Hello, I am a desperate senior trying to figure out my next steps.
I am not really planning to try for the US, because the scholarships are mostly generous only for higher-achieving students. I can’t go to my country’s universities because my graduation diploma from oversees is not really recognized (Dutch system asks for 4 ap classes with 4-5s, excluding the AP Art and AP Seminar courses haha). All the other universities in Europe are just above my budget! I am so devastated.
Please help me find some places that could take me in for a low cost! Here are my stats:
3.9/4.0 unweighted GPA (my school doesn’t do weighted)
AP Studio Art: 5
AP Psychology: 5
AP Seminar: 4
AP Physics: mcfreakin 2. I’m listing this score because I cannot withhold it when sending the report to unis!!! I took it in 2017 not even knowing what AP was…nobody was there to tell me that I cannot choose which AP scores to send to unis…
This year, I am also taking:
AP Human Geo
AP Bio
AP Calc AB
AP Research
Finally, I am taking SAT in a week. I think I will get 1200-1300, at least according to khan academy. Just above average, but not in the golden 1500s…my mouth is watering over the thought of those.
My extracurriculars and awards are about average:
Student Council for 5 years - president, vice president, etc
President of Helping Hands - volunteering committee at our school
bunch of clubs here and there (e.g. cross country, movie analysis, language, homework, nothing special)
Model United Nations
Graphic Design - I designed diplomas for a few events
UNICEF biking event for Sustainable Goals in Belarus (2016 and 2017)
National Honor Society
AP Scholar Award
Scholar’s Cup - a bunch of medals for the best debate team, best essay writer, etc
I don’t know about the Dutch system, but Germany has also similar requirements on the amount of AP classes that need to be taken in order for an US high school diploma is generally accepted for admission into German universities. However in case of Germany it is possible to compensate the AP class requirement with a sufficient high SAT score of above 1360, or an university might choose to accept you on an individual basis but requires an additional foundation (Studienkolleg) year. Its possible that the Dutch system offers similar workarounds, perhaps not all is lost yet?
Good luck!
17k is way beyond my budget also, sorry for being unclear, I AM interested in the US, but only in universities that are low cost (not over 10k for sure). That said, I am still aiming for EU, given that it is generally cheaper. Thank you everyone!
Are UK universities still offering home fees to EU students? (I’m assuming that you are EU from your first post.) That may be your best shot at an affordable english language education then, because unfortunately it’s unlikely you’d get anything in the US as an international for what you can pay. Your best shot (not totally unrealistic based on your stats, but far from a certainty) is applying to one of the US colleges that are need-blind for international students too. I think there are only a handful of these, and they tend to be highly competitive (Harvard, MIT, Yale etc) …but if you can spare the time and application fees it might be worth a try.
also, sorry for being unclear, I AM interested in the US, but only in universities that are low cost (not over 10k for sure). That said, I am still aiming for EU, given that it is generally cheaper. Thank you everyone!