Hey, I’m writing this thread because I found my self in a very strange position, i graduated high school this year with 4.0 GPA, as most of you i want to study abroad because the education in my country can not provide what i’m looking for anyway i got offered to study Architecture, but i don’t think i’m going to study it, i will always work hard and smart to study in the US, when i read everything about application and the requirement i was a bit shocked especially when i have found out that EC’s are much important than your high school grades, i’m familiar with the sat and the sat subject test, so i know much better about the admission process, the thing i want to get help with is
i’m not going to study in my home country in any university and i’m going to take a gap year, but i need suggestion on EC’s that can boost my chances of admission at those colleges offering generous fin aid to international students, taking online courses on coursera and edx worth it ? for example if i want to study business at college but before i apply i take some courses on that field and have certificates will that boost my chances too ? another thing! what can make a student’s essay unique ?
ECs should reflect your interests and/or passion, so no one can really advise you on a “good” EC. You could consider volunteering, tutoring, starting a business, etc. You could make your EC a jumping off point for your essay: what you learned from it, how it influenced your academic direction, etc. But that’s just one option. People write about everything under the sun. Instead of asking us what can make a student’s essay unique, ask yourself what makes YOU unique - and then focus on that in the essay.
@katliamom I appreciate your words, to be honest i’m not worried about the essay as much as i’m worried about the EC’s, in my home country we were taught to just study in a school, we have never been taught to get involved in the community, they didn’t taught us to do such EC’s, will the colleges i’m applying to order a proof of Ec’s ?
What do you do besides study? Do have any interests or accomplishments outside of the classroom? American universities know that many international students don’t have American-style EC opportunities. At the same time, they also want to see what sort of a person you are and what you will bring to the campus community. Having few ECs should be OK – but having no ECs at all may make you a less competitive applicant.
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You have to report your EC and whatnot on your own.
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That your school didn’t teach you to get involved in community or do ECs is not really a good reason; there are plenty of other international students who aren’t necessarily “taught” to do EC; they do that on their own. So basically you will be outcompeted without any valuable EC that makes YOU unique, as Katliamom said.
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Good news it, that majority of good schools in US don’t put much emphasis on EC; it’s the top 50(or 40) universities that look at ECs when there are so many qualified students. Unless you are thinking about Harvard/MIT/Amherst or any other top schools, you don’t have to worry too much
By the way, I would advise you to work on your English before you start college. Unlike high schools, professors can’t be, and aren’t there for you to help(well, except English teachers)
More courses on top of a rigorous course load will rarely make a difference. If you are interested in business specifically, try to get some business-related experience. Get an internship, start your own company, volunteer for a political campaign. If you wanted to apply as a recruited athlete, you should focus on your sport. If you wanted to emphasize your potential as an academic high-flyer, you would continue your coursework while pursuing other activities that showcase your potential (e.g. academic competitions, research at a university). Be warned though that students who get admitted to the ranks of Harvard or Stanford on the basis of academics alone will have qualifications like awards from international competitions or having completed Masters-level coursework in high school.
Your high school record and standardized test scores will always be the most important component in your application. It’s just that a small number of highly selective universities receive so many applications from high school graduates with stellar academic records that they need to look at other things (like ECs) to break ties among qualified applicants.
There are not a lot of universities that offer generous financial aid.
@“aunt bea” i found out that there are more than ten and they are competitive though there are among them less competitive 
review your resources .
@pupil12 Aunt bea knows what she is talking about and you do not. generous financial aid to internationals is limited to the elite and well endowed colleges that will require extensive EC’s. No one has to be “taught” to do EC’s either.
Tom you don’t know what it is like to live in a third world country…
@Pupil12 there’s some info that we’re probably missing here. What do you want to study? Are there any universities in particular that you want to study at? What are your SAT, SAT subject test, ACT, and/or TOEFL scores? Have you even taken them?
@TomSrOfBoston is right; financial aid for internationals is generally pretty limited. For example, MIT gives out (I think only) need-based scholarships, and if you were accepted to MIT but cannot afford it, they will try their best to make up the difference so you can attend. But MIT has a quota of around 10% international, and getting in as an international is already competitive as it is…
@Pupil12 but you did NOT tell us you live in 3rd world country. We are not psychics.
Also, not only you wrote in rude tone, but also seem to be unrealistic because those “more than 10” schools are by no means easy to get in for both domestics and international students, and for the latter, it is much harder when one applies for FA
Financial aid in the USA means need based aid for the most time, and there are only countable numbers of schools that offer need based scholarship. Even among those, there are some that may not meet your 100% need, and THEY are the one who calculates what THEY THINK YOU NEED.
If you mean merit scholarship as well when you say the word “financial aid”( then yes there are a number of schools that offer good MERIT scholarship for international students as well:
Even for those, most of them are very hard to get. Only a few schools(Howard University, UAlabama circles) have generous and easy requirements for good amount of merit scholarship.
Well, now that you’ve found those universities, and are an expert on financial aid for international students, you should apply to those schools. See how generous their financial aid is.
In addition to the highly selective places that are almost impossible to be admitted by, but that do offer excellent need-based aid, there are a small number of institutions that guarantee admission and significant merit-based aid to both international and US students. No ECs are needed at all for these scholarships. Just excellent grades and ACT or SAT scores. If your numbers are good enough, you are in, and you get the money. Check the places on this list, and find out which of the scholarships are open to international applicants: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
There also are a number of institutions that award a certain number of merit-based scholarships each year on a competitive basis. Some will care about ECs. Others won’t. You need to check each scholarship for details: http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
And of course you can run the college-matching search engines to identify institutions that award scholarships or need-based aid to international applicants, and then check through that list. Several years ago b@r!um wrote about searching that way, and reading through the websites of 300 different colleges and universities in order to pin down the ones worth applying to. Yup. You read that number correctly. In b@r!um’s case, the effort was worth it as it ended up in admission with an affordable aid package to a decent college.