<p>hello,</p>
<p>I'm german and Im currently thinking of attending an Ivy league college after my secondary school time which is in 2 years time.</p>
<p>my background: I get basically A's if you can compare the 2 school systems because the german system is quite a bit harder than the American one (sorry, guys).</p>
<p>I spent a year in new zealand and got very good marks there.</p>
<p>Im really bored at school in germany because its really easy for me, so Im not that motivated to do a lot but I hope thats going to change in the next 2 years.</p>
<p>Im also member of the german national representatives team U17s and U18s in Rugby and member of the committee of the German Rugby-Youth(I'm the youngest in their history). Im the spokesman and responsable for all public relations work. Im also the schools coordinator for Rugby in my state in Germany.</p>
<p>after school I might do a year of community service either in south america or in the pacific somewhere. I have to say that, theoretically, I have to do this year anyway as there is compulsory military service in Germany or community service but sometimes they overlook people as there are too many to get them all into the army but even when they don't want me to do either of these things, I still want to do it because its going to be such a great experience and after my trip to new zealand where I had to cope with a new culture and lifestyle Im up to that challenge.</p>
<p>My dream is to get admission at stanford or MIT.</p>
<p>Could some of you tell me how good my chances would be as a foreign student getting admission at an ivy league college? what about financial aid? i guess my family is middle-class as they could afford my trip to new zealand and my brother's to USA next year but I dont know how much it would cost studying overseas (tuition fees, living, etc.)...</p>
<p>I'd also be more than happy if some of you could talk about their experiences concerning this matter.</p>
<p>thanks for your help!!!</p>
<p>btw: check out <a href="http://www.rugby-jugend.de%5B/url%5D">www.rugby-jugend.de</a> <-- sorry for ad but being a spokesman I gotta raise the popularity of Rugby in the whole world ;).</p>
<p>What are your grades on the German system? Do you have mostly 1's or 2's? </p>
<p>You'll need to take some standardized tests- probably the TOEFL, and perhaps the ACT or SAT's as well. Each school should have a section of their admissions website for international applicants, so you should check to see what exactly is required. If you need a starting place to find other US schools, refer to the rankings by usnews.</p>
<p>There are two types of financial aid present at most schools: need-based and merit-based. Being an international applicant, you won't be eligible for most need-based aid, but I do know of a few top schools that do have need-based scholarships for international applicants (such as Duke). Most top-ranked schools do not have merit scholarships; some that do are Washington University in Saint Louis, Duke, Vanderbilt, and University of Southern California. Tuition and living costs at most schools (without any aid) average about $40,000 per year, but most schools meet all or most of applicants' need, so few people have to pay the full amount. Lucky you.</p>
<p>I can't really comment upon your chances without any test scores (and I'm not even sure if the Abitur will have any significance to admissions people here) or clarification about the grades.</p>
<p>I'm not an international applicant, but I am familiar with your schoolsystem as I have studied German and written to several penpals in Germany. Please feel free to e-mail me for more help/information.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply, you really helped me.</p>
<p>Im pretty sure Im going to get mostly 1s the next 2 years as Im trying to reach an average of 1.0 which is the best you can get.</p>
<p>Im also going to do TOEFL and SAT. I know that they only take a few students from Europe. Stanford just took about 20 or something out of a few hundreds...</p>
<p>if you apply without requesting finantial aid it will help ur chances a lot because ull be in a much smaller pool of applicants...if you do need finantial aid its going to be much more dificult because they are not need blind and they can only accept a certain number of needy international students...</p>
<p>huh, thanks, guys. I guess my parents could pay for a part of the full prize but another german student at stanford told me that you never actually pay the full prize cause the college takes up for a part of it apart from the normal financial aid ... Im not sure how it works, though ...</p>