Where should I apply ? If I want to get accepted.

College Search & Selection
1

I am from India. I want to study in the USA.
I want to do engineering.
I will need a lot of Financial Aid cause my parents can’t pay a lot towards college, they can pay like $5500 a year.
Now that I have laid out my situation I’ll give you my stats.
I have a gpa of 3.8 out of 4.0.
SAT-1555
I have a few school level and district level awards for ECs.
SAT subject tests-Physics-740
Math 2- 750
Should I apply to the top tier colleges?

2

Your need for financial aid will make this a lot more difficult.

There are thousands of universities and colleges in the US, and getting in to most of them with your stats would be straightforward if you could afford to be full pay. However, there are only a small handful that meet full need for international students, and they are all very competitive. A GPA of 3.8 is going to make all of them unlikely, even with your very good SAT score.

3

Is 3.8 out of 4.0 really that bad of a GPA.

4

A 1555 SAT is impossible to earn, as scores are given in increments of 10. Did you mean 1550?

5

oh I didn’t notice the typo sorry

6

Check out posts 64-67. With your stats you are eligible for almost all of them:

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2006094-2017-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-p5.html

7

For any of the above-cited schools that interest you, you’ll need to make sure the merit scholarships are open to international students. Some universities do not offer any financial aid at all to internationals.

A 3.8 unweighted GPA is quite strong if it is earned in a rigorous program at a competitive high school.
For some “top tier” private colleges (like Vanderbilt) it would be about average for all enrolled students (but possibly below average for internationals). Many of these schools do not publish their average entering GPAs. The majority of enrolled students at these schools (> 90% in some cases) ranked in their HS top 10%. For a high-need international who does not rank in the top T10%, the top 20-30 universities may be out-of-reach even with high scores.

8

If your parents can only pay about $5,500 each year, you will need more than just a full tuition and fees scholarship. Housing, meals, books, transportation, and personal expenses will come to something like three times what your family can pay. Check the automatic scholarship list for full-rides.