Chance ME or Match ME. INTL Student

Chance Me / Match Me!
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An annual income of $65-75k may be a very well-off family in OP’s home country, but would be such that she could still get significant financial need awards here in the U.S. Alternatively, depending on OP’s age and financial independence, she may be able to qualify for need-based aid on her own stats.

Students needing nearly a full-ride can do so though through merit or need. I think OP’s chances for a full-ride on merit are not that much different from the chance of getting in at a generous need-aware school, which is what my list focused on primarily above.

One school which will come close to budget and where I think OP would stand a legitimate shot at a merit full ride is U. of Montevallo in Alabama, the state’s public liberal arts college. She would qualify for $9k/year in merit aid which would probably be accompanied with an out-of-state tuition waiver. Tuition, fees, room & board are $22-26k for in-state students, depending on the room & board options selected. So Montevallo could run OP around $13k/year after merit. And, they offer 12 full ride scholarships, and I suspect OP would be invited to compete for it. International students are eligible for all scholarships offered, but not available for any need-based aid.

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Actually this degree is more useful abroad. the pay is 3xtimes whatever its offered abroad. Also I want to experience college life.

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First of all thank you so much for the detailed response. I am 20 years old and will turn 21 in April. If I pass all my ACCA exams(9 exams) I will get an undergrad degree from Oxford Brooks University UK. I will very much an independent candidate. I am seeking a second undergrad in order to boost my resume and to experience the college life i have missed out on. I am looking for other colleges in other countries as well. Especially in Europe and some top universities in Asia. I have talked to a few counselors and they suggest given my extracurriculars to apply to top colleges that provide financial aid as my profile is unique. I am on this forum asking for second opinions on the matter

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to clear up the confusion. In ACCA u can enroll after you are done with your O levels. Alevels are not a requirement. If u pass two Alevel subjects then u can have 4 exemptions out of the 13 exams

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but you will not be considered as such by US universities, until you are 24. Your parents income & resources will be considered by any university offering need based aid, whether or not your parents are willing to actually give you money.

Spending money on a second UG degree in the US is unlikely to have a good RoI: with a BSc from Oxford Brookes, you are unlikely to be considered seriously for the big awards you would need to afford it. It is also going to limit where you can apply: many unis do not offer the option of a second BS/BA.

I am sorry that you did not have the college experience you dreamed of- but trying for a re-do won’t work. If you carried through with this plan you would start as a 21 year old first year, in with all the 18 year olds. The difference is bigger than you might think.

If you want a university experience, go for a Masters program: you will be in with your peers, and you get a lot of the best parts of university life. It’s also 1-2 years, not 4.

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If you are looking for aid to complete a second bachelors degree…I think this adds to your difficulty. Many colleges here do not give any aid for a second bachelors.

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I’m wondering why you wouldn’t work for a couple of years, get valuable experience in your field…and then apply to masters programs

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Some top colleges won’t even allow students with a bachelor’s degree to apply to their undergraduate programs.

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@Eggsy_Alicson and you are required to provide transcripts for ALL college courses you have completed when applying to colleges in the U.S.

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So let me see if I can rationalize your situation.

You want a second opinion from what counselors, in another country, have advised you about your admissions chances in an American university.

OK here is my second opinion:

  1. Going to college in the US is NOT a guarantee for anyone including, and especially, US students. There are thousands if not hundreds of thousands of students who wanted to attend their local and state university, but couldn’t because of finances or whatever. Many of them do/did not get to go to college and “missed/miss” out on the college experience.

I don’t know what movies or what experience you think there is about going to a University in the US that’s any different than wherever you’ve studied or the experience that you’ve already have. The basics are that students study, go to class, take tests, and study their discipline for four years.

  1. Your counselors have advised you, improperly, that your profile is unique with a completed education. A number of US colleges and universities won’t even consider students for 2nd undergrad degrees. You may ask why that is. A number of these universities are partially funded by their states or federal programs. Their job is to get as many of their students through a degreed program with as little time and funding as possible.

I have a little experience in this through my brother. He is older than I am and decided that he just wanted to cruise through his public university, taking as many classes along the way, as long as he wanted. He claimed that he kept changing his mind about his major.

Well then he was called in by the registrar and they told him the number of used units that he had, and that he would need to start paying out of state fees. I know it was very expensive for him to finally complete a degree.

These colleges and universities are on budgets. Why should they educate someone and subsidize someone who already has a degree? Not only that, you want someone to fully subsidize you with a full ride. You’re not eligible for federal funds so the university can’t use that funding for you.

  1. No one says that every child has to receive the “college experience” and that the “college experience” has to be in the US, with no financial support from parents.

Plus you’ve already missed it. There is no way for you to “redo your age 18” experiences on a US college campus. It is just not the same and the students do “sense” it.

  1. A work visa is very different from a student visa. There are lots of accounting and finance majors in the United States with degrees. The immigration department will not consider a “business major” as a dire need for the US.

I think that if you try to pad your résumé with a second undergraduate degree, that it’ll look like you were indecisive, and couldn’t make up your mind about what you wanted to do. I don’t know if in your home country they will be impressed with a second undergraduate degree, but, then again, that’s where you would end up working, so you need to ask some of the businesses in your home country what they would like to see in a candidate. You won’t be sponsored for a work visa in the US. The line is ridiculously decades long.

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