catherinewt

i'm an international with 3.6ish gpa, 2320 sat (cr 740, m 800, w 780), 115 internet-based toefl (out of 120)

i took 2 gap years. have a ton of extracurricular activities, including volunteering, a paid job and internship. am fluent in 3 lanugages. dabble in writing and music like 80 percent of all teenagers, but don't have any significant piece of work or anything.

i know that applying for need-based aid would hurt my chance at getting into almost any college, so i've been wondering if there are schools that offer merit-based aid to internationals. and if there are, how are my stats?

my family can maybe contribute around 10k a year, tops, but i'm really, really hoping for a full ride (including room & board, etc). i don't absolutely have to go to a top tier school, although it'd be awesome if i could. the most important thing is affordable.

any help will be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance!

cptofthehouse

Catherine, you have to go through the lists one by one, first getting lists of those schools that have big merit awards and then looking on the websites to make sure international students are eligible for them, and even calling or emailing the school directly to ask whether international students are eligible. THings are changing quickly and it really is not something one can say since even things that were in place last year have changed this year.

Because of your very high SAT score, you would be in the running to get into colleges that do have limits and are need aware for international students. Ask the counselor at your high school what the record has been in getting graduates from there into US colleges and if there are some Colleges familiar with the school. Ask how your GPA would be viewed. GPA is not looked upon alone, but in context of the school that gives it. At my sons' independent prep school, kids have been accepted with 3.5 GPAs to Harvard.

You are a good step ahead in understanding that even a near perfect SAT score is not a shoo in for acceptance much less aid, but be aware that it is a very powerful part of your application, and does give you a better chance than most applicants. The SAT figures strongly in acceptance decisions, and can "buy" your way into a number of schools. What is particularly of value for you to know is whether you are even eligbile for any financial aid/merit awards at any given school. If International students are specifically excluded, those schools should go off your list. But you would be on the top of a lot of lists where that situation is not present even where there are limits to how many internationals the school takes with need. Some of such schools are the most generous with need because they do limit what they take so that they can better fund the students that they do take.

mom2collegekids

UA Huntsville would give you a free ride.

Alabama would give you free tuition. If you major in Comp Sci or Eng'g, then you'd get another 2500 per year stacked on top. At Alabama, you'd have to apply NOW, so that you'd be accepted by Dec 1st....that's the deadline for int'ls and scholarships.

What is your major? What is your M+CR? Alabama might give you an extra bonus for your SAT ...again if you apply NOW...the apps are easy - no essays, no teacher recs. But, you have to submit both the school app AND the scholarship app.

I just noticed that you did 2 gap years.....you might need to explain your gap years and what you were doing during that time. If you were doing something meaningful, that would help. At UAH it might not matter, but Alabama usually wants a good reason for gap years for scholarship consideration.