<p>Hi guys, I recently found this unique forum while having been surfing online. As many problems confuse my head more and more, I really would appreciate your answers.</p>
<p>Maybe I should give you a biographical overview first.</p>
<p>I am an 18 year old Turkish-German law student immatriculated at one of the nation's best law faculties in my first semestre. However, I struggle with getting my focus on the subject, thus the interest level may be described as rather low. Nevertheless, I visited a course for American law where the dozent gave me exceptional feedback. I always wanted to study in the US but I never really tried to realize my dream. Moreover, I feared that my parent's educational background ( I am the first of my family to ever visit a High School) would be an obstacle. Unfortunately, I only got an overall score of 1,5 in the Abitur (1,0 being the best score) which would be an AAA/ AAB in English educational grading system.</p>
<p>I toy with the idea of applying to reputated universities. Spontaneously, I thought of liberal art colleges such as Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan. I doubt that I could a shot at the leading universities as Harvard or Yale ( with regards to my financial situation).
As a general evaluation, could you give me a feedback about my Abitur grade respectively grades in general (what is a grade to have a shot with)? Are those schools reaches for me? </p>
<p>I hope that I can get answers from you so that I can pose further questions.</p>
<p>Your main problem at this point is that you are already enrolled in a German university. That makes you a transfer applicant, and the top colleges have very few openings for transfer students…</p>
<p>Just to make sure: you are aware that you cannot study law at the undergraduate level in the US, right? You’d need a Bachelor’s degree (in any subject, doesn’t matter which) before you may apply to law school. Law school itself is super expensive and you will be expected to fund it entirely on your own (with loans if necessary). </p>
<p>
If you get into Harvard or Yale, they will give you sufficient financial aid to attend. In fact, they have among the most generous financial aid policy in the country! (For example, if your parents earn less than $60,000 a year, Harvard would not expect them to give you any money at all.) Unfortunately, these universities are also super selective and you would have to be quite exceptional to get in. Most of their international students are among the best in their country in something. (For example, students who represented their home country in the international math olympiad or high-level athletes or the off-spring of kings and presidents.)</p>
<p>Hey! Dont worry to much about the 1,5. If studying in the US is your dream, pursue it!
Although, in order to transfer, you need to take the SATs and the TOEFL and also do the extensive applications. It is a lot of work. But if it is your dream, it is def worth it. However, keep in mind as b@r!um said that law school is a graduate school. Therefore, you cannot study US law in an undergrad program anyway. Though, your chances of getting in are higher coming from an US college than they are coming from a German university.</p>
<p>First, I really appreciate your answers. Thank you!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I think that my way of expression was kind of misleading. I want to “break up” with law in Germany and want to pursue a bachelor in Economics/Political Science. So I do not intend to transfer as I am aware that is not possible because of law schools being graduate schools.</p>
<p>I understand that getting into Harvard ist enormously hard even harder -if not impossible- if you do not have perfect stats. But aren’t there many other great schools in the US? I think that I should focus on those schools. Could you tell me about other amazing schools which are “easier” to get in ( I thought of Amherst, Wesleyan maybe). What range have my SAT score to be in ?</p>
If you finish the current semester, you might HAVE to apply as a transfer student. That choice is not yours to make. It doesn’t matter that you will change subjects and that none of your credits will count towards the new degree - having a previous college record makes you a transfer student, period.</p>
<p>All German universities have partnerships with US colleges and universities. It is generally not too difficult to study abroad in the USA for one or two semesters. You can get free tuition or sometimes even a DAAD scholarship which covers a part of your expenses.
Once you are there and if you like it you can make arrangements to finish your degree.
If this does not work it is better to try small LAC colleges or state schools which are less well-known. They are more liable to give financial aid to an international student.</p>
<p>If you want to settle down in the US, by all means try to go to college in the US. However, be careful if you want to return to Germany after college. You’ll have a really hard time with an American college degree on the German job market, unless it’s from a famous university that employers recognize (Harvard, Stanford, MIT…). </p>
<p>If you want to work in Germany afterwards, I agree with worriedmom777 that attending a European university and studying abroad for 1-2 semesters would be a much better approach.</p>
<p>Are you familiar with the admissions process of American universities? I wanted to make sure that you are aware of timing issues before you proceed.</p>
<p>If you are applying as a first-year student, you’ve already missed the application deadlines for next fall. The soonest you could enroll would be fall 2014 (since the colleges you named don’t accept first-years for the spring term). In the meantime, you’d have to be super careful about continuing your college education in Germany or you run the risk of getting classified as a transfer student.</p>