<p>I also want to add that just applying to schools that are need blind in admissions is not necessarily the best strategy for any student. First of all most schools in this country do ARE need blind in admissions. I don’t know if that is the case with international students, but my guess is that is the case. But most of these schools, like nearly all of them do not meet full need for most of their students. Most meet full need for hardly any of their students, especially those with high need. And I 'm not even getting into the internatioanl category, because the fact of the matter is that’s it’s even all the more difficult for international students most of the time. It’s essential that you make sure the schools to which you apply even give any money for foreign students or you are truly wasting your time on the application. 100% guarantee you aren’t going to get ANYTHiNG it is against policy for internationals to get anything.</p>
<p>But I know many kids who got nice aid packages from schools that are NOT need blind for admissions and ended up there. The thing is, getting into such schools AND getting aid might still have better odds than getting into the very few schools that are need blind AND guarantee to meet full need. One of our family members with a very good student is thrilled with his son’s package at Franklin and Marshall, for instance. They are NOT need blind for admissions, but when they accepeted the young man, they gave him a very nice financial aid package, and he had been rejected from every one of the schools on his list that were need blind. Yes, Georgetown, Harvard, Princeton, Williams, etc were all need blind and guarantee to meet full need, but when you can’t get accepted, that is of no help to you at all, and a glance at the accept figures can show you that it’s a very low probability of getting that acceptance. People were shocked that the above young man did not get into any of his first choice schools. </p>
<p>But schools like Fordham that do not meet full need for everyone, did accept him and offered a nice package as did F&M and some other fine schools. So if he had stuck to schools that were both need blind and met full need, he would have had only rejections, but found that he was a good contender for awards at some schools that have no guarantee but pay for the students they want most. He fell into those categories. </p>
<p>MY son got a full tution award at a local school that does not guarantee to meet full need and does not for most kids, as did a number of his classmates, and a core of them took up the school on the offer and they are doing well, and are happy. They are flush with the money since school is basically free for them. Not a school with a name one reads on these boards, but those kids who got those scholarships were probably going to do well most anywhere and they are at that school, and after graduation. They seem to be doing just fine in their jobs, better than many who went to the name schools. Not just saying this either, I am dead serious. They also don’t have loans, nor do their parents. A lot of kids put their parents into dire financial straits when parents borrow or do other things to make it work for their kids when they should not have done so.</p>