I moved to the US approximately 2 years ago and I attend high school here, but my grades are lower than what they could be because I am still learning English and adjusting to new country was a long and hard process, but I do want to go to a good college, however I’m not sure if I have a chance. Does anyone have the same problem?
I am Russian and currently learn English, Spanish and German languages, and I am not qualified for ESL, I think it’s because in my school ESL consists of only Spanish speaking students and their ESL teacher teaches them in Spanish, there is no one who can speak Russian in my school, I do not get translated versions for exams and I can’t take extra time, so getting good grades is hard, they expect me to do the same work as a normal American student would do without helping me at all, I don’t know what to do
However language is not the only problem, when I came to school no one explained to me what midterms, regents, SATs, ACTs are so I didn’t actually know about them for a long time
School system is very different and it took me some time to get used to it too
But I have no idea if colleges actually want to help students like me or do they just not care?
Yes, you can go to a “good” college. It will, however, take a lot of hard work and it might take you longer than a native English speaker.
By good I mean somewhat selective college. And they wouldn’t accept me with my grades knowing my situation? Is community college my only chance?
What are your grades?
Have you taken the ACT/SAT/other state tests? What are your scores?
What state are you in?
Are you in a public or private school?
Unfortunately, in some public school districts it doesn’t take much at all to graduate out of ESL services. If you arrived here with some knowledge of English, it is possible that your school district believed that you didn’t qualify for services. However, if you really should have been in ESL but your public school did not place you there and has not provided appropriate support for your learning, you have a very nice legal case that some hungry civil rights lawyer might be willing to take on. Here is the US Dept. of Education web page with links to PDFs about your specific rights. The documents are published in many different languages, including Russian. Print them out. Read them. Then go have a chat with your counselor about getting appropriate support while you continue to master English language skills.
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/ellresources.html
If you are in a public school, you can stay there until you have completed the full high school program, or until you age out at the end of the school year in which you turn 21. There is nothing wrong with working with your guidance counselor to rearrange your schedule so that you can take advantage of that rule. The cheapest English-improvement program you can find is simply to spend more time in a public high school. Your public school is free. College usually isn’t, and a pre-college Academic English course will cost you as much as college does.
As for your question about colleges - yes, the admissions officers do know about immigrant students, and they do take that into consideration. It won’t magically get you into any place that you aren’t qualified for, but your TOEFL score will help the admissions officers take your ELL status into consideration.
Wishing you all the best!
I live in New York State and my GPA is 89, I have good grades in all of my classes except English which is why my GPA is so low. I registered for the SAT and I am taking it may 14th. I don’t think I ever took TOEFL, I am not required to do so because I am attending a public school in the US grades 9-12 (I started school in January 2014, and my first year wasn’t the best so it’s another reason why I have a such low GPA). I would prefer not to stay in school longer than I should.
In my opinion studying in a new county in a new language without any help is the same as for someone to take all AP classes and I don’t get why this is not good enough to get accepted.
Each college and university that you apply to sets its own policy about English proficiency exams. Lots of them will require that you have a score on the TOEFL, IELTS, Michigan, or other exam. You need to read each website very carefully to find out what their policies are. If the rule is 4 years in US high schools, then that means 4 full years, not 3 1/2. Starting here in January 2014 instead of September 2013 could be enough to make it necessary for you to have a language exam score. My advice as a college ESL instructor is that you go ahead and take the TOEFL this summer. That way you will have a score in case any of the places you do apply to require it.
Yes, it is extremely challenging for students to be put into your situation. The colleges and universities do take your language background into account. Your guidance counselor will include information about this in the letter that is sent with your application.
Staying an extra semester or year to finish catching up in English is not staying “longer than you should”. It is staying for as long as you should, so that you are truly ready for the next step. If the first semester or two here were truly horrific for you gradewise, then taking an extra semester or two to fully catch up may be well worth it.
Here is a link to some of the specific legal information for ELL students in NY http://www.p12.nysed.gov/biling/bilinged/NEWCRPT.154.html If you were identified as ELL when you arrived, and you were graduated from ELL services, you still would have been entitled to two years with accommodations for the state exams. Did you get that or not? http://www.p12.nysed.gov/biling/docs/GuidanceFormerELLsSeptember2015.pdf
@sybbie719 is an educator in New York State. She will have good ideas for your situation. If she doesn’t notice this thread, send her PM, and ask for her advice.
My guidance counselor told me I don’t have to take the TOEFL, I had to take regents for that year, so it still counts as a full year of school. I passed but I didn’t get the best scores, of course, since I wasn’t allowed to have extra time or get a translated version of the exam, no one even explained what regents are to me until the last minute. I think can bring my GPA up to 90-92 in my senior year, but I’ve heard that GPA counts for only grades 9-11 and the first quarter of senior year, since the deadline for applications is January 1st in most colleges. I wouldn’t mind staying after school for ESL instead of staying in school for one more year, but I’m not qualified for it. I think the ESL test was too easy comparing to the work that we have to do in school, and I think that every immigrant should qualify for some kind of help, even if your language is perfect, you might still want to learn about the culture and school system and all exams you need to take, and I wouldn’t mind at all to learn English with Spanish speaking students in my school and their teacher, but I guess it would be a burden for them to have me in their class.
Thank you for your help and advice, I appreciate it. I am glad I found this website and now I’m able to get some help since my school doesn’t really provide it to me.
Until you know the places you will apply to for college, you can’t know whether or not you need to take the TOEFL. Each place sets its own rules. There are plenty of colleges and universities in the US that absolutely would require that you take the TOEFL. Perhaps you meet the requirements for the SUNY system?
Unless students are in bilingual programs, they do not take translated versions of exams. If when you enrolled, your school decided that you did not qualify for ESL services, then you would not be entitled to extra time. You and I may both agree that the placement was incorrect, but it is in the past, so perhaps you need to just concentrate on getting your GPA up.
Which grades matter for college admission depends on the places where you apply. Some don’t look at 9th grade at all. Some do. If they want the 9th grade year, then you will probably need to provide an official copy of your Russian grades for the first half of 9th grade. Again, that is something to ask each of them.
If your grades are continuing to improve, and it looks like your final senior year GPA will be good enough to make a difference in where you can be admitted for college and/or how much merit-based aid you might receive, you could consider taking a gap year between high school and college. That way your final GPA will be used in the admissions process. You would also be able to re-take the SAT/ACT/TOEFL if you need a better score for admission/merit aid at your target colleges/universities.
It is too bad that your counselor did not explain this stuff to you, and it is unfortunate that the ESL teacher didn’t help you out either. You would be doing a good service for future students if you would talk things like this through with the counselor and the teacher, so that they can help the next group of students better. A good EC for you would be to put together a list of things that you didn’t know, and make a handbook for future students like yourself. That could even be a joint project with the bilingual class.
If you look at some of the results threads, you will see that there are plenty of students that took all AP classes and get rejected. Taking all AP classes, having a 4.0 GPA and perfect SAT scores are not a guarantee for admission to highly selective schools.
Your counselor is wrong and @happymomof1 is correct - each college sets its own requirements for what it wants to demonstrate English proficiency. I’m sorry that you are getting bad advice from your counselor.
No, you have options other community college, but you need to be aware that highly selective colleges will not give you a free pass just because English is not your first language. Once you get to college, instruction is in English and likely there will be no ESL support, so they want to make sure that you can succeed. Good luck.
I have a friend who is from Thailand in my school and she is not in the ESL either so we help each other.
If they actually looked at my Russian grades, which me and my mom translated for them to English, they would see that I already took geometry, chemistry, physics, and some of calculus, but they made me re take all of this subjects just because I need to earn credits and take regents for those classes. And I’m ok with that my average in those classes is 97, but it is unfair that I had to waste my time and re take them.
My GPA would be higher if my English grade was higher. I have a 69 average in English, because it takes me longer to do assignments and they take points off it it’s late.
I don’t get why they wouldn’t let EVERY ELL take extra time on exams. It takes us longer to try and find right words and form sentences when we write essays and it takes us longer to read.
I am not considering very selective colleges, however I don’t want to go to a college that just accepts everyone, because then all my hard work is for nothing. What are some good schools in northeast that accept someone who has a GPA of 89? All schools that I checked have a GPA of 90 and above so I’m not sure where I should apply.
@happymomof1 (something you can save because I know that you help a lot of students)
This is long so hang in there with me:
How did you score on the spring 2015 NYSELAT? You are most likely still taking ESL because even if you scored proficient in spring 2014 or commanding in Spring 2015, the state must still requires that you be program for at least 90 minutes a week for ESL. If you are in ESL, you are granted extended time on your regents exam. You can take the exam in your native language or english (with the exception of the english regents). You can have a copy of the english and russian regents side by side and write your answers in what ever format you are comfortable with. In addition you should have a russian to english dictionary to assist you. HIgh schools are ordering regents this week. With the exception of English, which obviously, you must take in english, If you need the exams in Russian, make sure that your GC/AP ESL orders them for you.
What is your english regents score? You will have to score at least a 75 on the Common Core English Regents or you will not be considered college ready no matter what your overall gpa is (this could essentially remove most of the 4 year schools off of the table; it will definitely remove all of the 4 year CUNY schools off of the table).
http://www.cuny.edu/academics/testing/cuny-assessment-tests/admissions-requirements.html
Do you attend high school in NYC? the DELLS (Department of English Language Learners) offers free SAT prep on Saturday from 8:30 - 12: 00 pm and are still holding classes until May 22. I know that Fordham Lincoln Center is a site. You can go next saturday. Send me a PM and the name of your GC and I will contact them to get you a permission slip to attend.
Depending on the college you may still have to take the TOEFL as each school sets their own policy. You will have to look up the policy at the schools that you are interested in applying to.
You are not suppose to “translate your own school transcript”. It has to be professionally translated and certified (the college will not accept them). Minimally, your high school should send your transcript to translation services for translation. If you attend a NYC DOE school, your GC should scan in the transcript and e-mail it to them.
Hopefully you also brought over an official transcript in Russian when you came. When you are transferring schools, especially in public schools, to NYC, only CR/NC can be placed on your transcript. When you apply to college, they will send your high school transcript along with a translated copy of your high school transcript from Russia.
How old were you when you can to NYS? If you came after age 11, your school can and should be awarding you foreign language credit.
If you were at least 13 years old, your GC should do a transcript update and give you 10 foreign language credits (which will complete your requirements in Foreign language and the 7 elective credits that you need for graduation).
If you were over 11 and under 13, then you should be given credit accordingly.
you should also ask your GC if you can sit for the LOTE (Language other Than English, formerly the foreign language regents) in russian, even if they have to reach out to another school the have you take it there. there is a verbal portion that needs to be administered, If you have a teacher who speaks, reads and writes russian, talk to your AP/ESL to arrange to have it taken. This way you will be eligible for an advanced regents diploma when you complete this requirement.
hope this helps
My mom is a professional translator, she translated it and they stamped it at her workplace.
I haven’t taken the English regents exam yet, I’m currently in 11th grade
When I came to school they made me take a test too see my English knowledge level, I didn’t know what it was for, I didn’t know that if you get a low score you actually get more help, I thought that if I fail that test they would not accept me to their school or put me one or two grades lower, so I studied all night for that test, and got a good score, this was probably the biggest mistake I ever made
I moved to the US when I was 13 years old, but I am taking a foreign language anyway, just because this is something that I like to do, I know Russian and learn English, Spanish and German