<p>@intparent Btw, I’m awfully angry with you because you’re normally so helpful. But all you’ve done is leave me hanging, and then recommend a school I’ve already applied to, when I specifically said I wanted something more challenging. I still love you and your hamster (or is that a gerbil, I don’t know), but you’re dropping the ball. </p>
<p>Honestly match literally means nothing to me. I’m extremely adaptable. I could see myself in 100 student classes because I love competition, and in 6 person classes because I love the idea of being so close to a professor’s mind. T I love both city and country. Everything appeals to me in one way or another. Really, all I want is to go to a place where I know I will be getting the best education possible in my intended major/majors, for a fair price. </p>
<p>Edit: Actually, I do prefer the West Coast because I spent a lot of time in Pennsylvania, but I’m already applying to Reed, Soka, Colorado College and Claremont McKinley, so I think I have enough. </p>
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<p>I’m not dropping the ball. You are ignoring the importance of an application that is strong across the board for schools like Williams, Amherst, and Claremont McKenna that others are suggesting. If you can’t be bothered to retest to get your SAT Math score up on the “silly little test” that colleges use to compare students across their widely varied backgrounds, then you can expect that top colleges will see this as a weakness in your application. Especially students who are not hooked (which I don’t think you are) need to take all possible steps to have a very strong application for those types of schools. And… it is a guinea pig.</p>
<p>@intparent I tested once and it was in november, and then I did subject tests in December. I could retake the SAT, but it’s complicated for me since international SAT fees are expensive and I would have to book a flight. The cost could go upwards of 300$ for a a round-trip flight, a hotel, transportation and the test itself if I’m lucky. My parents don’t have that type of money, the only reason I can even cover 30k is because I’ve won scholarships. </p>
<p>And the math score is just one tiny little detail. Do you honestly think that bringing it up lets say 60 points to 750 would significantly increase my chances? I sure don’t.</p>
<p>I’m first generation and I have a bit of an interesting backstory, but I’m also an international seeking aid. So no, not really hooked. </p>
<p>Then you have a bigger problem, as very few schools commit to meeting need for international students. Your outside scholarships may or may not help, as some schools also reduce their aid by the amount of external scholarships (Does it seem unfair? Yes. Is it s frequent occurance? Yes…) </p>
<p>The 60 points could have made a difference, too. Most US students test in junior year, and often retake to get their scores as high as possible. SATs are very important in the admissions process. And the CR and M scores from SAT I are considered more important at most colleges than the SAT I Writing score or any SAT II scores.</p>
<p>@intparent Sir (or Ma’am), I know all of what you are preaching. I know what goes on in the U.S, I lived there for 11 years. Now, I made this thread simply to get some advice on some high-end LACs, that was it. </p>
<p>I think you’re overvaluing the SAT. Its importance really depends on the school.</p>
<p>Well… most high end schools value it a lot. If you are hooked in some way, they will cut you some slack. If you aren’t, they don’t so much. Most 18 year olds who have lived in the US for longer than 11 years don’t really have a good feeling for how all this works, no reason that you should just because you lived here.</p>
<p>Just to ask for clarification, are you a US citizen or permanent resident? That makes a big difference.</p>
<p>@intparent This is starting to go in circles hahahaha. Thank you for your input. </p>
<p>Does anybody know if Soka is need-blind for internationals? I haven’t found any specific evidence for or against the motion. </p>
<p>Soka is need blind for all students but it does not promise to meet need; however, it offers full tuition to anyone with an income below 60k.</p>
<p>@International95 So I assume that if I am accepted, they would offer me the money I need with the scholarship, correct? Because my parents do make below 60k</p>
<p>It would offer you full tuition in need based aid. Other costs still apply.</p>
<p>Some LACs that will meet full demonstrated need for internationals . Of these only Amherst is need-blind, which is a different from meeting full need.</p>
<p>Amherst
Middlebury
Davidson
Colby
Williams
Swarthmore
Pomona
Macalester</p>
<p>Remember that demonstrated need is what they think you need, which may or may not match what you actually need. As mentioned above, Williams is especially strong for economics, notably development economics.</p>
<p>While I appreciate the sentiment, I must say it is not only that a school meets full need that an Intl applicant with need should look at; the applicant also needs to know how much the school spends on internationals. Davidson and Pomona in particular are terrible at recruiting international students on aid in the context of their financial situations and relative to peer schools.</p>
<p>@International95 Yea Pomona is pretty bad, as is Stanford and the Ivies that aren’t need-blind for internationals. It amazes me how a lot of colleges trick a lot of international applicants into thinking they give good aid when they really don’t. </p>
<p>I got an email from Columbia the other day and its was just the Number: 54,750 and then “The average international student financial aid package” I laughed. </p>
<p>OK, scratch Pomona. Their website is somewhat unclear, but after reading the FAQs again, they don’t seem to promise to meet full need for internationals. </p>
<p>In raw numbers LACs admit very few internationals. Amherst (which is I think the only LAC that is need-blind for internationals) only admitted 114 internationals to their class of 2018, or 6% of the international applicants.</p>
<p>Again, I don’t think the determining factor is whether the school is need-blind or need-aware. Admissions officers are pretty good at figuring out applicants’ economic status and they aim for a balance of need aid and full pay. </p>
<p>At schools that guarantee to meet demonstrated need for internationals, if you can get in your chance of getting need based aid is good. What will get you in really depends on the competition – that is, other international applicants. Where you will fall in that pool of applicants is unpredictable, which is why it’s advisable to apply widely.</p>
<p>Very few LACs offer merit based scholarships to international applicants. The few I know of merit awards at Davidson, Dickinson, Kenyon, Rhodes and a few women’s colleges. These are even more insanely competitive.</p>
<p>“For international first-year students admitted to the College with eligibility for financial aid, the College meets 100 percent of demonstrated financial need, which is determined by the College and based on the family’s financial circumstances.”</p>
<p><a href=“International Student Aid | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College”>http://www.pomona.edu/administration/financial-aid/application-materials-deadlines/international-aid.aspx</a></p>
<p>Only for first years, but it is 100% need met. But less than a third of enrolled international financial aid students got FA with an average award of 45000. Comparing the CDS 13-14 to 14-15, the number of international students receiving FA went up by just 1, despite there being a jump of 33 students classified as “non-resident aliens”</p>
<p>Pomona’s a great school, but their FA policy for international applicants lags severely behind peer schools like Williams, despite having the largest endowment per capita of any LAC.</p>
<p>@nostalgicwisdom, I read that too, but then I went back and saw this on another page:</p>
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<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/admissions/apply/frequently-asked-questions.aspx”>http://www.pomona.edu/admissions/apply/frequently-asked-questions.aspx</a></p>
<p>My observation over the years has been that it’s very, very difficult to predict the outcome of financial aid when applying to LACs. I do know, however, that several non-American students from our international school in Asia received generous need-based aid at Pomona, in some cases as good or better than packages from the Ivies.</p>
<p>Pomona seems to be channelling a lot of funding to undocumented applicants who are graduates of US high schools, whom they categorize as domestic students. That money may have been diverted from their international budget.</p>
<p>It’s a confusingly worded statement, but it actually means that Pomona is need aware, not that Pomona won’t meet the need of admitted international students. Every international admitted student who applied for FA will get 100% of their need covered, but the need demonstrated by all qualified international FA applicants won’t be covered- specifically by the fact that they will be rejected for admissions. Ie. Pomona will reject some people who would normally be accepted but won’t be since they need FA :(</p>
<p>I’m keeping a list of schools that guarantee to meet full need. Any other names to add?</p>