College help wanted

Applying to College
1

Hiya

I signed up here today because I’d appreciate your input on my chances at getting into college and what it might possibly be like when I get there if I get there. I graduated high school in 2008 at age 19. From 17 up to this day I’ve been depressed and I was struggling to get out of bed rather than thinking about college when I was supposed think about college. The past year I’ve been feeling better and I’m at least partly recovered from my depression. Most days I don’t have a problem getting out of bed. For a long time I thought I had blown my chances at going to college in USA and since I didn’t want to be the weird old student I decided I wouldn’t go. But all these years I’ve been having these reoccuring nightmares I should have gone to college, and now I’m taking it into reconsideration.

I will be 23 years old when I start college if I start next year and my biggest question is: would any college even consider me? I’m from Europe (want to study in USA, my country doesn’t offer the education I want) and I have perfect grades from high school. I will take the SATs and I’m expecting a close to perfect result since I’ve made perfect scores at all the standardised tests I’ve taken so far in my life (including my country’s version of the SATs). I hardly had any classroom attendance at all in high school (due to my depression) so I would have trouble getting outstanding personal letters, but at least my teachers liked me and I did well when I did show up for class.

All these years between graduating high school and today I’ve been either working, unemployed or taking random courses at different colleges. I don’t have any extracurriculars that are up to date. I used to be one of the most promising sports players in a quite big area, but that was years back before I had my depression.

I want to be realistic about college and I do realise my chances aren’t the best. I want to major in computer science/math and I want to do physics/neuroscience as my minor, since I want to study either phsyics or neuroscience at graduate school when I’m done with undergrad (I want to approach physics/neuroscience from the computational side, hence the computer science/math). I could also mention that a year from now I will have completed 3 years of college courses, but I haven’t learned much that would be significant for what I want to do. I was thinking I might try to go to graduate school right away (if I could manage to get accepted to a good one which I strongly doubt), but I realised I won’t be able to do satysfying work there if I don’t get a solid foundation in what I want to be my field first.

I was also wondering what school might be like being older than most students. Would I be treated just like everyone else or would I be in some special class for outcasts? Would I be able to live in a dorm room like everyone else? I can’t say that I’m excited to go study with a bunch of 18 year olds and I hate feeling behind. But I’d rather be treated like the rest than have some kind of special treatment.

Funding would also be a problem since my parents have made it clear they won’t pay anything and I have hardly any money at all. Are there any scholarships I could have a chance at getting?

Sorry for the long post and all my confused thoughts. I appreciate all comments and if someone could recommend any colleges/universities that might fit me I’d be very thankful. Since I’m a non-traditional student I don’t know if I should be aiming at the bottom universities or at the top ones. I would prefer a typical college life rather than going to some day-college (hope you understand).

Thanks for your help! (don’t be afraid to take me down to earth and tell me to throw my deam away if that’s what I have to do…)

2

If you have 3 years of college classes, you’d be considered a “transfer” student, not an incoming freshman. What is your overall college GPA? That will be a huge factor in whether or not a college would offer you a spot on their campus.

While some colleges might ask for your HS grades, if you have more than a year’s worth (total) of college credits, the HS grades are pretty much an afterthought and won’t be considered much, if at all. The college GPA is what is important.

Check about SAT scores–some colleges will want it for transfer students, others will not.

Financial aid for internationals is pretty scarce and many colleges offer zero financial aid to internationals. For more information about that, try the “International Students” forum here. You should probably plan to finance the entire education on your own as your main route but keep looking for colleges that offer some aid to internationals. (No–there are probably not any scholarships for you. Just being realistic.)

I wouldn’t worry about being older than the other students. You may or may not be allowed to live in student dorms, depending on the college. Most colleges students here in the US really don’t care one iota if a student is older–even a 30 or 40 or 50 year old. Seriously. The only one who is freaked out by an older student is you. You won’t get any special treatment being older (and 23 isn’t that much older, nor would most people know you are a lot older unless you have gray hair and tons of wrinkles already!).

I don’t know many (or any) graduate schools in the US that accept students who do not already possess a bachelor’s degree (BA, BS, BM – basically our 4 year degree).

You should aim for colleges that offer financial aid for transfer students AND colleges that you can afford on your own. Often for international students it is not the case that they can just waltz into a “top” school because of either grades or finances.

You don’t want to attend a “day-college” (we call them commuter-colleges), but realize that MOST college students attend commuter-colleges and a majority of them only attend part-time. The TYPICAL college experience in the US is a student who attends a community college (aka, commuter-college). Often they live at home with parents. So, what you want isn’t the “typical” college experience–you want the dream/fantasy college experience. Clinging to that fantasy is going to get in your way because only a rare few get this experience. You need to have the stars aligned in your favor to get that experience…parents who can pay, the right grades, etc.

I suggest going to a community college in a state like California for a year and then attempting to transfer into one of the big UCs. Pricetag will still be a problem, but admissions to the California community colleges is pretty easy and the price do-able if you can also work while you are here.

Maybe better yet, finish your degree in your home country, then move to the US and work a few years and then apply to grad school here.

3

Thank you for the help, appreciate it.

I was considering applying as a transfer student, but I don’t have any grades because at my current university we don’t get any grades (only pass or fail). Attendance isn’t mandatory here (I hardly have any) and the professors don’t know my name, so I’ve got no possible recommendations either. However, I do go to a school where only students with a 4.0 GPA and an excellent “SAT test” are admitted, and getting a passing grade is known to be tough.

I was looking through scholarships and I found zero, so I think that pretty much says there’s no way I could go unless I want to work lots of years first and with the jobs I can get I am struggling to pay rent already, besides I have loans. This really isn’t looking good.

Also, in my country we get the bsc after 3 years of studies at college, however I haven’t taken the “right” courses to get one and I’ve been signed up for courses at a bunch (4) different colleges, so I wouldn’t get one anyway. I’ll need to start fresh and study for 3 more years at a pre-made program to get one (not thrilled at the thought). Sometimes (most of the time) I just hate bureaucracy.