<p>Hi everyone, I am in the process of applying for college and I'm an international student. First of all, here are what my current academics and extra-curricular stats are like: 3.9GPA, 31 on ACT(math and science only unfortunately, will retake the whole thing). 400 hours of volunteering from summer of 2012 until now, member of BETA, Match, international clubs at school. I'm a senior in high school. I'm currently an exchange student in Oklahoma and I'm graduating this year (yes, I'm allowed to come back for college here after graduation).
I want to study computer science and I have already thought of some schools. Please bare with me during in this thread because the counselors at my school are completely useless.</p>
<p>Coming from a small country where the cost of living is low, I want to find a college that would offer a quality education but would still offer some sort of tuition help to international students. The salaries in my country are low compared to the American ones (about $10k/year) so I guess I would be considered a students who comes from a low-income family. </p>
<p>I was thinking of applying to some state universities like Ohio State University, Florida State University and University of California - Berkley and to some Ivy Leagues such as MIT, Penn State, Harvard etc.</p>
<p>As far as payment goes, I was really wondering if I could get a financial aid/scholarship from any of these universities? I have read that the Ivy Leagues give aids to students who need it, but is it the same with International students? </p>
<p>Based on my stats, do any of you think that I can stand a chance to get into any of the Ivy League schools? I can work hard to bump my ACT score but Is my 3.9 GPa too bad? IF I do get in, will my extracurricular activities help me at all with the aid or anything like that?</p>
<p>In my country I am able to take an interest-free loan, so it won't grow over time, but if I go to a state university and pay $25k for tuition yearly, the debt will still be there, that's why I'm trying to make the best of my grades and activities...
Thank you.</p>
<p>Most or all state universities won’t give much or any financial aid to international students, so you would be looking at list price unless they have merit scholarships that international students are allowed to get. Financial aid for international undergraduates is generally hard to get. You can check the colleges’ financial aid web pages and the net price calculators.</p>
<p>You’ll be full fee at Berkeley. Universities funded by their respective states are supported by state taxes. So, in most states, funding goes to residents. International students are accepted for full pay. There may be a few scholarships, but that is very rare since so many students apply for a few slots.</p>
<p>just a note, Penn State is the state public university; University of Pennsylvania is the Ivy League school.</p>
<p>Berkeley will cost you at least $50,000 per year. </p>
<p>Schools like MIT and Ivy’s will look at your EC’s and grades and scores for admissions. Usually internationals have to be pretty exceptional to be admitted. They award aid based on ‘need’, not on your ECs. There is no merit aid given. I don’t know what your chances are. But if you can improve your score, you’d better do it to be most competitive.</p>
<p>You can also look at private colleges that award merit aid. Unless you apply to one of the guaranteed colleges, you won’t know what you will get until you apply, though.</p>
<p>Ok, so state universities are out of the list that give aids, thanks…
But, aren’t all of these scholarships for US-Citizens only :(?
"The awards included in this list meet the following criteria:
3. Open to all US students, "
Ok got it, thanks. I thought that $25k was the OOS tuition, I must have checked it wrong, sorry!
So it’s ok if they don’t look at my ECs, but does that mean that they’ll look only at my family’s income, then? Is that enough?
If I raise my test scores, is the rest “good enough” for the schools I listed? I mean is there a huge difference between a 3.9 and a 4.0 gpa?</p>
<p>I hadn’t thought of regular private colleges until now, do some of them have the same quality as regular colleges? A cousin of mine got a $16k/yr aid out of $32k/yr, and she has the same stats as me, without the ECs… I mean since she got such a huge subsidize, does that mean that it’s less competitive and thus lower quality or what? (I know this is very very broad, but just asking…)</p>
<p>No, there is not much difference between a 3.9 and 4.0. But there may be a difference in how hard your schedule is. That is important too. </p>
<p>Some schools, like Ivys only give aid based on family income. They will meet need for all accepted students. But you have to get in. To get in they will look at everything. Most students applying at full need colleges will have very good EC’s. Some internationals will have national level achievements. So it isn’t out of line for you to apply, but it is very competitive and anyone will only have a low chance of admissions as you can see from the acceptance rate. So increasing your ACT score may be a significant factor.</p>
<p>You can look for colleges with merit aid. USC doesn’t give aid based on need. But they do issue 1/2 tuition scholarships to internationals. However, you might want to increase ACT for a shot at that. It is a lot of work to try to look for these colleges and you won’t know if you get it until you apply. But may be worth it.</p>
<p>Don’t worry too much about less selectivity. You should look to see if the college will get you the degree you need at the right price and has a decent reputation. The U.S. has a large number of very good universities. You would have to tell us the school to have an opinion on it.</p>
<p>The truth that outside of truly exceptional international students, which the university believes will be a future rising star in their fields (and thus bring recognition to their university) the main function of having international students at government run schools IS so you can collect money from them. As international students more often then not go back to their home country after they graduate their value to a state sponsored institution is pretty much the amount of money that they bring into the system.</p>
<p>So your best bet if you are on a tight budget is a private university. These are generally MORE expensive in terms of sticker price, but they are often more prone to give aid to internationals. However aid is highly contested, especially among international applicants at good US private schools, so getting enough financial aid to take a chunk out of that big private school sticker price is far from assured. </p>
<p>Again the uber-rich privates like Harvard may be able to cover most of the tuition rates of their needy students but they are ridiculously hard to get into and you really need to have to be a near perfect applicant (a 3.9 gpa will give you a fighting chance but that ACT score will hurt you) and even then admission is still a coin flip because there are just so many applicants. </p>
<p>There are a few prestigious public universities in North America that have comparatively cheap rates on tuition for internationals, and are significantly more attainable than schools like Harvard or Stanford. I know McGill in Montreal has international rates as low as $14k per year for some faculties (and hence has an international population of 20% the student body).</p>
<p>I cant think of any cheap public’s for internationals in the US off the top of my head but you might want to check out some net price calculators.</p>
<p>Many state universities do not grant aid to internationals, but some do.
For example, the University of Illinois does. According to its Common Data Set for 2012-13, UIUC granted financial aid (need-based or non-need-based) to 4197 internationals, in amounts averaging $13,371. UIUC has highly regarded computer science programs. USNWR ranks its undergraduate computer engineering program #5 among PhD-granting institutions. USNWR also ranks its graduate CS program #5.</p>
<p>3.9 is not a bad GPA, especially if that is your unweighted average … and if your high school’s grades are not highly inflated. Selective colleges will consider your course rigor and class rank. At the Ivies and other very selective schools, rank in the top 10% is the norm. At Harvard/Princeton/Yale, many successful applicants are among the top several students in their schools. An ACT of 31 would be rather low for the Ivies.</p>
<p>Another one I would toss in is the University Of Minnesota, which only seems to distinguish between “residents” and “nonresidents” for tuition rates and the difference in pricing is pretty modest. The seem to charge a 13 credit Flat rate of ($9,155.00) for non residents (residents is $6,030.00). </p>
<p>Ok, so now you have 3 pretty strong public’s that have comparatively cheap rates (whether by having low base fees or good financial aid) for international students: McGill, UIUC and UMinnesota. </p>
<p>The advantage with these schools is that you have the grades and scores to make getting into any of them a probability, whereas schools like HYPSM, you only have a froinge chance of getting accepted to.</p>
<p>Cheap public schools for internationals in the US would be those like South Dakota State University, with an all-in cost under $20,000 per year. But that may still be too expensive for the OP.</p>
<p>There are literally thousands of possibilities outside the Ivy League.</p>
<p>In addition, remember that sticker price is not net price: what they quote on the website is not what you’ll pay. Net Price Calculators are inaccurate for international students but they may give you an idea of the least amount you would have to pay (understanding that you’re likely to have to pay more).</p>
<p>One obvious choice for you would be University of Oklahoma - check out if your attending high school there qualifies you for in-state rates.
Then, go to your school library and borrow one (or all) of: Fiske Guide, Insider’s Guide to the Colleges, The Princeton Review’s Best colleges.
Check out blogs like The College Solution, Do it yourself college rankings, and Colleges that change lives.
Figure out whether you want a school with interactive classes or big lectures, hands-on or theoretical, a core curriculum or “regular” distribution requirements or almost none, a big football or basketball culture (or not, or lacrosse, or hockey, or squash…), etc.
Then come back here to ask questions we’ll give you lots of suggestions based on your preferences.</p>
<p>If you plan on studying engineering you already qualify, and if you plan on studying anything else and being part of the Honors College + can get a 32 on your ACT, you would qualify for some of University of Alabama’s automatic scholarships.</p>
<p>Universities like Truman State, University of Wisconsin-Superior, or University of Minnesota-Morris have automatic scholarships (or tuition waivers) for international students with good stats, too. These are all good public universities.
Other public universities would include the SUNY’s (New York State’s public universities), the public universities of Minnesota and the Dakotas.
If you apply by December 1, University of Montana has a scholarship competition. You have the stats to compete, at least.</p>
<p>How many AP/Honors courses do you have? This would affect how your 3.9 is perceived and where you can apply (rigor of curriculum is important).</p>
<p>For the Ivies, a high GPA, a good (32+) ACT score, and a rigorous curriculum are taken for granted, as are “interesting” EC’s. You will need to have excellent essays, recommendations, and a national-level prize of some sort (or at least several prizes at the state level.) Even like that, as an international applicant who needs help, your odds are about 1 in 20, so you need to start looking further.
Start with the books and websites I suggested above.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your replies everyone. Yes I have Fiske’s guide, but I didn’t know that it included international students in it. I’ll get to work.
Yes my GPA in unweighted. When I came here as an exchange student, I didn’t want to waste one year and go back and repeat it, so I insisted VERY hard to graduate, and got a lot of classes that are required for graduation, such as Oklahoma History, Government, Art, etc. The thing is that my schedule is SO full with the required classes (I’m basically taking 4 high school years in 1 year) that I didn’t have any space for ANY AP class :(. So I don’t know how much disadvantage will that bring to me…
In my country I completed 3 years of High School, and instead of AP classes, we have “Advanced” classes. So I have taken Advanced Math apart from regular Math at school back home, but the Advanced math class includes all the math branches (calc, trig, geometry, algebra) in one. I’m NOT saying this because I’m a foreigner, but I swear I looked at some AP Math classes of my friends here at school and they were so easy compared to what I did back home, so what I am trying to say, is that I have already taken very hard math classes, but I don’t know how I can translate this, so that the college would acknowledge my work… I was in the Top 10% of my class there, idk about here… By wanting to graduate here in the US as a foreign exchange kid and thus not being able to take AP classes, did I destroy my chances of having some good classes that could look well in my college app?</p>
<p>Okay, so I did some research of the universities that you guys mentioned and I have some questions. I’m sorry for asking here but the NET Price calculators are so inaccurate and apply only to US Citizens, so I’m kinda lost… BTW, I am able to pay up to ~$25K tuition, but I really need the aid…</p>
<p>
Okay, so when I was looking at their website, I found USC’s tuition and fees: [Schedule</a> of Classes: Spring 2013: Tuition and Fees](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/academics/classes/term_20131/tuition_and_fees.html]Schedule”>http://www.usc.edu/academics/classes/term_20131/tuition_and_fees.html)
It says $21,861.00, but is that for both US citizens and internationals? Cause I can’t see separate information about international students (or even OOS students, for that matter).
A 50% reduction of $21K would be amazing…
The school I was talking about, where my cousin got in, is called Franklin University and it is located in Ohio. He has similar stats to mine minus the EC and he is studying for Pre-Med.</p>
<p>@NamelesStatistic - Sorry for the ignorance, but what’s the full name of USNWR? Cause I did a Google search and I’m not getting results… Okay, so, I’m sorry again if this sounds dumb, but I got this page from UIUC’s website: [U</a> of I Records: Fall 2013/Spring 2014 Undergrad Engineering Tuition Rate](<a href=“http://registrar.illinois.edu/financial/tuition_1314/Fall/ugrad_engineering.html]U”>http://registrar.illinois.edu/financial/tuition_1314/Fall/ugrad_engineering.html)
So it says “Semester Rate by Credit Range” and just below it, it says “Rates for students entered Summer 2013 through Spring 2014”. So is the amount for a YEAR for an international student $16,968 or double that amount, ~$33k? I’ve really been looking into that college but I didn’t know it offered aids to internationals, because of it being a state college.</p>
<p>Some background info - I, actually, AM one of those students who intend to stay in the US after graduation… That’s why I am doing everything so carefully and (sorry) spamming you with these posts… It will be a huge investment for me and I can swear to you that I have been waiting to come here ever since I was a kid… I don’t mind the size of class or whatever as long as I can learn from it… If a private college will be able to help me, then great, but I just don’t want to get a cheap education if that equals just a degree that will make me go home… I do understand that no degree guarantees you a job straight after school, but that’s why I want to get the best education that I can get under my possibilities and being an international student and competing against many other American kids who wont have to go through the paperwork process to get hired, makes me kind of sad, but motivates me at the same time…</p>
<p>BTW, I am able to pay up to ~$25K tuition, but I really need the aid…</p>
<p>If you’re low income, then how can you pay that much per year? Where will the money come from?</p>
<p>A 50% reduction of $21K would be amazing…</p>
<p>As for USC, you’re seeing the tuition-only cost PER SEMESTER…There are two semesters per year…plus other costs…room, board, books, fees, travel, insurance, personal expenses. The full cost PER YEAR is over $60k per year. The half tuition scholarships for TOP STATS is for tuition only…not half the other costs. So, if given a half tuition scholarship, the remaining costs would be $40k per year.</p>
<p>Either way, it’s very doubtful that you’d get a scholarship there. You didn’t give your ACT composite, but if 31 is your highest score in two sections then your ACT is too low for merit there. It’s hard to even get accepted into USC with an ACT below 32.</p>
<p>USNWR means US News and World Report. They publish a one of the more well known rankings of US universities. The rankings are a good guide but take them with a grain of salt. They also publish a “world ranking” of universities, but these are just cloned from the QS rankings.</p>
<p>As to McGill. It has a weird fee system where prices very hugely between majors, especially for international students. Engineering is one of the most expensive, whereas Arts is one of the cheapest at just under $15k tuition and $17k with ancillary fees, mainly international health and dental insurance.
So if you are set on engineering, and on a budget then no McGill is probably not your best choice because although they recently opened up a lot more scholarships (See Campaign McGill fundraiser), these are mostly earmarked for Quebec and Canadian schools. </p>
<p>I restated UIUC because another poster here, tk21769 said that it had good merit aid for internationals. If you want more info on that schools aid packages you should maybe PM him.</p>
<p>As to Minnesota, I have done a little research on it. It is a public school, not a military academy. Honestly I don’t know why the tuition rates appear so low. Maybe the 13 credit flat rate is per semester? Then again the website also talks about semester credits vs quarter credits and it is kinda hard to decipher what they are trying to say.
At any rate, its tuition fees seem to be the best of the bunch just by looking at its website, so your best bet is probably to contact their admission department and talk to them.</p>
<p>The money would come from a loan, but in such cases in my country a loan can be taken with a very very low interest… However, the money to pay is still going to be there (please don’t go off-topic about the loan thing, because I have even tried to talk to my parents and THEY are the ones who are willing to do it).</p>
<p>The ACT was LITERALLY taken within 1 week of the school asking me to take it (it was apparently a requirement) and I had no material to study… I took the Math and Science parts only, I got full score on the Math but was really bored on the science part and I was unable to read through the whole passage… The minimum requirement for graduation for both sections was only 18 anyways, so I knew I was in…</p>
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<p>Okay then, McGill is a no… I was interested in Canada before coming here but I wasn’t sure as to how their policies w/ International students after the graduation were and how the job market worked so I thought I’d focus in the States…</p>
<p>I’ll check for both schools, but Minnesota definitely struck me…
On another note, is any of you familiar with the SUNY schools in New York?</p>
<p>I can clarify a few things about Canada’s policy for international students after graduation, as I have answered questions about it before on CC. It is actually quite lenient because after graduation you do not actually have to apply to immigration as a standard immigrant to Canada. Instead you complete a much quicker and simper “post-graduation work permit” application which allows you to live and work in Canada for up to 3 years in Canada after your graduation before you have to apply for landed immigrant status. </p>
<p>The more internationally well known universities tend to be more expensive but there are plenty of universities that fall in your price range: </p>
<p>Some good potential ones: The University of British Columbia ($21-22K- after with UToronto and McGill it is probably the most international recognized Canadian University), University of Alberta ($18k), McMaster University ($15239 - 19000), University of Waterloo ($19214 - 21088- Waterloo in particular is very well known for is engineering and computer science programs and has several companies, famously Microsoft and BlackBerry that recruit from its campus), Western University: ($16479 - 18113).</p>
<p>There are others on the link I gave you many that are less expensive than the ones I listed here, however the ones here have pretty solid engineering schools. In particular I would recommend you look at Waterloo because it has a very well regarded engineering program and the university is well connected with some major companies.</p>
<p>@NamelesStatistic Thanks for your post, I really appreciate it. I did browse Waterloo’s website and the tuition for my major for an international student is about $26k/year :(…</p>
<p>Anyways, I e-mailed University of Minnesota to get a better reply of their prices for international students, and in the meantime I was checking the FAQs and came across this question:</p>
<p>
So apparently the University DOES give scholarships to international students as well? :D</p>
we’ll give you lots of suggestions based on your preferences.</p>