Looking for some advice on colleges and unis for my daughter who will be applying next year for 2025 intake.
She is pursuing IBDP and is in DP1.
She wants to major is psychology and business.
We are looking for colleges which will need based financial aid to international students.
We were advised to apply to grinnel, Denison,oberlin and skidmore
Wanted to know feedback on these colleges and how easy is it to get a job after undergrad from these colleges
These are all fine colleges…but where does your daughter plan to work after college? She shouldn’t plan on working in the U.S. as she likely will need to return to your home country.
These colleges are all need aware for college admissions so your level of financial need will likely be considered when your daughters admissions is considered.
Read this from Skidmore…
International Students
Each year, Skidmore College provides a few international students with need-based financial aid awards. The awards are very competitive and amounts are determined by the demonstrated financial need of the family.
Please note, international students who enroll as first-year students without applying for financial aid will not be eligible for financial aid in future years.
Oberlin, Denison and Grinnell will meet your need as they calculate it to be IF your daughter gets accepted. Right now…you have provided insufficient info to even guess that.
ETA…I hope she is also looking at affordable options in your country. The biggest obstacle for international students here…costs. Colleges are very expensive, and the private ones you listed could easily be $300,000 or more for four years.
To get a visa to study here, you will need to complete a certificate of finances that documents well that you have the financial resources already to support four full years of college here. This CAN include financial aid from colleges. But it cannot include any anticipated or future income, possible but not approved loans, money from family members that you don’t already have, money from potential sale of properties, etc. IOW, you need to show that you have the resources to fund your share of college costs.
Also, in the vast majority of cases, international students who do not apply for aid as incoming freshmen cannot do so in subsequent years.
It’s impossible to chance her when you have not provided any information about her qualifications. Is she a top student in her school? In the state? In the country?
Has she taken the SAT or ACT?
What other notable achievements does she have?
The student visa is a non immigrant visa that requires the student to return to their home country after completing their education. If the consular officer suspects your daughter intends to stay on, her visa will likely be denied.
There is a legal option to stay on and work in the US for 1 year after graduation (or 3 years if she gets a STEM degree), but after that she needs to find a sponsoring employer. That typically happens for high demand areas for which qualified US workers cannot easily be found (areas like CS, engineering, medicine, etc). It is unlikely she will find a sponsoring employer for psychology or business because there is no dearth of US workers in those areas.
Very important to keep in mind!
What is your budget?
Consider Wellesley College (all female). Highly ranked LAC. Does not offer business courses–at least to the best of my knowledge.
Washington & Lee University is a highly ranked small school which does offer business courses.
Don’t know your budget of course (and you need to set that before further looking)- but if you have need, you might check the schools with the largest international populations. My take would be they’d have some method to help people hit a # since they have more kids internationally attending. Here’s some lists.
The issue with LACs is that all won’t have business:
Grinnell doesn’t, as an example. They do have econ.
There are students international that I’ve seen that have gotten schools like Depauw, Kalamazoo, Rollins for $40K ish or less…but again don’t know your budget.
Jobs will not be easy if you’re international - as you’d need sponsorship - but all schools have career offices but in today’s world, finding a job is more incumbent on the student than the school.
Good luck.
2024 Liberal Arts Colleges with the Most International Students | US News Rankings
2024 Universities with the Most International Students | US News Rankings
At least the ones near the top (NYU, CMU, Rochester) are known to attract full pay internationals. I suspect the same is the case with the LACs on the other list.
OP, there are extremely few schools that will meet full need for international students.
There are very few colleges that guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students. That is the key.
Look on each website for “international student financial aid”. If your see the word “limited” for example…this is a college where you might not score enough aid to attend.
But as I noted what we don’t know is what type of budget they have.
The OP simply said “will need based financial aid to international students” which doesn’t really offer up much.
And then had schools listed - which we don’t know why they were listed.
So yes, need a better sense for sure…
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville: International Students - Costs/ Scholarships | SIUE (click on the Undergraduate Scholarships link)
The Southern Illinois University international funding is fine…if a family can afford the balance. It’s not a free ride. Since we don’t know what this family can contribute…it’s an idea, but nothing else can actually be said about it.
It’s a 50% tuition reduction…which still leaves the costs of 50% of tuition plus room/board/fees/health insurance/travel and personal expenses.
Our budget is about 35k USD per year and we were told by the Counselors in India that these colleges will give financial aid as needed and hence that list.
We wanted to apply to public universities
Also, we are hoping she can work there for a year with OPT and then pursue her masters.
Her GPA is 3.8 and her SAT is 1310.
She writes for her school magazine and is volunteering in the area of animal assisted therapy.
She does horse back riding and is a show jumper.
The colleges will compute your need based aid using their own formulas. Without knowing your annual income or assets, it’s very hard to say whether your net costs would end up in the $35,000 range…or not.
“As needed” is determined by the colleges.
If @Andygp is out there still, he’ll be a big help.
His son is at College of Wooster - at about that price.
I believe Rollins and Kalamazoo were in range as well.
Now I believe his son’s stats were higher - and with the stats you showed, the schools you mentioned would be a reach.
His family also applied to other schools - including some SUNYs and Wilkes Honors College in Florida - which I know they didn’t pursue because the school wanted him to pay a third party to have the academic transcript converted to a US system.
A public school like UAH, SIU Edwardsville, and W Carolina will be publics that come under budget - even at full pay or full pay with auto merit.
The big thing - and there’s likely lots of LACs that will come at your budget - but check the majors - because not all the schools you listed have business.
So if you have need aid - then schools can consider this.
If you don’t have need aid, others will get you there based on merit - and that’s some I listed. And there will be more.
But hopefully @Andygp can share their list and research - I’m sure I missed a lot.
Our preference was public universities only but we were advised to apply to LACs by the counselor here in India.
Any recommendation for public universities in that budget and with those stats which have a good psychology and business program ?
Psych can be done anywhere - and business at many schools.
These are publics. A public school like UAH, SIU Edwardsville, and W Carolina will be publics that come under budget - even at full pay or full pay with auto merit.
There are more.
Define good? Any school can be good if you take the resources.
@andygp will have more (some SUNYs) and there will be more LACs but it’s best to wait for him - as he went deep. Again, your student’s stats are not as good - and that could impact.
Here’s a public school list low in cost - not saying any are good for you.
But it’s more to look at. West Virginia University (WVU) would be a major university, in addition to UAH and West Carolina listed above, that you should consider. I can’t guarantee WVU will make costs but it looks like it will with merit aid. The other two will given your stats. U of Wyoming is another that could work - but it’s cold, not as well located, etc. but a major and solid public school. And there will be more.
I’m confident there are solid public and LACs that are good for you - but many of the LACs might not have a business focus, but rather offer a general business or simply econ.
Hopefully you’ll get some feedback from those who have gone through the process.
I would suggest looking at a school that meets need- like a Franklin & Marshall - and run the NPC. It may be accurate (or may not be). See if you qualify for aid.
If you qualify, you may have a wider net. But if you don’t, you need to apply to low cost schools or schools that will get you to low cost with merit (and I’ve given some already).
Good luck.
15 More Affordable Schools for International Students | Best Colleges | U.S. News (usnews.com)
Almost all mid-lower ranked LACs will come between 30K-40K. In my view for international students not a good idea to rely on but find colleges where your stats will be in top 25% and you will get merit. For the stats that you have mentioned best to keep top-50 LACs out of the list or keep it as a moonshot. Look at LACs 50-150 ranks. Need based is a mirage for international students. Mostly you will get rejected if you need a lot of need based aid unless you have cured cancer.
Great. Here is the US News list.
Start at #50 but omit Reed as they don’t have merit aid.
Also check majors to see who offers business. All will have psych.
Don’t forget some schools are close to airports etc and some aren’t.
There are public LACs but I haven’t checked costs - St Mary’s of Maryland, Truman State, UNC Asheville etc.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges
For us after applying across the ranks, publics and LACs. We got rejected from top ranked privates (who use affordability as criteria for admission), got into high ranked publics because they don’t care while admitting whether you can afford or not. Low ranked LACs like Wooster, Kalamazoo, Rollins came in with COA after merit between 30K-40K. Oberlin, Reed came in at 60-70k with some need based aid. Grinnell got a reject for ED. Happy to answer any specific questions.
Can you give your public list ? You had FAU Wilkes, some SUNY? What other publics net budget ? Seems like OP wants publics.
Btw I just checked St Mary’s of Maryland ( a public LAC) and it shows $32k or so for this international student.
They have business and psych.
SUNY GENESEO, mizzou, Umich Dearborn, FAU. These after merit/auto-merit come in 30-40k range. In addition of course more well known names like UCSD, UIUC, Penn state etc. But those are expensive 60k+ Overall esoteric publics are sometimes problematic because they don’t have process for internationals well set. They ask for audited profiles, lose applications etc. etc. In my opinion publics are worth it only if you get into an honors program.