<p>I love these two colleges on a barely same level and I really wanna guarantee a college between10-20 but I need FA(my family can just afford the tuition) so I choose one for FA the other not. Anybody know which one is more generous?</p>
<p>I know Wel has Freeman Asian Program but it seems mean…only 2 for a country and I am from China</p>
<p>There shouldn’t be a huge difference between what Wesleyan offers and what Washington & Lee offers; Wesleyan costs more, so it should offer more of a discount, but in the final analysis, the object of both colleges will be to make it as easy as possible for you to attend. However, I do see one possible problem in perception. Your family says, it can only afford 10-20k in total costs, and that may be true; without knowing more about your family’s economic situation (and the Internet may not be the best place to discuss it) we can only speculate.</p>
<p>Well, from my own experience, Wesleyan is quite generous. I got into several schools and the only one that gave me a better package was Wellesley – they have a great no-loan policy. I pay less than 10% of the total cost (which this year is at around $56K) and it’s a really fair amount. </p>
<p>I’m sure you’re a great student and I wish you lots of luck, but you should know that the acceptance rate for internationals requesting FA was 3.5% this year. It’s relatively similar at other need-aware LACs. That said, I hope you’ll consider applying to Amherst (need-blind) and Middlebury (not exactly need-blind but pretty nice towards internationals requesting aid). If you’re a girl and like the idea of a women’s college, definitely apply to one/a few; they’re really generous and have higher acceptance rates. </p>
<p>I’m not sure how far you are in the college selection process, but I just went through it (I applied to 15 schools) so feel free to PM me if you need any advice or anything like that.</p>
<p>Thanks~
I think amherst is too good for me.
In my case I apply for Columnbia and Pomona without FA.(for I really wanna get in!) I intended to apply for wesleyan and W&L with FA but I worry that I can not get in all four then!
In my list I also have colleges like Con Col with FA which I think the possibility would be huge. But I haven’t added any other college or university ranking between 10-30 because I do not find them attractive. should I add some of them to rescue me if I really lose all 4, your opinion? or should I just select W&L or Wesleyan without FA?</p>
<p>If you have the stats to think you have a shot of getting into Columbia, you probably have a pretty similar shot of getting into Amherst. </p>
<p>It’s really complicated for us when it comes to finding safety schools because all of the good LACs are need-aware and super competitive. But all of the lower ranked LACs are don’t have money and so often they only give partial aid or merit scholarships. That might work for you, since you can pay for a significant portion, but it definitely wasn’t enough for me. </p>
<p>So I applied to: Yale (need-blind, but obviously ridiculously competitive), Brown (not need-blind, also ridiculously competitive, completely unrealistic), Wesleyan (need-aware), Amherst (need-blind), Vassar, Bowdoin, Wellesley, Tufts, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Bates, Middlebury, Macalester, Swarthmore, and Bard (all need-aware). I got into: Wesleyan, Wellesley, Smith, and Bryn Mawr and was waitlisted by Amherst and Middlebury. I got a letter from Bard that basically said they wanted to accept me but couldn’t meet my need. To give you some sort of basis for comparison, my stats were: CR 750 W 750 M 670, 4.0 GPA for the first two years of high school, 41 predicted points for the IB program, plus 7 from a 7th subject. I’m not sure how familiar you are with the IB program, but those were pretty decent grades. </p>
<p>So yeah, I think you need to choose some more schools that you could apply for FA at and still have a good shot of getting in. Since that’s not very plausible with top 25 LACs, you should pick schools that offer merit aid that you might be eligible for, in addition to partial FA. What are your stats, if you don’t mind me asking?</p>
<p>I was puzzled by the last post until I realized that it was talking about FA for international students. Wesleyan’s site says that it is need-blind for US applicants but apparently that is not true for international applicants.</p>
<p>well my stats is quite similar with yours(except IB,yea,I am not familiar with it)
I got GPA 4.01/5(full score), CR 720, WR 750, MA800, physics 800, math2 800, american history720.</p>
<p>I learn that this year university will be more mean than LACs on FA for international students right?(I ED Columbia because I fall in love recklessly with Core) but in your words it seems that LACs are not far more generous…(you got in your great LACs with FA? that’s incredible!)</p>
<p>and in that case could you tell Bard you can give up FA and get admitted by Bard?
I guess I do need to add more school to my list…</p>
<p>Your stats seem great, although I’m not sure how your GPA works. In Bosnia, the public schools have a grading system that goes 1 - 5, with 5 being the equivalent of an A and 1 being the equivalent of an F. If your system is the same, then that would give you a B average, which is sort of on the low side. Wesleyan published the average GPA of admitted (or maybe it was enrolled? I don’t remember.) students and it was like 3.82 (with 4.0 being the maximum) or something like that, which is quite high. But then again, all admissions offices will look at your grades in the context of your school’s profile, so it’s difficult to make generalizations. </p>
<p>I don’t really know where you got the information that universities are going to be “meaner” than LACs with FA for internationals this year, but somehow I don’t really think there’s a lot of truth to that. How large of a budget they allow for international FA (since all of that money is actually their money, and not federal money) varies from institution to institution, but I don’t think it’s possible to identify a trend that’s based on whether or not the institution is a LAC or a university. However, I could be wrong. </p>
<p>As far as Bard goes, I could have told them I was still interested and provided them with updated documents that showed a greater ability to pay or indicated that I was prepared to take out a loan on my own or something like that, and then they would have reconsidered my application and given me an FA package that probably would have been around $35K (which is pretty much the maximum they can give – $25K of grant aid, plus work study, plus waiving some random fees, plus a loan). So, if you like Bard and $35K would theoretically be enough for you and your family, then you should definitely apply. Bard is a great school and you definitely have the stats for it. </p>
<p>I wish you a lot of luck with your Columbia app. If you’re applying without asking for FA, I really hope you get in and somehow figure out a way to pay for it. If you’re applying and asking for FA, just keep in mind that they often defer internationals asking for aid in order to be able to compare them with the rest of the RD international pool in the spring, since it is a really competitive process. </p>
<p>Oh, also, Dickinson College is a great school that gives out merit aid and partial scholarships for internationals. I didn’t apply because nothing would’ve been enough for me, but they solicited me like crazy and were really nice, so you might want to look into them too because, with your scores, you’d have a fantastic shot of getting in and getting merit aid.</p>
<p>In my school we have A plus though…which suggests our GPA structures may have big difference.But my GPA is not high though I admit. just better than averge, and wesleyan’s averge is crazy…</p>
<p>You are right the resourse LACs and university hold are barely the same, but my senior(2014) told me that If I apply to need-aware university and ask for FA I would be rejected immediately. Just in my region It does seem that university is less generous.</p>
<p>I guess I can still make do without FA just my parents will live a harder life. 4 years’ fee is like 90% of my family’s savings. My father would rather let me go to a 10-20 LAC without FA than go to Dickinson with full scholarship.my opinions are nearly the same.</p>
<p>well, apply for FA is even tougher than I thought! I gradually think that in my situation I’d better apply for competitive schools like W&L and Wesleyan without FA if I really want to get in. Not many schools like Bard will email you that “we can’y afford your FA but if you can lower your need we will still admit you”, right? most of colleges will just reject?</p>
<p>oh I almost forget! It’s not easy to meet such a warm-hearted senior TT
I am fascinated by Wesleyan’s College of Social Studies, which is why I distinguish with other LACs. But I can only get to know this program through dead description; are you familiar with CSS? can you tell me something about it?
I mainly want to know how is this school different from other social studies program, for example the sociology in Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Right, well Wes will look at everything in the context of your school, so don’t worry.</p>
<p>Hmm, well I’m not sure if that information is really reliable enough to base your entire application strategy around, but there may some truth to it so I guess you should just judge that for yourself. As well, the financial decisions you have to make are very personal ones and it is definitely not my place to try to convince you of anything in regards to that, but I do urge you to carefully examine the value of going to a top 20 LAC vs. that of a top 50 LAC like Dickinson. </p>
<p>Bard is the only school that I know of that does that. It’s rather unfortunate that other schools don’t have a similar policy for internationals, but oh well, what can you do. </p>
<p>I really don’t know very much about CSS, although it seems really awesome. I’ll be majoring in psychology and English, so I haven’t really looked into it, but you should search for posts about CSS in the Wes forum because I remember quite a few, I think. If that fails, just start a thread :).</p>
<p>heartLike- the schools you name are need-blind; that’s the norm for top schools.</p>
<p>Not for internationals.</p>
<p>well I’ve spent 30mins reading nearly all threads about CSS… I can’t believe I thought that the whole Wesleyan forum has only 20 threads because those are what I can see now…but when I search “css*wesleyan” I found the new continent…</p>
<p>I found CSS is really terrific program for me! It sounds like people in there really immersed in social science.But I wonder why are merely few CSS students on CC @@(I also wanna thank Weskid and JohnWes and many other for their kindness! )</p>
<p>Now I am more fascinated by Wesleyan…so that I’m afraid If I apply for the Freeman scholarship and get rejected I’ll be so mad. how much I hope Wes can learn from Bard TT
I’ve asked the financial office and the dean told me that Freeman scholarship is the only financial aid that PRC students can appky for…but that means 2 students a country…sad</p>
<p>I definitely think you should give it a shot and I wish you a lot of luck. I also suggest that you send in something in addition to the pre-application and the Common App, like, for example, a letter talking about how much CSS appeals to you. You don’t have to do that or anything, but if you have something that you’d like the admission office to know, sending in something extra is a good way to show your interest in Wes and to tell them whatever it is you want to tell them that isn’t in the rest of your app.</p>
<p>Oh that’s right! since Wes’s supplement doesn’t involve additional essay. But have you ever done this before, because I don’t know how to put the “letter” in my application? should I email the admission office or…</p>
<p>Yup, I sent in a letter (and I’m pretty sure it’s why I was accepted). Just email the Admission Office/the admission officer who is responsible for your area and ask them to print it out to place into your file.</p>
<p>Alright,you must have something very special then~ Thanks for your advice; it really helps alot!</p>