<p>I am an international student who is going to apply to US colleges this year. I know that scholarships are very hard to get, especially for international students. I heard that public universities don't have scholarships for international students, do they? Would it be a right choice to apply only to private universities?</p>
<p>There is no one policy that fits every school, private or public, regarding scholarships (merit based) or grants (need based) for internationals. Some don’t offer either, some offer both, some may offer one but not the other. You need to check each school you are interested in, private or public, to see what their policies are.</p>
<p>Take a look at these public universities that offer automatic scholarships based on GPA and test scores:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-7.html#post15895768[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-7.html#post15895768</a></p>
<p>You heard wrong. There are public schools that have scholarships that do not exclude internationals when selecting who gets them, and there are private schools that specifically exclude international students. Most public schools do not guarantee to meet FINANCIAL NEED for anyone, but often give some preference for their own state residents, and may exclude international students altogether. Heck, there are schools that exclude most non state residents, even US ones. </p>
<p>If you need money, you need to look at the policies of each school to which you are applying and gauge your specific chances for getting any need base or merit awards. You can safely eliminate those schools that specifically say nada for any internationals. Waste of your money to apply since policy forbids the school from giving you anything. Trickier are those schools that don’t so specify, but operate that way, and you might have to ask financial aid and admissions, what % of internationals get need met or get awards. The date is not so easily obtainable, broken down for international students. You may have to do some searching on message boards of the school to get specific info for the schools.</p>
<p>There is item H6 in the Common Data Set which has several questions on the topic of aid to non-resident aliens. Most universities make their CDS public, though not all. It is possible that you will check a CDS to find that they have neglected to fill out that section, but if they do fill it out it tells you something. For example, from UNC-Chapel Hill’s CDS you can see that they do not give internationals any grant or scholarship money at all.</p>
<p><a href=“http://oira.unc.edu/images/stories/factsAndFigures/dataSummaries/cmmnDataSet/cds_2012_2013.pdf[/url]”>http://oira.unc.edu/images/stories/factsAndFigures/dataSummaries/cmmnDataSet/cds_2012_2013.pdf</a> </p>
<p>But UIUC does award non-need based aid and you can see how many get it and average amounts. Averages are only averages, but it tells you this is a school worth looking into to find out more. </p>
<p>[University</a> of Illinois: Student Enrollment Reports](<a href=“Student Enrollment”>Student Enrollment)</p>
<p>Yes, some publics do award merit based scholarships to int’ls who have high stats. I know that Alabama does.</p>
<p>how much merit scholarship money do you need? How much will your family pay?</p>
<p>If you’re looking for need-based aid, then it’s true that publics don’t give that kind of aid to int’ls.</p>
<p>Firstly, thank you all for the replies.</p>
<p>Secondly, I am looking only for need-based scholarships, since I heard that top universities in Engineering like MIT or Caltech do not offer merit-based ones.</p>
<p>To tell you the truth, I believe I can get into a fine university with my current stats and even get some merit-based scholarships, but you know, MIT is prestigious, thus I want to be adMITted :P</p>
<p>*To tell you the truth, I believe I can get into a fine university with my current stats *</p>
<p>What are your stats? What country are you from?</p>
<p>You still can’t count on being admitted. The schools that give full aid to int’ls get a gazillion apps from int’ls with very high stats. those schools probably only accept a tiny % of int’l applicants.</p>
<p>I admire your confidence. MIT admission for internationals is extraordinarily difficult, and Cal Tech is probably just as hard.</p>
<p>In 2012, there were 4,513 international applicants and 148 were admitted:</p>
<p><a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats[/url]”>http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats</a></p>
<p>You need to figure out what your goal is. If you want to study in the United States, then you’d better broaden your search to include some of the “less prestigious” universities that would offer you significant merit aid. On the other hand, if it’s MIT, CalTech, or nothing, then best of luck to you! Your chances of being admitted are infinitesimally small . . . but as long as you’re willing to take that gamble, it’s your decision.</p>