<p>I was born in Florida but i have been living in Jamaica all my life. I am currently enrolled in a high school in jamaica and I am hoping to apply to a US college for the academic year September 2010. When i apply will i be treated as an international student?</p>
<p>What passport do you have? Jamaican or American?</p>
<p>I have an American passport</p>
<p>That means you’re an American student. (Living outside U.S.) I think, (I’m not sure!!) that there are separate set of instructions for people with your case.</p>
<p>As a US citizen, you have access to federally determined financial aid (including federal loans) and will need to file the FAFSA.</p>
<p>As a student who was educated outside the US, you will need to have your secondary school transcripts evaluated for equivalency.</p>
<p>When you contact each school, be sure that you let them know that you are a US citizen being educated abroad so that they can process everything correctly.</p>
<p>You may want to start the whole process by making an appointment with the Education Advisors at the US Consulate:</p>
<p>JAMAICA
US Embassy Jamaica
Walk Up Address:
142 Old Hope Road
Kingston 6
JAMAICA West Indies</p>
<p>tel: 876-702-6172
e-mail: <a href="mailto:opakgn@state.gov">opakgn@state.gov</a>
website: [Educational</a> Exchange](<a href=“http://kingston.usembassy.gov/educational_exchange.html]Educational”>http://kingston.usembassy.gov/educational_exchange.html)</p>
<p>OMG thank you talha<em>adnan and happymomof1 ^</em>^</p>
<p>ummm just one more thing…how will i stack up against my counterparts who were educated in U.S.A? Jamaican schools don’t have as much ECs as the US schools. Just as how international students are given less priority than in-state students and those from other states how will i be evaluated?</p>
<p>In-state vs. Out-of-state: You need to find out if you can claim residence in any state. For example, a US citizen living abroad can claim residence for voting purposes in the most recent state of residence. State residence for college/university tuition purposes is based on other requirements. For example, are your parents US citizens? If so, have they maintained some kind of state residence? Even if you can’t qualify for in-state residence now, if you choose the universities that you apply to carefully, you may be able to acquire in-state residence after a year or so. You also could consider moving to the state where you want to study and working for a year in order to acquire in-state residence.</p>
<p>As to how your application will be considered when compared to “true” international students, and to US educated applicants, none of us here can predict that. Each college and university sets its own admissions policies. ECs are a US cultural phenomenon. Colleges/universities care about them because they help differentiate between students, indicate leadership potential, and can reveal how serious students are about specific academic goals (a would-be Musical Theater major who has never performed in a choir or in a play is not the same as one who has had the lead in 3 or 4 high school and community productions over the last two years). If you have no “classic EC”, don’t worry about it. Think instead about things that you are very interested in, and activities that you have engaged in for a year or two (sailing? golf? babysitting? working?) that have something to say about who you are as a person, and where you would like to go in life.</p>
<p>There are something like 3000 colleges and universities in the US. If you really want to come here to study, you will be able to find more than one that will be very happy to have you, and where you can have a successful and fulfilling educational experience.</p>
<p>hey thanks man you guys really help out a lot. For now, I’ll just go back to lurking the threads till i have another question</p>