<p>I've lived in the U.S for 9 years (said that about 5 bajillion times now...) and I don't have a green card. So I will be applying as international student.</p>
<p>I will be majoring in either computer science or chemical engineering and then minor in business.</p>
<p>GPA ~3.8-3.83
SAT II 800 math2 740 chem
ACT dunno yet
SAT you dun wanna know.
ECs science olympiad, GPML, many sports, (nothing international quality or something that would distinguish me, a regular Iowan fellow, from other Asian brainiacs from CA)</p>
<p>My family is relatively poor (<70k) so I will be applying fin aid no matter what</p>
<p>If I were brilliant enough, I would go for MIT hands down. But I'm not, and my list of colleges numbers around 25 right now. I really need to know which colleges offer great academics, nice college lives, and generous financial aid for international students. I've shared with you a rough draft of my profile. So please list some colleges that would be good for me to apply to.</p>
<p>No one can help you with the limited info you provide. We need to know class rank and have at least a guesstimate score, Country, need or lack there of for aid and how much you can pay.</p>
<p>just please try to fill in the blanks and get a big picture. essays, interview, and recs are assumed to be great. Stats are average. ECs are not spectacular, but shows commitments and passion. All I'm looking for are colleges w/good-great engineerings and generous fin aid offers for internationals. I'm pretty sure that "international" alone narrows the list way down.</p>
<p>I would look this up myself but my senior year is busy and my counselor is too.</p>
<p>If you need financial aid as an international, Stanford would be a long shot.</p>
<p>From the Stanford Daily
[quote]
Stanford has yet to become need-blind for international applicants, meaning that applying for financial aid can hurt their chances of admission. The University still has only a limited amount of aid devoted to this population.
<p>even though I've investigated a lot with my situation, my status is still unclear to me. I've lived in the U.S. for a long time. When I called Stanford, they said that it WILL be considered in my application. But ultimately, the quota of my internatinoal status is sitll there, and I don't know to what degree it will affect me.</p>
<p>Also, I don't know how much more competitive the international pool really is. From the way I see it, America provides the kind of academic environment that enables the students to actively engage in the community and explore their inner values, more so than those of foreign countries, where test scores and GPA seem to be the main values. And in my perspective, that MAY be part of the reason why internatinoals have low acceptance rates, aside from the fact that top tier schools don't want to be overrun by Chinese</p>
<p>It's not true about the internationals not fitting in... This international applicant, my friend, he got 2400 SATs, went to RSI and was rejected by MIT. Freaking RSI. They just don't have enough space for all the international applicants. </p>
<p>If I had a penny for every student I know would have got accepted as a domestic, I'd be Warren Buffett + Bill Gates + Lakshmi Mittal. Another girl, pretty high stats (I'm sure at least 2200 SAT), went to Int. Physics Olympiad and got bronze, trilingual, etc etc, rejected from MIT. Honestly, I'd even go so far as to say that your living in the USA for so long is a disadvantage - low English scores despite living in an English environment.</p>
<p>Honestly, unless you have an amazing hook [American champion in wrestling or whatever] you need to lower your expectations. </p>
<p>Harvard/Princeton/Yale - Reject. International with no hook, lousy scores
MIT - Reject. International with no hook, lousy scores
Stanford - Reject. International with no hook, lousy scores, NEED FA
Cornell - Reject. International with no hook, lousy scores, NEED FA. Honestly... On this whole board, I've only met one international with FA at Cornell. And he was Mongolian XD
Berkeley - Reject/Gapping (admit with no FA). It's freaking PUBLIC!
Wisconsin Madison - Public U. No Financial Aid
UIUC - Public U. No Financial Aid</p>
<p>You need to realistically consider your options. An international, no hook, low scores, WITH FA. Eliminate all Public U's now unless the tuition is astronomically low. LACs may be a good choice. There's lots of info in the International Students subforum.</p>
<p>
[quote]
even though I've investigated a lot with my situation, my status is still unclear to me. I've lived in the U.S. for a long time.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, have you asked your parents what their status is? I am no immigration expert but as a foreigner that just got my Green Card, I know that one is required to have a legal non-immigrant status and maintain it somehow throughout their time in this country. Otherwise, the person is considered out of status and an illegal alien. </p>
<p>If you don't have a Green Card, you will be applying as international regardless of how long you've been here. I second fiona's assessment.<br>
1. Forget about MIT/Stanford/Cornell if they are not need-blind. They are huge reaches even if you don't ask for any FA.<br>
2. Go ahead and try HYP if you feel like you just want to try. But don't count on getting in.
3. Have you found out what the residency rules for public U in Iowa are? You need to find out if you are qualified for their in-state tuition if you are not a US citizen/permanent resident. University of Iowa is a quality school, like many other Big10 schools.<br>
4. Another option would be schools that give you merit-based scholarships. But your credentials, while competitive, are probably not enough to get you full-tuition scholarships at top schools. So you need to aim lower, perhaps quite a bit lower.</p>
<p>I suggest that you consult an immigration lawyer to assess your situation. If you get accepted as an international, the school will ask for your immigration status because they usually issue a F1 visa to those students and if you don't have legal status, you are subject to deportation.</p>
<p>Actually, if you apply as an international, the school will just send you a document called I-20 after you accept the admission offer. The school doesn't really ask for your immigration status because by default, an international has no immigration status to begin with. The international student then takes the I-20 and proof of financial resource...etc to the US consulate to get the F1-visa. The visa is needed to enter to the US. But since the OP is already in the US, technically, he doesn't need the F1-visa, not until he leaves the US and tries to come back.</p>
<p>I know I kinda said it already but just in case this isn't clear as this is very importnat: you need to verify that you are qualified for in-state tuition without having a green card. That is, all they care is how long your parents have lived in Iowa and paid taxes there, not if you are a green card holder (or your immigration status) on top of that.</p>
<p>And on the application form, you may end up checking international at one place (nationality...etc) and instate resident (state residency) in another. You need to make sure they actually have no problem with this.</p>
<p>i second cbreeze's suggestion to find an immigration lawyer for consultation. I think one-hour consultation probably costs just $100.</p>
<p>If your family has been legal and is ready to apply for green card, it may be worthwhile to take a gap year and wait. The lawyer can assess/estimate how long the process will take.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The international student then takes the I-20 and proof of financial resource...etc to the US consulate to get the F1-visa. The visa is needed to enter to the US. But since the OP is already in the US, technically, he doesn't need the F1-visa, not until he leaves the US and tries to come back.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, but if the student doesn't use his I-20, the school will be notified that the I-20 has not been used. Then the school checks its database and finds the student is enrolled but not used the I-20, then the student will be notified to come in to the office to explain his status. In addition, the financial aid may be withdrawn because the student isn't really "international" but an illegal alien.</p>
<p>I know one person who's legal immigration visa was approved while he was holding a F-1 visa. The school somehow was notified and he had to explain his status. His aid for international student was withdrawn but he was awarded aid for domestic students.</p>
<p>Trust me, this happens very frequently after the Homeland Security Act ; the Immigration Department tracks international students very closely.</p>
<p>...I'm a legal immigrant. I will qualify for instate tuition costs because my parents works do research for them.
my status is h4, which means that my stay in the U.S. is dependent upon my parents' statuses.</p>
<p>now about colleges to consider that are not in Iowa?</p>
<p>and please stop commenting on my ECs and stats. the opportunities are limited here in Iowa. You don't expect to find a ton of students with national honors, except there's a few in my school :P.</p>
[quote]
Im holding a H4 visa as well. Since we are considered to be "international students". It will be very hard to get money from colleges, especially NOT very competitive one cuz they generally have low endowments. Also, you cant file FAFSA. The only three ways I can think of to pay ultra expansive tuition are 1. get into top ~ 15 colleges, Ivy etc. 2. liberal arts colleges 3. scholarships
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Liberal Arts Colleges are a valid option. Treat yourself like an international student and start researching those that provide lots of FA to international students. The international student subforum has lots of information on this... Like I said.</p>
<p>Some LACs to start looking into are Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Carleton, Connecticut College.</p>
<p>I am glad that you sorted that out and that you have Iowa as fallback. I know you are qualified for better schools but at least you are better off than other internationals who don't even qualify for any in-state tuition. Iowa is still a quality school.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You can go ahead and apply to any need-aware top school but just be realistic that the odds are very much against you. So it's a matter of whether you want to insist on applying or divert your energy to other more realistic options.</p></li>
<li><p>You can apply for top schools that are need-blind but as far as I know, only HYPS are need-blind and they happen to be high rearch for anybody. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>So in general, need-aware top-20 schools would be just as reachy as HYPS. Take your pick.</p>
<p>Apply for schools that give merit-based scholarships. Your relatively realistic one that is still considered in the top-30 would be USC. They give half/full tuition to NMF? But if that doesn't include room and board, would you be able to afford that? I just don't know of any other school that is better than Iowa and gives lots of aid to international without being high reaches.</p>
<p>In response to Post #16: Opportunities are not limited in Iowa as Iowa & Wisconsin have, and have had for many years, the best public school systems in the country.
In response to Post #1: Yes, we do want to know your SAT I scores broken out section-by-section in order to offer meaningful suggestions.</p>