<p>Hey guys!
I am an International student, with a SAT score of 2130. I haven't given the subject tests yet, but I expect similar scores from them, and even better scores from the ACT. I do not have a long list of ECs, majorly due to the fact that I moved around a lot, but my school scores have remained consistently above average.
I am in a financial tight spot, and cannot afford the costly colleges. Can anybody suggest a good college, not including the six that offer financial aid to international students, that I might be able to attend?</p>
<p>What is your major?</p>
<p>What is the breakdown of your SAT?</p>
<p>What is your budget for college? how much will your family spend each year?</p>
<p>I haven’t exactly decided my major yet, but it’ll probably be either International Studies or English, depending on the college.</p>
<p>SAT breakdown -
Critical Reading - 710 National Percentile - 96%
Math - 740 National Percentile - 97%
Writing - 680 National Percentile - 94%</p>
<p>Without going into details, my family cannot spend more than 5000$ dollars annually on my college education.</p>
<p>I don’t think that there are any schools that will only cost you $5k. That said, there might be some schools that will give you some money for merit scholarships, but I don’t know which ones would give you enough money so that all your family would have to pay is $5k…including personal expenses, insurance, and international travel costs.</p>
<p>I was thinking the same thing. Should I start thinking about taking student loans?</p>
<p>sirfkartik,</p>
<p>You can’t take out student loans in the US without a co-signer, and no one in their right mind is going to co-sign for the amount of money that you might have to borrow. Your options are:
- Find a college or university that will give you a really big scholarship.
- Study in your home country.</p>
<p>You need to spend some time in the International Students Forum [International</a> Students - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/international-students/]International”>International Students - College Confidential Forums) to get ideas about finding financial aid. Look for what b@r!um has posted on that topic. You also need to read through everything (and I do indeed mean everything) at [EducationUSA</a> | Study Abroad, Student Visa, University Fairs, College Applications and Study in the U.S. / America](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.info/]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.info/) Then you need to make an appointment with the counselors at the advising center closest to where you live. They are expert at helping students from your country find good places to study in the US. They will be able to tell where students like you have been accepted, and whether or not they received good scholarships.</p>
<p>And please, pass the word on to your English teacher that students “take” exams. Teachers “give” exams. You may take the SAT subject tests at some time in the future. If you do, they will be given by a representative of the company that produces them.</p>
<p>@happymomof1 - I didn’t know that I needed a co-signer. Thanks for telling me.
I’ve already tried contacting the nearest advising center, but it wasn’t that helpful. They just gave me links to a few sites I already knew about. I’ll try visiting the center next, but I imagine it will be just as useless.</p>
<p>As my English teacher is myself for most practical purposes, please consider your message conveyed. I was aware of that point, but I tend to forget it every now and then. I’ll try to avoid repeating the mistake again. Thanks for pointing it out :)</p>
<p>This is the problem that I see. I imagine that there might be some good schools that would give you a merit scholarship for - say - tuition. Those schools won’t be the ones that are often talked about on these forums. And, you would need at least another $15k+ for room, board, books, personal expenses, and int’l travel.</p>
<p>Would you mind elaborating the merit scholarship point? I didn’t know there were colleges that would offer merit scholarships with that kind of a score.
And yes, costs other than the tuition are also a very big problem.</p>
<p>Is $5,000 your family’s estimated financial contribution? In other words, if you apply for financial aid, is there a chance your family’s bank statements, tax returns, real property, etc. may make it look like your family could afford to pay more than that?</p>
<p>It doesn’t hurt to apply to colleges that tend to be more generous to internationals, like Grinnell, Vassar, Macalester, Kenyon… Mount Holyoke and Wellesley, if you’re a girl.</p>
<p>Oh, and your SAT score is not bad.</p>
<p>As far as I’m aware, no. </p>
<p>Thanks, I’ll look at those colleges. And I’m a guy :)</p>
<p>So my scores are good, but not very good?</p>
<p>Your SAT scores are very good. I think the “issue” is that for the few schools that give great financial aid to international students, usually higher scores are needed for acceptance.</p>
<p>However, if you didn’t need so much aid/merit money, your scores would be fine for most schools. </p>
<p>Apply to some of the schools mentioned by Ghostt…I don’t know if they’re “need aware” for int’ls, or if they meet “need” for int’ls, or if they only help some int’ls. Pick the ones that would most likely help you the most if accepted.</p>
<p>That said…you wrote something kind of cryptic about what your parents would pay. If your family’s financial situation is such that if the schools were to look at income/assets, is it possible that these schools would expect a large financial contribution? During this last app season, many of the int’ls that were accepted did post complaints that they didn’t receive the aid that they expected. I don’t know if that’s because some of those schools expect domestic students to take out loans, and so they also expect int’ls to do so as well (from their home countries.)</p>
<p>However, as back-ups, you should apply to a few lower tier schools that are known to give large merit scholarships-- even to int’ls.</p>
<p>I also suggest you look at Macaulay Honors College at Hunter.</p>
<p>The Macaulay program provides free tuition, and Hunter includes dorms for their Macaulay students.</p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to The Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College — Hunter College](<a href=“http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/honorscollege]Welcome”>Welcome to The Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College — Hunter College)</p>
<p>You can be out of state or international to apply - it is not limited to New York City residents.</p>
<p>Do not limit yourself to the most famous colleges and universities. There are a number of colleges and universities that offer only one or two scholarships each year to international students, so fewer international students apply there. Sometimes these scholarships are very big, which would make one of those institutions affordable for you. Unfortunately there isn’t one easy place to find all of these scholarships. You will have to go through the websites of a lot of different colleges one at a time in order to find these scholarships. b@r!um has reported that she researched 300 colleges and universities when she was making her application list.</p>
<p>What is your home country? Being an international student in the USA is not cheap. Scholarships look like a reach imho.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids - That’s true, I suppose. I might take the test again, depending on the score report. It should be out in a few days.</p>
<p>I am already looking into the schools Ghostt recommended. Their financial aid programs for international students are quite good, and some of them are need aware for select students. </p>
<p>I do not know the exact specifics of my parent’s finances, but I am pretty certain about the figure. Still, I have asked my father to look over the details again, and he said that he’ll provide me with a round figure in a few days.</p>
<p>Can you suggest any schools like that? Or how I can find out about schools like that?</p>
<p>@susgeek - Thanks, I’ll look into that school too :).</p>
<p>@happymomof1 - Thanks, I’ll do that. Can you suggest how I should go about looking for these Unis? And how I should compare the scholarships offered by them? I have already looked at quite a few Unis, some of which said that they offer generous financial aid to select international students, but I do not know how to compare the aid offered by these Unis, as the amount of aid a student gets depends mostly on chance.</p>
<p>Oh, and I thought I should mention this - in Hindi, my mother tongue, tests are ‘given’, not ‘taken’, while it’s the exact opposite in English, as you pointed out. This leads to errors sometimes when I talk/type very quickly. I’m not offering an excuse for my mistake, just an explanation. I’ll take care not to repeat it :)</p>
<p>@Marsden - How will my nationality affect the admissions process or the aid process?</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, LSU gives large merit scholarships to int’ls. </p>
<p>You’re not sure of your major…what are your career plans?</p>
<p>I’ll look at LSU too, thanks.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure I’ll choose English and International Studies as my Major and Minor respectively, but some schools do not have International Studies as an independent course, so my decision depends on the school, to a certain extent.
As far a career plans go, I want to go into International Law, but I might change my plans once I’m in college - if there’s a subject that I enjoy more than International Law, I might decide to pursue that.</p>
<p>“in Hindi, my mother tongue, tests are ‘given’, not ‘taken’,”</p>
<p>In English, it is also possible to “present an exam”. That tends to be more of a British usage than a US usage. Maybe that is why the Hindi word normally translates as “give”. Another almost exclusively British usage is “sit an exam”. If you say “I will present the SAT this Saturday.” everyone in the US will understand, and a few of them will be impressed by your elegant, formal choice of words!</p>
<p>If you do end up studying in the US, one book that you will have a lot of fun with is “Dangerous English” by Elizabeth Claire. It won’t help you with give/take/present/sit, but it will help you choose the right words for some other situations.</p>
<p>Since you are interested in Law, you may be better off pursuing your first degree in your home country. In the US law is a post-graduate program. That would mean four years of undergrad studies here, followed by applying to law schools, and then (if you are admitted) three years of law school. Law school is very expensive, and there are very few scholarships. Most US students pay for it with loans. If they don’t get a job right away, it is a big problem because of the money that they owe.</p>
<p>If you study law in your home country, you can come to the US to do a one or two year specialization in the legal area that interests you. Most law schools offer this kind of Master program. Some offer Ph.D. programs in law as well.</p>
<p>I didn’t know that; thanks for telling me 
I’ll definitely read that book, too.</p>
<p>I understand your point. If I don’t get selected to a good university or college, I plan to do just that. But if I do get selected by a school that I like, and my financial problems are solved, I will most probably attend it.</p>