<p>need blind in admissions just mean that they don't look at your financial need in the admissions decision (meaning they will not automatically reject you because you are asking for money, or asking for money does not lower your chances of being admitted)</p>
<p>Your application goes to the admissions office, your financial aid application goes to the Financial aid office. Once once students are accepted, the financial aid office does a work up for aid. Unfortunately aid for international students are limited.</p>
<p>My daughter attends Dartmouth and this is what they state concerning financial aid for international students:</p>
<p>Due to the limited resources available for financial aid, Dartmouth must take the financial resources of international applicants into account when making admissions decisions. Dartmouth provides financial aid to all admitted students who demonstrate financial need and will meet 100% of that demonstrated need.</p>
<p>So you will have to carefully read each schools policy on how they handle financial aid for internationals</p>
<p>Greenstorm, don't get distracted from your search. The situation for internationals is the following: There is very limited aid for international students. So some schools will not accept international students if the school cannot meet these students' monetary needs. They know it is likely a waste of time to accept someone who cannot pay the amounts needed so they simply reject them. This is the situation in many schools who do meet 100% of the need of those international students they do admit. Then you have schools that are need blind in that they accept you regardless of what your need may be, but they do not have the resources to come with much aid. At those schools, you can be accepted but have to come up with the money yourself. In applying to US schools, you should apply to several categories of schools to give yourself the best chance of admittance and aid. You should apply to schools that are need blind and give 100% of demonstrated aid to internationals. But because these schools are very selective, the chances of getting in are very small. So you should also apply to schools that are not need blind but give a big % of demonstrated need to those they admit. Again, these schools tend to be very selective, but not as many kids may be applying since they are not need blind and you could get lucky. Then you need to apply to schools that are need blind but do not tend to give a lot of financial aid, because, again, you might get lucky and be one of the few who get the money, and because you can then look into loan or other options to get money if you just get in. You should also look at schools with lots of merit aid--much of that can go to internationals. You will need to have stats (SAT scores in particular) higher than the midrange of students there to have a shot at those awards. You can get information on which schools have a lot of merit money by buying the USNews &WR Ultimate College Guide which has a list in the front of the book or subscribing to their premium service for a fee (go the the USNews website) </p>
<p>You can also look at more inexpensive, less selective schools if you want to get a foot into this country. The above source will list such schools. So those are pretty much your options. YOu are not entitled to government aid which does put a crimp on your financial aid options and most college aid funds are also restricted to US citizens, or are at least capped for internationals. The only schools where this is not the case are a small group of very selective schools where getting in is a major milestone.</p>
<p>Here's a different perspective: From observing the College Confidential registrations that people fill in when they first come to this web site, it is obvious to me that many international students seem to think that College Confidential is the place to apply to when trying to get into American colleges. That is incorrect.</p>
<p>College</a> Confidential is a website which (1) offers professional college admissions advice, and (2) also provides this discussion forum.</p>
<p>"College Confidential was founded to demystify many aspects of the college admissions process, and to help even "first timer" students and parents understand the process like "old pros."</p>
<p>Wow! Scary topic. :p Anyways, my question was similar to GreenStorm's. Okay, maybe not a 100 dollars, but what about upto a 1000 was all I could afford. Would colleges like Swarthmore admit me if I was good enough? I heard its really selective. Or even other LACs like Bowdoin or Grinnell? Does anyone have any idea what their finaid policy is towards internationals?</p>
<p>The best way to determine a college's policy on financial aid is to go to their web site. That is the only place that you can get current, accurate information. If you listen to people who make generalizations about colleges, you will likely miss finding out about a particular college that suits your financial situation.</p>
<p>Just one addition to Sheeprun's advice. Nearly every college will have an admissions counselor who is specifically responsible for international applications. You can find the name and email of this person on each college's web site in the admissions section. After you have read all of the information about financial aid and admissions procedures for internationals, write directly to this person with any follow up questions you may have about aid, applying, etc. It is their job to answer these sorts of questions and they will give you accurate information. </p>
<p>However, a few key tips: be polite when you contact these folks. Do not pester them with questions that have already been answered on the web site - it is fine to ask for clarification on things you don't understand or info. you can't find. Do not ask them to give you an evaluation of your chances for admission - no counselor will or can do that until they see your entire application package. Most important, always, always, always write a follow up thanking them for their help.</p>
<p>Okies... will keep all that in mind. Thanks for all the help. Oh, and I was just wondering where I could get "unofficial" sort of info about each college's financial aid policy. Because, places like Northwestern seem really, really selective when it comes to aid decisions concerning foreign nationals. But, they obviously won't tell me that. So, I was looking more for a place where I could get a realistic appraisal of the situation.</p>
<p>Hey, dear people, what colleges and universities with the comprehensive finaid offer a strong science and/or engeneering programms?
I'm interested in Illinois Institute of technology, Williams, MIT. What else do you advise?</p>
<p>Looking at the figures given in the Collegeboard.com for Swarthmore, it would appear that they gave $28,500 on an average to Intl students. Cooper Union seems to have given 26K. </p>
<p>A friend of an acquintance is a recently arrived guest worker (H-visa) in the US. His son was able to get into Cornell and Columbia, which colleges did not come up with any money for him, but Cooper Union gave him a full tuition waiver, which he apparently accepted. </p>
<p>We are in the same boat, internationals that is, although we have lived in the US for 7 years now. As Jamimom says we have to try applying to a broad category of schools.</p>
<p>Hmm... the average amount is good. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that they'll consider me for a bit more. Thanks Astrix. I thought that was the case cuz' on their brochure, they said "starting from this year". But then, maybe since its a first time thing, they'll be really generous so they get more internationals applying or something. Dunno... well, maybe I should take a chance on this one.</p>
<p>And stardragon, I think Duke would be a good bet cuz' they've really upped their ratings and stuff. USNews ranked them 4th or something... which is better than quite a few of the Ivy Leagues out there. Also, like someone said, most Ivy Leagues aren't too good with aid... especially Cornell and Dartmouth (which by the way has one of the best computer engineering programs). Also, for engineering, Columbia is the best (or is supposed to be).</p>
<p>If my SATs will be about
SAT I M:750-800
V:600-700
SATII
math II c:700-750
biology:700-750
writing:600-700
I can pay only 1000$ for my educational. What Universities are good for me? Please some comments. What about Grinnel, Illinois Institute of Technology, MIT, Princeton, Eastern Michigan?</p>