What are my chances for US universities? International Student

Chance Me / Match Me!
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21

@Dolaring make sure you adhere to deadlines. From the Union website, it seems clear that a lot of their aid is awarded in the ED round…and that might not be a great choice for you if you want to compare net costs amongst acceptances.

“ Union College utilizes the CSS Profile to determine financial need. The College is need-aware in the admissions process, which means that your financial information is considered along with the other components of your application during the admission evaluation. We typically expect international students, without outside financial support, to contribute a minimum of $7,500 per year towards their education. Applicants who can contribute more will be most competitive for admission. Last year, the average aid recipient contributed more than $25,000 (annual expectation), with over 75 percent of our international aid budget awarded in the two Early Decision rounds. Need-based awards ranged from $20,000 to just over $70,000, with an average of $51,000 towards the year’s comprehensive fee of $79,722. Financial aid is limited and competitive, so it is important to adhere to established deadlines.

Financial Aid Requirements

Financial aid forms must be submitted by the admissions application deadline. International applicants applying for need-based financial aid must submit:

  • CSS Profile
    • Union College requires international students seeking need-based aid to complete the CSS Profile. There is no process to request an exemption from this requirement, though a few students each year will be contacted by a member of the Admissions team and offered a waiver, based on the strength of their application, their admission plan, and their personal circumstances. Due to the rarity of such outreach, there is not an appeals process for this.
    • Union’s CSS Profile school code is 2920.
  • Income Documents
    • Documents can be submitted via our Financial Aid Dropbox. For your personal security, we ask that you do not send any forms via email attachment if at all possible.
    • Foreign income documentation must be translated into U.S. dollars.
    • All documents should have translations or explanations in English.
    • Examples of income documentation are: Salary or earnings statement from each working parent’s employer OR your country’s tax return, with notes that translate necessary portions into English and US dollars.
    • Salary or earnings statements should be on the company’s letterhead or official from the company indicating annual wages, bonuses, benefits, subsidies or perquisites and should indicate if the income is gross income (before taxes), in which case we need to know the taxes paid.

Please note: International students who enroll as first-year students without applying for financial aid will not be eligible for financial aid in future years.”

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22

I’ll apply Early decision 1 as I seem to have the highest chance with it, if you don’t mind I realize you’re not an admissions officer but you might know, it says ‘’ * Indicate your intent to apply for financial aid on the admissions application’’ How can I do that in CommonApp, as far as I know, there is no option for a css profile or something in the Commonapp, I realize I need to send the css profile, I don’t know how yet or if there is a specific procedure, any info you have on this would be greatly appreciated

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The CSS Profile is submitted separate from the application.

Look here:

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Right, I’m asking whether I should clarify that I’m applying for financial aid on the main application, not the CSS Profile, like is there something I need to do on the commonapp or the college’s application portal I need to do that says ‘I have submitted the CSS Profile and opt to be considered for financial aid?’ for example?

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Isn’t there a simple yes/no question on the common application asking if you are applying for financial aid? Just answer YES. The common AP is not a financial aid form.

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26

Though I think it’s the least of your worries, also bear in mind that with an F1 visa you are only allowed 20 hours of on-campus work per week (while school is in session).

Depending on where you live, that may or may not go far to cover your other costs.

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27

And there are only limited things you can do - maybe you can work on campus but off campus, I wouldn’t expect too much on working in an “office” setting that pays a lot of money. It’s probably going to be minimum wage jobs as international students on F1 visa.

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28

@MYOS1634 @Mwfan1921 @AustenNut any advice for this student?

29

1° your activities are excellent EC’s.

2° since you can earn money from one of them, do so. You may find it boring but having more money will help even at colleges that “meet need”.
If they have 3 applicants with exceptional credentials and they can have 1 if they invest $75,000 or 2 if they invest the same amount, well they’ll choose 2. This will help at the non need blind/full need for internationals, colleges.

3° you’ll need to apply ED to a meet need/need blind college. Those are the most selective in the US: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Amherst.
I would say, actually, to apply ED1 to Yale for Engineering, exactly for the reason fewer internationals would apply there than to Princeton for that specific subject. Or you could apply to Amherst for Physics, indicating an interest in a CS minor.
https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/physics/about-the-major/major
You could also apply to Computational physics at colleges that don’t offer Engineering.

4° Full rides come in 2 flavors: merit (based on your test scores, essentially) and need-based (your family makes less than 65K so the college covers a lot of your costs; generally, you’re admitted because you bring something the college needs.)
Type 1:
UT Dallas: apply for McDermott (full ride).
Type 2:
Berea: look at their majors, complete the best application you can, and cross your fingers or pray you’re the ONE Egyptian they choose.

5° College costs include tuition, fees, room, board, health insurance, books. If you have relatives living near a campus, you can commute, but otherwise the college will expect you to pay tuition, fees, room, board and health insurance - thus prove you have enough. This may come from your scholarship or from your parents/relatives. You cannot count on working to pay for room/board, especially since it’s often paid upfront, in August, and it can be a HUGE burden even for lower income Americans. Room&Board can be $10,000 to $15,000 a year!
You will only be able to work on campus and the wages, paid twice a month, will only cover basics like buying a toothbrush or new socks, plus perhaps from time to time going out to get pizza. The average family in the US makes about 70K a year and all prices are cued to that level of income. Expect everything to be 10 times more expensive than in Egypt.
You would likely be awarded work-study. It’d be up to you to find a job on campus, in the IT dept if you’re lucky, otherwise working in the cafeteria. You’d make about $1,000 per semester if you work all your hours.

In short, your chances are as good, or as poor, as for any ambitious, highly qualified international student. You’ll have to be strategic, have a plan B and a Plan C in Egypt or in another country (since you speak German, look at Germany, perhaps Switzerland), and it’s likely to be tough, but it’s worth doing if you are able to withstand the hard work and stress, all for potentially nothing (since you can only go into it full-on, and yet not get admitted anywhere).

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30

@MYOS1634 Im not sure Yale has ED1. They do have SCEA (single choice early action).

31

Thank you so much! This is super helpful I never thought to apply to yale ED1 but yeah, it’d make sense considering everyone will apply to princeton, I’ll apply to mit, princeton ea, currently aiming for a 36 on my act, got to top 2% of my class first semester, but working rn will be super tough with everything I have going on, but will do my best! Again really appreciate it

32

I believe Yale only has SCEA…Single choice early action. If you choose that application option at Yale, you can NOT apply to those other private universities EA. Yale would be your single choice.

@MYOS1634 or @Mwfan1921 or @TomSrOfBoston will clarify whether Yale has ED.

And Bowdoin and Dartmouth are two additional colleges that meet full need for all international students AND are need blind for admissions. Just FYI.

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33

I think I can ‘‘apply’’ but not go even if I get accepted, but apply in case I get rejected from ED

34

I had dartmouth in my college list, didn’t know anout Bowdin, thanks!

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Read this link. If you apply SCEA to Yale you can NOT apply early to the other colleges you listed.

https://admissions.yale.edu/single-choice-early-action

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36

Wrong. See link in above post.

You can apply regular decision but NOT ED…anywhere else on your list…if you apply SCEA to Yale.

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37

I see, would it be worth it to apply then and miss out on all of the EA applications? I have dozens of unis that are need aware but offer decent chances I plan on applying to

38

I can’t tell you which colleges to apply to early. That is your decision.

39

I see, I’ll have to think about it cause missing all EA applications doesn’t sound good tbf

40

Let’s see what the others I tagged think.

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