@MYOS1634 Will the NPCs be reliable if he has his own business as appears to be the case?
I really think your daughter needs to do some AP classes. She is at a disadvantage as a homeschooler if she has none. I agree that if the trip to Mexico can be rescheduled, it should be.
Advantages of taking APs as a junior are that it shows mastery of a subject, good results can be used for credit at many colleges (which means getting through college more quickly, saving money,) and it’s a standardized test which shows that she has has rigorous standards. She is more likely to get in to colleges with some AP scores under her belt. While APs taken in senior year can be used for college credit also, it’s too late for the college application process. You might want to post in the homeschooling forum for more advice.
Homeschooled with a 4.0 gpa- hmm. No AP classes because will be in Mexico in May. Students do not need to take the AP exam to take AP classes. However, if she is home schooled that may be a problem in documenting coursework without the AP exam. Easy to self study with online resources. You need to figure out priorities- Mexico or her education. If you were using the schools she would not be able to miss classes in the first two weeks of May. No reason she can’t go later.
You can afford airfare to Europe, trips to Mexico but not a US college? You state you are too rich for some need based money. You need to rethink spending money on trips elsewhere. Generations of immigrants left family behind and could never see them again. If you do not qualify for financial aid you have money, how you choose to spend it reflects the importance of things.
Does your D want to be fully integrated into American society? She is missing out on the HS experience by not physically interacting with other teens in the school setting. Going to a US college would expose her to many others living in this country, and the college she attends would place her with intellectual peers (public flagship U’s get many gifted kids who cannot afford elite OOS schools).
You, her parents are immigrants and it looks like you are not attempting to integrate your D into US society by excluding her from her US peer groups via school. My H and his sister/her H are immigrants. We have gifted kids and chose an American lifestyle. Successful US college grads.
I am from the US for various generations (depends on which ancestor you look at). Did not have money- used scholarships and work to get through college, translated into able to pay for son.
Post becoming long. You need to figure out your values. You can find a way to get a good US college education for your D IF you choose to. Loans that need to be paid off with the job she will get perhaps. So many Americans who don’t qualify for need based aid do it every year- no family in other countries to go there.
Having one foot in the US and one in the old country has meant your D may not feel American. You choose.
PS- many, many good U’s for elite students in the US. Prestige and known name are not the same as an excellent education.
I also had hoped to send my kid away to college, and like you, we couldn’t afford our Federal EFC. Unlike your kid, mine didn’t have stats that might have landed her guaranteed merit. So she went where we could afford - the local CC and then an economical in-state public U. She has turned out just fine.
Don’t discount the affordable US option.
Wouldn’t a Mexican university be a better chance for a future US immigration lawyer. Can she stay with family there?
American grad schools and employers would be far more familiar with Mexican universities than Slovakian. And see about moving the Mexican trip as @MYOS1634 suggested. That would help.
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elite students<>intellectual peers<<<
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This is an 11th grader with one PSAT score of 1300, no APs, homeschooled, is there something I missed?
Your daughter’s best bet would be two years of community college and then transfer to your state flagship. If your daughter intends to live in the US, then this course of action would give her a much better chance of getting into law school.
With respect to your daughter’s language skills–it sounds like she understands and speaks to you in Slovak. My son-in-law, who was born in Russia and immigrated to NY when he was 6, spent his junior year at a university in St Petersburg. It was a struggle–conversing with Mom and Dad and family members was the extent of his Russian fluency (he went to elementary/high school in NY and then to Tufts for college). He was not equipped with the academic language or writing skills he needed. It was a real challenge for him.
It was not clear from what you posted whether all of the coursework in Slovakia was in English or just some of the courses.
I would second the recommendations above that your daughter self-study and take the AP exams in May. She can travel afterwards.
One aditional factor you may need to investigate - with no APs could she even get admitted? The Slovak school system and final maturita exam is accepted by UK universities as equivalent to A levels, whereas they want APs for Americans.
This college in Bratislava which offers an American style liberal arts degree for 4K (in euros) says they assess academic ability of non-EU applicants on “the results of secondary education and the results of the leaving exams.” (Even if your daughter is a Slovak citizen, her education is not in the Slovak citizen so I’m sure she would be assessed as as an international.)
http://www.bisla.sk/criteria-for-admission-for-2017/2018
Costwise, it looks as if they definitely charge fees for courses taught in English (up to 12K euros, although my guess is that higher price would be for something like engineering). This link may be useful: https://www.saia.sk/_user/documents/publikacie/study-in-slovakia_2015_web.pdf
^ but this a small outfit that wouldn’t really be recognized for law school purpose.
For ease of transfer back to the US, the university needs to be recognizable to us institutions, IE, ancient, among the top 3-4 Slovakia.
The priority should be, first, the PSAT, and, second, preparing for 3 AP exams. Taking foreign language subject tests and any other subject test demonstrating mastery will be necessary since she’s been homeschooled.
This student’s best chance is scores demonstrating excellence in some subjects (subject tests, AP) as well as a high SAT/act score, leading to a good scholarship from UTK or UTC or admission to a meet-need school that will be interested in her profile.
Sure, I was just getting an idea about admissions requirements. Obviously OP will be investigating the specific collegs of interest to them - and they are also constrained by it being in the city grandma lives in, I believe?
Glad that OP is aware of potential language difficulties if the coursework is not in English. I have two acquaintances with dual citizen children, US and Germany. Both sets of kids speak German fluently (language spoken at home), read fluently and studied German to AP levels and in extra curricular classes. All attended a very demanding US high school where they did well. All passed uni required German language evaluative test (like the TOFEL for foreign students studying in the US) with highest marks. Kids studied/study at several different German unis. All found that their written German for the papers required in their coursework was not at the level expected by their uni profs.
I am in Tn the 1st 2 years of community college is free plus you have the hope scholarship.