please advise me about transferring

Transfer Students
1

<p>I'm a freshman this year. Actually I got the admission from liberal arts college within top rank 25. I did not apply to FA so did not get it cuz I thought it was risky to apply FA(I got just SAT score 1900s). but, my family's financial situation became worse b/c of economic depression and dollar currency(i'm international). My college tuition is about $50000 excluding living expenses and other activity fees for college. My parents said they could send me college two years, but after then I had to solve financial problem by myself. SO I think about transferring to school which offers a lot of merit aids or FA with need-blind to international transfers also.
Please advise me with my situation.
Can I transfer to other school like Amherst(need-blind to transfers), or HMC(lots of merit aid)? Is it really possible?
And if it's possible, do I need to take SAT reasoning and SAT 2 again?
what should I do...</p>

2

<p>Be careful, many schools have different FA and merit policies for transfer vs. freshman admissions. You need to go to the websites of the schools you’re interested in and see what they say about Intl. transfers. While some schools do offer merit aid to transfers, many do not have as many (or any) scholarships for transfer students. For instance:</p>

<p>[HMC</a> Merit-based Awards](<a href=“http://www.hmc.edu/admission1/costsandaid1/typesofaid1/scholarshipsandgrants1/hmcmeritbasedawards.html#merit]HMC”>Merit-Based Scholarships | Admission and Financial Aid | Harvey Mudd College)</p>

<p>“Eligibility
In determining who’ll receive our merit-based awards, the Office of Admission looks primarily at academic achievement—financial need is not considered. Transfer students are not eligible for merit award programs.”</p>

<p>[International</a> Student Admission](<a href=“http://www.hmc.edu/admission1/applyingforadmission1/internationalstudentadmission.html#need]International”>http://www.hmc.edu/admission1/applyingforadmission1/internationalstudentadmission.html#need)</p>

<p>"If you need financial aid
Because Harvey Mudd College funding for international students is limited (and international students are not eligible for federal funding), your level of financial need may affect your chances for admission. Please be advised:</p>

<pre><code>* We have funds that allow us to support only a handful of international students. There’s a lot of competition for funding.

  • If you’re an international first-year applicant and wish to apply for aid, you may not apply for Early Decision because we prefer to review all international candidates before allotting our limited funds.
  • If you enter HMC as an international student who does not need financial aid, you won’t be eligible to apply for aid in subsequent years.
  • Most of our funding for international students goes to incoming freshmen. International transfer students are very unlikely to receive funding from HMC.
  • If you are an international transfer student who needs financial aid, your chances for admission may be remote. It is very unlikely that we’ll admit international transfer students who apply for financial aid."
    </code></pre>

<p>Also, many top schools (including Amherst) are much harder to get into as a transfer than as a freshman.</p>