<p>hello,
i’m an international student applying to american colleges.</p>
<p>i got a conditional job offer that makes my financial situation very interesting.
if i get into an ivy league college, i will be able to work during summer to earn enough money to pay for college every year.</p>
<p>right now, i need a lot of financial aid.
i heard that american colleges are extremely hard to get into unless internationals have enough money to pay full tuition.
my dilemma is that i don’t think i can get into prestigious schools uneless i demonstrate my financials
but my financial situation will be in good standing only if i get admitted.</p>
<p>anyone have any thoughts on how i should convey this to colleges?
would my situation change my chances of admission?</p>
<p>It won’t matter. Even if you get that job, you won’t yet have been paid. To get your visa, you have to show that you ALREADY have the needed money. You can’t show that you have a job and that will cover some costs.</p>
<p>And, yes, you need to check to see if that job is allowed under your visa.</p>
<p>Is the job in the United States…or in your home country? How much will you be earning?</p>
<p>Do you have tippy top stats anyway? High SAT or ACT, and superlative GPA? Earning all the money in the world will not affect your prospect of admission.</p>
<p>There are some schools that are need aware for international students. This means they take your ability to pay into consideration when you apply. If you are not applying for aid and can demonstrate that you can fully fund college costs here, it is possible that you would have a teeny tiny edge. If you and another student who needed money were otherwise equal, they might (note…MIGHT ) choose you because the college would expect you to fully find your four years of attending college.</p>
<p>Once accepted is when you need to demonstrate they you have the money IN HAND to fund your college education here. This can include approved loans and school financial aid…and any savings you and your parents have that is dedicated to funding college costs. It can NOT include potential, not yet earned income.</p>
<p>ETA…did you retake the SAT? What was the result? The SAT CR/Math below is 1350/1600 which would not make you a shoe in for Ivies and equivalent schools.</p>
<p>Depends on how the job is described. Take the job offer and see if you get into one of the schools and get enough aid to make it work. Before you can even come into the US on a student visa, you will have to fill out a form for immigration showing how you are going to be living monetarily in the US. It all has to be certifiied with actual bank accounts and salaries verified. The college will give it’s COA and certify how much they are giving you in aid if they give you an award, and you and your family have to come up with the rest of the COA. If the company offering you the job will certify a certain amount , then it could work out. Also, you will have to come up with some money to get the school, and start up costs for books and supplies, since even if you get an award from the school, any excess funds over what the school direct bills isn’t going to get released to you until after the term starts as a rule.</p>
<p>As for the job offer that is contingent on acceptance to certain school, that isn’t going to carry much weight if any from the top school in terms of enhancing your acceptance chances. You either do or don’t apply for financial aid, and for those schools that are need aware for foreign students, that’s what counts. So if that job will pay your costs to any given schools that are need aware in admissions for you, then don’t apply for financial aid when you apply to them which will enhance your chances of acceptance to them. </p>
<p>Before you make the decision NOT to apply for financial aid there are two things you need to check.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is this job guaranteed for all of the years you will be attending college?</p></li>
<li><p>Check your colleges to see if you will be able to apply for need based financial aid in subsequent years IF you don’t apply as an incoming freshman. Some colleges will not allow international students to apply for need based aid in subsequent years if they don’t apply as incoming freshmen.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I would suggest that you apply to your colleges AND apply for need based aid. To be honest, the edge isn’t THAT big for international students who are full pay. The % of accepted students at full need guaranteed schools is very low anyway… And even lower for international students. So just apply for the aid.</p>
<p>Cornell and Brown are need-aware Ivies, meaning that if you do not check the “need financial aid” box, your odds are greatly increased compared to an international who need financial aid (but still about 1 in 10 to 1 in 15, so FAR from being easy - but better than 1 in 40 or 1 in 50 as for internationals who need aid). Same thing for Notre Dame, Emory, Vanderbilt, Northwestern. UC Berkeley and UCLA are need blind but may carry enough clout for your future employer too?</p>
<p>OP could have been promised a tutoring or coaching job by an “agent” company in China or Korea - these often charge as much as 30k PER STUDENT but it’s dependeng on where the coaches attend/attended university, so the agencies would have an incentive in offering sufficient money to Ivy-League/Top university applicants whom they see as potentially enhancing their client base.</p>