where oh where should I apply!?!

College Search & Selection
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<p>Can anyone help me pick colleges. iTS ALMOST dECEMBER AND i HAVEN'T THE SLIGHTEST CLUE ON WHERE TO APPLY. I am an international student from Ethiopia. </p>

<p>SATs: 1960 (600 R, 710 M, 650 W)
SAT IIs: taking 3 Dec 5 expected scores >700, hopefully
GPA: 84/100 (its so low because of P.E. and Ethiopian foreign languages)
Class Rank: 8th out of about 40--class size,<br>
Extracurriculars: I have a couple, good enough I guess</p>

<p>I'm planning on majoring in Biochemistry/Biology/Premed, not sure
Cornell is on my list and so is Colgate
Oh and did I mention my need for financial aid, yeah I'm screwed. I'm applying to 15-20 colleges, recommendations anyone</p>

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<p>You should be applying to the Liberal Arts Colleges (LACs), especially those in the midwest. They have strong science programs and excellent track records for admission to medical schools and Phd programs, and have smaller, nurturing environments with a lot of faculty mentoring. And the midwestern ones-especially Grinnell-will provide very generous financial aid to a student from Ethiopia.</p>

<p>Reaches: Look at Grinnell (great science programs, 12% international students), Carleton, Macalester and Oberlin. Matches: Beloit, Lawrence, Kenyon.</p>

<p>In New England, look at:</p>

<p>Reach: Bowdoin (SAT Optional), Middlebury
Matches: Bates (SAT optional) and Colby</p>

<p>Mid-Atlantic and South:
Reach: Swarthmore and Davidson
Match: Wake Forest</p>

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<p>Michigan State is a pretty good safety, tuition might still be around 30K. It has pre-med. In Michigan look at Northern Michigan University.NMU is attached at the hip to a medical center. It has a micro-pre-med program that is a feeder to Michigan State. Tuition there would be about $12,500 including room and board and tuition. It’s a financial safety.</p>

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<p>***SATs: 1960 (600 R, 710 M, 650 W)
SAT IIs: taking 3 Dec 5 expected scores >700, hopefully
GPA: 84/100 (its so low because of P.E. and Ethiopian foreign languages)
Class Rank: 8th out of about 40–class size,
Extracurriculars: I have a couple, good enough I guess</p>

<p>I’m planning on majoring in Biochemistry/Biology/Premed, not sure
Cornell is on my list and so is Colgate
Oh and did I mention my need for financial aid, yeah I’m screwed. I’m applying to 15-20 colleges, recommendations anyone ***</p>

<p>Folks…</p>

<p>The OP mentioned that he/she needs financial aid. :slight_smile: Almost NO state schools can give financial aid to int’l students. Many privates can’t either. Some schools give merit to international students. </p>

<p>The OP will not likely get accepted to Cornell - stats too low, no hook.</p>

<p>OP…how much can your family contribute?</p>

<p>There’s no point in applying to 15-20 schools unless you TARGET schools that will give you merit or aid. However, because of your GPA, I don’t know what schools to suggest.</p>

<p>However, since you’re going pre-med, the “rank” of the school isn’t super important. What’s important is to just go to a “good” school where you can get a good bio/chem/math/physics background.</p>

<p>BTW…how will you be able to pay for med school? The big Stafford loans available here for med school are for residents only.</p>

<p>*TheresaCPA quote: NMU is attached at the hip to a medical center. It has a micro-pre-med program that is a feeder to Michigan State. Tuition there would be about $12,500 including room and board and tuition. It’s a financial safety. *</p>

<p>**NMU is NOT that cheap for non-residents.<a href=“It’s%20not%20that%20cheap%20for%20residents,%20either”>/B</a></p>

<p>Undergraduate… Resident… Out-of-State
*Tuition & Fees(12 credits)… 7454…11828
Loan Origination Fees… 68 … 68<br>
Room & Board …7846 …7846
Books … 830 … 830
Personal & Travel …1550 …1550
…17748 …22122 </p>

<p>And, of course, someone who’s int’l would have higher travel expenses. </p>

<p>Books would also be higher than what’s stated.</p>

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<p>mom2collegekids, could you please lose the bold button! We CC people are reasonably intelligent and can read very well!! We are also discerning enough to figure out for ourselves the important bits of a post, and do not need to have emphasis placed for us! Thank you!!</p>

<hr>

<p>mossesgetch: Despite what mom2 says, there are a few schools that do indeed offer both need and merit money to internationals. I think your best bet is that cluster of midwestern LACs that M’s Mom mentioned; they love international students, provide a strong science undergrad education, and do extremely well at placing their graduates into high-quality grad programs. Many of them also provide at least some financial aid to internationals, including need-based aid. However, their aid money is more limited for internationals, so be sure to apply to a number of low-match type schools.</p>

<p>For each of the colleges that M’s Mom listed above, do a google search for “xxxx college financial aid, international.” And – add Earlham College to the list.</p>

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<p>^^^ Feel free to skip over my posts whenever you’d like :slight_smile: Or, put my posts on ignore. Thank you.</p>

<p>My quote…</p>

<p>*There’s no point in applying to 15-20 schools unless you TARGET schools that will give you merit or aid. *</p>

<p>My above quote implies that there ARE some schools that will help the OP. My above post was to remind people to recommend schools that will provide aid to int’ls. There’s no point in recommending the state schools which do NOT give aid to int’ls. There are only a small number of state schools that do.</p>

<p>Does anyone here want this student wasting his/her time applying to schools that we know won’t help with $$? I sure don’t.</p>

<p>OP…we need to know how much aid you need. How much can your family contribute to your education each year? If you only need $10k or less, there are some schools that I can recommend. If you’ll need $30k+, then I have no idea based on your stats.</p>

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<p>Actually, I’m quite glad that I didn’t skip over your post. If I were the OP, it would have left me with the misimpression that aid for internationals is practically a lost cause. It also would have provided me with no guidance at all about the types of schools that are most likely to offer that aid. I felt that it was unnecessarily discouraging, and simply wanted to correct that. :)</p>

<p>BTW, excessive bolding is generally seen on pre-teen or sports-fan sites where people either feel they have to “shout” to be heard, or where you can’t be sure that others actually read what you’ve written. Neither is the case here. Just sayin. ;)</p>

<p>

OP: There are others here who will know this. Do post your stats.</p>

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<p>The OP posted his/her stats in the first post.</p>

<p>SATs: 1960 (600 R, 710 M, 650 W)
SAT IIs: taking 3 Dec 5 expected scores >700, hopefully
GPA: 84/100</p>

<p>I hope others can make some suggested schools that will give aid, but I don’t think any publics will work because stats aren’t high enough for the few publics (like UVa) that give FA need aid to int’ls.</p>

<p>The OP will need private recommends that will give money and are right for the his/her stats and int’l status. There are two problems here…being int’l and not having the stats to get need aid or merit aid from most schools that give BIG money to internationals. </p>

<p>Maybe the OP only needs a small amount of aid. If so, then it won’t be a problem. OP, how much aid do you need?</p>

<p>I’m not saying that there aren’t any schools that will work for the OP, but the OP says that he/she is applying to LOTS of schools, therefore it’s important that he/she not waste time applying to schools that won’t work.</p>

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<p>I’m so sorry to post this here. I feel like an *******. But I need people to take my survey. I’ll post the survey results back up on CC so everyone can see. thank you so much</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LTQNSQ7”>Click Here to take survey</a></p>

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<p>hey just forget about it, the link isn’t working</p>

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<p>mom2collegekids,
I believe my family can contribute about 15,000, Max 20,000. Am I really in that much trouble, i.e. couldn’t I find good schools that have aid with my stats. So far I was thinking I about WPI, Dickinson, St. Lawrence as possible matches. Is there no hope?</p>

<p>Oh and btw, I’m not too scared about Cornell, 1st because its my super dream school and 2nd because for some reason I feel a certain attraction to it, like I can get in, even with my low stats. Plus, I’m applying to lots of schools so I hope it won’t be a complete waste for it to be on my list. </p>

<p>Oh and don’t worry about my GPA, at my country it is actually pretty good. I guess the scale is inflated or something.</p>

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<p>BTW, does anybody think my subject test scores can help me out. I mean could they really make an impact on my application if they’re really good. Cause right now I’m not studying too much, but there is still time for me to increase my scores. What do you think?</p>

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<p>*I believe my family can contribute about 15,000, Max 20,000. Am I really in that much trouble, i.e. couldn’t I find good schools that have aid with my stats. So far I was thinking I about WPI, Dickinson, St. Lawrence as possible matches. </p>

<p>SATs: 1960 (600 R, 710 M, 650 W)
SAT IIs: taking 3 Dec 5 expected scores >700, hopefully
GPA: 84/100 (its so low because of P.E. and Ethiopian foreign languages)</p>

<p>Oh and don’t worry about my GPA, at my country it is actually pretty good. I guess the scale is inflated or something.
*</p>

<p>Do you know if American colleges will understand or accept your GPA as actually being higher than it is? If not, American colleges might consider your GPA to be a B average, and that will hurt you at top schools like Cornell. However, if American schools make allowances for the Ethiopian grading system that is more difficult, then good :)</p>

<p>You say that you “believe” that your family can contribute $15k-20k…that’s good, but are you sure of that? Have you specifically asked them if they can contribute $60k-80k towards your undergrad education over 4 years? I only ask this because sometimes kids think that their families can contribute a lot more than they actually can. Remember, to get your visa to come, you’ll have to show funding. :)</p>

<p>According to internationalstudent.com, it says that many/most student loans for inter’l students require a co-signer that is an American resident. Do you know if that is true? Either way, since many FA packages contain student loans, do you have someone who can co-sign your loans?</p>

<p>If you’re pretty certain that WPI, Dickinson, and St. Lawrence will give you a lot of FA and the FA packages will contain either no loans or loans that you can obtain, then you have some good choices :slight_smile: Do you know what their FA packages to int’l students often contain? Big grants are good; big loans could be a problem.</p>

<p>Dickinson College COA $45,000 (may be higher for Int’l students/travel)</p>

<h1>of int’l students: 116</h1>

<h1>receiving aid: 56</h1>

<p>Avg award: $30,354 (doesn’t specify how much of aid is in loans, but DC’s website indicates that loans are part of their FA packages)</p>

<p>Since Dickinson does often give good grants, this may be your best chance as long as your family can pay the $15k+ per year and you can get loans for those in your FA package.</p>

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<p>According to internationalstudent.com, it says that many/most student loans for inter’l students require a co-signer that is an American resident. Do you know if that is true? Either way, since many FA packages contain student loans, do you have someone who can co-sign your loans?</p>

<p>I’m not planning on applying for loans. No loans whatsoever. </p>

<p>I understand the fact that Dickinson’s fin aid package may include loans, but I failed to dig deep enough to know what percent of it comprises of student loans. Where can I get this information?</p>

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<p>…
…</p>

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<p>Since you’re determined not to have any loans, then you need to contact each of your prospective schools, tell them your situation, and ask what size loans they include in their FA packages. </p>

<p>That way you’ll know :slight_smile: </p>

<p>There is a list of “no loans” schools somewhere.</p>

<p>Remember, the loans are for the FA portion, not the EFC portion in a FA package. If a family can’t meet their EFC, then more loans are needed.</p>

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<p>…]</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot mom2collegekids,
but can you please suggest other colleges for me, I’m really in trouble. </p>

<p>This also goes for everyone else, please recommend a school any school!!!</p>

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<p>You should definitely apply to macalester, swarthmore, and carleton. those three are great liberal arts colleges, and they sure as hell loves international students. a lot of financial aid had been distributed to guys like you and me mossesgetch. my senior got a full ride at carelton…also, did i mention great science facilities? those schools should definitely be on your top lists.</p>

<p>hope this helps :D</p>

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<p>oh yeah and i also narrowed down some colleges that matches the needs, academic achievements, and majors you enlisted from collegeboard’s college matchmaker. note that these are some pretty damn though schools to get into</p>

<p>pepperdine, pomona, harvey mudd, lehigh, and scripps (if you’re a chick).</p>

<p>the college i posted before are also hard to get into…so good luck, and all the best!
aim for ivy! you’ll be up against me if you’re applying to brown, penn, or cornell
would be great if we both get accepted…that is assuming that I got in T_T</p>