Suggest reach schools for an Intl interested in Neuroscience, Sanskrit/Humanities

College Search & Selection
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<p>I want to note before I start that I have solid safeties in my home country. My parents will be funding my education and I cannot justify expenditures for a university that does not provide a good 'reputation' in conjunction with my desired college experience. Thus ** international reputation is an important factor ** . If I do not get admitted to US schools that I like, I will simply stay here. There is more flexibility in entrance to professional programs here and I can try being an autodidact. </p>

<p>Please disregard cost when making any suggestions. It is important to my family to some extent but cost will be considered in the context of the university. We are all on the same page for this. :)</p>

<p>Stats, ecs: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/16105188-post1.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/16105188-post1.html&lt;/a> . One issue - when I detail my work experience, I mean 20-40 hours/ week not overall. </p>

<p>Personality: I've come to realize that I want a sense of community. I don't want to go to a school where everyone goes out into the city just to socialize as I can't really afford to keep up with that. I enjoy discussing things with people and socializing. </p>

<p>I am intellectually curious - I really enjoy studying lots of different ideas and want to be 'cultured'. I am STEM- y (girl) as you can guess by my ECs but I feel there is a strong need for humanities study. I play sports for fun - mostly tennis and badminton. I also appreciate 'natural beauty' and modern architecture but obviously those aren't priorities... I don't plan on drinking much, if at all and would prefer a campus where getting drunk isn't the main subculture. I think I'm liberal (socially) but I do not identify well with US politics for many reasons. I don't know if I'm 'quirky' but I need an environment where people are passionate and socially pretty normal. I am also trying to become more religious and would appreciate organizations that support that (I'm Hindu).</p>

<p>Academics: I don't know what to say. My background is mostly biomedical research and I do have some specialized interests/areas. However, I imagine most good research universities will be fine for them - mentorship is more important in this stage of my career. I will be pre-medical but I don't want to attend medical school in the US for many reasons. I want to study Sanskrit because of my culture and I want to master French and Hindi (I speak colloquially) for practical reasons. I want to understand international relations and political theory and ethics and also learn history and sociology and anthropology. I obviously won't be able to study everything and my science major will be my main one but I want to be able to sample areas. I really want to progress in my studies of languages as I don't think you can learn those independently. The other topics are a little different.</p>

<p>Schools I have been broadly considering for FA and general reasons:
H, Y, P, S (extremely unlikely as an Intl applying for aid), M (lol..) and Amherst, Caltech (I think they're too sciencey for me), Columbia (the city...), Cornell (mild of nowhere though very pretty :-/), URochester, JHU (I hear it's overly competitive for pre-meds though :-/), maybe Duke (?), Harvey Mudd (?) ...</p>

<p>Unsure about US public schools - I could probably get a similar experience back at home. </p>

<p>Legal status: Hopefully Canadian citizen but I'm currently a permanent resident of Canada (same kind of document as a US greencard). </p>

<p>Thanks and I will appreciate any thoughts/recs :)</p>

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<p>Amherst is also need blind, actually. I don’t know if I’ll actually bother applying because they don’t have the easy Med School/research access.</p>

<p>Thanks for your thoughts! I don’t mind working but it should be worth it. I’ve heard…interesting things about the premeds at JHU/Cornell. Apparently they’re extremely cutthroat and whatnot.</p>

<p>Caltech has such a lovely campus but I don’t know right now if I want just science or really the quality of Caltech’s humanities curriculum. Columbia - I’m afraid of whether I’ll be able to handle the core. I really don’t know ANYTHING about music or visual arts. I feel as I should, but I don’t :-/. Plus, someone told me the social life revolves around the city and that creates a lack of community. The city is cool but I’ve never been a 100% city type. It’s obviously a cultural hotbed but I also want to be able to hang out and connect with people from my university. I probably can’t afford lots of outings, either.</p>

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<p>Oddly enough, last weekend I spoke with a high school friend who’s studying almost everything you aspire to. He’s majoring in biopsychology at Tufts as well as studying Sanskrit and history. He loves it, thinks it’s a great program, and a great school. He applied ED to Brown, but was rejected. I believe it also offers Sanskrit. </p>

<p>Emory might also fit your criteria. It offers Sanskrit, an outstanding neuroscience program, excellent humanities, and a multitude of other languages including a top ranked French department. I knew plenty of Hindus at Emory, and their club is actually renown among the students for the annual Diwali festival as well as other, smaller events it puts on.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the reply whenhen! I don’t think my parents will like Tufts, but I will definitely add Brown and Emory to my list. Emory sounds like a really cool school - my mom’s friend’s daughter went there, I think. </p>

<p>That’s great to hear, regarding Diwali :slight_smile: I have no issue with other groups - my closest friends are mostly Jewish but I want to reconnect with my culture and religion more.</p>

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<p>I would talk to them about Tufts. It’s truly an excellent school, one that seems to place a huge emphasis on its undergraduate education.</p>

<p>Also, Emory will offer you the opportunity to reconnect with your culture. Metropolitan Atlanta houses a very large Indian population, and the Hindi community, both at Emory and in the surrounding area, is quite active. Emory is introducing a small international merit scholarship program this year ([Scholarships</a> for International Students](<a href=“http://www.emory.edu/admission/admission/international_students/financial_aid_scholarships.html]Scholarships”>International Applicants | Emory University | Atlanta GA) ), but given the quality of the current crop of internationals, it will almost certainly be extraordinarily competitive.</p>

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<p>There are only 6 need-blind, full-need schools for internationals: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, MIT, and Amherst. If the CARLA listings of less commonly taught languages are accurate ([The</a> Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA)](<a href=“http://www.carla.umn.edu/index.html]The”>The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA))), Sanskrit is taught at Harvard and Yale, but not at the other 4 schools (although an Amherst student may be able to study Sanskrit at neighboring UMass). Hindi also is taught at Harvard and Yale. So perhaps those are your two best choices if you need a lot of financial aid and are serious about studying those languages in college. You will not be able to get a visa for study in the USA without demonstrating that you can cover all costs.</p>

<p>Here is a list of schools that are need-aware for internationals, but nevertheless offer relatively generous aid to internationals.
[Top</a> 25 Financial Aid Colleges in US for International Students (Need-aware) - Desperate Guide: Undergraduate College Financial Aid, Scholarship](<a href=“http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware]Top”>http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware)</p>

<p>Many of these are small LACs, which almost certainly will not offer Sanskrit or Hindi (except perhaps through cross-registration at other colleges). Brown, UPenn, and Stanford are on the list; all three offer both Sanskrit and Hindi according to CARLA.</p>

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<p>Thanks, Tk! I am certainly willing to compromise if I must - neither are essential to my immediate career (I can memorize Sanskrit and Hindi, maybe someone can teach me). I just want to study them rigorously and in an academic environment. I don’t plan on applying to Dartmouth as I dislike the culture. I am also unsure about Amherst.
Anyway, LACs may not be good for other reasons, such as research offerings. </p>

<p>Thanks whenhen. I think a lot of the scholarships come down to the subjective - I’ve definitely done interesting things, but the key will be to present them successfully. Might as well try, eh?</p>

<p>I really appreciate the suggestions, everyone. I am actually working on a spreadsheet for the Canadian unis/scholarships I plan to apply to and then will investigate the US options more thoroughly. It’s so surreal to me - I can’t believe I’m finally applying :)</p>

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<p>Brown is known for it’s Neuroscience dept. They also have the Brain Research Institute. You will have opportunities for undergraduate research. The open curriculum will allow you flexibility to design your own program of study outside your major. This is especially beneficial for students who have identified some particular areas they want to explore more deeply.</p>

<p>[South</a> Asia @ Brown](<a href=“http://brown.edu/Departments/South_Asia/languages.html]South”>http://brown.edu/Departments/South_Asia/languages.html).</p>

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<p>Thanks, BrownParent! Brown really has a unique style and I’ll definitely apply to it. I know a kid who is making his own major there - some combo of CS, Math and Physics and I think I’d really love to do that. I’ve heard Brown focuses a lot on ‘Fit’/intellectual curiosity so I’ll definitely look at that. It’s a bit pricey but I’ll apply first and see what happens. </p>

<p>I am open to any more recommendations/thoughts :)</p>

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<p>Super casual bump :)</p>

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<p>Out of curiosity, why do you think your parents wouldn’t like Tufts?</p>

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<p>Well, for Tufts we’d probably have to pay the full price or next to the full price which is ~60k. 60k/ year for 4 years is 240k. </p>

<p>The country where I live, I can attend one of the top schools (say McGill) for maybe 20k a year. If I stay local, where I already have connections and don’t pay for dorms/residence/travel, it would cost me 7k. McGill is considered the most expensive University for non Quebecois, so education in my country could cost anywhere between 28k to 80k for four years and this is ignoring the possibility of ANY scholarships.</p>

<p>Furthermore, in Canada, I can apply to my in-province medical school with 1 or 2 years of undergrad. I intend on being a physician in conjunction with doing other things and I don’t really care for the teaching/curriculum style here, so I would probably try for that. That would mean my education cost could range from 14k to 40k (without scholarships). </p>

<p>Plus, medical school in Canada in-province costs only 10 - 13k per year (assuming you get in). So, with the money that Tufts costs…I could take the full 4 year undergrad (which I don’t want to do) at the priciest university and go to a 4 year medical school (a few are three years here) and still have around 110k left. </p>

<p>I am blessed to have parents that value my education very highly but I don’t think it’s worth it to spend that much money at a school that would not be that helpful to me career wise. I have a lot of things I want to do and I guess the end goal is being ‘educated’ enough to accomplish those goals. Education is not solely found within a university, thought that is perhaps the easiest place to look.</p>