Applications for the diversity visa lottery have doubled in the past 10 years, while the number, set by Congress, has not changed. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/24/applications-for-u-s-visa-lottery-more-than-doubled-since-2007/?utm_content=bufferda374&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
So you need to be realistic about your odds.
I think you need at least 100 on the TOEFL for the tippy top schools.
@janesmith : Try is free, and if I’m selected I’ll be good. If I don’t get it during the undergrad cycle I’ll apply as an international student for the Master cycle.
@Theoddorre : I’ll try to match more than 100
@"Mehdi K. Fr. Dz. That sounds like a plan, assuming the diversity visa program is not abolished as part of immigration reform. Sen. Cotton among others has already introduced a bill to eliminate it. This article from Voice of America has a good explanation:
@janesmith : I know politics are a threat for the DV Lottery, mostly since the White House became Republican, like the Congress and the Supreme Court. But I believe on that lottery …
I don’t understand why you are only betting on a bunch of low-probability events that are out of your control coming true when you have a route to the US based solely on your abilities and within your control.
It’s your life, though, so do what you like.
The Supreme Court is not Republican.
I’d love to see you come up with a realistic back up plan in addition to your somewhat low odds dreams and schemes.
@janesmith : Try the lottery is free, so what don’t try it ?? I know there are few chances but all winners have tried …
@blossom : I’m not an expert in the US Politics but Supreme Court has 9 judges, with 5 Republicans. The last was nominated by Trump. Isn’t it ??
Judge Gorsuch has not been confirmed. And the party affiliations of judges is irrelevant once they sit on the bench-- they are not beholden to the president who nominated them. There are judges who by philosophy and jurisprudence tend more liberal, and judges whose philosophies are more conservative, but they don’t follow political party lines in the ways that they rule. And there have been some huge and shocking rulings by judges when they vote with their philosophical and fact-based orientations which go against “party” dogma.
And again- Gorsuch not yet confirmed.
@blossom : Thanks for information.
@“Medhi K. Fr. Dz.”
I’m going to be blunt here. You are minsinformed and overly optimistic on many levels. To be frank…younare not listening to what folks are telling you here. Your “plan” has numerous holes in it. Numerous.
You have strong stats for your country, as explained by others here. There are affordable options in countries other than the U.S. You seem to be ignoring the fact that U.S. colleges will very likely NOT be affordable. In other words, you are choosing to make your decision on a wing and a prayer.
Certainly, that is your decision…and other 16 year olds have done so as well. But you came here for advice, and you got some good advice which you keep saying “but, but, but” to. Of course, that is your choice too.
Conventional wisdom…when applying to,colleges, or crafting a list, use your CURRENT situation to craft a list…so,right now…craft a list of colleges as a french citizen.
Then make a wish list of colleges should,you be so lucky to gain a green card prior to submitting your college applications. That will be your maybe list unless you actually get permanent resident status here.
OP – go ahead and try the GC lottery and hope you win another lottery (admission with substantial financial aid.) But in the meantime, the SMART thing is to prepare yourself for the most likely scenario: your university education in France. It’s considered good (despite what you think) and it’s inexpensive. You have no idea how lucky and privileged that makes you to the average American…
@katliamom: I thought you went on exchange to a grande ecole, not a regular French uni. I don’t believe @MYOS1634 thinks the regular uni experience in France is good.
In any case, the OP does have good cheap options in Quebec but doesn’t seem to be considering them for some unfathomable reason.
I wouldn’t recommend the University experience there. It’s like a super decrepit and super overcrowded* community college for the first year or so, even though the lectures can be good.
@PurpleTitan, yes I was at a Grande Ecole (Normale Sup) but I’ve met many accomplished graduates of “regular” French universities. (Also, you should know, that Normaliens, as they call Normale Sup students, actually get their degree at the University of Paris. The Ecole offers them additional support, lectures and community. But their classes are right along with the “regular” kids at the Sorbonne, etc.)
I know MYOS (whom I respect) has reservations about it, however it’s very hard for me to believe that the world’s 6th largest economy and a country that takes education as seriously as France wouldn’t have good universities except for a handful of elites. It’s true that it’s a different experience, it’s true that many classes are held in dilapidated buildings and they tend to be lecture style courses, that the campuses (if they even exist) aren’t nearly as posh as in the US. But the level of education in France remains high, and you will find French grads in many of the world’s top graduate programs.
To go deeply into debt to attend an American university – and increasingly smaller odds of working in the US making these wonderful fabled salaries – when you’ve got the inexpensive French system within reach – that seems to me to be a dubious decision.
Oh, I agree, there are many French grads in the world’s top graduate programs. But they didn’t start out at université. Their first two years were in IUT, prépa intégrée, classe prépa, abroad, école postbac (the last 2 growing drastically in the past few years). Sometimes they were selected for the new dual degrees (bilicences) or attended special programs like the UT or Dauphine. But they didn’t enroll in the run-off-the-mill programs which are totally over-run - anyone who has a choice will do anything they can to avoid those. France takes education seriously but for whatever reason these two years are the pits. The lecturer may be good but if you’re sitting in the corridor under electrical wires that fell off three months before and were never fixed, it doesn’t do you any good to know the lecturer’s good.
@MYOS1634 so,why is this poster so,adverse to looking into Canadian colleges where his costs would be FAR less than in the U.S?
I have no idea. Canadian colleges are cheaper than US colleges (roughly the same or slightly more than French schools of engineering depending on the province since French residents get special rates in Quebec), they offer a superb education, and on top of it he’d be welcome to start and work there. My guess is “the American Dream”.
I hope the OP reads post 77 again…and again…and again!!
This student hasn’t won the green card lottery yet, so ALL of this may never happen.