<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I am a senior that will be graduating in June 2011</p>
<p>I have applied to few colleges already as an international student, but the costs are higher for some colleges because I am international and I don't come from a rich family</p>
<p>I have been asking other people about my situation and they all told me it's then the right choice to go to a community college and then transfer. There may be good colleges in which I might get an acceptance letter but I guess it's the payment that will hold me back and there are not that many grants, scholarships, or loans available to me so I decided to consider community college as another option and then transfer. I have friends that are applying to the Ivy Leagues or the UC's for a four year college program and I'm real jealous of them. I was a bit greedy in still applying to top colleges even though I'm wasn't sure how I was going to pay the tuition and other fees off. I was being too stubborn I guess, but I decided, it should not matter for now and it should matter where I go to graduate school and how successful I become afterwards.</p>
<p>So community colleges, but now I am stuck. I've been using rankings and advice on good colleges online and checking the colleges out first and then applying to them, but I don't know where to start off to find a good community college for me. I plan to major in Biology and get a bachelor's. I want to become and dentist and there are pre-requisites that I must take before I take the dentistry exams. I plan to transfer to Stanford, University of Rochester, and few other good colleges in my standards. My school gpa is about 3.75. I got almost a 1600 in my SAT score. I did not take the TOEFL test because they do not offer that from where I am at for the moment. I plan to retake my SAT's I heard community colleges in California should be best if I am going to transfer to Stanford but I'm not too sure about that. </p>
<p>I am looking for a community college that is challenging enough, good enough for me to attend so I can transfer to my dream colleges, not too expensive, and have housing if possible. I chose to transfer because of financial problems. Funny, but if this does not work out, I plan on joining the military.</p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>Where are you living now? Are you in the US? If you are, you may be able to study at your in-state public university or community college for in-state fees. Ask your guidance counselor for advice.</p>
<p>Are you in your home country? If you are, you should go to university there. It will be much more affordable for you, especially since you want to be a dentist. In the US you would have to pay for four years of undergraduate education, then apply to dental school which costs even more than undergraduate institutions do. Many will not admit international students at all, so it will be very difficult for you to achieve your goal.</p>
<p>It is very difficult for international students to get financial aid. It is very difficult for transfer students to get financial aid. Do the math. If you can’t afford Stanford and Rochester now, why do you think you might be able to afford them two (or three) years from now? Why do you think you will even get in?</p>
<p>College Matchmaker finds 270 public 2-year colleges that have tuition and fees less than USD 10k and that have housing for their students. [College</a> MatchMaker: Results](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board) If you still are intent on studying here, one of them might work for you.</p>
<p>well, I still plan on attending community college. I am Korean but I live in the U.S. territories and went to a secondary school with a U.S. educational system. It’s just now that I can’t have enough money to pay for colleges and I am planning a way to figure it out in the future. Either as a transfer or as internatioanl, I knew that financial aid will be hard beforehand, but I’m still gonna try everything I can. I don’t think I should let finanical aid to stop me from doing what I want to do. For transferring, I have hopes and of course I’m going to do everything to study hard and reach my goal. I am already doing best as a senior in my high school and studying hard to reach goals and all that. Even though I can go back to Korea, there aren’t that many schools I can apply because they have a policy of eligible students and I don’t make few of them. I still want to become a dentist. I am trying to make all options open for now. Do you think though, it would be nice for me to aim graduate schools in Stanford or Rochester?</p>
<p>I thank you very much for your help. I have a clearer thought for what I am doing and what I have to do now.</p>
<p>THANK YOU! =]</p>
<p>Your story is really inspiring!</p>
<p>You should definitely go to a community college first (doesn’t matter as long as it is accredited). Not only that you will save tons of money, you can also transfer to any UC given your GPA is stellar. If you go search this website, there is a thread about people transferring from a CA community college to UC berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, and many others!</p>
<p>My uncle who now lives in san fransisco, was a horrible student back in high school. He went to a community college and later transferred to UC berkeley!</p>
<p>My advice:
don’t join the military!
You seem to have the academic ability to succeed!</p>
<p>thank you very much for your encouragement =D</p>
<p>I still havent found a community college though because I really dont know where I should attend. I want a place that is challenging at least and feels like a regular college not a community college. Military is just my last option. My family does have a low income and I can’t do anything much so yea</p>
<p>I’m still opening several options though =]</p>
<p>You will be as challenged academically at a community college as you choose to be. Since they are open admission for local students, anyone can attend. Unless you find your way into an honors program, or are placed into an upper-level class, there will be some students who are Harvard-quality, and some who you wonder how they finished HS at all. </p>
<p>I don’t know what you mean by “a regular college”. Even if residences are available, most CC students commute. You will have to work harder at creating a sense of community than you would at a college or university where almost everyone lives on campus.</p>
<p>If your family is low income, your best option is probably to study at the CC that is easiest for you to commute to from home. You need to find out if you qualify for in-state tuition and fees there based on living in that state. Even community college can be expensive if you have to pay out-of-state tuition and fees.</p>
<p>You need to sit down with your parents and talk about just exactly where the money can come from for your education. Find whether or not they are in line to get green cards, and whether or not that paperwork will come through in time for you to be part of their application. To be perfectly honest, I do not see how you can achieve the educational goals that you have in the US without getting your green card before you finish college.</p>
<p>For honors programs and upper level classes, will they allow me to have the credits transferred when I transfer to a four year college? I need to have my pre requisite credits for Dentistry in graduate school. I have found out that some graduate schools don’t accept community college credits but I am working that out.</p>
<p>And no I won’t be getting a green card anytime soon, but I don’t think that will be a bother for me to study in the states. I can just get a visa don’t I?</p>
<p>Well, thanks for your help in making me understand about community colleges =]</p>
<p>But I still haven’t found a good community college for me to attend, hope I do soon</p>
<p>If the University of Rochester is one of your top choices for dental school, you might look at some of the community colleges in the SUNY system. One of the good things about the SUNY system is that some of the two-year schools offer on-campus housing. I am not an expert on which ones or which ones are good for pre-dental studies, but you can do an Internet search for SUNY community colleges with dorms.</p>
<p>New York is a huge state. The schools that are nearer to Rochester ar Niagara and Erie, but they are still a couple of hours away.</p>
<p>Owh, thank you very much for the information!!! I have been searching to one SUNY community college yesterday, but I was not too sure about it. I will go back researching about it soon.</p>