I appreciate that you (and everyone else) gave me answers to my questions. I don’t want to get into a top whatever university. I want to get a scholarship so that I’m not in debt. That’s why I’m asking if doing that would help.
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Would you please give us feedback on some of the schools suggested? If we better understand which appeal to you and which do not, and the reasons, we can be more helpful.
Allegheny can actually meet this price point. D22 applied there, and they gave her so much merit that her cost of attendance would have been $22,000 a year—before any need-based aid. It is a great school for the OP to look at.
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Do you know if they’d do the same for an international student? Also, were your daughter’s stats much better than mine or similar?
I think they give merit to international students, but you’ll want to verify that.
D22’s GPA was nearly identical to yours, but her SAT was significantly lower. (She applied TO some places.)
Honestly, Allegheny was a hard one to let go of. They were very generous, there was a lot of personal outreach from both the chemistry and dance departments—d22 is a double major. They are worth looking at.
She ended up where she needed to be, but she could have been very happy at Allegheny too.
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@Andygp is a great resource for price points intl at an LAC.
I’m not sure but when a student has need, a school may first use merit and go heavier than normal. Or maybe it’s the reverse. So if it’s $22k b4 need, it might not have been $22k if there was no need.
It’s either one way or the other - use more or less merit on a need student.
Maybe someone can validate or correct me.
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My daughter went to U of Wyoming and her thesis adviser has 2 degrees from Harvard. I don’t think that professor would be more challenging if she taught at Wyoming or U of Minnesota (where D’s other thesis adviser received his PhD) or Alabama or…Harvard. It’s the student who determines how much work to put into the classes or thesis.
If you want to save money, U of Wyoming is a great deal for international students. If you want a degree in petroleum engineering? Wyoming is great. Agriculture? Excellent. Governmental affairs? Yes, thank you Dick Cheney for all the opportunities (and study abroad grant money). (And there are plenty of other schools like Wyoming offering excellent educations at very affordable prices).
If you want an elite school, it is going to cost you. If you want a really good education, you have a lot of options. There are also ways you can prepare to pay a lot of the way yourself. The kid next door did a year long program in auto mechanics just after high school, then started at CU engineering. He’s making really good money while he works his way through a very good engineering school. Auto mechanics may not be for you, but you could become a radiology tech, a phlebotomist, lab tech, etc. (if you can work under your visa).
You may also want to check what your status is if your parent’s green card doesn’t come through before you turn 21.
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Yes, exactly. I can stay on the visa till I turn 21, and no I cannot work, although I did babysit and earned like 2-3k
Many of the suggested LACs will come close to 25k with some negotiation. This plus a campus job can bring it to 20k if that really is a real constraint.
It is really critical to decide what is the amount that you can pay (not what you prefer to pay). Once you decide that school selection becomes quite obvious.
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The first thing you need to do is run the NPC on Ohio State (tOSU) with your parents so that they see what college costs look like in the US.
US parents who can afford many colleges but don’t want to often set their budget to about instate costs (including tuition, fees, room, and board). That’s often 30-35k nowadays. Many parents can’t afford that.
With 140k income your family would qualify for need based aid BUT with 800k in savings wouldn’t. If part or most of the savings are in retirement accounts they’re considered differently than if they’re in a savings account or a college account. I’m simplifying but savings are supposed to go to college costs whereas retirement savings are expected to go to future retirement.
Your test scores and GPA already qualify you for excellent merit from your state universities - you’re lucky you live in Ohio, which has lots of public universities and lots of merit offers. If you’d lived 200 miles east you’d be in a more dire situation :-). So start with those, then expand your list. Unfortunately full tuition scholarships (what you’d need to get to 20k) have become quite rare and very hard to get. You ARE within parameters for all OH public universities though.
tOSU is your flagship public university. Classes there will consistently be high quality but generally large, except in the Honors college.
Miami OH is well-known for the quality of its teaching and its Greek life. (Greek here means fee-charging social groups which may own a house and organize parties, designated by letters of the Greek alphabet).
UCincinnati is an urban university with a solid honors college. Less Greek life, more commuter, but also less isolated.
Go visit these 3 plus Kenyon and Wooster, perhaps?
Capital, in Columbus, is a small private university with a good reputation for premeds. Not sure their merit aid would be enough though.
After you’ve run the NPC on tOSU, you can run the NPC with them on UCincinnati and Miami-Ohio, too. Always apply to the Honors college as it’ll automatically surround you with a more accomplished cohort than the average at the college and may unlock special scholarships. Look around each website to see if they have other special programs (research, scholars…) you can apply to.
A thing in the US is that each college sets its own tuition, its scholarship amounts, its criteria, etc. So you have to run the NPC and read through every college’s financial aid/scholarships websites.
Then, run the NPC on Kenyon, Wooster, Allegheny, Kalamazoo, St Olaf, Muhlenberg: does one come within budget?
However if you’re SURE you’ll get a green card within a year, applying as a permanent resident would change your category for financial aid IF YOU QUALIFY FOR FA at colleges that meet need (like colleges above - public universities don’t meet need).
Overall, yes, more selective colleges will have more students who are very accomplished and the classes will go more in-depth and/or faster. However the difference is mostly stark in Humanities (some colleges will assign 30pp of reading a week, some colleges will assign 50pp per class… Spanish 1 at Middlebury is quite unlike Spanish1 at your regional university) but less so in the sciences. Premed pre-reqs in particular concentrate high achieving, hard working students and the content in these classes is pretty standardized. Premed is just an intention - and 85-90% of those with the intention when they enroll never make it to med school. As a rule of thumb, a minor in data science or statistics can come in handy if you need to pivot.
As a premed, you’ll need to be excellent at science (AP chem, one of the hardesr APs, will be a big test to know whether you are -bit at the same time, that content is what an average first semester of college chemistry would cover. And for a minor like stats, biostats, etc, you’ll need to be rock solid in calculus (stats for stats majors is calc based, whereas general statistics is algebra-based. AP stats is algebra based and a good introduction to the subject, but easier than stats for stats majors.)
But, first things first: run NPCs with your parents.
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Thank you, this was very helpful. My parents are very reluctant about giving me any information about their finances, but I’ll try running the NPC’s with them.
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As MYOS1634 says, run the NPCs. Please explain to your parents that the information that would be used by colleges to calculate your merit/aid packages are expected to be verifiable; therefore, even at this very preliminary stage, it is strongly recommended that the information provided by your parents are accurate, not just ballpark estimates.
Also, these colleges are need-blind for international students: Amherst; Bowdoin; Brown; Dartmouth; Harvard; MIT; Princeton; Yale. I think that you are competitive at all schools. Do run the NPCs at the above to get an approximate best-case financial aid line; HYP have provided the best financial aids (all grants, no loans), but others are ‘generous’ as well.
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I think the answer is…it depends. If it becomes apparent that your opportunities were not self generated but rather were because of connections, it’s my opinion, that isn’t as strong.
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From the Allegheny College website:
International students and U.S. students are eligible for the same merit-based scholarships of up to $42,000 per year, which are guaranteed for four years of study. Like U.S. students, international applicants are automatically considered for scholarships during the application review stage. If a scholarship is awarded, this information will be included in the acceptance letter. Please note that full-tuition scholarships are not possible, but Allegheny does offer limited need-based aid for international students, which applicants can inquire about after they have Been accepted
allegheny costs $72,600 a year. So even with the top merit award of $42k, the cost to attend won’t be $20,000
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Some people might…but I would not. The “ick” factor would get to me.
And…how about those who work hard for those opportunities and accomplishments?
Have trust in yourself and the process- you are a strong student with a bright future ahead of you, regardless of the college you attend!
If a friend offers to cpnnect you to their uncle’s PR dept to see if you’d like to work in pr, for instance, it’d be stupid to say no.
All alumni networks work on college connection. There could be a deserving student at YState u but if the alumni network is KCollege"s then only KCollege students can be considered.
You’re as deserving as anyone at your college to take on an opportunity. You got into the college, you got noticed. It doesn’t matter if it’s random like your roommate thinks you’re nice or if you have imposter syndrome.
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Yes, you are right…I agree with you. But….
The “ick” factor for me is “that you would not get on your own merit.”
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I have heard in the past that St. Mary’s of Maryland is good for pre-med students though I can’t verify it. It’s a Maryland public honors LAC (not a Catholic school) on the Chesapeake (right on the water, with sailing, if that interests you). Don’t know about merit aid but MAY (don’t know ) offer considerable aid to a few top students since it struggles to keep up enrollment because of its somewhat hard-to-get-to location on a peninsula. If affordable, I think you would get a lot of attention and guidance from professors that would lead to opportunities. Don’t know about access to a hospital but maybe there is a local one nearby for shadowing
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A VERY quick search (I’m in a big hurry today so I can’t be thorough) shows that all applicants at St. Mary’s are considered for merit, and that the school especially encourages DREAMERS to apply. I don’t think you are technically a dreamer (or are you?) but it makes me think that the school might be open to your sort -of in-between immigrant status. Don’t know how much merit but I think the school can be generous to some students. You’d need to maintain 3.0 for continued merit but if you’re gunning for med school that would not be an issue. Could be worth checking out.
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Many don’t get jobs on their own merit.
I see it in my industry. Car dealerships are often multiple generations - so the grandfather started it, then dad had it, now the kid.
Some aren’t ready - or don’t want to be there but how do you turn down net worth of many millions and salaries sometimes in the millions - vs. I want to run an art gallery. Whether familial pressure or money, they often aren’t doing what they love.
The best ones have served in all areas - from portering cars to selling service - so at least done the work in all areas.
Then you hear people on boards like here saying IB is a “connected” industry.
You see it with actors or film or sports (coaching, etc) - how did Bob Knight’s son get a head coaching job so young or how are all the Belichick kids coaches, etc.
Or large private organizations - look at the Trump Orgranization.
But should someone not take advantage of a connection?
I once interviewed at ABC in New York. My girlfriend’s at the time dad knew someone and got me a discussion.
So…I think if you have an opportunity to be helped, it’s hard to say no.
Now everyone does wonder - would that young guy be running the dealership if it wasn’t for dad.
The answer is no - of course - but they are - and hopefully they have a love for it and prove they had the chops.
And the way I see it - the family is still employing a hundred or more people - and supporting their livelihood - and that’s a great accomplishment but also a responsibility too.
Connections often do by access - and many successful people were connected - and perhaps that’s why the rich stay and get richer and others have a harder time.
But I’d personally find it hard to turn down a connection, especially if I was just starting out.
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