<p>Hello everyone. I am an international student from Hong Kong in need of a little assistance. (:</p>
<p>I graduated in April 2006 and decided to take a gap-year considering I didn't know a lot of information regarding US institutions and test results that they required. A few months ago I applied to 2 universities, and unfortunately, I did not get accepted because my grades were not the best in my last year of high-school (due to a combination of a death in the family, my dad's lung cancer, late teen-angst, near-death experience and depression; i'm sorry but that's just a tad too much in one year for a 17 year old to take. it's a good enough excuse). I am not a bumpkin, but my tenacity was certainly affected with a rather eventful year. Hence my double gap-year. This time, however, I decided to commit myself into thoroughly researching what each university I'm planning to apply to require and what suits me best. </p>
<p>I have the year already planned out. To stay in good mental-shape and to further broaden my horizons I have applied to various volunteer groups such as OXFAM HK, UNICEF HK and WWF HK. I also took up teaching English as a second language to Chinese children. In addition to that I'm going to take IBT TOEFL, which I have great confidence in passing, and re-take the SAT 1 on June 2007, to improve my math results.</p>
<p>Do you think this would make a good impression on the universities that I am planning to apply to? Or should I just go to community college? </p>
<p>I'd like to know what YOU think? What do you think of my plan?</p>
<p>if i were you i would go on to community college then transfer out. 2 years seems like a LOOONG time to waste. as much as you are doing internships and stuff, it seems like they are purely for the benefit of getting into a decent college. you could go to cc, and then get internships/jobs while in cc</p>
<p>Moving all the way to the US just for the sake of community college isn't a great idea unless you have very specific reasons for doing so, in my opinion. (Which is admittedly a somewhat untutored one.) If you do want to do that, go ahead; if not, your plans look reasonably good, provided that you manage to provide a sensible explanation for both the grades and the long gap period on your application.</p>
<p>I know it might not feel appropriate, but if you don't make some mention of the trouble you had (whether it's in additional info or in your essays), colleges are never going to know, and that doesn't help at all. A solid reason for your interrupted education and grade decline is very, very important -- even if you don't want to go into the painful details, give them a brief idea of what it is you went through.</p>
<p>The cost of community colleges depends on the school you choose, and your perception of "expensive".
Collegeboard's search engine returns 310 two-year schools with an out-of-state tuition less than $5,000 and 41 four-year schools in that tuition range in the US.
But why do you want to study in the US so badly? What is so bad about Hong Kong or Chinese universities?</p>
<p>Extracurricular activities are mostly considered by selective schools (maybe top 200 out of 2000+ four-year colleges). "Average" schools will take note of your ECs, but rely mainly on grades and test scores for admission.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with Hong Kong or Chinese universities <a href="mailto:B@R">B@R</a>. On the contrary, some of them are world renowned and the best with what they have to offer. One of the cons of attending universities here however, is that Cantonese or Mandarin is a vital part of the classroom conduction.</p>
<p>I do not speak fluent Cantonese or Mandarin. I speak only English and broken French (which was the only language offered in my grade.) But I am planning to learn Mandarin.</p>
<p>South-east asian students in Hong Kong are, I find, extremely under-represented. C'mon! Would one really need French, in the bustling city of Hong Kong where Chinese and Mandarin (ang English) are the most spoken languages?</p>
<p>There are other reasons as to why I want to go to the USA as well.</p>
<p>how bad were ur grades in ur senior year? I kno that getting into HK's unis is not at all easy, which is y many HK students move to the UK for 6th form, so they can get into a good UK uni. </p>
<p>If u're academically good, then y not go for some UK unis? u don't have to be a genius to get into, say Warwick or Bristol, but they r still pretty damn good... if u're dead set on US colleges though, u def need to tell them about ur misfortunes!!!! I'm sry to say this, but most gap yearers will have done similar things as u have, so u prob won't stand out in this catagory. BUT u're live is very unique, although in a painful way, that it will prob make u an interesting applicant. Let them kno about wut has happened to u, even if it might hurt!</p>
<p>well i know that i'm not the greatest mathematician out there but i am confident to say that my language skills are very good. i got an A in syllabus b in the HKCEE.</p>
<p>can't go to UK. my family will not allow me to go there because i have no relatives nearby. they're extremely paranoid and they don't trust me.</p>
<p>what american universities are you looking at?
and i too think its important to tell the colleges why your grades werent as high senior year. doesnt have to be in detail, but they expect that when you have a dip in grades, you have reason, and they want to know it.</p>