Match me please! (International student, rising junior, need financial aid)

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics
Low income, international student (EU), female, attending a medium-sized public school

Intended Major(s)
Pre-med + Philosophy

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: *19.0 out of 20
  • Weighted HS GPA: * NA
  • Class Rank: 2 out of ~400 (1 out of ~100 on the Science and Technology pathway)
  • ACT/SAT Scores: NA (I haven’t take the SAT yet)

List your HS coursework
Science and Technology high school pathway (Biggest workload and most challenging course option available)

Awards

  • 1 team + 1 individual award at the most prestigious debate competition in the world
  • Top 1% nationally at the Mathematical Kangaroo

Extracurriculars

  • Founder of a coalition of an UN foundation girls’ rights organisation that has directly impacted +200 people and reached +40k, leading 15 members, 5 ongoing iniatives
  • 1 out of 10 out of a +800 applicant pool selected to become a youth advisor for the previously mentioned organisation
  • Menstrual poverty iniative that has so far raised +500 pads and educated population all over the country through workshops, debates, partnerships with hospitals, …
  • Member of the national debate team
  • Co-organised national debate tournament
  • Taught young debaters
  • Youth parliament
  • Science research in 3 different programs (online)
  • Currently working in-person with a professor to develop a project for the national science fair
  • Currently developing an e-book on periods and the menstrual cycle etc
  • Clinic or hospital intern NEXT SUMMER
  • Artistic roller skater
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So if you are a rising junior, this is somewhat premature as it will ultimately depend on your qualifications, and to some extent what you are really looking for in a US college.

It is also very problematic for an International to plan to do medical school in the United States, as there are extremely few such slots available. And outside the US, there is often a quicker and lower cost path to a medical degree.

But assuming you do want to proceed: basically, very few US colleges have substantial aid for Internationals to begin with. And then even fewer offer enough aid to meet very low budgets. And unfortunately, this may be getting worse in upcoming cycles, although there is a lot of uncertainty about that.

In any event, given that context, one critical piece of information is your actual budget, the maximum you can contribute for all of tuition and fees, housing and dining, mandatory health insurance, travel, and other incidental costs. There is no point applying to US colleges that never offer Internationals enough aid to meet your budget.

Among the ones that might meet your budget, you then have to assess how competitive you will be. And to be blunt, if you have a very low budget, it is brutally competitive. There are many more highly qualified Internationals who would need such offers than such offers available, and so most such Internationals will not be able to attend a college in the US. And so you really need to be very competitive, and even then you need to make sure you have a backup plan outside the US.

When the time actually comes, if you want to proceed, we can then help you identify at least your best bets (again understanding this may be evolving).

But I will note in advance that small Liberal Arts and Sciences colleges, aka LACs, can be excellent choices for people interested in things like Life Sciences, and Philosophy, or both. And then some of those have at least pretty decent International aid budgets–still very competitive, but they at least may make some good offers. And then some of those are actually women’s colleges, which again are still very competitive for Internationals with need.

But you might be a particularly good fit for those women’s LACs, so that is something I would keep in mind.

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Completely agree!
This is your issue. You need to find an affordable college, if you plan to come to the US for your education. The competition is very tough and it’s even tougher if you try to come before you’re ready. As a rising Junior you won’t be competitive with what some of these kids are doing here in the states and other parts of the world.

Your ECs are good, but will only take you so far in an application. Give the universities some credit: they know that students coming from other countries are limited in their ECs, so try not to pad what you do.
You need to combine those ECs that are the “same”. I wouldn’t list things that haven’t happened yet.

Medical school is very expensive for our domestic students. You’re looking at almost $400,000 a year by the time you graduate from college.

Where is that money coming from for you?

I know that we paid fully for our daughter’s medical school through years of savings.
The aid available to US residents are loans, loans and more loans and the Bank of Mom and Dad. As a non-resident, non US citizen you won’t qualify for loans. So how would you fund your medical school?

The universities will look at your history of coursework. If someone from your country has taken more courses because they’ve had an extra year of schooling then you would be considered non-competitive.

If you’re really into doing research, get on the web and “google”- Scholarships for international students in US universities. The ones that do still have money are extremely competitive to get into and only have a handful of seats.

The rest of the universities are currently holding tight to their budgets because of what’s going on politically in our country. So you have some homework to do.

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Where do you plan to be a doctor. This matters. You would be best served to attend medical school in the EU…it’s highly unlikely you will get accepted to any medical school in the U.S.

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