<p>I am an international student who recently received admission into Dartmouth. I thought the FA would be sufficient for my family, but I found out that my family's income exceeds the full tuition-no loan quota by 3%. As a result, my parents will have to pay more than half of my tuitions, which we cannot really afford. I'll have to get loans.</p>
<p>So here goes: </p>
<p>1) Should I transfer? And if I do, to where? I thought that the only places that give FA to transfer students are Harvard and Yale?</p>
<p>2) Do I have a chance if I decide to transfer?</p>
<p>My stats are:</p>
<p>SAT I 2400 (combined)
SAT II Physics, Maths 2C, Biology M, Chemistry 800
5's in 9APs</p>
<p>President of Photography club that received sponsorship to hold an event for people with cerebral palsy, and went on a photography trip to India to raise money for orphans
3rd Place in National Physics Competition
Numerous language awards
Research in smartphone service for people with obesity
Piano for 13 years, ABRSM Grade 8
Reporter for a young voter's association
Award from German ambassador for German
Art prize in National Art Competition
Member of International Amnesty Club
Internship at a hospital for 6 months
500 hours + volunteer work</p>
<p>That's all I can think of now. Would it be worth transferring to get more FA? Btw I'm interested in Architecture/Maths.</p>
<p>Or you could take a gap year, strengthen your application further through volunteering and such, and reapply elsewhere. That way you’ll still get the full benefit of being able to receive freshmen scholarships. It’s a possibility.</p>
<p>Ah. Did you apply ED? Then disregard my previous comment. My apologies, I’d meant you could decline your acceptance, and reapply to colleges during your gap year. That way you could save money while still getting the aid benefits of being a freshman. You should be fine if you decide to transfer; I’m just not sure you’d get better aid when transferring, and made my suggestion in the hopes you’d avoid loans from the get-go.</p>
<p>Thanks. I didn’t apply ED, but I thought you were talking about leaving the option of going back to Dartmouth next year. In that case, you have to make a promise not to apply to other schools. If I decline my admission now, that wouldn’t be a problem but I would have the risk of having nowhere to go next year.</p>
<p>Yup, sorry about that. I’m sure that with stats like yours, you’d get in somewhere, but maybe not somewhere of quite the same caliber - it’s luck of the draw at that level. I guess you’ll need to weigh the cost to you/your family (considering as well the potential reduction in proffered aid from a transfer school, relative to aid for incoming frosh) against the opportunities offered by Dartmouth, for either the first year before transferring or the full four years. I’m not too sure about architecture, but for math, if you intend to do a graduate degree, you’d likely be fine going somewhere less expensive and less prestigious, then doing your masters/PhD at Dartmouth or somewhere with a strong math department. (I hope others can comment on the strength of undergrad programs elsewhere, as I’m really not too familiar with colleges down there!)</p>
<p>…To me, an undergraduate degree isn’t worth ~$80k (if I understood you correctly) in loans. But if it is for you, all the power to you. :)</p>
<p>Dartmouth is one of six colleges in the entire United States I know of to meet the full-need of international students. Many international students would be happy to pay half tuition to attend. Any aid package you receive just about anywhere else will be lower than what you get at Dartmouth. You will still be an international student when applying for transfer and will have financial aid calculated the same way you are as a freshman. In truth, most schools offer less financial aid to transfer students - there are very, very few merit scholarships available. The way I see your situation, your two choices are to enroll and live with the loans, or just avoid going to college altogether in the United States.</p>
<p>Serves me right for posting at 4 AM – I glossed over the international student part. I think it might still be possible for you to get a good aid package elsewhere, seren0614, but sometransfer has a very good point. Have you looked at the International Students subforum on here? They have some very good advice about paying tuition/finding schools with lower tuition rates. I still think you should carefully consider if the debt is worth the experience, as if you continue on to grad school, your last degree becomes most important, so the name of your undergrad doesn’t carry as much weight. I think your idea for deferring a year is good, too, as the amount your family could save during the year could make the burden of debt somewhat less when you attend.</p>
<p>I may be wrong, but at schools that meet need isn’t need recalculated each year based on the previous year income? If so, deferring a year to earn more and save to pay for Dartmouth with fewer loans might reduce your need, thus reducing your aid package.</p>
<p>You should contact Dartmouth to ask this.</p>
<p>If you choose to decline your acceptance from Dartmouth, take a gap year and apply to other schools, look at schools that will awards guaranteed merit for your stats.</p>
<p>To my knowledge, I don’t think you can still take a gap year without declining the offer. June 1st is the last day you can notify Dmouth that you want to take a year off. </p>
<p>Anyway, I’m a domestic student sort of in your position right now (but less serious). I’m hoping that Dartmouth will reinstall its no-loan policy to all students within the next year or two while simultaneously planning to graduate in less than 4 years. Hope everything works out for you!</p>