<p>I have researched SO much to know that getting money for International undergraduates is like playing MW3 multiplayer for the first time.
However, I have found colleges - good ones at that- that give you merit-based scholarships.
For Indians, the competition may be fierce because of our grandparents who decided to have 12 children each. As far as I am concerned, more than 1.5 lakh students apply to US colleges from India. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, if your application is good, you CAN get Full Tuition at these VERY reputed colleges. </p>
<p>Rice University (Allen International Scholarship- Full Tuition)
University of Chicago
Emory University
University of Houston
Vanderbilt University </p>
<p>If you can find anymore good schools that give international merit scholarships, please answer. </p>
<p>Also, give me some tips on when to apply ( ED, EA, RD) and how well do they look at CBSE report cards? </p>
<p>Thank You.</p>
<p>Boston University
University of Southern California</p>
<p>Applying EA/ED will help ensure you complete your app on time and will actually help a lot in the long run. I speak from experience.</p>
<p>The high school transcript has a huge bearing, probably more than the SAT scores. The CBSE class X certificate is a validation of sorts, for your other achievements.</p>
<p>Many Liberal Arts schools give good aid to internationals. Some even cover the full calculated need of the student if admitted.</p>
<p>Thanks!
So this is what my friend did.
He took all of his original report cards, created a new document with all the final scores and final scores only. ( Did not cheat or anything) Got the signature and school authentication and mailed it to the college.
He had gotten mediocre grades throughout the year but he aced the finals.
Do you think I can do this?
I am asking you because he got into Berkeley, a Harvard of non-pretentious people.</p>
<p>Also, I have the certificates and photographs of various awards I got over the past years. Should I attach it along with the app? If I leave it out, how will they verify the validity of the ECs? </p>
<p>ARE YOU SURE USC gives merit scholarships? It was my dream school until I ruled it out because they didn’t offer merit scholarships. </p>
<p>Thank You SOOO much. All the best for your boards.</p>
<p>@venkatasuhas But I lean towards Economics or Computer Science. Thank you though.</p>
<p>Yuss they do indeed verify the authenticity of your EC’s in that they call up your counsellor sometime in May when the admissions season is over. That being said, there is no need for you to send corroborating material like certificates. You may however send in certain extraneous materials like news clippings of significant achievements, which I do believe add significant weight to your application. Also if do happen to play an instrument/ are a voracious writer/artist/photographer, make it a point to send in your writing portfolio/ performance clips et al as arts supplements. I, for instance, sent in arts supplements for two instruments and a collection of my poems for the ad-com’s perusal.It goes without saying that your level of skill in your preferred area of the arts supplement should be sufficiently decent, if not outstandingly brilliant.</p>
<p>So yeah. I have a lot of awards for Mridangam. My school doesn’t even know about it.
As you said, maybe I could attach a couple of my best works and certificates for proof. </p>
<p>On LoRs, I have one from the dean of my school, ( an icon of leadership and women empowerment [ google- YGP PSBB ] )
but I have it WITH me. She is so important that I cannot possibly ASK her to mail it.
So can I send the LoR on my own, provided I mention her phone and email so that they can call her or something? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Some other schools with full/partial merit scholarship(s) are Carleton College, WUSTL and UVa.</p>
<p>Thanks! 
But make sure they’re somewhat reputed though :P</p>
<p>WUSTL, Carleton and UVa are both reputed in the US (I really don’t care/know much about reputation India because most of the Indians don’t even know about Brown, Dartmouth etc.). In the USNWR rankings, WUSTL is #14 (above 2 Ivy League schools), University of Virginia is #24 (tied with USC), while Carleton is #8 in the LAC rankings. While USNWR rankings do not necessarily correlate to prestige, I think it’s safe to say that all of these are pretty good schools.</p>
<p>I have researched fairly well and I hadn’t seen them anywhere near the top of the rankings. But the internet cannot be nearly as accurate as real-life “reputed” schools.
So yes, I will check them out. Sorry if I had said anything wrong.</p>
<p>@ ImmaTakeYourJob: University of Houston is not even close to being as reputed as WUSTL, UVA or CarlEton. In fact, WUSTL ranks higher than any other university mentioned in this thread other than UChicago ( US news ) and UVA is among the top 5 public schools in the nation.</p>
<p>Yes, yes. I missed their names because they were surrounded by names of schools familiar to me. Sorry to have misinterpreted. </p>
<p>Also, do need-based aid mean loans or grants? </p>
<p>Thanks anyway.</p>
<p>University of Chicago*
Duke University*
Washington University in St.Louis*
Emory University
Vanderbilt University
Carleton College
Rice University*
California Institute of Technology
University of Rochester. </p>
<p>Do you guys know anymore?
Thanks.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>i have to disagree. infact, all indians know about the ivies- Harv, yale, pton, dartm, cornell, brown, upenn.</p>
<p>WUSTL is really competitive.
all the amazing applicants i know have been waitlisted or rejected.
check out their class of 2017 results thread.</p>
<p>Yup, and we do know the other famous schools too.
Berkeley, Chicago etc.
Problem is, they are not first hand knowledge.
Someone told this to us, or it was Internet research.</p>
<p>WUSTL seems to be a very good school. I’m searching for a safety school I’d be comfortable with.</p>