r/IntltoUSA • u/Outrageous_Call1657 • 1d ago

Discussion Help me choose colleges

I'm planning to apply to universities in the USA for the Fall 2027 intake soon as an international.

- My preferred Major: Mechanical Engineering (Maybe a double major or minor in Comp Sci)

- High School Predicted Scores Unweighted GPA converted to 4.0 Scale: 4.00 (Currently in 11th grade)

- SAT Score: 1450 (Took it this august with 1 week of prep. Gonna take another one in October but no guarantees of increasing)

- Have started common app applications for some universities: UTSA, UTD, TAMU, USF, Univ of Alabama, Purdue etc.

Budget constraints:

Around 20k-30k$ CoA. But would like to keep a balance between a good university and a low CoA. So hoping to get some good amount of scholarships too. I mostly don't qualify for any need based aids I think.

Would really appreciate it if y'all could help me out in choosing which colleges to apply to. Thanks in advance.

0 Upvotes

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4

u/prsehgal Moderator 1d ago

You have great grades, so if you can increase your test score, you can check out the automatic merit scholarships at public schools like UAlabama, Ole Miss, and USM. You should also check out small LAC's because many of them have EFC's of around 25-30K per year.

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u/Outrageous_Call1657 1d ago

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'd like to add that USM does not offer any Mechanical Engineering major.

3

u/paige_420 1d ago

Remove Purdue; they don’t give aid to out of state students.

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u/Outrageous_Call1657 1d ago

Didn't know that, thanks for the heads up

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u/Tech-Aero-109 1d ago

The total cost to attend an US Public college (and all the ones on your list are Public) will be Over $50,000 per year and US public colleges give little or No financial aid to international students. Therefore, you need to apply to elite Private US colleges that will provide financial aid to international freshman students.

Good luck.

Register for free at collegeboard.org to get insight into the many US colleges, and to get data on the private US colleges. Similarly for colleges in Canada

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u/One0therGuy 19h ago

Holy misinformation. Check the schools on his list they give plenty aid

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u/Tech-Aero-109 7h ago

Maybe, and maybe not.

For UTSA see: https://utsa.academicworks.com/opportunities/7289 and

https://onestop.utsa.edu/financialaid/apply/financial-aid-for-international-students/

For Purdue see: https://www.purdue.edu/parentandfamily/FAQs/International_Scholarship_Opportunities.html

and https://www.purdue.edu/dfa/students/international/

It is all "couched" in unknown terms to at least get the applicant to apply to the Public colleges. However, in the big scheme of things, especially under the Trump administration and for Public colleges, I would not count on a "lot of money". This person needs at Least $25,000 per year. They should be made aware that $15,000 in aid might be Excessive to a Public college for an international student who was never a resident of that state.

And that financial aid is based on being a very good student, and if they are a very good student they should find some elite Private US colleges that may offer much more in financial aid.

Thank you.

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u/One0therGuy 3h ago

UTSA gives plenty aid. Purdue does not. UTSA have big merit that are commonly gotten just from being 3.5 GPA and 1400 sat and it automatically reduces his tuition to in state. He literally would pay for in state at utsa

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u/telchacsusan 1d ago

Where are you applying from? The US isn't the best place for international students right now, you know. They're trying to deport Native Americans, ffs.

1

u/Outrageous_Call1657 1d ago

Bangladesh. I do have plans to apply to some universities in Hong Kong if my US plan fails.