@austinmshauri I was born and raised in Bangladesh. I wouldn’t say we were poor in Bangladesh because I’ve had friends who couldn’t afford a calculator/backpack. $2/hour is actually a pretty decent salary for fresh college graduates. We are low income in the US because my dad can’t get a job with his Bangladeshi degree (even though it was the best college in Bangladesh)
If your parents are low income you’re probably eligible for need based aid. What state are you in? They may have aid programs too.
I thought English was a required subject in Bangladesh from the early grades on. Has that changed?
Thank you all for helping!
@austinmshauri English is a required subject, but I went to a Bangla medium school (where everything is in Bangla) so English wasn’t really that important/focused on, they taught us basic grammar and simple stuff. There are many privileged kids who go to English medium schools where everything is taught in English.
I’m in Indiana and I might end up going to Purdue since I/my family can’t afford out of state colleges. I really wanted to go to Georgia tech but I don’t think I can afford their huge out of state tuition.
“My counselor is the counselor for South American students and she speaks Spanish. I’m Asian and I do not speak Spanish. She can barely communicate with me in English.”
The implication here is that there is another counselor.
The whole Val/Sal thing baffles me. I wouldn’t put any stock in it or worry about it.
If English was a required subject from the early grades on it seems like your school system thought it was pretty important. I think it’s a mistake to feel slighted because someone encouraged a new language learner when you’ve been studying English for a ~decade. Comparing yourself to others is just going to make you unhappy, so avoid doing it.
Don’t worry about being salutatorian or valedictorian. Just do your best and find schools that are a good fit for you. Most kids can’t afford to attend OOS colleges. I think most don’t get to attend residential college at all. They live at home and commute to their local cc or a state school. So if that’s how you end up doing college you’ll be in good company.
If you do end up becoming valedictorian I wouldn’t explain to your classmates how privileged they are because you have no way of knowing that it’s true. And your classmates’ graduation isn’t your personal platform to advocate for your pet cause. If it’s so important to you, identify the problem now and figure out solutions. I don’t know what you expect other 16-year-olds to do, but if the issue is important to you then you can certainly try to spread awareness. Why wait for your high school graduation to do that?
Who do you think is actually learning more? Someone memorizing vast amounts of information by rote or someone able to actually understand and synthesize arguments about something?
We moved to the US when my daughter was 13, she skipped half of 8th grade in the move and yeah, she was also behind at first in math because of the old system etc. Which also focused much more on rote memorization than actually learning and understanding. So yes, I get you totally. Stop panicking and yes stop dissing others. You have a ready-made topic for your common app essay so there is already one advantage vs your classmates. And your instate schools are good. You’re fine. As you noted, you’ve been given a great opportunity to study here, and you’ve taken good advantage of it. Focus on your very solid achievements without worrying about where others are.
@austinmshauri English is a required subject in most countries, but nations like India, Nepal etc. do not prioritize English as much as other subjects. The exchange student also knows English and he has been studying it more than me since he’s older. His Spanish accent and poor grammar makes it sound like he’s learning English (knowledge in English is required to be an exchange student). Spain’s per capita is 15 times more than Bangladesh’s and it is a decent nation in Europe. I was placed in English beginners basic skill development when i first came to the US but i moved my way up to AP lang as a junior. Only people from my community know that I have learned English super fast (some of them have been here in the US for 20+ years but still struggle to speak English).
Edit: I will not focus on being the valedictorian anymore. I’m thinking of volunteering in charity stuff as much as I can to help those that really need help. Crying like a bratty kid won’t solve anything. Thanks for helping 
@SJ2727 I know that I am learning better in the US but the workload is very little compared to Bangladesh. We studied Algebra 2, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Geometry in 8th grade. 8th graders here barely know how to solve for velocity or do gravity problems. I mean sure they earn their knowledge by the time they graduate but there is little to no pressure. My 10th grader classmates in Bangladesh are learning organic chemistry and 10th graders here are learning what elements are. I feel like it’s not fair if I don’t work hard since I am a Bangladeshi and it would be irresponsible if I don’t represent my community well. As far as the college essays go, I will try my best to describe everything I can. Thank you for your reply
@knightjonesfield , the system is just different, I know that system. You learn a little of everything each year. In the US you concentrate a particular subject all in one or two years. So it’s not about when you learn it, it’s about what you know at the end of high school. I don’t see the point in having more pressure doing it if you don’t know any more at the end of the day? Seems like a very inefficient system actually. And in the US you also get more choice about what you do. How in-depth you want to go in any subject is up to you past a certain point.
@SJ2727 Yeah but that inefficient system makes every student take hard classes unlike the US where you can graduate without knowing trigonometry and go to college. The students that actually do good in the inefficient system know way more than the students that do good in the American system.
Then go back to the system you like.
What data do you have to back up this statement?
If that’s indeed the case I would expect Bangladeshi high school graduates to be incredibly competitive in admissions to top US colleges, and be very well represented, especially in STEM subjects. Yes?
@SJ2727 there are tons of Indian kids (similar education system, richer country than Bangladesh) in top US schools like MIT, Stanford etc. The reason why Bangladeshi kids can’t make it to the US is because they can’t get the visa. Most of them get rejected because Bangladesh is a poor country, not everyone has the best English skills even though they are good at science/math, and Bangladesh has been known for corruption and bad activities so the visa officers think of Muslim students as potential threats. I know this guy with a 2300 ish on the old SAT and pretty good toefl scores but he didn’t get the visa. And then there’s this guy who’s my sister’s friend, he made it to the US even though he did really bad in highschool. Getting into the US is like a lottery for 3rd world countries.
@austinmshauri you can look at international vs american student experiments and stuff. Bangladesh is a tiny country so you wouldn’t find anything useful on the internet
I don’t want to get into a pointless debate about this. If it’s a local language/cost of going overseas issue, then Bangladeshi universities should be well represented in the top 100 globally, like Chinese universities are. Apparently there is not even one in the top 1000. But there’s not much point debating around your belief in the relative merits of the two systems. The point is, are you going to make the most of your opportunity, or are you going to spend your energy worrying about the fact that your ex schoolmates learn more by rote than you do?
@SJ2727 you’re right, this debate is going to be pointless. You wouldn’t understand my side of the debate because you probably haven’t experienced that side well enough. But the reason why there aren’t any in the top 1000 is because Bangladesh is a relatively new country (1971) and the only good college it has so far is BUET with a really low acceptance and really high requirements because the competition is insane. The country has a trashy system but that doesn’t make the students trash. Going to MIT as an American student is easier then going to a normal state college as an international student from a country like Bangladesh. I will try to make the best out of my opportunities but little stuff like these are making me go mad. Like I just solved this problem in calculus today that the teacher couldn’t solve but the teacher never asked me for my opinion. She knew that I might have had the right answer but she asked this other girl who’s really loud in class. The other day I solved a problem for her and showed it to her after class. The loud girl showed it to her after me but she only praised the loud girl during class. I don’t even know what to do anymore.
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@knightjonesfield are you a US citizen or do you have green card status? If not, that is going to affect your college choices a lot more than Loud Girl getting praise from your teacher. It is not going to matter if you are Val or Sal or know more than everyone else, it’s going to matter that you can’t get enough money to go to schools or will be considered in the international pool.
Look at @HKimPOSSIBLE 's posts from last year.