Scholarships are of two types. One’s which are offered by your department and one’s which are offered by the university. Usually the departments have earlier deadlines for scholarships. So it is always better to check with the department for scholarship deadlines.
It is usually 3-4 months before the regular deadlines. Hence my suggestion is to apply at least a year before the semester begins. This gives you maximum opportunity for getting a scholarship. The departmental scholarships are offered to eligible students. Some of the factors they are looking for are High GRE and TOEFL scores with a High GPA in you bachelor’s degree. The scholarships make you eligible for in-state tuition fees which is less than half of out state tuition fees.
The university scholarships can be applied to after you come to US. There are lot of scholarships for international students. Hence you should start doing research on scholarships after you come here. Please check with your universities to find out about these opportunities.
Use the links below to identify possible scholarship opportunities:
http://www.finaid.org
http://www.edupass.org
http://www.temple.edu/OIS
http://www.iefc.com
http://www.aauw.org
http://www.collegeboard.org
http://www.collegeboard.org/toc/html/tocfinancialaid000.html
http://www.chronicle.com/help/milleraward.htm
http://www.fastweb.com/
http://www.iie.org/fulbright
http://www.macfdn.org
http://www.nsf.gov/
http://www.petersons.com
http://www.rotary.org/foundation
http://www.umich.edu/~cew/scholar.html
http://www.yahoo.com/Education/Financial_Aid/
http://www.isoa.org/list_scholarships.aspx or call (1-800-244-1180)
http://www.usia.org
www.usjournal.com via Special Services
http://www.soros.org
http://www.oas.org/rowe For students from Latin America or the Caribbean
http:///www.wbfn.org Click on “Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund
http://www.internationalstudentloan.com/international_student/
http://www.microsoft.com/college/scholarships
http://www.bookscholarship.com
http://www.FundingUSstudy.org
