There is not such a thing as a “dream school”. CMU does not offer financial aid to international students.
international Students:
Only U.S. citizens and permanent residents are eligible for federal, state, and institutional undergraduate financial aid programs. Undergraduate Financial Aid Process - Student Financial Services - Division of Enrollment Services - Carnegie Mellon University
Yeah, I have read this, somehow didn’t demotivate me completely.
Carnegie Mellon is a good school, but applying ED means that you will attend there, if admitted, no matter what. How will your family pay $79K per year to attend your “dream” school?
I’ve already said that I plan to get scholarships from other entities and loans with a co-signer, and pay a small party of the cost with employment between high school graduation and starting college. I know how hard-working my parents are too, and I’m sure we’d be able to get as much money as we could even if it’s not the full price.
But if I really cannot afford $79k+ per year I might just study my undergrad here and only go abroad for graduate school.
I think it’s very naive and interesting that international students tend to think that in the US, there are only a handful of “acceptable” universities and anything else would be deemed “lower quality”.
Yeah, from what I’ve seen that mentality tends to be common and it doesn’t help that the very rich or very lucky few international students that do get into T20 US universities get all the promotion in national news, while the ones who just end up in state universities or less-well known institutions aren’t noticed as much.
There are nearly 4000 universities in the US and many are extremely good. In order to receive State and Federal funding from those government agencies, they have to meet a certain level of rigor. You need to seek out schools that will attempt to meet need, but they meet need according to what THEY think you will need.
In corporate America, employees come from all of those schools including the ivies, state universities and private colleges. Once hired, no one even looks at where a person went to school. My husband is a graduate of Stanford. His supervisor attended a California state university (I think, Northridge).
That’s nice to hear! I’ve been starting to get e-mails from a few colleges (definitely no big ones, though) and clicking on their links already, so there’s already a chance for me.
Special factors mean just that, special factors. It’s a specific talent that the schools seek in students with international recognition like an Olympic athlete, celebrity, artist, Peacemaker (Greta, Malala, etc.)
Yeah, I’m definitely not A-list celebrity or climate change solver, but I do think that my specific interests might be just notable enough for a T50 university in the US.
Most of the schools are need aware which means that if you and another “similar student” are vying for a seat, they may select the student who doesn’t need money from the university.
It doesn’t matter if you are a #1 rank and what EC’s you’ve done. If you are asking for funding, they don’t have to admit you.
Need blind means that when they look at your application, they have no idea if you are asking for funding. That’s a separate department and building.
I see. Given how cutthroat the US university landscape is, I’m not surprised that most schools are need aware. Even if they’re told that accepting poorer students is a very good thing to do (it is) and a path to upward mobility (it also is), they have to keep themselves running, and accepting richer students who might not be that talented, such as legacies is ultimately the more pragmatic, and from an economic perspective better choice for them.
Expect to pay a minimum of $60K per year. I don’t know of any scholarships that will cover what you need for Carnegie Mellon.
From what I’ve seen MPower has some that would cover, but these seem to be only for junior year onwards.