<p>The only thing you should be concerned about is whether or not the school guarantees to meet 100% of your need. Reed does promise this. You ought to email Reed and ask them about what they consider to be the full cost of attendance for international students. This will be a good way to understand what Reed includes while calculating your EFC and to figure out whether or not they would give you flight tickets and personal expenses. Do ask them about work-study programs as well. Just ask! It doesn’t hurt, trust me! It would also be good to directly contact the international admissions officer. That way, you could get a quicker response. :)</p>
<p>The thing about Ivy league schools is that they, save for Brown (which, unfortunately, is obsessed with UWC students), do not really consider interest in the application process (at least not nearly as much as small LACs like Reed). So, therefore, I would recommend that you apply ED to a good LAC like Reed with a generous financial aid policy for internationals. My GC always recommends students w/ high need to apply ED to a small LAC because it’s much less competitive during ED (for intls). In RD, all these small LACs are as competitive as any Ivy league school.</p>
<p>When you apply to schools, you should consider whether or not they offer loans to internationals. From what I understand, Trinity College adds $5k worth of loan to your financial aid package every year. They are still meeting your need, though not through a grant. Do you think you would be willing to take such a risk? The loans would add up to $20k over your undergraduate years. Although you can pay it back if you get a job (whether in India or elsewhere), I think as a biology major, you’d want to go to graduate school? You should find out whether or not these schools defer repayment till you finish grad school.</p>
<p>Look into UChicago and Swarthmore too! Vassar and Wesleyan are also very intellectual. All these schools are known for their generosity (w/o loans) to international students. Make use of ED 2 if ED 1 doesn’t work out btw. Good luck! ^_^</p>