I am applying to Duke, Brown, Tufts, and Dartmouth and these schools are need-aware for international students.
If I request for financial aid, how badly does this affect my chances for admission? I’m a Pakistani studying in Singapore if that helps.
No one can answer that question with much, if any, specificity.
For many schools, you’ll be placed into the pool of international students requesting financial aid, from which they’ll select a small number, and the rest of the international students will be full-paying applicants.
This is just too subjective to say, it may also depend on how much aid you need. And of course how compelling your application is. But I know at Brown there were intls on a lot of aid. If you can’t attend without aid you have to just apply and hope for the best. If you can attend without aid then it is a trickier decision. What position are you in?
If you need aid, apply for it. An acceptance without needed aid might just as well be a rejection.