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What unis give out scholarships to international applicants?
I want to go somewhere really good to do physics. I'm thinking MIT or caltech or similar.
But which US unis are particularly good at giving scholarships to international apps? I get the impression we are treated less favourably than natives.
Household income is 35k ish.
But which US unis are particularly good at giving scholarships to international apps? I get the impression we are treated less favourably than natives.
Household income is 35k ish.
You might be able to get a free or near-free education at Princeton or Harvard.
None of the top 10 colleges offer straight up, no-strings-attached an guaranteed financial aid/scholarship for international students. When I applied for colleges I did not have my permanent residence yet, so I had to tick the "international student" box. I can give you a few advice on the trials and tribulations of an international applicant:
1. If you apply for financial assistance from the start then you will have a tougher time getting in. This is not exactly a hidden catch, and the admission office will explain to you in detail but the gist is that they won't let you in unless they are 100% sure that you can afford it. And since colleges tend to have a small pool of money reserved for international students and many applicants, they can only accommodate a certain number.
2. You will not qualify for 90% of merit-based scholarships. I went through hundreds of external and internal scholarships, all of which require citizenship/permanent residence.
3. The Ivies actually cannot give out merit-based scholarships due to some stupid agreement they had sometime ago.
4. Stanford does have merit-based scholarships that are open to international students, but feel free to compete with people who've won International Math Olympics and the like.
5. MIT is more stingy compared to the Ivies, I don't know why but it's just the way it seemed when I called their financial aid office and they were much less ethusiastic on helping me to meet my financial needs.
And one amazingly good news, Caltech offers a huge scholarship that you can apply after your first year (I think). It IS merit-based and it IS open to international students, but you gotta get in first and maintain excellent grade. It's not nearly as ridiculously competitive as Stanford and the like, but you probably have to work just as hard to get it.
So, Caltech is, in my opinion, your best bet. If your family makes 35k dollars then you will have trouble, 35k pounds not so much. Keep in mind that you are NOT in the same pool as americans/green-card holders and you will face discrimination because of your status. However if you say that you do not want any financial assistance, you will be placed in the regular pool and have the same chance of being accepted, but you will face (obviously) a huge financial burden.
1. If you apply for financial assistance from the start then you will have a tougher time getting in. This is not exactly a hidden catch, and the admission office will explain to you in detail but the gist is that they won't let you in unless they are 100% sure that you can afford it. And since colleges tend to have a small pool of money reserved for international students and many applicants, they can only accommodate a certain number.
2. You will not qualify for 90% of merit-based scholarships. I went through hundreds of external and internal scholarships, all of which require citizenship/permanent residence.
3. The Ivies actually cannot give out merit-based scholarships due to some stupid agreement they had sometime ago.
4. Stanford does have merit-based scholarships that are open to international students, but feel free to compete with people who've won International Math Olympics and the like.
5. MIT is more stingy compared to the Ivies, I don't know why but it's just the way it seemed when I called their financial aid office and they were much less ethusiastic on helping me to meet my financial needs.
And one amazingly good news, Caltech offers a huge scholarship that you can apply after your first year (I think). It IS merit-based and it IS open to international students, but you gotta get in first and maintain excellent grade. It's not nearly as ridiculously competitive as Stanford and the like, but you probably have to work just as hard to get it.
So, Caltech is, in my opinion, your best bet. If your family makes 35k dollars then you will have trouble, 35k pounds not so much. Keep in mind that you are NOT in the same pool as americans/green-card holders and you will face discrimination because of your status. However if you say that you do not want any financial assistance, you will be placed in the regular pool and have the same chance of being accepted, but you will face (obviously) a huge financial burden.
£35k is houshold income. Parents probably will pay nothing towards it.
If I can get the fees paid, I should be OK ish. How much less chance do I have if applying for financial aid from the start?
If I definately can't pay it without a scholarship, am I better off applying as a regular applicant then when/if I get offered a place applying for funding? As this way I don't get discriminated against as I'd be a regular applicant. But would this affect my chances of getting a scholarship?
If I can get the fees paid, I should be OK ish. How much less chance do I have if applying for financial aid from the start?
If I definately can't pay it without a scholarship, am I better off applying as a regular applicant then when/if I get offered a place applying for funding? As this way I don't get discriminated against as I'd be a regular applicant. But would this affect my chances of getting a scholarship?
fisherman
£35k is houshold income. Parents probably will pay nothing towards it.
If I can get the fees paid, I should be OK ish. How much less chance do I have if applying for financial aid from the start?
If I definately can't pay it without a scholarship, am I better off applying as a regular applicant then when/if I get offered a place applying for funding? As this way I don't get discriminated against as I'd be a regular applicant. But would this affect my chances of getting a scholarship?
If I can get the fees paid, I should be OK ish. How much less chance do I have if applying for financial aid from the start?
If I definately can't pay it without a scholarship, am I better off applying as a regular applicant then when/if I get offered a place applying for funding? As this way I don't get discriminated against as I'd be a regular applicant. But would this affect my chances of getting a scholarship?
Let's make a distinction between scholarship and financial aid to make this discussion slightly easier:
financial aid = only dependent upon your family's financial situation and your application status (international vs. national). This is offered by nearly all universities.
scholarship = merit based in addition to family situation-based (most of the time). May discriminate based on international status. This is offered by fewer universities and is much more competitive.
Financial aid will hurt your chances, nobody can tell you how much. I can't even begin to give you a rough guesstimation (I forgoed financial aid when applying to better my chances, but applied later anyway when I got my green card. You however, will definitely not have permanent residence in college so it's a totally different ball game). I remember the response from Penn was "we have many international applicants blah blah but this may vary per year blah blah and we *highly* recommend you to secure your own fundings." They may very well be exaggerating, but I would imagine the difference in acceptance rate is probably more than 1 or 2 percent.
Scholarships will NOT hurt your chances. If you're eligible to apply then you're good. However, you can't claim them as a source of funding for universities until you are actually awarded. So here comes the catch-22: say you apply for scholarships from a university around the same time you do your application, you cannot tell them "hey I'll pay your tuition with my scholarship money" until you actually win the scholarship, which may or may not happen and will likely be determined way after the application deadline. So you gotta make a decision to apply for financial aid or not BEFORE you know your scholarship results. However, if you do win the scholarship for that university, but then get rejected (due to whatever reason, maybe because you applied for financial aid) then you lose the scholarship. You can't do it retroactively and tell them "hey look I can afford it now so let me rescind my financial aid application" after they've already made their decision.
It's pretty much hell I know. It's easier if you have applied outside scholarships early, but given that U.S. universities cost ~$50k (~25k pounds) per year (tuition + accommodations + food + other expenses) it's incredibly unlikely that you will get enough awards to pay for everything.
Personally my advice would be - call up the universities, emphasize that you're international and ask them for this particular year do they expect difficulties giving financial aid for international students. If they say "oh boy we're swamped and your chances ain't that bright" then maybe it's time for extravagant loans and chain-spam scholarship applications. if they go "err, we think you're worthwhile and we have good money reserved for internationals" then you need to evaluate the risk vs. money issue yourself.
fisherman
£35k is houshold income. Parents probably will pay nothing towards it.
If I can get the fees paid, I should be OK ish. How much less chance do I have if applying for financial aid from the start?
If I definately can't pay it without a scholarship, am I better off applying as a regular applicant then when/if I get offered a place applying for funding? As this way I don't get discriminated against as I'd be a regular applicant. But would this affect my chances of getting a scholarship?
If I can get the fees paid, I should be OK ish. How much less chance do I have if applying for financial aid from the start?
If I definately can't pay it without a scholarship, am I better off applying as a regular applicant then when/if I get offered a place applying for funding? As this way I don't get discriminated against as I'd be a regular applicant. But would this affect my chances of getting a scholarship?
There's some nonsense above Harvard, Dartmouth and Princeton are internationally need-blind as well as other schools.
ScholarsInk
There's some nonsense above Harvard, Dartmouth and Princeton are internationally need-blind as well as other schools.
I stand well-corrected, and that probably explains why MIT was so cold to me... I asked them if I was special as an international student but apparently I'm not.
Here's the list of internationally need-blind universities:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind
From the entry, only 8 universities are internationally need-blind.
Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Middlebury College, MIT, Princeton University, Williams College, Yale University, and Amherst College.
So in that case MIT would be a safe(r) bet. I believe Dartmouth changed this policy fairly recently, now that I remember hearing about it from another forum.
fisherman
"Please note that financial assistance is currently not available for international transfer students or international 3/2 students."
What exactly is a 3/2 student? Taken from caltechs website. Thanks
What exactly is a 3/2 student? Taken from caltechs website. Thanks
Usually this means 3 year undergrad 2 year grad (postgrad as you guys seem to call it). That way you get your undergrad and graduate degree in 5 years. This also apply to schools that let you study else where for 3 or 2 years, and (either before going or after going away) study at the home university for 3 or 2 years - which let you end up with 2 BSc./BA degrees from two different universities. It likely won't happen to you.
This is the Caltech merit scholarship that I mentioned, I'm fairly sure.
Capitalism
I stand well-corrected, and that probably explains why MIT was so cold to me... I asked them if I was special as an international student but apparently I'm not.
Here's the list of internationally need-blind universities:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind
From the entry, only 8 universities are internationally need-blind.
Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Middlebury College, MIT, Princeton University, Williams College, Yale University, and Amherst College.
So in that case MIT would be a safe(r) bet. I believe Dartmouth changed this policy fairly recently, now that I remember hearing about it from another forum.
Here's the list of internationally need-blind universities:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind
From the entry, only 8 universities are internationally need-blind.
Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Middlebury College, MIT, Princeton University, Williams College, Yale University, and Amherst College.
So in that case MIT would be a safe(r) bet. I believe Dartmouth changed this policy fairly recently, now that I remember hearing about it from another forum.
Eight excellent institutions. OP would be well-served by going to any of them.
fisherman
I want to go somewhere really good to do physics. I'm thinking MIT or caltech or similar.
But which US unis are particularly good at giving scholarships to international apps? I get the impression we are treated less favourably than natives.
Household income is 35k ish.
But which US unis are particularly good at giving scholarships to international apps? I get the impression we are treated less favourably than natives.
Household income is 35k ish.
hey did you do Adv. Highers this year? Can they be used for US entry or is just strictly SATS?
Cerulean
hey did you do Adv. Highers this year? Can they be used for US entry or is just strictly SATS?
Yeah, I did AH this year, AAAB, quite disappointed tbh. But I'm trying an appeal. Did you do them?
You need to do SATS I'm afraid, and it's a good 150 mile trip each way for me to the nearest testing centre. I'll hitch it. But, on the plus side it seems US unis value EC's a lot more highly than the UK, which will help me as I have pretty strong ones.
fisherman
Yeah, I did AH this year, AAAB, quite disappointed tbh. But I'm trying an appeal. Did you do them?
You need to do SATS I'm afraid, and it's a good 150 mile trip each way for me to the nearest testing centre. I'll hitch it. But, on the plus side it seems US unis value EC's a lot more highly than the UK, which will help me as I have pretty strong ones.
You need to do SATS I'm afraid, and it's a good 150 mile trip each way for me to the nearest testing centre. I'll hitch it. But, on the plus side it seems US unis value EC's a lot more highly than the UK, which will help me as I have pretty strong ones.
not all unis in the usa require SATs take a look at this link it shows a list of uni/colleges that dont need SATs
http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional/state
Peter121PRO
not all unis in the usa require SATs take a look at this link it shows a list of uni/colleges that dont need SATs
http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional/state
http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional/state
Sorry, yes you are right, what I should have said is all the ones that are good enough to make the cost worthwhile to me need SAT's.
fisherman
Yeah, I did AH this year, AAAB, quite disappointed tbh. But I'm trying an appeal. Did you do them?
You need to do SATS I'm afraid, and it's a good 150 mile trip each way for me to the nearest testing centre. I'll hitch it. But, on the plus side it seems US unis value EC's a lot more highly than the UK, which will help me as I have pretty strong ones.
You need to do SATS I'm afraid, and it's a good 150 mile trip each way for me to the nearest testing centre. I'll hitch it. But, on the plus side it seems US unis value EC's a lot more highly than the UK, which will help me as I have pretty strong ones.
Your school let you do 4 Advanced Highers?
Yeah I did, but the situation is very sticky and complicated (for reasons I would rather not go into) , so I just have to wait and see.
I don't think I know anyone up here that's going to the US from Scotchland, though it would definitely be cool. I thought they might take Adv. Highers like AP and that could be used as part of the application. It sucks here for SAT test centres...oh well.
Good luck with your application!
Cerulean
Your school let you do 4 Advanced Highers?
Yeah I did, but the situation is very sticky and complicated (for reasons I would rather not go into) , so I just have to wait and see.
I don't think I know anyone up here that's going to the US from Scotchland, though it would definitely be cool. I thought they might take Adv. Highers like AP and that could be used as part of the application. It sucks here for SAT test centres...oh well.
Good luck with your application!
Yeah I did, but the situation is very sticky and complicated (for reasons I would rather not go into) , so I just have to wait and see.
I don't think I know anyone up here that's going to the US from Scotchland, though it would definitely be cool. I thought they might take Adv. Highers like AP and that could be used as part of the application. It sucks here for SAT test centres...oh well.
Good luck with your application!
Yeah, I started off doing three, then I realised for cambridge I needed maths, so I started doing that and I was enjoying my other three AH's so didn't drop them. I don't know anyone else who's done 4 though.
Good luck to you too.
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