@intparent that’s very true! I’ll really have to not narrow my focus to the very selective.
As for financial aid, while cost is very important to me, when I talked about it with my parents I got the sense that provided the school was good enough if need be we could go with full pay. They do heavily encourage that I look into scholarships, for obvious reasons. Full pay definitely wouldn’t be very ideal, hence my focus on my safety school, where I think the chances of me getting a merit scholarship is pretty good, but I don’t think competition for financial aid would be a significant factor for me. And no, I am currently on a visa.