State Universities or Ivy Leagues for International Student?

<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 :slight_smile: 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>