<p>"Even if you think you need a lot of financial aid, once the colleges look at your family’s financial situation, they may not agree. I’ve known a number of kids surprised that way. If you are absolutely sure that there are no such surprises, you may want to select a school that does guarantee 100% of need to be met. " </p>
<p>Yes, I’m absolutely sure.</p>
<p>Yup, I need to list some safeties. Can you help me select some?</p>
<p>Thanks SmithieandProud!</p>
<p>Using QuestBridge would be a wonderful idea – any program that provides some kind of pre-screening and certification will probably help you – but I believe that it is limited to U.S. students. I may be wrong about that, but you should check carefully before spending time and effort on that.</p>
<p>ED would be fine, as long as you are applying to one of the colleges that meets full need (and meets it without a lot of loans).</p>
<p>Since aid is an issue, as an international you don’t really have any school in America that you could call a “safety” unless you score really well on your SATs. Any safety will be some school in India.</p>
<p>@JHS- the FAQ page of the QuestBridge site states "Students who are not U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents may apply. However, only Pomona College, Princeton University, Brown University, and Yale University will consider these students for admission and full scholarships through the College Match process. Most of our partner colleges use federal and state funds to finance a portion of the scholarships, and these funds are only available for U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents.</p>
<p>Although only U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents are generally eligible for College Match scholarship packages, our partner colleges will consider all students who apply through the Regular Decision process, regardless of citizenship status. In 2008, more than a dozen QuestBridge applicants who were not U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents gained acceptance and financial aid to our partner colleges via the Regular Decision process."</p>
<p>I am not sure if they’re only talking about non-citizens/residents studying in US high schools.</p>
<p>@BuddyMcAwesome- I shall be graduating with a US high school diploma and hardly any Indian college would accept it (except the lower tier ones that would even accept a pre-school student if he/she is able to pay a lump sum donation!). Moreover, you have no idea how rigid the Indian system of education is. No college offers the subject I wanna study and there is no room for creativity! If I have no choice but to stay here, I’d rather keep working.</p>
<p>I think you would be a fabulous candidate for any of the women’s colleges and I second SmithieandProud above. I also add my vote for Grinnell and Macalester, who have an emphasis on social justice that seems to fit nicely with your interests.</p>
<p>Thanks Pizzagirl! Are you talking about social justice in terms of the financial aid policy?</p>
<p>Well, any of Pomona, Princeton, Brown, or Yale would be a great, great outcome for you, so if you can get into the QuestBridge program that could be a good idea. Even if you don’t get a college match in the fall, it can’t hurt you in the regular decision process, either.</p>
<p>You may want to take your SATs and see what your scores are before compiling a list. Also,many of the school that you are getting are truly the crown jewels, and you can cherry pick those any time for your list. The difficult part is finding “safeties” for you. Really for anybody.</p>
<p>@JHS- Very true!</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse- True again! I shall take the ACT along with 2-3 SAT Subject Tests. The latter set of tests are especially giving me nightmares! Moreover, I’m not sure which subjects to zero in on. I’m thinking of going for Math Level 2 (scary!) and Literature (even scarier!).</p>
<p>BTW, off the topic, who’s excited about the next FIFA World Cup match (Uruguay Vs. France)? Who do you think is going to win?</p>
<p>what time is that game on?</p>
<p>Back to topic…</p>
<p>Take a look at [eduPASS:</a> The SmartStudent Guide to Studying in the USA](<a href=“http://www.edupass.org%5DeduPASS:”>http://www.edupass.org).</p>
<p>It’s scheduled at 12am according to the Indian Standard Time, so it should be around 2.30pm there (EST).</p>
<p>Thanks jonri!</p>
<p>Bump…</p>
<p>Bump again^^^^^^^</p>
<p>If you already have two pages of pretty good answers, it’s not neccessary to keep bumping your thread. You can post again in the financial aid forum or on the forums of particular schools that have caught your eye, but you’ve got a good list here, you should get out there and start doing some research on your own and come back when you have new, more specific questions.</p>
<p>Okay, I guess I’ll do that. I was just looking for a few more opinions though. I am actually in need of some safeties. Thanks 
!</p>
<p>Make sure you have some credible referees, preferably from something like an American educational foundation/ international school/ charity, who can certify that everything you say is true.</p>