Hello! My name is Ionela and I’m a 9th grade student. I know it’s way too early to talk about this, but I would really like to study in the U.S. Some people told me that as a student in America, I had to be on my own, but others told me that there were a lot of scholarships for studying in the U.S.
Why am I writing this? I would really like to know about the steps I have to follow in getting a scholarship there.
I know that for American Universities is so important to do volunteering and get that SAT exam. What is SAT about?
And also have to pass TOEFL exam, right?
I’m looking forward to reading your advices and comments. Have a nice spring! 
Hey there! I could answer your questions regarding U.S. Admissions from the perspective of an international. Just PM me 
@BlairSt06 thankies! I left you a message^^
The two most important criteria that you can control will be 1° ability to do well on standardized tests (SAT/ACT/Subject tests) and 2° extra curricular activities (only one or two would be fine, as long as you develop them into something that has a measurable impact or is nationally recognized. Research is also good.)
Obviously, an excellent level in English will be a pre-requisite, so taking the TOEFL shouldn’t be a problem.
The biggest factor that, alas, you can"t control, will be your parents’ budget.
@MYOS1634 yeah, actually I’ve talked to one of the students that got a scholarship and told me that she paid only $2000 per year out of $46000. Is it possible? I mean it’s such a little tuition comparing to $46000.
Yes, it’s possible. Some colleges “meet need” for exceptional international students. The key is to be exceptional…
(All admitted internationals at the 6 need blind/meet need colleges are exceptional, and at the other colleges that meet need for admitted students, it’s so incredibly competitive that only truly exceptional individuals get it).
“exceptional” is the type of students about whom you think, when you hear about what s/he achieved “but it’s impossible! how did s/he do it?”
There’s also merit aid: if you get a high enough standardized score, you can qualify for full tuition or full rides, either through a competition (and there your ECs factor in) or automatically (and there only need 3.5 + test score).
love your picture by the way 
Hi Ionela (Would that name happen to be Romanian?)
It’s never too early to talk about the admissions process and start planning. I wish I had started planning in 9th grade.
The first and perhaps most important aspect is the standardized testing portion of your college application. The SAT and ACT are designed the measure your academic capabilities. Most people see it as an intelligence test but it can definitely be studied for. The format of the SAT will change in 2016, so I can’t give you advice on how to study for that. However, I can tell you that you need to be really proficient in English. That is, you need to read and write better than the average native speaker if you want a score at the level of the top colleges. A 700+ on each section is considered competitive for the top universities. If your school’s language isn’t English, they may be more flexible on the verbal portion. Here is a list of the most selective colleges by their average SAT and ACT scores:
Not all colleges require them, but you should also take the SAT II subject tests, which measure your knowledge in school subjects like Chemistry, History or advanced Mathematics .
The TOEFL is for us international students only. Your score doesn’t matter too much, it’s more of a pass/fail thing to ensure that you have the English skills necessary to survive in an academic setting. . A person who scores a 119 won’t have that much of an advantage over someone who scores a 101. Top tier schools generally have a cutoff of 100 out of 120 and some average schools have a cutoff of 80.
You may have noticed that I’ve mentioned “top schools” a lot. The colleges that are the most generous to us internationals also happen to be the most selective. Aid comes in two forms: merit and need based. Merit aid most often comes from colleges you are overqualified for. For example a college called “Washington and Lee University” gives full scholarships to students who would be competitive at the top Ivy league universities. Likewise, the university of Alabama gives full tuition scholarships to those with a 1400+/1600 SAT. Need based aid is given based on how much money your parents earn. Most mediocre colleges don’t give need based aid at all and only give limited amounts of merit aid. If your parents are wealthy enough to pay for all of your expenses, you’ll have no problem getting admitted into an average university even with mediocre scores and extracurricular activities.
The matter of extracurriculars is somewhat less straightforward than standardized testing. They can make or break your application. If you have perfect scores and no activities, you’re going to get rejected from most if not all places. If you have a Nobel prize like this year’s 17 year old peace prize winner, you’ll have Harvard, Yale and Princeton sending private jets to take you to the US.
It is said that depth matters more than breadth for ECs. Being the president of 1 club is better than being a member of 3. Leadership is always better than regular participation. From a cynical point of view, colleges want the best people in the world in a variety of different areas. My advice would be to find your passion(if you haven’t already) and become one of the best in your country or in the world. For example, if your passion is literature, write a book. If you’re into Math, compete in the International Mathematics Olympiad. This advice is coming from someone who was good at a lot of things rather than world class at one or two.
Volunteering/community service, while not absolutely necessary, show that you are a person who spends her time doing something good for humanity. The more unique your volunteering experience is, the better it looks on your résumé. Assuming you are in fact Romanian, perhaps you could start a project to stop disadvantaged Gypsy children from dropping out of school or something like that.
Lastly, schools are going to have you write essays. While it may be early to start writing those, it’s not too early to start working on your writing skills.
If you have any questions, feel free to PM me anytime.
There are some schools that give good amounts of merit scholarship but that heavily depend on your score and your quality as a student. PM me if you need specific names of schools that give aids to int kids
@MYOS1634 Thankies I really do appreciate that you answered to my questions. Thank you a lot.^^
@burak96 Yup, it’s a Romanian name, I’m Romanian! you too?
As an international student accepted to a highly selective university with basically a full ride for the class of 2019, I’d be happy to answer your questions if you PM me.