<p>That’s the same for private universities, right? I think all of the colleges I looked at don’t give scholarships/aid to international transfer students. Would I still be considered an international transfer student if I transferred from an American CC to a private US university or does that only apply if, say, I try to transfer from a German university?</p>
<p>There are private universities that offer need-based aid (generally, the most selective) and those that offer merit aid (you need killer SAT or ACT scores) to international students and are typically more generous than public universities. Public universities sometimes offer merit aid to international students too. However, this is only available to freshman applicants.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve taken college classes in Germany or in the US: if you’ve taken college classes as a post-high school student, you’re considered a transfer and aren’t eligible for scholarships open to freshmen and, as an international, aren’t eligible at all for financial aid.</p>
<p>Hey littlebird95
I am from Germany too but I will start studying in Germany and will try to transfer next year to a college - but you are not the only German student on here. Actually I applied for the class of 2017 (Columbia, Dartmouth and Carleton) but was rejected. Nevertheless, I won’t give up my dream to study abroad.
Anyway, do you have any tips how to prepare for the SAT?
Best of luck and liebe Grüße :)</p>
<p>Hi sunny12,
I’m so glad that you replied, I was actually losing hope 
And yeah, your plan (starting college in Germany and then going abroad) is actually also my plan B if colleges reject me or it doesn’t work out for some other reason. And then there’s still graduate school, of course (which you can also do in the US)
Concerning the SAT, I don’t really have any specific advice. As you may know if you’ve read my previous posts on this thread, I’ve only taken it once so far, and to be honest, I only studied for 3 weeks or so before because I had just finished my Abitur exams in April/May (just like you, probably, if you also graduated this year).
I just got the blue book (the Official SAT study guide) before the June SAT and took a couple practice tests in it, and for retaking it in October I bought some additional books (Barron’s SAT 2400, one called “Up Your Score”, one on the essay alone and Barron’s “Hot Words for the SAT” for vocabulary). I couldn’t tell you how good any of them are yet as I’ve only really skimmed them a little bit and not really studied.
The one thing that I recommend though is to take as many practice tests as possible and also to take the first real SAT as a “test-Test” to get familiar with the format and the basic principles of it, as it is clearly very different from what German students are used to. Since I didn’t have as much time to study, I tried to take a rather laid-back approach to it, knowing that I could take it again and use that first one as an opportunity to see where I need to improve.
But since you’ve already applied to colleges and therefore taken the SAT before, this is probably not that much new/useful information for you.
The things that I’ll mostly work on are probably the harder Critical Reading questions that feature difficult vocabulary (hence the vocabulary book), the essay (which, in my opinion, is the hardest part), and also Maths strategies and formulas (Maths was my worst section), simply by reading and studying with the books that I bought. Again, I don’t know what your test scores were, so you might have to work on different things than I do, and I’m not exactly an expert either. Apparently there are some “strategies” on how to approach different question types, but you will find out about those mainly in books and through online research (there are plenty of resources). However, I cannot say yet in how far this might actually help.
Oh, and one last thing: When it comes to practice tests, I would personally try to stick to the ones that come from the CollegeBoard itself; I’ve heard that practice tests from other sources trying to imitate the SAT are often highly inaccurate.
Out of curiosity, how often have you taken it and what were your scores?</p>
<p>Also, are you applying for transfer to the same colleges that you applied to before? I am also applying to Columbia, which I actually visited yesterday (I’m spending the summer with family in the US) and really liked. You might also want to try Barnard (the small women’s college affiliated with Columbia, assuming you’re female), which is a little less selective and lets you take classes at Columbia and even shares co-ed dorms and dining halls with them.</p>
<p>For now, good luck to you, too, and feel free to share more of your plans, like what you are planning to study (I’m really curious). You can also send me a private message if you want.</p>
<p>@littlebird</p>
<p>thanks for the reply. I took the ACT not the SAT because people told me it’s easier. I scored really badly because I had a time issue. Just worked on half of the questions and then time was almost over and I just answered the other half without really knowing the questions - so I expected a low score. I think I will buy the books too and will take the SAT in November and then again in January. :)</p>
<p>I will study Architecture in Germany but orginally wanted to study Psychology or Neuroscience. Anyway, my Architecture internship starts tomorrow and classes in October and depending on how much I like Architecture I apply for it or Psychology/Neuroscience, I’ll see. I won’t apply to Columbia anymore because of the financial aid I need - need a full scholarship. Therefore, I will probably apply to Cornell, Georgetown, Amherst, maybe Yale. I am not sure yet because I am looking for colleges I will suit in and will be happy (not just attending a college for the name). Therefore, I will get in contact with some current students first and will try to attend a college fair to get an impression if I would be happy at the college because I am unable to visit </p>
<p>What about you? What are you doing in your gap year and what do you want to study?</p>
<p>I am really glad to found another German student on here, So I am not alone with this confusing application and financial aid stuff. Have fun in the US ;)</p>
<p>@sunny</p>
<p>“I won’t apply to Columbia anymore because of the financial aid I need - need a full scholarship”</p>
<p>So do I Actually, Columbia guarantees to meet full financial need if you get in - and they don’t expect any contribution if your family makes less than $ 60.000 a year.
But you are a transfer student, and a lot of colleges don’t offer any financial aid/scholarships to transfer students, therefore your situation might be different (there are already few enough schools who offer that kind of aid to first-year international students, let alone transfers).
So an actual transfer might be even more difficult. I didn’t even know it was possible to get any kind of aid as a transfer since all the colleges that I looked at don’t offer any (again, see previous posts on this thread). I was going to do a year abroad/Auslandssemester kind of thing for as long as possible if I start college in Germany.</p>
<p>“I am not sure yet because I am looking for colleges I will suit in and will be happy (not just attending a college for the name). Therefore, I will get in contact with some current students first and will try to attend a college fair to get an impression if I would be happy at the college because I am unable to visit”</p>
<p>That’s also the way I think about it I wouldn’t apply to Columbia either just for the sake of going to an Ivy League school. The schools that I’m applying to (NYU, Columbia plus Barnard, UChicago and USC) are all big research Universities in big cities with undergraduate schools that have a focus on liberal arts and a core curriculum. I visited NYU and Columbia myself so I think I got a good impression, also, I have an American cousin in UChicago who knows people in both Barnard and USC, so I’m trying to research as much as possible in order to make sure that I actually like the college I attend (even if I can’t visit all of them).</p>
<p>As for my academic interests, I would like to study English, Journalism and maybe Studio Art and do a double major/minor combination of the three. If I end up studying in Germany, I’ll probably do English (Amerikanistik).</p>
<p>In my gap year, I’m mainly doing internships in Journalism (Newspaper, Radio) for the first half year (starting in September), and I’ll also try to look for a Job to earn some money. I haven’t quite figured out what I’ll be doing in the second half of the year, but I might be doing another Job/Internship, maybe even abroad (I also thought about doing some kind of voluntary work, like Freiwilliges Soziales Jahr, but those are usually a year long and I can’t start this fall because I’m not 18 until September, and shorter projects that start later usually cost money).</p>
<p>And I agree, the whole application process is insanely complicated, and by the way also one of the main reasons for taking a gap year in the first place (There is no way I could have done all that next to the Abitur). And it’s hard to find a college that offers good financial aid for international students like us who need a lot of it :)</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Columbia does not meet full-need for transfer students. You can have a look at Amherst, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, MIT they are all need-blind and meet full-need for international students. Georgetown and Cornell are need-blind too but do not guarantee to meet full need. Anyway, just have a look at them </p>
<p>All of them are also need-blind for international transfers (except of Princenton that doesn’t offer transfer applications and Dartmouth). MIT is an amazing school but just not my cup of tea, so there aren’t that many left. Anyway, even if there are just a few of them, I just calculated how much I will spend on application and test fees - gosh, that’s gonna be expensive. I know that those schools are highly competitive but I will regret it if I don’t apply, so I’ll give it a try. </p>
<p>Your major-minor combination sounds interesting and so do your internships. I think doing them abroad would be an amazing opportunity, best of luck :)</p>
<p>I also hope to work while studying to save some money but I think this will cover no more than the travel costs.</p>
<p>The Internships that I have in the first half of my gap year are both in Germany, but the Job/Internship that I might be doing in the second half is actually in Mallorca (it has nothing to do with Journalism, though. I got the offer through someone in my family, which probably makes me really lucky)
Good to know that there are actually some schools who offer aid to transfer students. Too bad they’re none of my dream schools, but there are some excellent ones amongst them that I might have a look at
And yeah, the application and test fees are really expensive- have you taken the TOEFL yet? I’ll take it this fall and it’s more than $ 200 
And just like you, some of the schools I’m applying to are really hard to get into, and my dream school (University of Southern California) only offers merit scholarships for international students, and since I need a full-tuition one, the odds are not exactly in my favor. But not applying is not an option for me either for the same reason that you pointed out - If I don’t try, I’ll always wonder what could have been, and if it’s my dream I honestly think it’s worth a shot. :)</p>
<p>Mallorca really? That’s great. If not Journalism what will it be? :)</p>
<p>I took the IELTS because I kind of liked it more - it is still on paper and I like to have sheets to underline words and write things down. Anyway, I also payed 200€ 
</p>
<p>I was just on the website of the University of Southern California and if you scored over 600 on the SAT Critical Reading section you do not have to take the TOEFL.
I just checked NYU and Columbia and they don’t write something like that on their website maybe you could contact them then you could save some money :)</p>
<p>What I forgot last year to add on the application and test fees were the costs I had to pay for translations (tax return, transcripts) and unfortunately translators require a huge amount of money. </p>
<p>Anyway, that’s a good attitude: that applying is worth a shot ;)</p>
<p>“Mallorca really? That’s great. If not Journalism what will it be?”</p>
<p>It’s an online company/website, social-network-ish kind of thing where people can sell stuff online, so it’s still in the media. Kind of hard to explain, but somebody in my family founded it and offered me an internship. It’s kind of getting more international, so I might do some public relations/press stuff in English or something, I don’t know yet. I’m going there at some point soon to have a look at it. (Sorry, I’m trying not to put too many details, I don’t want to give out too much personal stuff on the Internet, so I won’t write the name of the company) :)</p>
<p>I know that USC and Columbia don’t require the TOEFL if you score high on the SAT Critical Reading, and even though I scored a 730 on CR, UChicago and NYU still require the TOEFL from all international students regardless of the SAT, so I have to take it anyway… (Barnard only requires it if you’ve been learning English for less than 5 years, so I wouldn’t need it there, either). Also, it’s probably a good “extra” qualification if I can show off a high score :)</p>
<p>How much do translators cost, anyway? Could it be possible to translate the transcript myself and then just get an official signature on it? </p>
<p>I also talked to an admissions person at Columbia, and he told me that they don’t even want the original, just the translation. I’m going to contact the other schools to find out if they do the same thing. Also, did you submit the half-year reports (Halbjahreszeugnisse) from 11th and 12th grade, too, or is the Abitur transcript enough? (Because that one has all the grades of the last 2 years on it anyway, so you don’t really need all the other reports, right?)</p>
<p>That’s fine, I wouldn’t write so many personal things on the internet either :)</p>
<p>I actually had the same thought, just translate it myself and get a signature somewhere but it won’t work and I asked myself how it would look if there were mistakes in it. Anyway, transcripts aren’t that expensive because you pay per line. I had to pay ~220€ for the tax return (I was shocked). I can’t tell you how much you have to pay for the transcripts because luckily my friend’s father is a translator and he had time to translate my transcripts. </p>
<p>I had to send them my transcripts from grade 9 to 12 including half-year reports (in German and in English). Anyway, I do not have the Abitur, I have the Fachhochschulreife but if your report shows the grades from grade 11 and 12 just let your counselor (in your case teacher because I think you don’t have a counselor either) upload your Abitur transcript on the Common Application and if they need further transcripts they will contact you. Maybe let your counselor/teacher upload your Abitur transcript in both German and English then you would be on the safe side :)</p>
<p>Why exactly do you need to pay a tax return? What is it for and why is it so much?</p>
<p>Wow, I feel like this is getting more and more expensive. I wasn’t prepared for that. Seems like there are a lot of hidden costs in the application process that sneak up on you and suddenly appear when you least expect them. I hope I’ll actually get a job as soon as I’m back in Germany, I don’t want to make my parents pay so much money :-/</p>
<p>But thanks for the Information, I’ll ask a school official (Koordinator) to submit my transcripts (like you said, there are no counselors) and then I already have 2 teachers to write the recommendations. I just feel like I’ll have to run after them for a long time, which is especially complicated since I already graduated and don’t see those people on a daily basis anymore… I hope it’ll work out on time though… :)</p>
<p>[Regular</a> Decision - International | Columbia Financial Aid and Educational Financing](<a href=“http://cc-seas.financialaid.columbia.edu/application/rd_fo]Regular”>http://cc-seas.financialaid.columbia.edu/application/rd_fo)
2014-2015 Application Process for Regular Decision Applicants
International Students Whose Parents Live Outside the US
Look at Most Recent Tax Returns “All tax/income documents (if not already in English) should be translated into English but report all figures in local currency.”
Therefore, I had to pay a translator to translate the tax return.
Why it is so much? - Honestlty, I don’t know. I know that you pay per line, every line they translate you pay a fixed price and the tax return has about 4 pages.</p>
<p>Sorry, didn’t want to scare you with the costs. Some schools (at least Columbia does) require the CSS-Profile, you enter there your income, rent… and I think everytime you send it to a school you pay a fee, it was only a small amount but it really adds up with all the application fees, test fees.
Have you looked if you are eligible for an application feewaiver?</p>
<p>If your teachers submit their recommendations late because they were busy that’s ok, don’t worry about that :)</p>
<p>It’s okay, you didn’t scare me, and it’s not your fault
I had actually seen the tax return thing before, guess I just forgot about it. And it never crossed my mind that it would be that expensive.
Also, I’d love to meet the genius who made applying for financial aid (!!!) cost such a tremendous amount of money 
:mad:</p>
<p>Thanks for your help. I’m so glad that there’s somebody who has already been through the application process once. ;)</p>
<p>I’d love to meet that guy too. Anyway, I think once you are admitted the fees were worth it. </p>
<p>It’s always a pleasure, if you have more questions I’ll try to help :)</p>
<p>By the way, did you visit Barnard College? Because I was on their website and it seems like an amazing college, great community, interesting majors… - just wondering what impression you got during your visit :)</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to actually visit the Barnard Campus, even though it’s located literally across the street from Columbia. It’s actually also a part of Columbia, so I’m guessing it can’t be that much different from it.
I talked to someone who was from Barnard, and she told me it has more the feeling of a “small liberal arts college” with a very tight-knit community, but you can still take advantage of the opportunities of a major research university.
Also, the guy I talked to at Columbia’s admissions office told me that if you’re applying to Columbia as a girl, Barnard is definitely a thing for you, too. So it’s probably an experience similar to Columbia College, especially since Barnard students can take classes there, too.</p>
<p>Thank you :)</p>
<p>müssen wir nur die zeugnisse von der 11ten klasse schicken? und dann midyear report?
oder 9,10,11.1 und 11.2?</p>
<p>@alexbcn: I thnk most schools require any high school-equivalent reports (9th to 12th grade, that is) that are available at the point of applying. If you’re applying while in 12.1, that means you’d need to submit 9,10,11.1,11.2, and then the midyear report later, which would be the Halbjahreszeugnis from 12.1.</p>