Need-blind Universities that No one Knows About

[List of colleges that provides Fullrides but barely anyone knows about it]

Wassup!

You can ignore this part, or not

I don’t like to beat around the bush so I’m not writing great starter lines to get your attention and baffle you to death, no, all my blogs have one special feature: you’ll get the raw information without lengthening it further than it needs to be like typical blog posts do. So as you’re reading this, don’t think “this post isn’t written in professional language so it must be half-assed researched”; it might be, but don’t assume that. And, remember, I’m not a blogger.

U.S universities that have a campus in Qatar & are need-blind. Why you didn’t know this? Because, ummm, they started to roll out this aid program for all nationalities beginning in 2019. Before that, only Qataris.

I quote,

“Beginning with students who entered in August 2019, the QF CMU-Q need-based grant program provides grant aid to students of all nationalities through the Qatar Foundation. Grants (aid with no repayment) of up to the full cost of attendance are made to families based on their unique financial circumstances.”

So basically these universities are located in the Education City of Qatar and there’s this thing called Qatar Foundation (QF) which provides lots of money to the admitted students based on needs & merits. Each of the universities is need-blind in the admission process. Some universities ask for the CSS profile as part of their application process (check individual unis’ website), others ask to apply directly to the QF foundation application for financial aid. You’ll get the idea once you explore it yourself.

Georgetown University Qatar: https://www.qatar.georgetown.edu/admissions/

Couple of things to note, for each one, check the site:

They have their own portal which you should use.

They have a writing test which is a required part of the app. (something you won’t find on the website: 20 mins, not so hard test, tash tash tash, they ask you to write a response to one of the three topics, would be like an academic paper)

They got no engineering or CS major which I didn’t know before I scheduled a writing test, which sucks tbh. Anyway, check their majors’ list first.

2. Carnegie Mellon University Qatar: https://www.qatar.cmu.edu/admission/

Ahh my favorite one out of this list. CMU-Qatar’s Computer Science (CS) is sooooooo top-rated, it can challenge any top-tier US college. They be doing so fun things around CS: check their site. To apply to this university, I advise you to get into action right now, cause they have some pre-college events relating CS that can increase your chances of admission onek. I didn’t know this, so when I got into the application phase (in January time), the programs were all conducted already. If you intend to apply here, search up those programs, apply there, get accepted, make me proud. It’s pretty hard to find the links to pre-college programs, they made it hard intentionally so that if you’re motivated enough to apply, you’ll find it through exploring their site. I wanted to share that link here like a good blogger would do to make your life easier. But, I’m not a blogger.

3. Northwestern University Qatar: https://www.qatar.northwestern.edu/

I haven’t researched about it that much; please do it yourself if you’re interested. Couple of things I can tell you tho:

They are part of the QF foundation aid program--the need-blind thing

They have some pre-college programs, too; maybe all of them have. (please do participate; I can’t stress on this enough. Miss at your own risk)

4. Texas A & M University Qatar: https://www.qatar.tamu.edu/

A great man once said, explore it yourself.

5. Virginia Commonwealth University Qatar: https://qatar.vcu.edu/

Part of the QF but I didn’t know they exist.

6. Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar: https://qatar-weill.cornell.edu/

Part of the QF but I didn’t know they exist (2). Could be a good option for those wanting to study medicine abroad.

7. Hamad Bin Khalifa University Qatar: https://www.hbku.edu.qa/en

Part of the QF and I definitely didn't know they exist. I think this is a Qatari university, yeah probably. Not sure if they accept international students. So research yourself and let me know if some details need to be added.

I would write in more details, but, I’m not a blogger.

Talha Chowdhury

Don’t forget to inform me once you get into any of these amazing colleges. I root for ya.