Financial Aid for Internationals

Fin-IB
Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:50:32 +0000

I don’t want to stay in Finland, because I aspire to live and work abroad in the future and this transition would be more difficult should I choose to be educated in Finnish.

Another reason for applying to the US is the fact that I like to aim high.
Finnish colleges do not care about ECs, awards, sports, etc., as applicants are selected solely on the basis of an admissions test and HS matriculation exam grades. The only school I would attend here (Helsinki School of Econ.) is an exception for having SAT admission, and I already have SAT I scores (CR+M) that will highly likely get me accepted whatever my final grades are, as the limit this year was 1260/1600 (I have 1360). So staying in Finland would not be such a challenge for me.

As for the money, well, colleges here are tuition-free, but I would still have to pay for room&board etc. So if I did get aid from the US colleges I’m applying to, the overall cost would not be drastically different.