College in US or Europe

Applying to College
1

Hi guys,

I am from Pakistan and I applied to colleges in US for the class of 2021. I had a very good essay, extra-ordinary activities, good gpa but I had a low standardized score. I gave SAT1 3 times and each time I scored exactly same,1250 in june,1250 in oct and 1250 in dec and co-incidentally I had exactly same component scores too i.e 700 maths and 550 english. Moreover I tried my luck by giving the ACT got 28 which almost equal to 1250 . I applied to 20 colleges and got into Hampshire College and Depauw Univerisity only. The scholarship/financial aid package I got was out of my family’s affordability therefore I decided to take a gap year and work on my Standardized Tests (pretty sure I will again get 1250) and apply again.
So I wanted to ask that, is it ok to take a gap year or should I try for univeristies like TU Delft, UvA, Ghent, Leiden etc in europe which offer degree in 3 years and have tution within my affordability but the coarses offered aren’t that flexible to that in US as I am still undecided between a few choices like CS and Physics. Lastly, i have a few waitlists aswell and I hope that I will get into atleast 1 of them. So if I get an offer from the waitlist, should I go for it or should I apply in europe as the rankings of the waitlisted colleges aren’t that good while with the credentials (GCE Grades) I have, I am hopeful that I can get into a top name in europe or any other country that doesn’t need Standardized Scores.
So I wanted some advice on this, should I go for US or Europe ?
The only thing that makes me think for europe is declaration of major right at the beginning and not being able to change it later and the language issue as most of coarses are not availiable in English /:slight_smile:

2

Sems to me that Europe is a very sensible choice. It is always difficult for internationals to get fianancial aid at US schools, and unless your score goes up a lot, say 200 points, I can’t see you getting better financial offers. Another year will give you more time to think about wht you want to study too.

3

I agree with the above. If you get into a European university and it is affordable I’d make a decision about what to study and go for it.

4

Spend the year researching the different subjects (look at and do the work required from classes on different subjects on MIT’s Open courseware) and potential career/academic paths and see if there are combined programs (CS+math seems to be a common one for instance; you may also be able to find CS+physics). Also try to learn Dutch or German or whatever language you’d need to take classes.