East-European student, does the future look bright for me?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey guys!</p>

<p>I'm a junior in HS in Romania, and I'm planning on applying to a bunch of US colleges come fall. I'm just wondering if you guys can maybe see what my chances are for these colleges (i'll post a list after my "resume" ). </p>

<p>I think it's important to mention that I live in a very small city with little to no possibility of involvement in volunteering, and work is hard to find when you're my age (the best you can get is manual labor in a factory. pretty depressing, right?)</p>

<p>Anyway, here are some of my achievements/EC's and everything else I can think of.</p>

<p>Firstly, my SAT scores are as follows:
Critical reading: 710
Math: 660
Writing: 770
I am retaking in May, hoping to get CR past 750 and Math past 700. I'm taking the US History and Biology M subject tests in June. </p>

<p>I am first in a class of 300 with a gpa of 9.97/10 (romanian scale. I'll be damned if I know how the American one works, but I figure it's a 4.0? ), I have been to the National English Olympiad every year, having been first county-wise. I was 29th nationally in 9th grade, 18th in 10th grade and 15th this year. Some improvement there.
I am president of the student body council and of the english club.
I have a few other regional/county awards in math, english, art and music. I play bass guitar in a band and am responsible with the school band. Art-wise, I have participated in all the art competitions the HS told me about, and have gotten 1st to 3rd prize in all of them. There was also an international art competiton, but i didn't get into the finals :(</p>

<p>I am county coordinator for the european youth parliament, and was also the ambassador for my delegation back in 9th grade. I am a chair person in this year's regional sessions.
I've volunteered for the red cross when they were present in my town, and also in a center for disadvantaged children, helping them with homework and learning english. </p>

<p>I have worked as an editor for a sports website for a year, and I've been working Saturday nights in a club as a singer for two.
During summers, I travel with an LGBT organization down to the seaside and help spread awareness about STD's by handing out pamphlets and condoms on the beach. Loots of fuun, my favorite EC by far. </p>

<p>I can't really think of anything else to say, and besides, this post is pretty long anyway. Something I will say, tho, is that please keep in mind when you chance me that my town doesn't have an opportunities to expand on my ECs (people are very rude and when you try and offer help, they don't want to take it. I was ordered out of the hospital when I went to see if they needed some free workforce)</p>

<p>I'm going to apply to the following colleges:
Pomona
Columbia
Vassar
Amherst
Middlebury
Pepperdine
Johns Hopkins</p>

<p>I know they are all high reaches, but I won't give up just because I don't have eyepopping EC's. I have a different background, different opportunities, and I'm going to present my case as fully as possible in my essay :)</p>

<p>Thanks a lot guys for taking the time, it really means the world to me. I want to have unbiased opinions about what my chances are to make a better life for myself</p>

2

<p>aw come on guys :(</p>

3

<p>You’ve absolutely made the best of your situation; I think those ECs are significantly more impressive than you make them out to be. The game is apparently much more difficult for internationals, are there is a smaller number of spots and a ton of applicants, but you have a really nice profile. </p>

<p>I don’t really consider myself qualified to “chance people,” but again, you’ve got a really great profile here, particularly when you consider the environment you are in. I wish you the best of luck! Make sure you take a look into the finances; These schools can be verry expensive. Also I’d consider applying to a few schools that are a liitle less prestigous, just to give you more options (you should always include a “safety” school that you are 99.5% sure you can get into, unless your preference is that your “safety” isn’t in the US).</p>

4

<p>Thank you! Your comment really made me feel a lot better about my profile, I’m pretty worried about not standing out, because I keep reading here about kids with such impressive EC’s, it seems like the Adcoms won’t even bother to look at my application.</p>

<p>Financially speaking, I will apply for aid to all the colleges, because there’s absolutely no way I can finance my education in the States( my parents make around $15000 a year combined). I have only looked at schools that offer full aid for internationals, so my “safety” schools won’t be in the US cause not a lot of them offer the aid I need.</p>

<p>Thanks so much again! :)</p>

5

<p>alisyn,</p>

<p>You need to read through everything, and I do indeed mean everything, at [EducationUSA</a> | Study Abroad, Student Visa, University Fairs, College Applications and Study in the U.S. / America](<a href=“http://educationusa.state.gov/]EducationUSA”>http://educationusa.state.gov/) Then you need to make an appointment with the counselors at the advising center closest to you. There is one in Bucharest [EducationUSA</a> - Center Profile - Fulbright Educational Advsing Center](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.info/Fulbright-Romania]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.info/Fulbright-Romania) If you can’t visit in person, find out how much help they can give you by email or phone. They are the experts at helping students from Romania find good places to study in the US, and they can tell you which colleges and universities here have offered good financial aid to students like you.</p>

<p>If you visit the International Students Forum here, you will find a lot of good ideas. Look for anything posted by b@r!um. She has excellent advice about finding colleges that offer good financial aid for international students. In particular, she advises that students not be afraid of applying to colleges that offer only one or two full scholarships for international students. She also reports that she investigated several hundred colleges during her college search!</p>

<p>Lastly, you should also consider universities in other countries. Generally speaking, universities in Australia and Canada are less expensive than universities in the US, and the immigration policies of those countries are a bit more student-friendly. You should contact their consulates in Romania to find out the current regulations about work permits for international students. In the past they were much more generous than in the US.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>

6

<p>Thanks so much for the links! I know about Fulbright, but traveling to Bucharest is quite expensive, but I will try to contact them through email, hopefully they will answer.</p>

<p>I am considering a lot of other countries, mostly European ones, because tuition is free for european union members. I’m also looking at University of western australia because my sister is a postdoc there, and so I would cut costs on housing. </p>

<p>Though, in all honestly, I would sell a kidney to study in the US. Since I visited a friend there 3 years ago, it’s been almost like an obsession, it’s definitely where I feel I’ll achieve everything</p>

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<p>It’s OK to be a little bit obsessed about studying in the US, but it’s good that you are taking a serious look at you other options! Too many students don’t do that. You will do fine wherever you end up!</p>

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<p>I think you definitely have a strong application and a chance at all those schools. Your ECs are definitely very strong - you don’t necessarily need lots of work and/or volunteering to have strong ECs, and you seem to have done a lot (and a lot centered around certain interests) and have made some significant contributions to your community.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

9

<p>Thank you, RedSeven! :slight_smile:
i always thought that a big list of pompous titles would get more recognition than what I have! it’s great to know that all is not lost</p>