Help me selecting my colleges?

hi
i graduated from high school this year with a 3.75 gpa and 2360 in SAT. i want to major in mathematics and physics. i am an international student. which liberal art colleges should I apply to? I need FULL FINANCIAL AID. so thats a a huge criteria. plz do help.
i want to learn n not be a part of a great university that focuses more on research than teaching . nevertheless which are the universities i should apply too keeping my HUGE criteria in mind?
My choices still -
Williams
Middlebury
Harvey Mudd
Swarthmore
Princeton
Columbia
Stanford
Caltech
PLEASE HELP!!!

Only the top 4 of these are what I would call liberal arts colleges - the others are exactly what you say you don't want - great universities that focus more on research than on teaching. If you are looking at math and physics, and you want a liberal arts college, the only one I could really recommend off you list would be Harvey Mudd. Physics is the problem. You need a place with a really strong science focus so that you would be dealing with updated labs and a student research focus. It would be different if you were planning to major in English.

The problem, though, is that with a 3.75, I would be very surprised if any of the colleges you mention were to give you full financial aid, especially as an international student. Only about 2% of students are in college on full financial aid, and those are usually people with records that are very near perfect, even at good regional schools, let alone those with national and global reputations. Furthermore, most colleges are far more likely to give such aid to domestic students than they are to international students. They usually bring in international students to pay the bills for the domestic ones. My guess is that you will either have to find your aid in your own country, or lower your standards considerably, even with an excellent SAT score.

Liars go to South Plains College.




Or Tech.

Have fun.

You'll want to do your research on this one. Not all US universities and colleges give financial aid to international students, and if that's a determining factor, then make sure that you ask each uni you are considering.

The schools that I know offer scholarship and other aid to foreign students are: Harvard University, Boston University, Yale University, Emory University, Mount Holyoke College, Michigan State University, Grinnell, Ripon College, Arizona State U, Clark University, Macalester College, MIT, Marquette, Princeton, SUNY Plattsburgh, U Pennsylvania, Brown, Dartmouth, Calvin College, Oberlin, Middlebury, Smith, and University of Rochester. In fact, you may do best looking at the small, liberal arts colleges, as those historically have tended to offer aid to foreign students. The amount of aid offered varies, from very large sums at places like Trinity U (in San Antonio, Texas) to small amounts at Michigan State, so you'll want to apply to several schools so you can see who accepts you, and who gives you the most aid.

And as the other poster suggested, make sure you apply to some schools, like Mt. Holyoke, that are perfect fits for your GPA and test scores. But also apply to a few schools, like SUNY Plattsburgh, where your SATs and GPA are higher than what they normally admit, because it's possible that schools like that will give you more aid, based on your academics, than a perfect fit school will. But apply to both! Because you don't know what Mt. Holyoke will do for you until after you apply.

ETA: I've found a list of schools that offer financial aid to international students, which I've linked to, below.