<p>Hi!
I'm an international student.
I'm already studying as a freshman at university in my home town but I hate it here, so finally decided to take SAT/Toefl (I've been practicing SAT comprehensively since last year).
My question is, will I have any problems? I'll be 19 or 20 when (<em>fingers crossed</em>) I get accepted in US college.
After applying to desired colleges, I'll stop my student status in my university, already discussed this matter with dean and he said it would be ok.</p>
<p>Also, can I somehow use my calculus and algebra classes (which I'm taking at university) as an activity or something? </p>
Why? You do realize that it’s not your decision whether to apply as a freshman or transfer student, but the decision of the university you are applying to?</p>
<p>
Your age won’t be an issue. As long as you have the financial resources to afford an American college education, your application should be evaluated on the same criteria as everyone else’s. </p>
<p>I’d just like to note that some (especially public) universities don’t accept all students with a previous college record. They may not let you apply as a freshman if you have started college elsewhere, but also wouldn’t be eligible to transfer until you have 2 years of college coursework under your belt.</p>
<p>
They’ll be part of your academic transcript, wouldn’t they?</p>
No, I didn’t realize that until you told me…
And how will they know that I’m a student? (if I don’t tell them) As I said I’m going to cancel my student status from university.
Is there a source where I can get more information about my situation?</p>
<p>
First of all, that’s really unfair
secondly
I have 6 colleges in mind and they are private.</p>
<p>Grinnell is in my top 3
and I found this on their website</p>
<p>You must apply as a FIRST-YEAR applicant if:
You have studied at another university which is not a U.S.-accredited institution and will have taken classes for only one or two semesters by the time of enrollment at Grinnell</p>
<p>Right now I’m on first semester and I’m planning to cancel my student status.
Actually I haven’t taken any exams yet so I have 0 credits.</p>
<p>So, now you know that for Grinnell, you’re considered a first-year applicant.
However, EACH university is free to decide this. So you have to check each university’s website and if it’s not posted, with each university’s international admission counselor.
You cannot assume that, just because Grinnell does this, other universities will.
You will also need a letter or form from your Dean certifying that you withdrew from the university without any credit in order to pursue your American college admission.</p>
<p>Regarding credits: You cannot have it both ways. Either you claim your college classes, get a grade and credit, and may transfer them but must apply as a transfer, or you withdraw from college and get no credit and no recognition for whatever you did at the college.</p>
<p>The reasons some public universities don’t accept students with a previous college record of a couple classes is that these students may be 1° trying to skirt the “regular admission” system or 2° not stable enough to be trusted, since as soon as they matriculated at a college they want to leave or (most often) 3° need to demonstrate they’re able to do college-level work and thus have 6-10 college classes, passed, with grades, to demonstrate this. In some cases with public universities, it’s because there’s no space left.</p>
<p>I feel like I failed. big time
I would have never applied to my home town university, if I had known about whole transfer/freshman thing. </p>
<p>Gonna visit educationUSA center in this week and try to get as much information as possible. </p>
<p>The reason I don’t want to be a transfer ( and correct me if I’m wrong) is that I don’t think they’ll give me generous financial aid. I don’t even know if they give financial aid to transfer students.
Will I have the same chances of getting aid as a transfer as I would have if I applied last year as a freshman? (before enrolling to university in my country)</p>
<p>No, you wouldn’t have nearly the same odds of getting financial aid. There’s basically no financial aid for transfer students. Even merit aid is reserved to freshmen.
Withdrawing from your current university is the wisest thing to do if you’re sure you want to apply as a freshman.
However, you need to check with EACH university you’re interested in. Some may still consider you a transfer if you matriculated, even if you didn’t take classes and didn’t get any credit.
Also, make sure you can return to your current university if you’re not admitted anywhere in the US.
What will your parents be able to pay? Have you taken the SAT or the ACT? THe TOEFL?
The Registration Deadline was yesterday for SAT and ACT but you may still be able to register late in your country (I don’t know). If you haven’t registered for the TOEFL, do it right away.
Application deadlines are Jan 1- Feb 15 so you need to hurry.</p>
I was 100% sure what I wanted yesterday and I’m super perplexed right now.
I mean
It’s still what I want
but the feasibility of it, is making me go crazy…
yeah, after canceling student status you can restore it without problem during next 3 years. After 3 years you can’t return back.</p>
<p>
5k
but every college I aim for usually gives its students very generous financial aid. </p>
<p>Another worst thing that happened to me is that I registered for 7th December SAT (first time), a week ago I got a call from a testing center and they told me that SAT exam wouldn’t take place in our country in 2013 because of technical difficulties. </p>
<p>The next sat date is January 25th. I’m still gonna take it, no matter what. I spent nearly two years knocking myself out for this.
I’m expecting a really good score. I’m sure about math’s 800, I always get around 700 in CR and I’m really really good at writing. </p>
<p>I took TOEFL last month without preparation and got 106.</p>
<p>Would you be able to take the December ACT? (I don’t know if you can take the ACT in your country). Or do you live near another country (like: Spain/Portugal, or Belgium/Netherlands) where you could go on a bullet train?
Email all universities of interest to see if they’ll accept the January SAT. If not, modify your list.
Make sure to apply to safety schools.
It’s really too bad you can’t take that December SAT because it sounds like you’d definitely qualify for merit aid. Many merit deadlines are Dec 1.
If your family can only afford 5K, then apply to Berea College. However they do not accept the January SAT so you may be out of luck.</p>
<p>No ACT here,
and I can’t travel anywhere.
I will definitely email universities of interest, about my situation and also about January scores.
Thank you very much for your answers.</p>
<p>God knows what will happen in future, just yesterday I thought I had a laid out plan :(</p>
<p>Many of the colleges and universities that would give you enough aid to attend as a freshman, would also give you enough aid to attend as a transfer. They are all very difficult to get into as either a freshman or a transfer. So you may as well stay in college where you are for the time being.</p>
<p>^^ I disagree. Very few universities give full ride scholarships to internationals, and almost none are for transfers. One of the most “generous” universities is UPenn, which promises to meet need for 5 international transfers (who will typically transfer from another American university). Merit aid such as UAlabama’s will be unavailable. Grinnell would consider him a freshman under these conditions and freshmen get most scholarships (they must apply RD).
However indeed universities that give generous financial aid to internationals are incredibly difficult to get into.
BUT there’s always the possibility to apply to some automatic or competitive scholarship competitions, which, again, are only available to freshmen.
Some large public universities that often admit transfers may be less difficult but it’d depend on how much your family can pay. Some smaller, lower ranked regional colleges may also accept transfers with a small scholarship. But it’s very risky.
Going to the EducationUSA on Monday is very good idea.</p>
<p>happymomof1
All good things are difficult to achieve. Of course staying at my current university is very easy and practical (I’m already there and thanks to my great scores, I only have to pay 500$ a year!)
but I’m not satisfied with my lecturers and their teaching methods. </p>
<p>
I imagine they finance transfers after spending almost all of their money on myriad of freshmen. So it’s really not much left (?)
Besides, they might not have any space left.</p>
<p>If you are freshman with a nice score of SAT and Toefl, great school GPA and extra curricular activities, it’s not really that hard to get into an American college. (I’m not talking about Ivy league or some super prestigious school)
On the other hand, getting in American university as an international transfer student, seems unfeasible to me. :/</p>
<p>I am sorry that I did not word that very clearly. I’ll try again:</p>
<p>There are very few institutions that give big money to international students. Period. The private institutions that do give out big money, are in positions to offer it to everyone - not just freshman, but also transfers. Yes, it is true that admission is extremely difficult at those places, but if the institution does want the student, the money is there. </p>
<p>Li2kkk has no exam scores yet, which means that we don’t know if he/she would qualify for the tiny number of guaranteed-merit scholarships available for international students - most of which have application deadlines well before his/her SAT test date. If Li2kkk wants to withdraw from college now, and take a gap year and a half before possibly enrolling as a freshman in fall 2015, that is up to Li2kkk. But even taking all that time off does not guarantee either admission or affordability.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if Li2kkk remains in college and applies as a transfer, perhaps he/she will win that lottery. If Li2kkk doesn’t get an affordable transfer admission, he/she will be much closer to finishing his/her college degree than if he/she were to choose to take the time off just to play this educational gamble.</p>
<p>A lot rests on three factors:
Whether or not the target colleges/universities would allow Li2kkk to apply as a freshman after having enrolled somewhere else even though he/she has managed to fully withdraw with no academic records being generated.
Whether there is anything useful for Li2kkk to do with his/her time during a gap period that could extend to fall 2015.
Whether or not the TOEFL and SAT/ACT scores really will be good enough to guarantee admission somewhere that can be made affordable.</p>
<p>^^ thanks, made me think about some things.</p>
<p>So if you finish school and enroll at university, you can never ever become a freshman in US. What if I want second baccalaureate diploma? It’s so strange…<br>
I think this misconception is caused by the simplicity of admission in my country. I, for some reason, thought it would be same everywhere. Big mistake.
But I should have gone to educationUSA months ago.</p>
<p>I have a question
How exactly does American college know if I’m a student or not?
For instance, will they call Ministry of Education and ask them what I did after HS graduation? O_o
I thought after sending my scores and essays and etc, they would ask me to send my high school diploma(which has my scores of all classes and 3.95 GPA on it) and I’d send them.
I just can’t comprehend it.</p>
<p>You have to send copies of your academic transcript (record of courses taken and grades earned in them) from your high school if you are a freshman applicant. No one gives a rip about a diploma. It is the transcript that matters.</p>
<p>If you have ever taken any university level classes anywhere in the world, you also have to send those transcripts. Period.</p>
<p>Yes, you can apply for admission for a second bachelors degree if you wish. In some cases that is categorized as a “senior transfer”. However there is no financial aid for a second bachelors. In most cases it makes more sense to pursue a Master’s degree instead.</p>
<p>Sorry but what exactly is this transcript? I don’t think we have equivalent of it here -_-</p>
<p>meh…
yeah
second bachelor is a bad idea.
I guess I’ll have to do thorough research on Master’s admissions.
I hope those 6000 advanced words I studied for CR will come in handy for GRE exam :(</p>
<p>When you are talking with the people at EducationUSA, find out what the equivalent of a grade transcript is in your country. Here the transcript is what is important because it lists all of the courses and grades by the semester that you have taken them. The diploma is just a pretty thing to hang on your wall that says you graduated from a certain place. I’m not even sure where all of our diplomas are. I think they are in a box in the basement. I do know where the extra copies of our transcripts are, and I know how to request more if we ever need them.</p>
<p>And yes, those tough words will come in handy on the GRE if you don’t find out that you need them when you are reading things in English before then.</p>
