<p>Ok heres my situation, I’m 17 and live in Ireland. I go to Private School and I am in the top 2% of my class. I get mostly A’s and B’s throughout. I have a ton of extracurricular stuff too. Recently I have wanted to study in America. The two Colleges I wanted to study in the most are Columbia and UPenn. The problem is my family aren’t the richest and I would only be able to pay $10,000 a year. I am hoping to get the remainder in aid, mainly grants which the above universities offer. But tuition is ~45000 and living expenses are another ~20,000 according to the websites. I dont want to much debt when i get out of College I can handle under 50,000 dollars. </p>
<p>So the question is, Should I even bother sitting my SATS and study back home or would the colleges cover enough in financial aid for me, especially since i’m an international student and have it consist mainly of grants?</p>
<p>Thanks for your time</p>