Mentioning funding applied to in SOP? (International students applying to public institutions.)

[essequamvideri]

As an international student, I've learned that you are often at a severe disadvantage to domestic students when applying to public schools for funding reasons. Is it appropriate to mention government scholarships from your home country (and for that matter, any scholarships) that you've applied to in your SOP to help assuage these concerns?

 

Also, are there any other things public institutions are concerned about when it comes to international students? Might it help to mention any ties you have to the state or interest in staying there after graduation (assuming you can get citizenship)?

[have2thinkboutit]

I did not (and would not) do that - you SoP should really be about your proposed research and what qualifies you to do it as well as how the school you are applying to fits into your future. Talking about scholarship that you have applied to seem distracting. Also, the application for usually provides space to speak about that (all mine did) so I'd say, don't waste space on it in your SoP.

[TakeruK]

Writing about a merit based research fellowship awarded by your home country could fit in your SOP. But I don't know if having simply applied to it is worth a mention. If you are already awarded one, or if you are on a short-list then I think it's worth discussing it. Winning research fellowships shows that you are a competitive applicant and this is relevant to a SOP. 

 

The other stuff I would definitely not mention though--not related to the purpose of the SOP at all.

[essequamvideri]

Fair enough, in retrospect I do think most applications provided a space to talk about it, or at least to mention "anything extra" that might pertain to the application. It might not be worth wasting space in an SOP, but surely it's worth mentioning in one of these "extra information" spaces? I've heard of situations where the only reason an international student wasn't accepted was lack of external funding for the first year.

[have2thinkboutit]

Yes to what TakeruK said - I should have been more precise. I also was talking about simply having applied for scholarships - having already received some could definitely be worth talking about.

And yes, if the university doesn't ask directly you could absolutely mention it in "extra information". However, I am not sure if simply having applied for outside funding (no guarantee yet) will do anything for your application.