<p>Hi,
I already posted this topic in the Harvard sub-forum, but after that i found this sub-forum and i thought it would fit better here</p>
<p>I'm new to this forum so please accept if I make mistakes!
Also if my English isn't as well, I'm sorry I'm 14 years old (2nd class VWO for people form The Netherlands), living in The Netherlands doing VWO (highest school type).
So, it's difficult for people here to get Information about College's in The US.
Why? Because few people here go there.</p>
<p>I'm very interested in Ivy League schools, and of course especially Harvard, but it's very difficult for me to get in.
We don't got GPA's or something, no A to F scales or anything.</p>
<p>So I'm asking, is there someone at this forum who is an International Student/Student from The Netherlands and is an Undergraduate Student at an Ivy League school?
And are you willing to give me some information?</p>
<p>Thanks!
Kind Regards, Dante.
B.T.W: before I can even apply to an college, we're in 2015 so I'm just an early explorer!</p>
<p>American universities, including the Ivy Leagues, are familiar with international school systems and gradings. Also, applying students have their school record evaluated by independent companies. So don’t worry that Harvard can’t understand your grades. What you should do is take the most rigorous courses available to you, and to do very well in them. You should also do well on all the required exams (TOEFL, SAT, SAT2 etc.) American schools also want to see activities outside of the classroom - sports, music, academic competitions, volunteering, - that kind of thing. They’re important. Ivy League schools in particular look for leaders: school newspaper editor-in-chief, president of the chemistry club, finalists in international olympiads – these kinds of accomplishments are commonplace among Ivy League students. Check out the Ivy League/Stanford threads: accepted students there often post all their statistics (grades, test scores, accomplishments, etc.) That will give you an idea of just how tough it is to get in. </p>
<p>Also, familiarize yourself with the financial realities. American universities cost A FORTUNE, and there is very little scholarship money for international students. Unless you’re truly outstandingly brilliant, odds are you will be expected to pay upwards of $50,000 PER YEAR.</p>
<p>Thanks for you information,
I already read some things about the activities outside school, so I will try my best to do so, but it’s going to be tough here in The Netherlands to do so but alright.</p>
<p>About the money, I already talked about this with my parents and they said: If you would get that far we’ll find a way.
Also, the site of Harvard say’s 70% of all International Students will get a Financial Aid.</p>
<p>Do you know someone who studies there who’s an international student?</p>
<p>Keep in mind Harvard only accepts at MOST 1 or 2 kids from the Netherlands per year. So you must do your best to stand out not only in your school, but in your whole country. The good thing is… you’re young, so you have time.</p>
<p>But I just want to remind you that an Ivy League education is not everything. There are plenty of successful people who didn’t go to those schools.</p>
<p>Harvard guarantees to meet full demonstrated need for all admitted students. The site says that over 70% of student receive financial aid - read carefully.</p>
<p>Basically, if you get admitted at Harvard, you don’t need to worry about finances. The same is true at Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Princeton and Amherst.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Don’t worry about this sort of thing. Every college knows that internationals just don’t have the same opportunities as American kids. Just make the best use of your resources and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>offtopic - finaly some people who aren’t negative!
ontopic - well i also thought that I can get more out of my education on Middle school (or high school in the US i’m not sure), because I’m still young etc.</p>
<p>But I think I’m not only going to apply to Harvard, also the Yale Princeton NYU and Stanford. (Again the big names huh?), and ofcourse University of Amsterdam and University of Leiden. @rsaxena but if I will do some activities outside school, will I have a better chance?</p>
<p>The good thing is you are planning with a lot of time to prepare.</p>
<p>Yeah, what you should do is focus on one or two extracurricular activities and get very good at them. It helps if you win national or even international awards in your activities.</p>
<p>Ivies do not want well-rounded students, they want a well-rounded class. What this means is that the ivies do not want students who are superficially good in a lot of activities as much as they want students who excel at one or two activities.</p>
<p>Hey Dantesean, I guess there isn’t a recipe or instructions to get in, but to do your best, according to you, yourself. Don’t become a robot, be yourself.</p>
<p>All these colleges you mentioned are looking for talented people, for leaders, for human beings. People who isn’t following the “how to get in manual”, but people who accomplish what they like, by being them.</p>
<p>What do you enjoy? Is there a sport? a hobby? whatever comes into your mind and heart if you love it, pursue it, be passionate, enjoy it, have fun. You still have what?..4 more years? Enjoy them, be a high schooler, try, screw up, try something else or keep on trying. Don’t lose yourself by trying to become a fit or whatever you wanna call it.
When time comes, apply, do your best, show your best and relax. Do not overstress or obsess.
Since you are still 14 a few recomendations would be like take the hardest classes, but dont over do it. If you are able to cope take them, if not its ok either way. Get familiar with the SAT’s, learn as much english as possible and thats it, the rest is up to you, nothing will assure you admission.</p>
<p>@paukid haha thanks,
well you know, I screwed last year, and repeated that year this year, but it’s ok right?
or are these schools also going to look back on that?
also we got a total different system then the US got, you got Middle School High School College right? We got Middle School with 3 types (easy to hard) and after that University if you did the hardest type, which I do.
But forget about that.</p>
<p>My hobby’s are drumming and swimming so I hope they’re interested!</p>
<p>I am still in high school and I am an international student as well. I am applying to Harvard, Upenn, Cornell, UChicago, Williams, Amherst, Northwestern and WUSTL. </p>
<p>Harvard’s a long shot, but I still got to try. My dad went to the Kennedy School, so I am hoping that will help me. I don’t know if it counts as legacy though.</p>
<p>Where you from then?
Yeah, I still have 4 years to think about my College, but I will definitely be applying to HYP (Harvard, Yale, Princeton), NYU Stanford and some in my country.
Maybe a little bit on the much side, or not?</p>
<p>I am from Paraguay. I think it’s good to shoot for the top colleges, that way if one does not get into them, one is still very competitive at other great schools.</p>
<p>You should check out the schools I am applying to, they all have at least some financial aid for international students, and I believe they are all great schools.</p>
<p>From what I know NYU offers no financial aid to international students, I heard it is even stingy with domestic applicants, so I am not sure about that one.</p>
<p>Yeah I didn’t do any research for NYU. I only checked out they’re website and saw it was a nice, good school.But without Financial Aid it’s not going to do it I think.</p>
<p>I will be check out you’re schools for sure!
Also, if I won’t make it in to Harvard, I can still try to do a graduated study after I finished an other college.</p>
<p>But if Harvard won’t accept you, will Yale or Princeton still be able to accept you?</p>
<p>I work with The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS for short), a non-profit with more than 300 member schools in both North America and abroad. I read your post about wanting to get into an Ivy League school and thought you might be interested in checking out TABS at <a href=“http://www.boardingschools.com%5B/url%5D”>www.boardingschools.com</a>. </p>
<p>I am sure that if you apply yourself and start preparing early, there is a good chance you’ll get into Harvard; however, if you want to put yourself on a level playing field with the majority of the other applicants, you may want to consider school in the U.S., namely, boarding school.</p>
<p>One of the best ways to check out different boarding schools is to use TABS School Browser. You can enter the school name if you have a particular school in mind, or search by zip code, and even view an A-Z listing of nearly 300 member schools. Each school has its own page and profile with lots of key information, and you can request info from multiple schools at once. Its quite the time-saver!</p>