<p>I'm already applying to:</p>
<p>Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Cornell, Columbia, Pennsylvania, Caltech, Duke, Carnegie Mellon, New York, Williams, and Middlebury this autumn.</p>
<p>I'm looking for a top college in math/finance/business, preferably in a city. I'm also an international, and I'll definitely require financial aid.</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>Oh, and add Amherst and Dartmouth as well.</p>
<p>Great schools, but you need some safeties. Perhaps your state’s flagship U.</p>
<p>NYU doesn’t give out aid to international students.</p>
<p>Nor do Penn, Duke, Columbia, or Cornell, and most others save for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford(?), Dartmouth…</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna which is just outside of Los Angeles.</p>
<p>I live in the UK, so I’m currently applying to Cambridge, Warwick, Imperial, and LSE. Those are pretty much my safeties, as the UK universities base applications a lot more around your qualifications, and I already have my A-levels and so forth.</p>
<p>I didn’t know that those universities didn’t give out FA to internationals - do you mean that they aren’t need-blind towards internationals, or, literally, that they will give absolutely no FA to internationals?</p>
<p>P.S. Out of curiosity, why Claremont McKenna?</p>
<p>Most of them do not give any aid to internationals. I’m surprised that you aren’t aware of that: UK universities don’t give grants to Americans, either.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why someone for whom Cambridge (which college?) is a “safety” would be applying to a laundry list of American universities. In any case, the picture here is very different: if you want to go to a US school, be prepared to pay all or a significant portion of the cost. It’s not like Europe. I’d suggest that you visit the websites of the schools you list and familiarize yourself with the financial aid picture, including the forms and information you and your family would be expected to provide.</p>
<p>British universities have hardly any grants; we only have loans here, which I’d rather not take out…</p>
<p>The reason why Cambridge is a safety is because our universities pretty much require a handful of A-levels (and STEP papers, if you’re doing Maths), a personal statement, a recommendation, and that’s it. The American system is much different; I’m not as geared towards it, if you see what I mean.</p>
<p>And I’ll definitely check out the FA available now; thanks for the heads-up.</p>
<p>How’s your French? Have you considered applying to HEC? How about German? University of Zurich?</p>
<p>I have no idea what the financial arrangements are within the EU, I admit…</p>
<p>I only know English. So most European universities are pretty much out of the equation; besides, Oxbridge are the two most renowned universities in Europe, by far. So I might as well just go there (assuming that the FA is the same across the EU…)</p>
<p>Bump. 10char</p>
<p>Try UW-Madison.</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna for its accelerated MBA program, strong economics department, and emphasis on developing leaders for public service and business.</p>
<p>I looked at your list and wondered why Williams and Middlebury? Both are great schools that I think highly of but they are in rural areas.</p>
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<p>So your major reason for being interested in US schools is that someone told you the streets are paved with gold? I think you are likely to be very disappointed. </p>
<p>I don’t know about everyone else, but I get very tired of hearing from international students who could go to excellent subsidized schools in their own countries for very little $, but who want to come here because they think that a US school is going to cough up a full ride. I’d prefer to see US schools save their FA $$ for US kids who need the money. US kids are not going to get a red cent from any UK or European university: it is not a 2-way street.</p>
<p>You need some safeties.</p>
<p>How about Chicago? Great econ and math departments and it’s in the location you want. It doesn’t have an undergrad business program, though, and I don’t know about their FA policy with internationals. I also agree with metalforever, you need some safeties</p>
<p>British universities provide far less FA, period. Less loans, less scholarships, less everything. For example, search up “cambridge undergraduate financial aid” and “williams undergraduate financial aid” - you will see a difference. To quote the Cambridge site, an English student could receive a bursary up to £6,156 per year. That’s not a given, either.</p>
<p>Cambridge charges £3,225 a year for tuition, and it estimates £6,000£7,500 for living costs. That’s at least £9k. So, even if you recieve the maximum amount of FA, Cambridge doesn’t cover all costs. Whereas Williams states that it will “meet 100 percent of demonstrated need”. A lot of US universities commit to meeting the full demonstrated need of students. We have no such system here.</p>
<p>Does this mean that I’m applying to the US because, as you put it, “someone told you the streets are paved with gold?” </p>
<p>No. I don’t intend to grab my free degree and then wing it back to England again. I intend to get a job in America and stay there, or do some postgraduate work. Either way, I’m contributing to your country. </p>
<p>I fail to see why you’re so against the American system of providing costless education to many disadvantaged internationals. It’s probably one of the main reasons why America is where it is - because it attracts so many intelligent people to the US. </p>
<p>Will some international students get the places and FA that US kids would otherwise have gotten? Yep. </p>
<p>Will they be more intelligent and better deserving and better able to contribute to the country? That’s likely, considering that a lot of US schools (MIT, for one) have quotas on the number of international students they admit, thus raising the bar. 100 of the best international students are probably going to be better than 100 of the best of the *rest<a href=“i.e.%20those%20who%20wouldn’t%20have%20been%20admitted%20without%20the%20100%20places%20being%20available”>/I</a> of the US students.</p>
<p>Based on the number of your posts, you have been around CC for awhile. However, make sure you have a grip on the concept of “demonstrated need”. The universities decide what your need is, not you. Williams is not free. Additionally, each student is expected to work in the summer and contribute the earnings to the costs. Complete cost of attendance (COA) aid is rare and provided to the poorest students. Harvard/Yale and maybe a couple others have the most generous cutoffs for being considered for such aid. Many families are now facing financial aid packages that expect them to pay more than they want to pay. Check out the financial aid forum and the Swallows to Capistrano thread in the parents thread.</p>
<p>Only a handful of colleges say they are need blind for international students and will meet full need. It is not at all easy to get the great aid. I am under the impression that Middlebury is scaling back their international aid. Another top college, Pomona, says they will provide aid for only 4 international students per class year. Swarthmore offers aid to 20 students. The best situation to be in is one where you need little or no aid.</p>
<p>Regarding getting a job here. This can be tricky. Consider that opportunity as a long shot and do a happy dance if one comes through for you.</p>
<p>I won’t even touch the comment on the international students being better than the US students at MIT!</p>
<p>I’ll read those threads; thanks for the heads-up. I’ll need to look into how, exactly, colleges estimate the amount of aid a student needs.</p>
<p>As to your last comment, I meant that the ~100 international students who are currently admitted to MIT are probably going to be better than the ~100 US students who would otherwise be admitted, if you look at the relative percentages of people who are admitted. Remember, colleges are choosing the best students here. I did not mean that the average admitted international student is better than the average admitted US student. That would be ludicrous.</p>