These are very helpful responses. I will carefully study all on this thread and create a short list to apply next.
I am sure something will work out.
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Sorry about Grinnell. I canât post more nowâŠbut just wanted to say some schools have their own app, so manage the rest of your common app slots carefully. For example UA Huntsville and UA Birmingham both have their own apps, so use those apps to apply to those two schools, which wonât decrease your common app slots.
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Checked SUNY ESF. Couldnât find any merit scholarships for international. Do you know if they are available for internationals?
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I think that if you have savings that mean you COULD pay more than $32k, then schools with need based aid are going to require you to do so. To get down to that amount you will need merit aid and that will mean dropping down in the level of âprestigeâ.
Others more knowledgeable may correct me if I am wrong.
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I think thatâs trueâŠif income/savings/assets would have schools calculating a higher contribution than OP is willing to make, some schools may pass, or offer an unaffordable fin aid package. I donât have a good sense if OP has financial need (per a typically generous schoolâs NPC), and if so, how much.
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Yes. Grinnell which is a clean reject has not asked us how much we are willing to pay. In fact most of the private colleges have not asked that question so far. So hoping they will make the decision and decide whatever financial aid. Asking how much you want to or willing to pay and then reject just because their calculator based on CSS spits out a higher number seems little bit devious to me but may be that is one way of keeping the acceptance rate small and yield higher.
We are applying to a few âsafetiesâ so to say considering the advice on this thread.
I think St. Olaf is a good option. I know a couple of outstanding students who turned down T20 schools to attend St. Olaf due to merit offers. One is now attending a top Bioinformatics PhD program. Excellent math and biochemistry. Lots of research opportunities. Can also cross register for classes at Carleton. St. Olaf, like many LACs, was started by a Christian church, and is still church-affiliated, but a non-religious student would do fine, I think. Cold and snowy, thoughâŠ
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Letâs start withâŠyou are an international student, right? Financial aid is limited at many colleges for international students. You need an affordable option.
- Should we consider these two results as template for what will happen for other liberal arts colleges? Reject from high ranks and not meeting financial need in lower ones?
I would consider them, especially the financial side. You need to read the financial aid sites very carefully on each college website.
- Should the remaining 4 be low cost state schools with some possibility of merit scholarships or try 4 more LACs which are lower rank. For example: Oberlin, St Olaf, or any other?
You are an international student? What do you think would be your low cost state school?
Another thingâŠfor many colleges, you have already missed the deadline for receiving significant merit aid. Some deadlines were in November, and some were December 1. There might be a few with December 15 deadlines for merit aid consideration.
You are an international studentâŠthis letter from Rollins suggestsâŠyes. If the school is need aware, your level of financial need was considered with the application for admission. That adds a complication to your applications especially since you need significant aid.
What other colleges did your son already apply to?
I still think University of New Mexico is worth a look.
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Yes. We will be applying to St Olaf. It generates significant % of PhDs as per NSF report.
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First, Iâm sorry this isnât easiesr.
To answer your question, should we consider this a template â you have a lot of feedback already. My answer is this : The vast majority of foreign students are full pay. Yes, they bring diversity to their campuses, but one of their biggest contributions is their tuition. AND the vast majority of schools have fixed budgets for FA. As a foreign student needing FA, you are in a very very competitive pool. So please donât take any decision as a referendum on your son as in âhe wasnât good enough for themâ. I suspect given your own experience with the system that you know this, but I really want to emphasize that.
I like Wooster and Earlham as options for him but know little about how they handle FA and merit for International students. As they are both CTCL schools, I would comb that list to see how the others look to as well. Allegheny, Beloit, Lawrence, Knox, etc. These schools tend to do a great job with all their students.
I need to go back and re-read your original thread before offering up more, but a key here is that your son needs to be bringing the school something they really want. So the schools may need to be ones without many foreign students, ones where his academics will put him at the top of the class, etc.
We canât assume that because a school has generous FA and/or merit that it will be made as freely available to a foreign student. I wonder though, if a school offering generous merit is saying âif you bring us something we need, we are okay with you paying that discounted priceâ. And I wonder if by extension, they might be happy with your $30,000/year and a really good student who also brings diversity to campus.
Iâm really sorry, though, that your thoughtful approach didnât have a quick payoff. The silver lining is that hopefully, thereâs time to pivot.
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Grinnell and Rollins have already been mentioned.
5 more slots on Common App are remaining and we close to finalizing following:
Oberlin, St Olaf, Hendrix, FAU Honors, Minnesota Morris
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Thanks much for your kind words. And yes it will never be about âyou/he is not good enoughâ. Applications for the reach schools are a lottery. Even the online calculators for whatever they are worth were showing only 20% chance for him at Grinnell anyways.
And yes I agree that schools with less % of international students may have a mandate to increase diversity so we will see when all the cards are open 
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Agree with all these schools. They all provide excellent education. The reason they provide more merit discounts to students is not because they are âlesserâ schools academically, but because they are located in less desirable locations (cold, snowy, midwest, rural etc.) and so have to entice students.
On a separate thoughtâŠit may be worth it for you and your son to reread his application essays just to be sure they strike the right tone. For American LACs in particular, you want to be sure you donât come across as bragging or just listing a resume. You want to highlight that you will be friendly, collaborative, curious, involvedâbasically that you will make a positive contribution to campus climate.
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Thanks much for the advice. Will definitely look into it. I do not believe the essays are braggy. I feel mostly they are good to very good but then that is just a parent talking.
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Please tell us where else he has already applied? And do those schools offer decent aid to international students??
Look into Geneseo. It is a total of $36,000, including tuition, room and board. Itâs part of the well-regarded SUNY system and serves as its liberal arts college. It has a beautiful campus and plenty of happy students. Itâs about 45 minutes from Rochester in NY.
They also offer academic scholarships for international students.
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These all make sense, Oberlin and St Olaf will only work if they give you need based aid on top of merit aidâŠneither will likely get to your price on merit aid only.
Note that Hendrix, FAU and Minn Morris have their own apps. Use those to preserve common app slots. Schoolâs own apps are often less involved than the common app (although I realize common app is complete, so it will cause some extra time). Oberlin and St Olaf both accept coalition app, but I donât think you need to do that.
I also agree with the schools gardenstategal suggested, but some are hard to get to.
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Why St Olaf and not Macalester? How about Vassar, Wesleyan? Also, there must be a list somewhere of LACs that meet full need for Internationals; have you been able to track down? As to well endowed not as snowy LACs with strong PhD production, you may want to look at Furman; SC has a significant South Asian professional population (former governor had Indian parentage); might also want to try the publics there. Also consider New College of Florida, which is a public CTCL.
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But most of these are need aware for international studentsâŠmeaning the level of financial could be considered when the application for admission is considered.
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Hello,
Sorry I didnât read the other thread about your son. I was able to piece together that you are an international family from India and can pay $30USD max per year. Looking for LACs for a biochemistry major.
Does your son want to stay in the US after college? Or will he return to India? If he wants to get a job in the US, then note that a bachelors degree in biochemistry may not be enough. Typically for biotech/pharma jobs they will want at least a masters, better yet a PhD.
Also to get the good PhD positions in biochem he will need a place where undergrads can do research. So a place where the postdocs and PhDs donât dominate the research lab positions.
Is your son interested in US medical school? That is difficult to do as an international. Only a handful of med schools will accept internationals.
However if your son is planning on going back to India to work, then I donât think a degree from an expensive US LAC will matter much. It might be better to save that money and simply go to one of the many Indian colleges. And then go to US/UK for graduate training.
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