<p>Hello</p>
<p>I'm a student studying in Pakistan at AS Level. I am also an American Citizen. I have to move back to America after my AS Levels, meaning I won't be able to finish my A Levels. </p>
<p>What should I do? Should I repeat 12th grade, i.e senior year, in a public school, or apply directly to college? And how can I apply to college without finishing A Levels? </p>
<p>I finished my GCSE O levels, with 7 A*s, 2 As, and a C. I also took my SAT 1 and got a 2010.</p>
<p>I want to apply a top 50 college, if that's worth anything.</p>
<p>Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>AS level is the equiv of year 11 really, you won’t be repeating a year if you haven’t done upper 6th. so why not do a senior year here, get some APs, work on your SAT and apply from college with a year of US high school rather than compete with internationals which is what you would really be doing now… If possible get to a state with great instate schools and establish residency (your parents that means, not you alone). Make sure your ECs are adequate. Can you actually get into US universities without completed A levels? You wouldn’t get into a UK university, right? </p>
<p>Alfonsia, Thank you so much for your reply.</p>
<p>I don’t think AS Level is the the equivalent of Year 11. It’s the 12th year of school, so yeah. Also, A Level is basically like AP Classes. My parents and I already have established residency in Connecticut, so there’s that.</p>
<p>I’ve seen cases of students who went off to a college in US after AS levels, so I wanna know how to that.</p>
<p>What’s upper 6th? (excuse the ignorance)</p>
<p>You haven’t established residency in Connecticut for college admissions purposes, I bet. Even if your parents lived there before, own property there, have IDs from there, etc., they have to RESIDE in most states for a year before you attend college for residency to be established. Read the state’s residency requirements carefully. States have become very strict on this in recent years.</p>
<p>Assuming you are in what would be your last year of high school in Pakistan, you are pretty must past the window for applications for next fall anyway. Apps at many colleges are due in the next couple of days. You could certainly find colleges with later dates, but many of the “top 50” colleges have earlier application dates.</p>
<p>Also… your SAT score is no great shakes. There would be a lot to be said to spend a year in an American school with college counseling support, working hard on your SAT preparation, and bringing up your score. You could also establish residency again (very likely will need to) so an affordable state school is an option for you. You might discuss with your parents whether moving back to CT is their only option (NY, for instance, has a lot of state school options, you would have many more affordable choices than in CT).</p>
<p>How old are you, that might be the easier question to ask? When do you turn 18? </p>
<p>18 means nothing in terms of residency… no idea why that matters.</p>
<p>Nothing about residency, but does adding that year 12 here make the kid a year older than his peers? I can’t work it out that he would only be halfway through A levels in yr 12. </p>
<p>@irock9191 - You need to find out where those O levels will get you into college/university here, and where in the US/Canada you could sit the A level exams if you aren’t able to do that before your move. You might not need to go to HS in the US at all. Unless of course your family requires that you attend a “top 50” college or university from the get-go. If it is OK to start out at a community college or “not-top 50” and then apply for transfer than you have plenty of options provided your family can scrape together the money.</p>
<p>In our state, students can attend high school until the end of the school year that they turn 21 (I believe CT’s regulations say the same). So this student could enroll in high school here and get a guidance counselor at the high school to help with college applications.</p>
<p>Contact the public universities in CT about your residency status. Some states will grant in-state status to returning expats, but it’s on a case by case basis.</p>
<p>I think each college varies about what level it considers the equivalent of a HS degree. I was in a similar situation 20 years ago. I did 9th and 10th in the US, for my junior year is was in England and took O levels. At that point I wrote to colleges I was interested in and asked them what I needed to attend.</p>
<p>Most schools needed either a US high school diploma or A levels. A few, for example UNC-Chapel Hill, said they considered me ok with O levels and I was welcome to apply at that point (but I was only 16 and did not want to go away at that point).</p>
<p>I ultimately decided to go back to the US system as it was only one more year and would keep me with my peer group. I also was not ready to narrow my academic focus to 3 courses at that point, so my choice was pretty easy.</p>
<p>So in sum—check with each college for their policy. You may find some will take you now with just your O levels if that’s what you want. </p>
<p>@intparent I’ve lived in CT for ten years, so I think I have established residency there. (sorry if I sound condescending, don’t mean to 
)
I’m in my second last year of High School in Pakistan, plan on applying Fall 2015. And yes I’ll give my SAT again, along with my SAT IIs, this fall.</p>
<p>@Alfonsia I’m 17, turning 18 in July 2015. In the Cambridge system, there are 13 grades as compared to the American system in which there are 12. A levels encompasses the 12th and 13th grades, and I’m currently in the former.</p>
<p>@happymomof1<br>
I tried finding all that out by googling “Colleges that accept only with O levels”, or “A level institutions in CT” and all, but no luck. That’s why I’m asking here And I don’t want to go to community college if I don’t have to.</p>
<p>@austinmshauri
Yeah that’s definitely an option I’m seriously considering.</p>
<p>@GMTplus7 and @bearpanther
Yeah I plan on contacting my colleges once I have a set direction to head towards.</p>
<p>Right so I’m considering to do Senior Year in CT, then apply to college. If I do this, then do I need to take the AP Exams for my subjects, even if I finished my AS Level exams? Or can I just focus on my ECs, recommendations, community service, etc during my senior year?</p>
<p>From the state residency laws: <a href=“http://admissions.uconn.edu/content/tuition/connecticut-residency”>http://admissions.uconn.edu/content/tuition/connecticut-residency</a>
<a href=“2”>quote</a> The domicile of an unemancipated person is that of his parent;
…
(8) A student that is from another state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall be classified as an in-state student, if such student (A) attended for three years and graduated from a high school in this state, and (B) was sponsored, housed and supported during attendance at such school by a program, such as the “A Better Chance” program, established as a nonprofit organization that raises charitable funds on the local level for the purpose of giving students who are minority students, from single parent homes or live in poverty, an opportunity to attend school in a different environment. For purposes of this subdivision, “minority student” means a student whose racial ancestry is defined as other than white by the Bureau of Census of the United States Department of Commerce.</p>
<p>(9) In accordance with 8 USC 1621(d), a person, other than a nonimmigrant alien as described in 8 USC 1101(a)(15), shall be entitled to classification as an in-state student for tuition purposes, (A) if such person (i) resides in this state, (ii) attended any educational institution in this state and completed at least four years of high school level education in this state, (iii) graduated from a high school in this state, or the equivalent thereof, and (iv) is registered as an entering student, or is enrolled at a public institution of higher education in this state, and (B) if such person is without legal immigration status, such person files an affidavit with such institution of higher education stating that he or she has filed an application to legalize his or her immigration status, or will file such an application as soon as he or she is eligible to do so.
[/quote]
Just attending senior year of HS may not make the OP a CT resident.</p>
<p>OP, you don’ t sound condescending, but you do sound woefully uninformed about state residency requirements, as post 13 shows.</p>
<p><a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools;
<p>According to this, if you have a guardian domiciled in CT, and you are unemancipated, then you assume the domicile of the guardian, making you a resident, and hence an in-state student.</p>
<p>I fit that description, so I am a resident of CT. I’m probably not a resident BECAUSE I fit the description, but I am a resident. Don’t worry guys. 
</p>
<p>What collegeboard states is immaterial. It is what the law states and how the colleges interpret that law. Also note that was written in 2001. Are one of your parents actually residing in CT?</p>
<p>Again though, what 4 yr college is going to take you with unfinished A levels? AS is half an A level, A levels are the equiv of APs (whether or not you like it, whether or not you might disagree, it is how the land lies). Can you even enroll in HS in CT as a kid who has finished school chronologically? Might you have to look at community college? You might get your parent who is a resident of CT to work this out for you with the local education dept. </p>
<p>You aren’t going to find answers about O levels by googling that way. You have to check each website yourself, and if you can’t locate the information, you need to email the admissions offices. If you have a target list of colleges/universities, it really won’t take all that long to send the emails. You also could ask in the International Students Forum (or scroll through the old threads there) for advice about O-level friendly institutions. </p>
<p>If you have a resident guardian already in CT, what exactly is stopping you from packing your bags now, hopping a plane to CT, and enrolling in the closest public high school for second semester? Truly, a year and a half there makes a lot more sense than just one year. You would have more time to develop relationships with teachers who would be writing the letters of recommendations, and you would have more time to get used to the US-style classroom. Right now I just don’t see any reason to stay where you are if you aren’t going to complete the A levels before applying to colleges/universities that are interested in them.</p>
<p>Anyone who is willing to shell out the money, can take any of the AP exams. That really isn’t a problem. If you want to take them, work through an exam prep book or two to make certain you know the material, and then take the exam.</p>
<p>One of my parents is residing in CT.</p>
<p>I can go to High School in CT.</p>
<p>I’m waiting to go to america till summer so i can finish my AS Level and take my exams. After that’s done with, I’ll go to america. </p>