Hi, people, I completed my high school last year (in April, 2015) and I wasted 2015-2016(till today) running after my dream (becoming professional gamer), which got me to nowhere, but I was always a brilliant student and remained in top 5% of my class, I was wondering If I could get admission in a good college (probably good in aerospace cause that’s what I would like to major in) with somewhat of financial aid (at least 50%), this year or in 2017. I haven’t given SAT yet but I am sure of getting more than 2200 on SAT and 750+ in SAT maths and physics. Please give me a full version of your help.
You probably could, though forget this year. Shoot for applying this fall/winter for admission in fall of 2017. But we need to know more: Targeted part of the country? Budget? (50% tells us nothing: 50% of what?) Also, estimated SATs are sort of silly. Hard to help someone who has theoretical stats only. As you probably know, there is little financial aid for international students, so you will have to dig deep and apply to a lot of schools to increase your chances. You should also look at schools where your stats place you in the top 25% of incoming students, and be open to all kinds of universities, not just the well known “good colleges” where everyone applies.
Hurry up if you are trying to apply this year, you can take the SAT in June and the subject tests in october
Where do the aerospace employers in your own country want you to get your education? Start with that. Their notion of what constitutes a good university is what matters.
How much can you and your family afford to pay? You need to give us the dollar figure, not a percentage.
To start with, read through everything here: https://educationusa.state.gov/ Then contact the counselors at the advising center closest to where you live. They can help you with the whole process: https://educationusa.state.gov/find-advising-center
well thanks everyone, I would like you to know that my parent’s yearly income is $17000 (approx) and so I would only be studying on financial aids, on on-campus works and educational loans. I am from India and in my country good colleges for aerospace(IITs, IIST, IISc, BIT ranchi, etc) do not accept students after 2 years from high school. And there are few colleges here that do accept such students, but I have seen many of their graduates with the degree in hands and now are struggling to find a job. And for the SATs I estimated it from raw scores of few past years real tests and some mock tests that I solved from various SAT prep courses (Sparknotes, Barron’s, priceton_review ). And I would apply in at least 20-30 colleges.
And for the redesigned SAT I don’t think It would be much different in difficulty level ,etc.
So, sign up for SAT for June, and subject tests in October. Take practice tests online. Start researching schools. Prepare yourself for a lot of applications - and enormous competition from top students in India.
Read up on the US system in the links happymomof1 provided, and this thread:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/international-students/1698406-to-all-international-students-asking-for-huge-amounts-of-aid.html#latest
By the way, you should come up with a different major - aerospace internships and jobs will require a security clearance, for which you, as an international student, won’t be eligible. You should pick a field in which you can get a good job in India, because the reality is that most international students have to leave the country after they graduate.