<p>Hi, I'm an international student planning on applying to colleges in the US for Fall 2008. I don't know much about the schools there so any information would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I want to go to a school with around 5,000-15,000 students or more. Just as long as it isn't a commuter campus. Anywhere in the US would be ok but it would be better if it was in California because my mom's sister lives in Santa Monica. Preferably somewhere with good weather too. Not too cold.</p>
<p>Financial aid. My parents earn about $70,000 a year so I will be needing financial aid if possible. They're willing to sacrifice so I could get a better education but I wouldn't want them to spend too much for me so I'm trying to get a scholarship or financial aid.</p>
<p>Here are the schools I'm considering:</p>
<pre><code>* Chapman U
* Loyola Marymount U
* Pepperdine U
* San Diego SU
* U Calif Berkeley
* U Calif Riverside
* U Pacific
* U Redlands
* U San Diego
* U San Francisco
* U Southern Calif
</code></pre>
<p>As I said earlier, I don't know much about the shools there. You can add or remove schools from my list. My top 4 are USC, USD, Chapman and LMU.</p>
<p>Here are my stats</p>
<p>SAT: Critical Reading 590<br>
Math 670<br>
Writing 630
It was my first time taking it. I'll be taking it again on October.</p>
<p>My school doesn't give GPAs nor provide class rankings but I'm in the top 3 my batch in Math.</p>
<p>I represent my school in Math competitions every year.
Top 15% in the country in the Australian Math Competition
Excellence in Advanced Algebra (Junior year)
Program for Excellence in Mathematics (Sophomore)
Math Club (Senior)
Excellence in Spanish
Excellence in Information, Communication and Technology
Excellence in PE
Basketball Varsity (3 years)
Computer Club (2 years)
Class Treasurer (freshman)
Leadership training</p>
<p>umm Apply 2 Amherst....Good school.....Just make sure ur stats are good because they're not easy.....If anything they'll be rated as selective as the lower Ivys</p>
<p>Thanks! I checked out Amherst, and it looks like a really good school. They also offer financial aid for internationals. The only problem is, the don't offer business.</p>
<p>Ses, is USC really out of my reach? What do I need to improve on to make it reachable?</p>
<p>I suspect Amherst is out of reach. Your top 4 is a good list. USC is probably out of reach, but might as well apply - you never know. My son and I just went to visit Loyola Marymount. The campus just didn't impress me that much - I can't really put a finger on why. Maybe it was the location overlooking the smog of LA. However, it might be your best shot for aid money. I know two girls who go to Chapman; both like it a lot. One of them chose it because she got to start taking courses in her major right away without wading through a bunch of general ed requirements first. The other chose it because she didn't know what she wanted to major in and she has more flexibility to try different things at Chapman.</p>
<p>If you are looking to add schools to your list you might consider UCSB. It's not as far from LA as UCB and not as difficult to get into. Cal Poly SLO is also a consideration.</p>
<p>Pepperdine, UC Riverside and San Diego State all have well regarded business programs -SDSU is particularly strong in international business. Depending on what your grades are you should probably be able to be admitted to SDSU and Riverside with your academic performance; Pepperdine would be iffy. I don't know about aid, though.</p>
<p>The UC schools have aid only for a few very top internationals, so I would not bother with those. Also, I would not recommend SDSU to anyone not planning to live in CA. My neighbors son, a graduate, has had incredible trouble getting his degree respected in NY.</p>
<p>USC sounds like a reach along with Berkeley. The others sound good.</p>
<p>It's wierd that someone pulled Amherst out of the blue. Amherst is a tougher school by far than any on your list. Since it doesn't offer business it wouldn't be a good fit, and it seems like you want to be in California, not small town Mass. Amherst also isn't a fit for you b/c it's tiny and the weather is really cold in the winter.</p>
<p>Good luck and it's awesome that you're from the Phillipines.</p>