@happymomof1 @thumper1 : You can apply to the lottery with a high school diploma, even if you’re 16 or 17. Just prove that to the consular officer. I know colleges will not become magically free, but Admission Counselors of several colleges have told me with a Green Card I can apply to Pell Grants and to Institutional Scholarships, like a Domestic.
@“Mehdi K. Fr. Dz.”
The MAXIMUM Pell Grant is about $5800. The MAXIMUM Direct Loan for a freshman is $5500. The $11,300 is NOT enough to pay for you to attend a private university here in the United States. It’s just NOT.
You can’t apply for your status HERE until AFTER you graduate from secondary school. That means that you would be applying as an international student if you plan to attend college the fall immediately following your HS completion.
Or are you planning to take a gap year between HS and college in hopes that you will be lottery selected SND get a green card BEFORE you apply to college?
I would also suggest you read the fine print carefully in terms of institutional aid. At many colleges…MANY…your financial aid status for institutional aid will NOT change if you apply and enroll as an international student. Yes, if you get a green card, you will be eligible for the Pell and Direct Loans once you get the green card…but the colleges are under NO obligation to give you institutional aid if you become a permanent resident AFTER you enroll. And some won’t change your financial aid status to do so.
@thumper1 : I know you can’t pay a year of university with 11k$ … I don’t need to start the undergrad cycle in the USA, I’ll transfer when I’ll get the Green Card. I have written I’ll begin the Freshman Yr in France ( Paris VI University ). After studying, my goal is to live in the USA and get the citizenship, and that goal is possible with the Diversity Visa Program …
Your best path, if you want to avoid French unis and can not go to a Grande Ecole, is to attend a Quebec uni like McGill, do well there, and then get in to a funded grad school program in the US.
@PurpleTitan : If you know how to go to a Grande École, you know that you must pass by Classes Préparatoires, also known as “Two or Three Years of Intensive Torture” ( teachers give a very bad impression - for example they willingly give bad grades ). Transfer for a “Classe Prépa” is impossible because grades are so bad and because this system is unknown around the world …
I don’t support the French way of life and I’d like to see what #freedom and #opportunity mean. For example, do you know a young French engineer / computer scientist makes 2500$ per month without taxes, after he studied 6 years …
The average starting salary for American engineers right out of uni is not much better. Keep in mind that salary figures quoted in the US are always pre-tax numbers. And many things you take for granted as free are not paid for by the government in the US.
Anyway, Quebec and Canada are not France.
More importantly, McGill and other Canadian unis are on the North American system and students go start grad school in the US/Canada after attending undergrad in the other country all the time.
Try to get enough fin aid or scholarships to attend uni in the US and try to win the green card lottery if you like, but frankly, your odds are not good for either of those are not good (though you could keep trying the lottery while studying in Canada, I suppose).
BTW, I get the idea that you don’t know much about the US. . .
@purpletitan: no CS/engineers make $30,000 pretax in the US.
The French way of life provides a lot of freedom but depending on your name, your mastery of social and cultural codes, where you where born… opportunities are limited and there’s definite despair among young people who aren’t part of the highly educated, “born in the historical center” groups.
The “formatting” that the preparatory classes force upon students discourages them from risk taking and create a strange culture & way of thinking. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
Most international young people love the US evne though or despite knowing little about the culture, values, etc.
but I agree, Canada and Quebec are different from each other, and both are very different from France, so they’d be a good stepping stone.
@Medhi_K: How about attending “ecole 42” or somesuch? It’s free and you’d learn a lot of CS.
@MYOS1634: Ah, sorry, I read his French number as post-tax. Actually, OP, what do you mean? Pre-tax or post-tax?
And in the US, while engineers/CS grads typically make more than $30K post-tax, it may not be that much more.
Based on my observations, most young people with a Master’s degree have about $15-20,000 net income, post tax (engineers, teachers…) Those are the lucky ones as they may also be parked in fake 'internships ’ where they’re the only employees and paid $1,500 total for three months if full time work.
@MYOS1634 : Yes I have heard about “École 42”, a free school with you learn CS intensively.
Guys, I have a question : is a GPA of 3.1/4 good to apply to American Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges ?? Many American young have a GPA higher than mine, and when I see universities stats in the Princeton Review …
For example 69% of Vanderbilt admitted people had a GPA higher than 3.75/4, it’s so far from my 3.1. I know that essay, transcripts, rankings and ACT results will be important, buut I’m worried about my result.
If you’d like to know my stats :
Math : 16.3
Physics & Chem. : 16.2
Biology : 12.5
English : 18.1
Spanish : 15.5
French Literature : 13.1
Sport : 13.2
History & Geography : 15.8
Economy : 19.2
EC : Running - Soccer - CS Self-study
As mentioned above, you don’t have a 3.1, you have a 4.0, because the conversion isn’t numerical - grades have 'meaning '. A 3.1 is the equivalent in France is “bac sans mention, possibly ratrapage”. 3.0 is equivalent to " La moyenne." 3.75+ is bac mention B/TB. A 13-14=A.
Were you a concours general candidate?
What results did you get for your actual bac exams last year in French literature and Science?
Are you recruitable for running or soccer (meaning, do you run or play for a nationally ranked U18 club)? That would help you.
@MYOS1634 : I’m playing on regional championships for running ( in Ile de France region ). I’ve got 13.5 to the “Bac Français Ecrit”, 16 to the “Bac Français Oral” and 16.5 to the “TPE”. I will pass the Scientific Baccalaureate ( General ). I think I’ll get B or TB mention in the Bac, so a GPA higher than 3.75, which permites me to apply to best universities ( but I’m honest, I know it will not be easy )
Wait, Bac S and economics?
@Theoddorre : It’s possible in my high school, but there won’t be the Economy exam in the Bac …
@Medhi K: it only means that IF you manage to score in the top 2% of test takers about 1/3 of your list can be made of highly selective colleges (30% and less).
Whether you run in regional is only interesting to colleges if you rank in the top 3.
@MYOS1634 : I see on prepscholar.com if you score 32/36 you are higher than 97% of test takers, and it could be good to apply to “greatest” universities. 32/36 means 17.8/20, which is hot but not impossible …
**** = prepscholar[dot]com
You must actually take the test and score that. It’s in addition to TOEFL and bac results. (And typically, because it’s so different from the way French students are trained, they do really badly on sat/act. The content is easy but the format is utterly foreign to the French system. )
It means you become eligible for honors scholarships and honors scholarships at some flagships, but it keeps your odds of admission to any college in the top 2% (~top 75 on Forbes list) at 3-5%, so no more than a third of your list should include such 'dream’or 'lottery ’ schools.
@MYOS1634 : Be higher than 98% means get between 33 and 36 on the ACT scale, it will be hotter than hot but it stays possible. I think I’ll have 16/20 on the Bac ( TB mention ) and 95-100/120 on the TOEFL. Is it possible to apply to “greatest” universities with that performance ??