Hello I am from Portugal and I am 18 years old. I took four years to do high school because I failed in maths in the second year. Right now I can get in some Portuguese college but they are not very good, I will be one more year in school doing what we call here in Portugal “improvements” which is basically getting higher grades in general.
I came here to this blog to ask you what colleges could I apply that worth leaving my country, here in Lisbon we have good colleges but in America I know they are the best. I know about only ivy league and that I will not manage to enter due to my past, so I would like to know what are others colleges that I can apply only having good grades in exams and not in my GPA that worth to leave my country and getting a scholarship.
Every single information is precious and I will be very grateful because I don’t nothing about college in America, whatever comes to your mind will help me.
Just like almost everything in America, college is EXPENSIVE. Do your parents have $50,000 or $60,000 (at least) for college? International students do not, in general, ever get financial aid.
No they don’t have, thats Why I am asking what colleges have financial aid and what I should do to get it, btw am I in the right zone of the blog to ask this stuff?
In general, the only colleges that offer financial aid to international students are those at the elite level (like the Ivy League that you’re familiar with). You can, however, try to look for merit scholarships - those based on your grades and test scores. Do you have any idea what your stats would translate to in US terms - GPA, ACT/SAT/TOEFL?
Hey Luis, you should refer to international students section, there you will find a lot of information about unis that provide good financial aid and full merit scholarships. besides that, you will also find stories (some of them with happy endings or with bad endings) from international students.
I strongly recommend you to take this desicion seriously because you MUST have superior credentials if you want to have a good chance of getting into a university with enough financial aid to attend. Send me a PM and we can discuss your situation.
Yes my GPA is 12 in 20 in my country about act and sat I just took a look at an exam of maths and they are realy easy for me I have never heard of it but here in Portugal a math exam is a LOT more difficult, my English is B2 which means if I want to apply for an American college this year I will have to eat books in English in the next month
A Portuguese 12 is roughly a B+(3.3-3.4) and you should be able to improve that this year right?
B2 is excellent, it means that with about a month of TOEFL study out should be able to get a 90+.
Start studying for the act or the sat. Take a sample diagnostic test on Khan Academy and go from there. You’ll need to get the highest possible score to offset your grades.
The trick isn’t that the questions are difficult, but rather that punches must answer them correctly very quickly for a long length of time. It requires a lot of practice because your score depends on your rank - you’ll have to be bztter than 90%, 95, 98% high school students. These tests are deceptive because they’re so unlike what you’re used to and the content looks easy, but having just a few seconds to answer correctly is what will trip you up. Practice starting now.
Look into universities like UArk Monticello, St Cloud state, U Wisconsin Eau Claire…
What’s your parents budget (think if the cost of rent, food, books, on addition to tuition).
12 in portugal is a C as I am concernet is a 60 per cent in 100, and I have to apply now so I ca’t improve it anymore, about sat and TOEFL yes If I have any chance I will do EVERYTHING it takes, I alo have extracurricullar activities. so my question is 12 is not a B+ as MYOS1634 said right?
You can’t convert grades asif numbers meant the same thing in all countries.
A 17/20 in Portugal is very good, it places you in the top 1% in the entire country in France, and it’s barely sufficient to go to a 4-year college in the US.
DO NOT convert your grades or scores, give the Portuguese number. Same thing on common app. You may have to pay for an official agency for applications but you should not do it.
To give you an idea of the meaning these grades have : An American C student doesn’t attend a 4-year university. A 2.7-2.8 student with good scores can attend a directional 4-year university but without scholarships. With a 3.3 and high scores, the student may get some scholarships at the directional, but typically a 3.5 is needed for any sort of scholarship.
Gpas are ‘weighted’, IE., points are added if you’re taking an advanced class. For example, if you got a C+ in calculus, you’d really get a B+ in our ‘weighted GPA’.
If a student is doing the advanced science stream, his/her advanced math and science classes would get +1 or +0.5.