<p>Hi people, I am currently a junior studying in a prestigious international school in Taiwan. However, my dream school has always been UC Berkeley, which residency matters A LOT. Currently, I have an option offered by my parents: to go back to the States (California) or not. </p>
<p>There is a problem though: I am an IB Diploma candidate currently. And the main problem has been to fit my diploma courses into schools in the Walnut District (Diamond Bar HS, Walnut HS, and Charter Oak HS). Walnut HS has already rejected me because they cannot offer HL Chinese A2/A1 :(, as for Diamond Bar HS, I'm TRYING to get those courses, and Charter Oak = pending.</p>
<p>Ok so if this IB Diploma thing really doesn't work out if I transfer back to the States, do you guys think I should give it up? Or just stay in Taiwan? I don't really want to give it up because I'm only one course short if I transfer back : ( but I also want that residency ><!</p>
<p>My current stats:</p>
<p>SAT: 700(W) 800(M) 650(R) 2150
SAT II: 800 Chinese w/ Listening, 800 Math IIC
GPA: 3.92 UC GPA (I know, this one sucks big time for me)
ECs:
400hr+ at local hospital
Japanese Honor Society
Model United Nations
I've taken 2 college level courses during sophomore summer at UCB, and have obtained the college credits for both courses
etc. etc.</p>
<p>Junior year courses:
IBHL/AP English Yr.1
IBHL Chinese A2 Yr.1
IBHL Biology Yr.1
IBSL/AP Economics
Japanese 3
Precalculus
AP Computer Science A (I dropped it at the beginning of second semester; apparently computer science is just not my thing :/ )</p>
<p>Exams that will be taken in May:
IBSL Economics
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
AP Chinese
AP Japanese</p>
<p>Senior year courses (expected):
IBHL/AP English A1 Yr.2
IBHL Chinese A2 Yr.2
IBHL Biology Yr.2
IBSL Japanese B
IBSL Math Methods
IB Theory of Knowledge</p>
<p>Exams expected to be taken in May, 2009:
IBHL English A1
IBHL Chinese A2
IBHL Biology
IBSL Japanese B
IBSL Math Methods
AP English Language
AP English Literature</p>
<p>If you will have the residency status for moving to CA right now and you really want to come to Berkeley, why not do so? It will save you a lot of money if you want to attend college in the United States. </p>
<p>IB diploma isn’t a big deal for colleges in Taiwan right? Are you confident that you will be able to score really well on the college entrance exam in Taiwan? Or you are talking about getting an IB diploma in Taiwan and apply to US colleges from there? Seriously, the non-resident tuition is a lot of money ($25k/year X 4 = 100k in total) and I don’t think an IB diploma worths that much. I came from an IB school in California too and we had 60 full IB students in my class… everyone kinda regreted to spend the money to do full IB because it really doesn’t count as anything after you go to college.</p>
<p>reply to emiko’s post:
I study in an international school (precisely, the school name is Taipei American School, so it is basically bringing a local American high school to Taiwan), thus I will not take Taiwan’s college entrance exam. 95% of the students studying in my school goes to the States, unless they want to go some where else in the world.
Oh and, tuition is not really a problem actually. My family doesnt really mind paying the extra fee if I enter as an international student. It’s basically a IB DIPLOMA or RESIDENCY problem now. Thanks for the reply though!</p>
<p>reply to anon5524485’s post:
Thanks for those information! It really helps a lot. I contacted Walnut HS already, and because I have Chinese A2 as one of my HL courses + I am Chinese anyway, they won’t let me do Chinese B HL even if I offer to do so : (
So if Diamond Bar HS ad Charter Oak HS doesnt work out, what do you suggest? Both of the schools can accommodate my needs for those diploma courses (worst scenario: they cant help me with Chinese A2). In that case, if I really have to choose between residency and IB diploma (I can still do IB certificate thing, but it just doesn’t look that great), what will you suggest?
p.s. between Diamond Bar HS and Charter Oak HS, which one is better?</p>
<p>The reason California residents have higher acceptance rates is because their parents pay taxes to the state. If your parents aren’t planning on moving back with you, you’re technically just a visiting scholar or something like that. Usually, you either have to go to high school in CA for 3 years, or your parents have to actually reside/work in CA. Otherwise, you have to pay the nonresident fee, which basically means you are treated like any out of state/international applicant. Bottom line- unless your parents plan on moving back with you to join the military in CA or work for the university, living one year in CA is not enough to establish residency. So, I suggest you stay and complete your IB, or else you’ll be losing something for nothing. </p>
<p>O..if you don’t care about the money…then I guess you can just stay and finish your diploma. However, even if you have green card, it is still harder to non-residents to get into Cal so you might want to think about that.</p>
<p>Yeah I know what school you are talking about. I am from Taiwan and studied in a high school there.</p>
<p>I think I am kinda biased about IB degree because my school had so many full IB students, yet .. err idk, I feel like that didn’t do anything to them in terms of everything. There are full IB students who got rejected from everywhere and went to UCR in the end too so..
Besides, at my school, it doesn’t matter if you are full IB or not but you are required to do all the IB works as long as you are taking the classes which are called AP/IB. So basically I was forced to do all the crap work but I was not in IB at all.</p>
<p>However, it sounds like you care a lot about the IB diploma. If you do, then you should do for it since it going to make you sleep better at night.</p>
<p>Thanks for all those replies! Actually, [to xlxjuliexlx] my parents still pays tax in the states, and [to emiko] I am an US citizen.
soooo, if I move back this year, will it be possible to establish residency? I am kind of lost here</p>