<p>I'm a rising senior this year and I'm starting my college research. The thing is I am Asian but I need a lot of financial aid to go to an American college (my family can only pay as much as $10,000).</p>
<p>Can you guys please name some of the colleges that are generous in FA for int'l students? I'm looking for colleges that have strong Engineering or Economics program (but Engineering is my priority). A brief summary of my profile:</p>
<ul>
<li>GPA: Top 10%</li>
<li>SAT: Haven't received the score yet but around 2150 I think. I will take it again hoping for a 2300 in October.</li>
<li>Know 4 languages.</li>
<li>Captain of 2 sports.</li>
<li>Serve as president and vice-president of 2 clubs in my school.</li>
<li>Participate in a prestigious program for young leaders in my country.</li>
</ul>
<p>My college list so far:
Columbia
MIT
Cornell
Carnegie Mellon
Macalester
Bates
Hamilton
Lafayette
Lehigh</p>
<p>Please give me some advice about which colleges I should add/remove. Any help will be appreciated!</p>
<p>You are doing very well in high school. Nevertheless finding an engineering school in the United States that will cost you less than $10k per year is going to be very tough. International students needing substantial financial aid face fierce competition for admission to U.S. colleges.</p>
<p>MIT, Cornell COE, Carnegie Mellon, and Columbia SEAS are some of the most competitive engineering schools in America. Though it is remotely possible that you can get into one of them, you cannot count on it. MIT, Cornell, and Columbia all have strong financial aid programs, but I do not think they are need blind for international students. Carnegie Mellon is known to gap some of the students it admits.</p>
<p>Lehigh and Lafayette both have good engineering programs, but will be reaches for you as an international student needing substantial aid.</p>
<p>There certainly are lots of engineering schools in the U.S. that are less competitive for admissions than the ones you list. The problem is that most of those will not have strong financial aid for internationals.</p>
<p>Macalester, Bates, and Hamilton are not engineering schools and do not offer engineering courses. They are excellent liberal arts colleges where you could study economics. Macalester has a reputation for enrolling lots of international students, so they must be offering financial aid to top internationals.</p>
<p>My advice would be to apply to some U.S. colleges (who knows?..), but be sure to apply also to universities in your own country where you have a good chance of being admitted and of being able to afford the cost.</p>
<p>You will need at least a full tuition and fees scholarship so that your family only has to pay for housing, meals, and transportation. Depending on the cost of transportation, you may need at least some of your meals and housing covered by scholarships. </p>
<p>If employers in your country do not care where you got your degree, only that it is from an ABET accredited program, look at these threads as well. Some of the scholarships are only open to US applicants, but others are open to international students. You will need to contact each of the universities individually to find out details of the scholarships. Also, many of these scholarships have early application dates in November or December.</p>
<p>@Fifty: You seem to have lots of insights about colleges. Engineering is my intended major, however what I want most is a good U.S. education. Can you please name some schools with a strong science background that offer generous aid to int’l students? I will consider applying to these schools in case I can not get in a good Engineering college.</p>
<p>@happymom: Thank you so much! I will check out those scholarship opportunities.</p>
<p>The problem that you face that domestics don’t is that you have to show full funding of the COA. </p>
<p>So, even if you were to get a full tuition scholarship, the remaining COA would still be more than ten thousand.</p>
<p>For instance, Alabama would give you free tuition plus 2500 per year. But you’d have to show that you can cover room, board, books, fees, insurance, personal expenses, and travel costs. That would be required for you to get your visa. This would be true for all schools.</p>