International Student Applying for Financial Aid

Paying for College
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Most schools in the US are need blind in admissions, but do not meet full need for all or even most of their students. However, a number of those schools are need aware for international students because they know that they cannot attend if they do not get a financial aid package they can afford.

In addition to having to pay the university, international students have to show exactly how they are going to meet the costs of college just to get that student visa and get into the country. They (OP) also do not loans and work options that Americans might have. It’s a pain in the neck to deal with international paperwork and then the student can’t come anyways. There are also way too many highly qualified international students to accept all of them. Why not look for ability to pay as well ?

If you are coming from an under represented country, especially one of particular relevance to a college of in the news with s hot bed topic, it might change things a bit. Schools do consider these things. But certain countries are already so heavily represented that paying for another student from those doesn’t do anything for the diversity

I also reiterate that you are too focused on yourself. Selective colleges know they are desired. They want to know what You will be giving to them. That’s really what they want to know when they are asking “Why this college?”

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@cptofthehouse
I felt like in most of the colleges I researched I saw that they were need aware but meet full need. I looked up and I am certain that 9 out of these 20ish schools do and am not sure about the rest. Many of the colleges that do are top top colleges, like UPenn, Yale, Stanford etc. Still, the remaining colleges that meet full need for internationals were colleges I eliminated for valid reasons or because I have pretty much no way of getting in and don’t want enough to bother paying the application fee. I have a list of how much aid was awarded to international students on average and to how many students from the 2018 common data set so I usually use that to evaluate how generous the schools are to us.
I wasn’t planning to talk only about why they are the perfect school for me. I’m thinking it both ways.
I am from Turkey btw.

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A school that guarantees to meet full need AND is need blind often attracts a lot more top applicants than those schools that do meet full need most of the time. If you happen to be in their top echelon of applicants or they see something in your app that is compelling, you have can have a better chance than those schools that are need blind and guarantee to meet need. So,that part of your list making, I agree is a good move. Slight but good.

As I said, with international students, it often has to be all of nothing in terms of giving aid, or the student can’t enter the US. Which results in students begging and bothering the Fin aid offices in epic proportions. So they just give all or nothing, and nothing is that they just reject. With US students there are other resources that can be tsppedvthat are not open to internationals.

I suggest you research the presence of Turkish students at the schools you are considering and work on good cases as to how you can benefit the schools. I have no idea whether your country is over- or under represented at colleges here in the US.

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Start to look for outside scholarships based on your ethnicity/country of origin, there are some like that.

There are a number of much lower ranked US schools that tend to give internationals merit and are very anxious to get some international students to fill up their freshman seats. Illinois Tech in Chicago, College of Wooster in Ohio are two that I can think of. It may not be enough for your financial need, but I have seen Illinois Tech offer addition merit for a housing allowance to try to get an international student to matriculate.
Neither may be good for neuroscience.

I might look at U of Arizona and Arizona State, and U of Alabama, maybe.

I see international students heading to Florida as well, going the community college route. I tend to agree with many posters here that you may be setting yourself up for no financial match school, with your list and also quite a few rejects.

If you are a girl, Wellesley College does offer internationals the same financial aid as US and permanent residents and a few others make the “internationals are the same aid as American citizens/permanent residents” list.

What country you are from matters less than counselors in many International IB schools may be telling you.
There is no bleeding heart in the USA when it comes to international admissions, and many schools limit internationals, such as MIT its strictly 9% of freshman seats are awarded to international students. DACA recipients in the USA count as international by the way for MIT.

USC and UIUC offer a lot of seats to full pay internationals.

Also to get to the USA you will have to prove that you
have a pot of money large enough for all 4 years of your education. That may be another stumbling block.

No one wants to discourage you, but its a topic where many students come in feeling enthusiastic and end up disappointed and angry.

Look at TU Delft in The Netherlands, Glasgow U in Scotland, although I don’t know about neuroscience, they offer pretty good deals to some international students.

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For a Turkish national, look here-
https://tr.usembassy.gov/education-culture/educationusa/

It will be easier for you to get to the USA for a PhD than for undergraduate education, but there could be options, to explore.

College of Wooster undergrad population is 15% international students, many on pretty good financial aid. Its also
known for undergraduate research. Its small, and you should get accepted. Maybe worth looking into this for neurosciences-

https://www.wooster.edu

You have the list of highly ranked low probability schools nailed. What you need to do is find the smaller lower ranked schools that might want a student like you. You can always say no, and go to college in Turkey or Europe.

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@Coloradomama Yes I definitely understand people’s concerns and I really appreciate all of you for trying to help. Netherlands and the UK are already my B plans I’d be happy to attend. I think my chances of getting into these B plans are pretty high and I would (unless there is something exceptional about the school I really like) prefer going to these schools over lower ranked ones in US so should I apply to lower ranked ones in the US? I might think further about this though. Thanks.

“I might look at U of Arizona and Arizona State, and U of Alabama, maybe.”
Do they offer aid to international students?

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Yes, University of Alabama gives aid to international students.

@mom2collegekids what is the guaranteed aid this student would get with a 33 ACT and 93 GPA?