The Best Piece of Advice I Have

International Students
1

<p>This should probably be posted in the general advice thread, but I wanted to call attention it, because I think everyone here should know this.</p>

<p>I’m a Mexican citizen, and one of the toughest things I had to do during my college application process was finding safety schools. I needed a full-ride to attend a US college, and there is no such thing as an unselective college that gives out full rides to international students.</p>

<p>Even in the Ivy League category, some schools won’t give you any money. I have a friend, also Mexican, that was accepted to Cornell and was given NO financial aid whatsoever. </p>

<p>This is my advice, then:</p>

<p>Find those colleges that are need-blind to international students (Princeton, Yale, Amherst, etc) and those that give a lot of money to international students (MIT, Williams, UChicago, etc), pick one that has an Early-ACTION policy (NOT early decision, because you may not get the money you need), and then apply early to that college you choose.</p>

<p>This is the best way to apply, because schools WANT international students. They want to say “9% are international students.” If you apply early, you are considered with this in mind, so your chances of getting admitted with a good grant rise. </p>

<p>Otherwise, if you apply in regular decision, they might already have that 9% they want. So they’ll just not give you the money you need, even if they do accept you.</p>

<p>Like with everything else, there are always exceptions. Yet, I found this to be the ideal way of applying to college as an international student. I hope it has helped!</p>

<p>Now, for a brief list of schools that aren’t Ivies and give money to internationals: </p>

<p>George Washington University
Vassar College
Carleton College
Pomona College
Amherst College
Williams College
Macalester College
Northwestern University
Rice University
University of Chicago
MIT
Grinnell College
Swarthmore College
Denison College
Middlebury College</p>

<p>Those are the schools I was considering, other than the Ivy Leagues. In the end, I only applied to one university in its early action process, and got in with a full ride. I didn’t feel compelled to apply anywhere else, since that university had always been my dream school.</p>

<p>Note that some Ivies, like Brown University, have very limited resources for international students. Also, some very selective and prestigious universities, like Stanford University, don’t really give money to internationals.</p>

<p>I hope this has helped you in your college application process. All the best for all of you!</p>

2

<p>A minor correction, there are 6 need blind schools for internationals, including MIT (the other 5 are amherst, harvard, yale, dartmouth and princeton).</p>

<p>This is actually good advice. Just to add to your list of universities, consider other LACs such as Bates, Trinity and Skidmore. </p>

<p>However, you shouldn’t generalize your impressions, acceptance and financial aid for international students varies significantly from student to student. The exact same thing that happened to your friend with Cornell happened to me, but I’ve talked to other foreign students who have received very generous FA prizes from the same school.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the correction, I didn’t know MIT was also in that list.</p>

<p>I know, sometimes it just depends on how much they want you or whether you have certain hooks. Exceptions abound and it’s a case by case basis; still, it’s very important to apply early to a place that can give you a generous amount of financial aid. It’s the best you can do.</p>

<p>Thank you for elaborating on the list.</p>

4

<p>Actually, there is such thing as an unselective school that gives out full rides to internationals. But you need to have a certain SAT and GPA to get a full scholarship at such institutions.</p>

<p>Some of the schools from this thread give out scholarships to international students <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;