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Updated June 8, 2022You’re reading an excerpt of Admitted by Soundarya Balasubramani. Written by an Ivy League graduate from India, this is the proven guide for students worldwide looking to pursue undergraduate or graduate study abroad in the U.S., Canada, or Europe. Purchase for instant access to the guide and other exclusive resources—including sample SOPs, sample resumes, scholarship lists, and a private community with other readers.
So far, you learned a lot about the various options available for you out there. To cap it off, we built a mental model in the form of a flowchart that you can use to pick the right options. We also went a step further, and created a table comparing the various options available side-by-side.
We hope you find the next few pages useful!
| Name | Indian Banks | U.S. Federal Aid | U.S. Banks | Neobanks | Non-banks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application Processing Time | ~ 1 week (private sector). Longer for public sector. | 3 days - 3 weeks | ~ 1 week | < 1 week | < 1 week |
| Interest Rate (w/o co-signer or collateral or good credit score) | Not Applicable | Low | High | Medium | Low |
| Interest Rate (w/ co-signer or collateral or good credit score) | High | Not Applicable | Medium | Low | Medium |
| Co-signer and Collateral | At least one required | Not Required | At least one required | Typically Not Required | Typically Not Required |
| Credit History | Highly Relevant | Not Relevant | Highly Relevant | Relevant | Not Relevant |
| Loan Tenure | 7+ years | 10 years | 7+ years | Flexible | Flexible |
| Terms of Agreement | Not Flexible | Not Flexible (for good reason) | Not Flexible | Flexible | Flexible |
danger We broke our heads trying to come up with the flowchart and table above because there are too many outliers when it comes to lenders. Hence, any form of generalization chips away a lot of valuable information. So, please do your own research into each lender before finalizing anything.
As you begin to approach these entities, keep the following in mind:
Do your due diligence before, during, and after the process.
Before: Check websites like Quora to read other people’s experiences.
During: Prepare a list of questions you want answered (to make your job easier, we’ve added a checklist of questions to ask in the Resources folder).
After: Begin thinking about your repayment plan from day 1 (more on this soon).
Do bargain. The people you talk to will mostly be sales reps who get commissions based on the number of sales. Use that to your advantage and ask for a reduced interest rate, reduced fee, flexible terms, etc.