Earlham in Indiana is a great example. D visited in August and had a wonderful tour by an international student from Belarus who absolutely loved it there. Don’t let the lack of an IR major at any school dissuade you. At almost all of the LACs you can piece together a challenging program from Political Science, cultural studies, language courses, etc. Kofi Annan is a graduate of Macalester College, for example. You can have a wonderful career coming out of an LAC, and applying to a range of schools early action (to get in on scholarship consideration) should end up presenting you with a lot of excellent options.</p>
<p>At your reach schools, a significant EC would increase your chances. You still have a year to go, so I’d suggest getting involved with something that you really enjoy, related to international relations. It might have more impact if it is in the community rather than your school. I believe Pago Pago has sister cities relationships with Oceanside, CA and a city in Indonesia. That might present an opportunity for you. You are smart to get started on this now! Good luck. (P.S., it’s not in the US, but you might also have a look at the University of Sydney.)</p>
<p>@MidwestDad3 Thank you so much for your kind words! Now I feel like I’ve become more open-minded than before and gotten more options to consider. </p>