<p>I'm an Asian international applying to competitive schools in the US. In case I don't get into any of them/can't afford them, I am looking for a few safeties that would be willing to give me a full ride or close to a full ride. I don't know if these exist, but please! Recommend away.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.99 (unweighted)
SAT I: 2380 (800/780/800)
SAT II: 780 Literature, 760 German
APs: 5 5's, and I'm taking another 3 this year.
Most Rigorous Courseload
School: My school is an obscure Christian international school, and there's 19 people in the graduating class.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if my ECs are important to possible safety schools, but I am pentalingual and my main EC has been taking language classes (German & Spanish) and my summers have consisted of cultural immersion or volunteer trips to Germany/Costa Rica. I'm student body president and have several other leadership positions in volunteer & religious groups. </p>
<p>So. Any schools that might want to give me a full ride? I'm open to Christian colleges as well.</p>
<p>University of Alabama at Huntsville offers a very nearly full ride for your stats. Apply NOW!! because you have to be accepted before filing the scholarship application which is due on December 1. I understand that the application for admission is a snap, so you should be able to take care of that today.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids can tell you all about UAH as she has kids of her own there.</p>
<p>Don’t like UAH? Pop over to the Financial Aid Forum and read through the threads on guaranteed merit-based aid. Some of the other institutions listed there might work for you. You also should run a search for the denomination most closely affiliated with your school. Some of those might be willing to throw some money your way.</p>
<p>Don’t really need a full ride because you do have some money for your education? Spend some time in the International Students Forum reading what b@r!um has written on tracking down financial aid, or send her a PM. She will have good advice for you.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids can tell you all about UAH as she has kids of her own there.</p>
<p>My kids’ undergrad isn’t UAH. My kids’ undergrad is Alabama. If you apply NOW to Alabama and quickly get your scores and transcript sent, then you could get a full tuition scholarship…but you must act quickly.</p>
<p>However, UAH is very close to my home so I know about that school as well.</p>
<p>The OP is an international student.
The University of Alabama does not offer financial aid to international students.
This is true of many, if not all, public flagships. Check the Common Data Set, section H6, to verify. I suspect that the few schools that offer guaranteed big merit scholarships to high stats students are all public universities that don’t give aid to internationals. </p>
<p>Alabama at Huntsville does offer some aid to internationals. However, only 20 scholarships were provided to internationals in 2011-12 (for the entire undergraduate student body, apparently, based on my interpretation of the CDS numbers). The average dollar amount was only $7132 (against total costs of over $31K for non-residents).</p>
<p>Many private liberal arts colleges offer relatively generous aid to internationals, although they are not need-blind in admission for internationals. I suspect the reason the average amounts are so high at these schools is because they know internationals must demonstrate ability to cover all costs, so there is no point admitting an international student without full financial support. If that is indeed how it works, then admissions may be especially competitive for the most needy students.
[Top</a> 25 Financial Aid Colleges in US for International Students (Need-aware) - Desperate Guide: Undergraduate College Financial Aid, Scholarship](<a href=“http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware]Top”>http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware)</p>
<p>Bottom line: I’m not aware of any good full-ride safety prospects for international students.
Aid is limited; it tends to be channeled first to the most needy and deserving US citizens (although a student like the OP, with high stats, may get lucky).</p>
<p>It’s no guarantee, but try the University of Rochester. My son is there and some internationals have nice scholarships. Your stats would make you competitive.</p>
<p>Otherwise, there may be some smaller Christian schools who would love to have you and offer you some $$ to make it happen. Many do offer merit aid. Does your school offer any info about anywhere that previous grads may have gone? What denomination would you be comfortable with? There are huge variances in “Christian.”</p>
<p>What major or field of study are you interested in? What’s your goal after graduation?</p>
<p>Here’s the situation regarding aid for Internationals at another Christian College, Grove City:
[GCC:</a> International](<a href=“http://www.gcc.edu/international.php]GCC:”>http://www.gcc.edu/international.php)
("There are limited partial scholarships available for students who are well qualified academically and who demonstrate financial need. ")</p>
<p>I’m afraid that after Wheaton (and perhaps a very few others) there is a big drop-off in academic quality and institutional wealth among schools that describe themselves as Christian Colleges. Jesuit and other Roman Catholic institutions might be better targets.
[url=<a href=“http://www.ajcunet.edu/Member-Institutions]Member”>http://www.ajcunet.edu/Member-Institutions]Member</a> Institutions<a href=“Aid%20to%20internationals%20is%20not%20necessarily%20available%20at%20all%20of%20these%20schools.%20%20For%20example,%20Marquette%20offers%20it,%20but%20Loyola%20Maryland%20does%20not.%20%20Check%20their%20Common%20Data%20Sets,%20section%20H6.”>/url</a></p>
<p>As I expected, I’m unfortunately not really going to have safety schools as an international. Also, I’ve concluded it’s better for me to go to a college in my country than to go to a random school with no name in the US, even if they offer money.</p>
<p>However, the information you all have provided has been very helpful and I’m going to look into applying to some liberal arts schools that give generous financial aid. I’ve also started looking into some of the merit scholarships (like the one BobWallace posted), but getting those seem to be as hard as getting into the schools I’m applying to anyway.</p>
<p>@Creekland I’m evangelical (Reformed); a lot of kids from my school go to Wheaton, actually. </p>
<p>As for field of study, I’m interested in international relations/political science/economics and I’m planning on going to law school. But no engineering for me so I won’t get any scholarships for that.</p>
<p>@tk21769 Thanks a lot for all your information, it’s really useful. And I think I’ll look into that Wheaton scholarship.</p>
<p>If you are planning on law school, you would be best off to do that in the country where you plan to practice. Find out if law schools in that country will admit you with a degree from the US. If law is an undergraduate or first degree in that country, you may want to drop the notion if studying here entirely.</p>
<p>Okay I’ve thought a lot about this lately, and what would you all recommend as matches for me? I know that’s hard to say for an international, but I’m starting to question my college selections. (Or would you say those high to mid tier liberal arts schools w/ financial aid that you all recommended are actually my matches?)</p>
<p>@happymomof1 Perhaps “plan” was too strong of a word. I don’t actually know; it’s just always been what people have told me I would be good at but I’m not super enthusiastic right now (also why I’m choosing not to do it for my undergrad). Also, I am aware that I need to go to law school in the country I want to practice, but that country might be America. Anyway, I am applying to undergraduate degrees in the UK, my home country, AND the US. I’m hoping to get good options. But thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>The University of Alabama does not offer financial aid to international students.</p>
<p>We weren’t talking about financial aid…we were talking about MERIT scholarships. And, yes, Alabama and UAH give large merit scholarships to int’ls.</p>
<p>So the OP should apply QUICKLY since Alabama requires that int’ls apply by Dec 1.</p>
<p>International Applicants</p>
<p>The general scholarship application is available at scholarships.ua.edu. You should submit this application if you would like to be considered for scholarships. The deadline for entering international freshmen is December 1 and for transfer students is January 15</p>
<p>“I am aware that I need to go to law school in the country I want to practice, but that country might be America.”</p>
<p>Right now there are very few jobs for new lawyers in the US. That whole professional field is in collapse. The backlog of unemployed and underemployed lawyers is so great, that you would have to be crazy to come here for college, follow that up with three years of law school (for which it is almost impossible to get a scholarship so who would help you pay for it anyway), and then try to find an employer here who would be willing to go through the ginormous hassle of getting an H1B (work) visa approved for you. The chance of getting to that point is, indeed, vanishingly small. If you like law, study it in the UK. If you want an advanced degree or specialization in law, you can come here for that after finishing your first degree in the UK. In fact, your chances of practicing some kind of law in the US are probably much greater if you do a UK degree, get hired by a multinational, and then get yourself transferred here.</p>
<p>According to the UA CDS for 2011-12, section H6, “Institutional scholarship and grant aid is not available”. All other fields within section H6 are left blank, including the one that states, “If institutional financial aid is available for undergraduate degree-seeking nonresident aliens, provide the number of undergraduate degree-seeking nonresident aliens who were awarded need-based or non-need-based aid: ______”</p>