What do you think of my final college list? Any suggestions or edits?

College Search & Selection
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<p>Brief stats:
UW GPA 4.0, SAT 1510/2230, excellent ECs</p>

<p>I'm a first generation college student and I come from a low income family. My parents are willing to let me go to school as long as my tuition is covered by scholarships and/or financial aid. They are able to pay around 9,000 USD toward my college education. The rest of the cost will come from donations.</p>

<p>I am an international student. I am currently on a gap year and volunteering at an alternative school in my country. I applied to schools this admissions round, but unfortunately, things didn't pan out well. So I am going to try apply again to different schools for the Class of 2019.</p>

<p>As for majors, I'm currently undecided, but I'm considering: psychology, sociology, theatre arts, and art history. I will possibly minor or double major in dance or theatre (if I'm not majoring in it) if it is possible.</p>

<p>I've been researching many different schools that I hadn't considered the first time I applied to colleges, and I've come up with (what I believe is) a final college list. I will be applying for full tuition/full ride scholarships at a couple schools, at other schools, I'm hoping I'll get generous merit aid, and at a few other schools, I will be applying for need-based aid.</p>

<p>Applying for financial aid:
Duke
Vanderbilt
Rice
Georgetown
Brandeis</p>

<p>Hoping for merit aid:
William and Mary
University of Miami
Tulane
Fordham
Wooster
Temple</p>

<p>Applying for scholarships:
Wash U
Duke (I'm not very hopeful about this one, but I'm applying 'cause who knows?)</p>

<p>So what do you think? Do you think I should cut down on a couple schools? Or can you suggest any colleges that I haven't put down in my list?</p>

2

<p>William and Mary is a state school that has very little merit aid to give. </p>

<p>You may want to consider other schools that would be more generous and are looking to diversify their student body for more international students. Schools like U of Richmond, Elon University, High Point Univ. - private schools that have merit aid to provide and where your international student competition is a smaller pool.</p>

3

<p>I have heard of Howard giving large scholarships (like the ones here: <a href=“http://www.howard.edu/financialaid/grants_scholarships.htm#Freshman”>http://www.howard.edu/financialaid/grants_scholarships.htm#Freshman&lt;/a&gt; ) to international students. Ask them to make sure.</p>

<p>You may want to check the schools on the following lists to see if their large scholarships are available to international students (many are not, though):
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/16451378/#Comment_16451378”>Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
<a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;

4

<p>You’d get an automatic scholarship for UAlabama’s Honors College. You can also compete for U Cincinnati’s.</p>

5

<p>Thanks guys! I’ve crossed W & M from my list (also Brandeis for different reasons) and have added U of Rochester and U Alabama to my list. Now my list looks like this (I’ve turned to organizing my list by reach, match, and safety):</p>

<p>Reaches:
WashU
Duke
Vanderbilt
Rice
Georgetown</p>

<p>Matches:
U Rochester
U Miami
Tulane
Fordham</p>

<p>Safeties:
Wooster
Temple
Bama</p>

6

<p>how much will your family pay per year? is that amount for all four years or per year?</p>

<p>what do you mean by donations?</p>

7

<p>Are you female? How about Mount Holyoke?</p>

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<p>@mom2collegekids Per year. As for donations, I live in an extremely tight-knit community filled with people who are rooting for me to go to college in the US. They’ve told me and my parents to not worry too much about paying for school and that they’re willing to help fund my education.</p>

<p>@intparent Yes, I am a female. I’ll take a look into Mount Holyoke. Thanks for the suggestion :)</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>But do they know how much college costs in the US can be?</p>

10

<p>@ucbalumnus Yes, they are aware. Honestly, I am not very comfortable with the idea of their paying so much, so I’m looking at schools that would give me good financial/merit aid.</p>

11

<p>You may want to check on whether the well known Alabama scholarships are available to international students.</p>

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<p>They are, I got one but declined it.</p>

<p>Merit scholarships are also available at:

  • Denison university
  • URIchmond.</p>

<p>Most of the colleges you want to apply to are notoriously stingy.
UMiami for example functions like NYU- they coast on their location.
Many other colleges you mentioned are similar.
Check out the 100% need colleges in the US. Those are
Most likely to give you financial aid. </p>

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<p>@AmericanHopee Yes, and they are most likely to reject me as well. I looked for schools that are 100% need met to go to college this fall, but unfortunately, they all rejected me. I’ll take a look into Denison and U Richmond :slight_smile: I’m not applying for aid to most of the schools on my list. I’m actually hoping for a full tuition merit scholarship for all of my safeties and matches. I know full tuition/full ride merit scholarships are hard to get by, but I think I have a better chance of getting a merit scholarship than good financial aid at similar ranked schools.</p>

14

<p>You’re right. But do include some financial aid schools too - including if you can compete for some merit aid. Overall, your strategy is a good one but you’ll need help with the rest of the costs.</p>

15

<p>You should take a look at Franklin & Marshall, Clark University and Skidmore. They have a sizable international student population and I know of people who’ve gotten full rides from them.</p>

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<p>This thread is a bit old. But since I last posted on this thread, I have added Clark University and Skidmore :)</p>

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<p>Oh cool, you’re def on the track. You should see better results this round</p>

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<p>@Anduar3 I do hope so!</p>

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<p>Do keep us updated! Or create a new thread to tell your whole story from the start, with weekly/monthly updates. Those threads are the most useful to read.</p>

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<p>I second the suggestion to apply to the University of Richmond. International students are eligible to apply for the Richmond Scholars program (full tuition or full-ride) and they meet need (they are need-aware for admissions) for accepted international students too. </p>

<p>International students can be considered for all merit-based scholarships, except the Army ROTC scholarship program and National Merit Scholarships.Check out details here:
<a href=“http://scholars.richmond.edu/”>http://scholars.richmond.edu/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“Financial Aid - University of Richmond”>http://financialaid.richmond.edu/prospective/international.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Submit your application by Dec. 1 to be considered for the scholars program. They have all of your possible majors and is a lovely school. I have 2 daughters there and they love it.</p>

<p>I also second the suggestion to apply to the University of Alabama, the campus is beautiful with lots of different majors to choose from. </p>