Hi,
I am a mother of a current HS junior attending an IB school. My daughter is an international student, she is pursuing 4 HL IB subjects but her main hook is her black belt. She has been competing nationally since the age of 12. Any idea where she should apply, she is interested in International Relations .
We are just starting looking so any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
A black belt in Karate isnât really a âhookâ. A hook is usually something very specific that the college wants like a legacy student, URM, a connection to a major donor. It can also be an exceptionally talented and recruited athlete but it doesnât appear that Karate is a sport recognized by NCAA, like baseball. Some schools may have club Karate but club sports generally are not something a college recruits for. I think schools recognize the hard work and commitment but that doesnât translate to a âhookâ. Maybe being nationally ranked has some appeal to some schools in terms of diversity but that still doesnât make it a hook.
I think your best bet is to look into schools that fit other criteria (geography, cost, size, quality of the major) and then look to see if there is a Karate club. Certainly reaching out to a club representative as a prospective student demonstrates interest and maybe offers insight into the school or club but it wonât be anything like the recruiting process for an NCAA recognized sport.
I agree Karate is unlikely to be a hook, but it is an EC that your D is accomplished at.
Posters will be able to suggest colleges but we need more info, such as unweighted GPA, rigor, test scores, preferences in a college (geography, size, vibe, setting, etc.) and most importantly annual budget. Admission rates are typically lower at many colleges for international students, so you will need a safety in your home country, or perhaps the EU.
Thank you for offering to help as I am trying to evaluate what her chances are.
She is in a public IB school in Europe, and pursuing 4 HL subjects (1 extra, 3 are required). She is a strong student, and we hope for around 40 predicted. She has not taken SAT yet, so it is hard to base her SAT score on the mock she took at school, she did pretty well around 1500. She is committed to karate, does some CS and MUN.
So based on your reactions it will be hard for her be super competitive as karate is not super popular? We were hoping for some sort of scholarship potentially from a second tier school.
Any advice?
It sounds like your D is a strong student, but as an international student college admission is competitive. Her academics are most important in terms of college admission.
Do you know your budget? Will you qualify for need-based financial aid? Some colleges give need based aid, others give merit aid, while some give bothâŠand some have different practices and rules for international students. For example, most US colleges are need aware for international students, meaning the familyâs ability to pay for college may factor into the admission decision. Only H, Y, P, MIT and Amherst are need blind for international students.
Many of the highly selective colleges, including the Ivy League schools, offer only need-based aid. Some of these schools provide need based aid for families with income up to $150K or so.
If your D drops down in selectivity, that is where students can get merit aid. But, with many college annual costs approaching $75K per year, even a $30K merit scholarship may not make the school affordable for some families.
I donât know too much about karate, but itâs not an NCAA sport, and I doubt there is any ârecruitingâ happening, or scholarships in a meaningful amount. There are karate club teams though, here is a (probably partial) list: Tulane Karate Club - Links
You (and your D) are just going to have to google Karate club teams and see which colleges have them. There look to be a number of competitions each year, which is another way to see what schools participate.
For example, here is Carletonâs club team: https://www.carleton.edu/sport-clubs/team-pages/karate/
Thoughts? @politeperson @gointhruaphase @cinnamon1212 @GKUnion
Thank you #Mwfan1921 for your insights.
I will follow your advice and start googling karate clubs.
As for my budget I was hoping for a merit scholarship around 35-40K. Do you think it is possible?
How much can you afford to pay per year? Keep in mind that you have to budget for health insurance and travel too.
I can afford around 40K per year
I canât add any special insight; the karate is very impressive, but since there arenât coaches recruiting, with the ability to give out admission spots, it isnât the slam dunk another sport would be.
I am just another parent, but if you are looking at private schools and can spend $40,000, that leaves you needing $35,000-ish in merit aid, doesnât it? To get that amount â thereâs no definition of âtiersâ â youâll have to look at schools substantially below your daughterâs academic level/stats. Which, I hasten to say, would still be good schools!
There are threads on international admissions/financial aid; I believe a handful of schools do offer financial aid to international students.
I agree with previous posters, their is no history of recruiting for karate that I can find.
Karate, in and of itself, is definitely not a âhook.â Now, the commitment to task and discipline associated with excelling at karate from a young age is compelling, and a potential point of difference for your daughter. Perhaps karate is the extracurricular that piques the interest of the person in admissions that reads her application and essays.
A quick google search uncovered Shotokan karate clubs at MIT, Tufts and Boston University. I also found some small scholarships offered by karate organizations, but those were for U.S. students associate with martial arts.
I donât know if a schoolâs net price calculator is accurate for international students, but Iâd start there to see what your daughterâs potential tuition amount might be.
Thank you, thatâs very helpful.
This will be your budget for your target universities. ^
Itâs a decent amount that would cover some strong universities.
If sheâs interested in California publics, the California State Universities would be very close to your budget: Cal Polyâs, SDSU, CSULB. These are very popular, strong public universities in California and are also very competitive. Other state universities are available at or less than $40,000 a year and are competitive:
Arizona State University
University of Alabama would be generous with a high stats student.
Google these universities as a start.
Most kids have to rely on the BANK OF MOM AND DAD when applying to their universities.
There are no guarantees for scholarships nor loans, so you need to explain to your child that many of her choice schools will be unaffordable.
Sure, it would be great to get a scholarship, but with the Pandemic, the colleges and universities lost huge amounts of monies and funding. They are going to be very frugal for the next couple of years and will divide their âpenniesâ when giving scholarships.
Were you told that she would get scholarships, because of her karate, at some point?
Just to reiterate hooks are very specific and are something that are, typically, out of your control: recruited athletes (these typically bring in revenue to the universities), underrepresented minority, large scale donors, celebrity status (think: Malala, Greta, Obama girls, Olympic athletes).
Are you American citizens or Green Card holders? Many of the merit scholarships are limited to American citizens and permanent residents, and admissions are also more competitive for international students, especially if they are not full-pay.
One question to consider is, whether with your daughterâs academics, it is worth it to drop down to less competitive schools just to study in the US. With a budget of $40k per year, almost all UK and European schools will be open to her. UK universities are very different to the US, in terms of academics and lifestyle, so that maybe worth paying for if itâs something she wants. Good luck.
Unfortunately, no
I agree with others that karate is unlikely to be a hook anywhere. That doesnât mean itâs not an admirable or impressive pursuit. Itâs just not an institutional priority to have x# of black belts in the entering class each year. It still might impress admissions officers though.
Consider searching for schools that give generous college credit for IB diploma kids. At one point some colleges were eager to attract those kids with credit and sometimes scholarships. Also give Canadian universities a look unless the goal is to be in the US.
My daughter also had an activity/sport that wasnât something she would be recruited for, but it was different and she competed internationally at a very high level. While it wasnât a âhookâ we thought it helped her stand out in a sea of soccer and basketball players. It also showed a lot of focus, drive and dedication. She won quite a few local scholarships as well and we think her activity was something that helped differentiate her from others.
This may help:
To @PrdMomto1âs point, local scholarships, or even national ones targeted towards certain majors can go a long way towards defraying costs for both parents and students. My son has averaged about $5,000 per year from different scholarships. Based on the total time spent per scholarship application heâs making about $700/hr.
I think the term that you are looking for is âspikeâ, which refers to unusually high achievement in a particular area.
So, since your daughter is not going to be recruited for the non-existent school karate team, the achievement in karate would have to be so outstanding that the school would recognize it as showing tremendous drive and focus, that could be expected to be redirected into her field of interest, academically. Unfortunately, in sports for which the college has no use, it means the level of achievement needs to be winning national contests, or world contests, or making the Olympic team for oneâs country. For example, the school may not have an ice dancing team, but would certainly be impressed if one were an Olympic athlete for ice dancing.
So if in addition to very high academic achievement, she were to place in the top 3 in your country in her age group for womenâs karate, I would say that that would be an impressive spike in karate. Then if she were to also start a volunteer club to teach karate to kids in poor schools nearby, and recruit her karate teammates to help, that would check the charity box. Combine that with top academic achievement, strong essays, great letters and a very strong standardized test score, and youâve got a good application package.
If the karate achievement is just that she has reached the level of black belt, but has not placed very high in national competitions, then itâs an interest, a sport, shows well-roundedness, drive, determination, but it wonât necessarily serve as something to get her into the top colleges.
BTW, there is a thread from a young woman from India who is applying right now to colleges in the US. She is very young, has impressive achievements. Sheâs been being offered some merit aid at various leading flagship state Uâs. Most top private college results for her wonât be out until as late as April 6th. But you might want to take a look at her thread, to see where sheâs getting in, and getting merit aid, just to see whatâs possible. But she sounds really exceptional.