Advice on schools for ED2Answered
Hey,
I am an International Student from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I am currently on a gap year and I am applying to universities in the States for engineering and economics. For my high school, I took the IB Diploma Programme and my final grade was a 38 with 666 in Math, Physics and Econ HL, and 765 in Business Management, English A LAL and French B SL (My school never provides GPA). In IGCSE, I had 6As, 1A and 1B (in french). I have a 1530 on my SAT and a 111 on my TOEFL. Also, received academic excellence awards for IB math, physics, econ and business and IGCSE math, econ, and IT from school. I am applying for financial aid with a family contribution of about $20,000.
My ECs are very strong; did 2 internships, founded environmental club of 30 members, leader of community youth group, SG of MUN Club, strong badminton and cricket player... My recommendations will also be good I am guessing. I asked my math teacher, who was also my EE coordinator and MUN Club Supervisor to write one and my physics teacher wrote one and he knows me pretty well. I would rate my essays as solid 8s out of 10. Really worked hard on common app essay and supplements.
I applied ED1 to Dartmouth but was straight up rejected. I am thinking of applying ED2 to some "less competitive" schools. My options at the moment are NYU (New York), Tufts, University of Rochester, and Lafayette. I don't want to take too many major risks so I am thinking of either Rochester or Lafayette but what I am most concerned about is the financial aid component. I like all these schools but I really want to apply to the school that I have the best shot with. I am not sure how good Lafayette's or rochester's FA is, so it would really helpful if you could advice me on which school is my best shot...
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1 answer
As an international student, Univ. of Rochester and NYU on average give out very little financial aid ( like 6000 UofR ,10000 for NYU). And Tufts avg. package is about 20000. So you are 40000 short, if you are budgeting 80000 and providing 20000. These figures were based on CollegeVine's blog post. Click link to view:
I'm going to give you list of colleges that all give out better fin. aid to international students with high stats like yours provided you get accepted and have great essays and recommendations as well.
In no particular order: (these all have ED II as well)
Middlebury College
Washinginton & Lee
Swarthmore
Kenyon College
Skidmore College
Hamilton College
St. Lawrence College
Vassar College
Colgate
If you need some RD colleges for good aid, then I'd recommend Reed College, Amherst and Williams, and Dickinson.
Reputation and prestige-wise, I don't put Lafayette high up on my personal list. All the schools I've listed have more academic clout and you can get a world class education at any of these. They will all prepare you well if you want to go to Medical School, Law School or pursue an advanced STEM degree or Business Degree.
Research them, and good luck.
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How does FA tend to be at Lafayette? I really don't mind the reputation or prestige factor. Lafayette's engineering has been ranked higher every year and it was #13 for universities with bachelor's engineering only. Also, I don't think NYU's aid is that low for international students and the same for Tufts. NYU also meets 100% need of all admitted students from this year onwards.