Say an international student is planning to go to Duke or UChicago, but financial constraints might stop them from going.
If they apply for the schools and requiring financial aid, will they be at a disadvantage? Will the college officers not even wanting to look at their applications?
Is it too risky to apply for financial aid? Because if the colleges don’t accept them (because of the aid) it will ruin their chances of going to their dream schools will it?
thanks for your answers! just needed to clear doubts
Trying to second guess admissions is in my opinion not a useful exercise. If you need financial aid and do not have financing options that are independent of those offered by the college to which you are applying then you need to apply for financial aid.
If you cannot afford the school without aid then you will have a 0% chance of attending even if accepted. Better to apply for aid and take your chances.
And don’t get stuck on one or two highly competitive “dream schools”. There are tons of great choices out there.
@happy1 It doesn’t work like that. He could apply for financial aid while submitting his application, and the school would meet his financial need IF he get accepted, which is difficult but not impossible.
To the OP, yes you’re at a disadvantage. They’ll review your application fully, but will hesitate to accept you.
@gearsstudio I understand that. I thought the OP’s question was if he/she should apply for aid or not. And I wanted to let the OP know that if he/she needs aid in order to make the school affordable, then it is best to apply for aid.
It depends on the school. Only 5 U.S. colleges are need blind for International admissions. The schools you listed are not need blind for internationals. You would be at a disadvantage, but can’t apply for aid later if you can’t afford it. It isn’t a dream school if you can’t afford it.
Yes, applying for financial aid means you’ll be at a disadvantage. Your application will be considered fully but at the end, once selected, you’ll have to clear an extra hurdle: based on the limited budget they have, which of the selected internationals with financial need will get money?
However, if you don’t apply for financial aid, you may get in but what’s the point since you don’t have the money. (You can’t apply for financial aid once you’ve been admitted).
Internationals whose parents can afford 25-30K are not at the same disadvantage as students whose parents can’t afford that so there’s a middle ground. Essentially, the more your parents can afford above 25K, the smaller your disadvantage.