Which colleges should I apply to? (I need at least 50% aid)

<p>Hi!
I'm a senior in India, and I really need a very substantial amount of aid for college. I am ONLY applying to the top 25 US schools (for the national unis, top 20 for liberal arts unis), so which ones do you think will give me at least 50% aid?</p>

<p>I am a pretty good student.
I've taken the SAT only once, 2190 (m:710; cr:760; w:720) but I'm taking it again on November 8th.
I've already given the Lit subject test and got an 800, and will be giving a second subject test, probably world history, in December. I am applying for either Psychology, International Relations, or PolSci. Not sure yet.</p>

<p>We don't have GPAs here, but my predicted grades are very high:
English: 95%
Sociology: 92%+; I'm lowballing here.
Psychology: around 90%- probably higher.
Economics: 90%
Math: 80% but that was due to me being sick on exam day, they'll improve by 5-10% or so in the December evals.</p>

<p>btw, we only have 5 subjects in junior and senior year, and there is no concept of AP classes.
My 10th grade Board marks were also good.</p>

<p>As for my extracurriculars;
-first ever Head of Debates at my school, Badgeholder.
-Founder of Project Vak (a project that helped schoolkids between 11-18 years with overcoming the fear of speaking in public).
-Co-founder of the Kalidas Initiative (raised funds- around Rs. 1,00,000- to get children living on the streets into shelters, in collaboration with NGOs)
-Vice-President of Gifting A Smile (raised funds and awareness for & about cleft palate deformities; just successfully funded a surgery- collaborated with Operation Smile, Smile Train, and other big international orgs. Krispy Kreme is a sponsor).
-Executive Board on the TSRS MUN.
-Worked with the Public Health Foundation of India (a govt. body) on their tuberculosis initiative.
-Won the national level Tehelka Foundation Freedom Of Speech Competition.
-Have participated in numerous debates and MUNs- both national and community/school levels, and of oxford, modified cambridge, and parliamentary formats.
-Editor (6 yrs) and Senior Editor (1 yr, obviously ) of the Uncensored Magazine (and on the TSRS Editorial Board).
-Winner of the Triveni Award for lateral thinking.
-Acted in and organised youth productions of 'Wicked' and 'As You Like It'.
-Member of the Sanskriti 'Youth For Economics' leadership panel.
-Member of the yearbook committee at my school
- involved in numerous other school spirit activities and other clubs.</p>

<p>Can't think of anything else off of the top of my head.
So... where should I be applying?</p>

<p>Thank you,
Tanya.</p>

<p>Check each website to find out if they offer aid to international applicants, and what their aid policies are. If they do offer aid, email the financial aid offices, and ask whether or not their Net Price Calculators are accurate for international applicants. That will help you determine whether or not they can be affordable for you.</p>

<p>Many of the top 25 schools give need based aid only. Without knowing your family finances, it is impossible to tell you where to apply to get maximum aid.</p>

<p>Also, there are only six colleges which guuarantee to meet full need for all international students, AND are need blond for admissions. This means that your ability to pay for college will be considered by many top schools when they consider your application for admission.</p>

<p>And lastly, the acceptance rate at these top 25 schools is vey low. Your application will be considered with the international students from your region. At some of these schools…acceptances for international students runs at about 5% of those who apply.</p>

<p>I think you need to broaden your college hunt a bit.</p>

<p>How much CAN your family pay annually?</p>

<p>Many of those top schools cost $60,000 a year. Can your parents even pay half of that for four years?</p>

<p>The amount of aid you would get is not based on the info you’ve provided us. Of the schools that give aid based on need, they would need to look at your parents’ finances.</p>

<p>However, for the schools that give merit scholarships, those are based mostly on stats. Since you’re only applying to top 25 schools (why is THAT???), those won’t likely give you merit.</p>

<p>I would think that with YOUR stats, you would apply to a couple of schools that would give you large awards for your stats. Those could be your back ups and remaining costs would be low. </p>

<p>Are you saying that your family will pay about $32k per year?</p>

<p>That is the absolute maximum that my parents can pay. The income has been a grand total of zero for about a year and a half now. I am only applying to the top 25 colleges because even with aid its pretty damn expensive and for that I’d rather go to one of the best schools. I can get a pretty good education in India or the UK for less than half of that. Even Canada is cheaper.</p>

<p>If your family has had zero income for over a year, how are they getting by?
How would you even pay for airfare?</p>

<p>Savings. </p>

<pre><code> You want free money from a top school as a foreigner, do you know how many kids just in the USA will better your stats significantly? Why is it you think this $$ aid would be available to you? Do you have special status? What is your edge? And the UK won’t be cheaper for top schools like oxbridge/LSE etc and their required stats may well exceed your curricular limitations and unless, again, you have some special status, there won’t be free money for a foreigner. Also , as a senior, you are asking now? Have you checked scholarship/application deadlines? Do you know the UCAS dates for the UK? Have you got all your application stuff ready to submit for schools with looming deadlines/rolling admissions/EA?
</code></pre>

<p>You should also be looking at schools that have a net price that you can actually afford, maybe you could reframe your college criteria based on that as well as hoped for FA in your target degree area. What are your career plans? How about visa applications etc? </p>

<p>@Alfonsia‌ Okay, you need to chill out. I have all the relevant information for every other application, and the deadline info for the US, too. I’m sure many kids from EVERYWHERE will be able to best my stats. So what? Am I supposed to bow out from my quest to get a good education just because people somewhere will be better than me? It’s not like I’m steamrolling US kids, their applications will go in just like mine will. Also, I am in line with the requirements for the top 15 UK colleges, and they are also SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper, especially considering that it’s only 3 years. And I KNOW that many US colleges are more than ready to give me the aid that I need, they’re just in the top 25-40 range of schools. Considering that even paying half is a stretch for us, my parents would rather I go to a really great school for it.</p>

<p>If you have nothing constructive to add, no genuine advice, then I suggest you refrain from commenting on my post. Thank you. </p>

<p>As you already have schools in the US offering you money, that is awesome. Which schools are already dialing in those offers? </p>

<p>The top 25 U.S. schools are not already giving this student financial aid offers. Their early deadlines for admission haven’t even passed.</p>

<p>Please list some of the US colleges that are “more than ready to give [you] the aid that [you] need”.</p>

<p>I’m surprised that you have found US colleges that are “more than ready to give (you) the aid you need”. International students have really limited chances of receiving financial aid because there is very limited funding for anyone who is OOS or international. There are only 6 schools that cover your full needs and they are the toughest to get into. The monies are drying up all other the US, so I don’t know which schools have offered you money as there is none; it’s news to us. Your stats are good but not merit quality, so you wont qualify for merit aid funding at the top 25 schools because your scores are not the tippy top scores that these schools are looking to fund. </p>

<p>Before I even read that you were considering schools in other countries, I thought “He should go to school in a different country.” Really, the US is too expensive. Consider Germany or one of the other European countries that have low or no tuition. If you can get a good education in India, do it. You can afford it, it’s convenient, you like the country. Why spend so much here?</p>

<p>Rankings are just someone’s opinion of a school. Don’t like your school’s ranking, find another list. There are plenty of opinions for sale. Want to be in a #1 school? Look at only engineering lists, or schools with over 30,000 students, or schools in the south, or private catholic schools. Somewhere, your school will come out #1. Won’t change the education you receive or the cost, but it might make you happy. Mississippi State is hot right now in the football rankings. #1. Go for it.</p>

<p>I obviously can’t name schools, but I have met with a few college reps, have had discussions where I told them about the financial issues. They were very encouraging, and went as far as telling me that the chances of my getting what I need are exceedingly good. However, they are obviously not official offers since I haven’t even applied, and I didn’t mean to imply that they were. Three of them were from the top 25 lib. arts colleges, and two were from the top 30 national universities. @twoinanddone‌, thank you for your advice! I am definitely considering which ones would be the right fit for me in the US, and not just going by rankings. However, my parents are holding pretty firm to that, so I have to work within it. Also, to everyone being hostile here, all I asked for names of schools where I would have even a slight chance of getting aid. If you have no INFORMED answer to that, please do not comment. Thankyou. </p>

<p>College reps are always encouraging. They want more applications. Why? 1) It means more revenue in application fees and 2) the more that apply, the more that get turned away, meaning the selectivity of the school increases and therefore the rankings increase and 3) it’s their job to make everyone feel good about the school. Nothing is real until you have a financial aid award in hand. The reality is getting enough aid is difficult, even more difficult for international students. Good luck in your search.</p>

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<p>See, here’s the thing about making a post and asking for opinions on an open, public forum: you’re probably going to get some responses that you don’t agree with, or maybe that you don’t even like. That’s the nature of the beast. You need to deal with it, and ignore the stuff that you think isn’t helpful. But, even in the responses that you don’t like, there’s probably something to be learned.</p>

<p>Reps are salespeople. If you went to buy a car they would be encouraging about your chances of getting financing. No one is being hostile. Are you running NPCs? Which rankings are you looking at? Do global rankings even have 15 UK school in the top 100? So maybe you should look at lower tiered UK schools if that humors your parents, but for us, the math for ranked schools never worked out for UK schools that hit as much on an NPC as Berkeley UNless it was Oxofrd or Imp college, it wasn’t worth the math. And I wasn’t sending my kid to UEA LOL. </p>

<p>And I will add that this whole process is a lot for a kid to take on alone, do you have actual adult guidance that has a foot in the reality of the US application process? </p>

<p>What are the names of the 5 schools from the top 25 and top 30 lists that the reps told you that you had an exceedingly good chance to get aid from?</p>