international student advice

International Students
1

<p>Hi all :)</p>

<p>I apologize if this is in the wrong section, I tried finding a specific area for my question but felt that the business major forum wasn't really an adequate description for the entire post.</p>

<p>This will be a long post, even three sentences in and I know that you will be reading for a while. I will try to keep things short and to the point but I hope I can convey as much as possible without writing an extended essay on my life.</p>

<p>Okay...</p>

<p>So I am a high school senior here in Australia and since the age of 14 I have wanted to move to America and make video games. Cool. This so far seems to be every 14 year old's dream but along the way things obviously changed. I discovered my grasp of advanced maths functions and formulae was not a strength. I found myself progressively doing better and better in my generic IT design class and receiving top grades in my business classes. I am currently the dux in ITS (Information Technology Systems) 2 years running at my school. </p>

<p>After considering a little more my priorities and landing a week's work experience at THQ Australia, I discovered what I wanted to do for a living, community management. CM's are a very new role to the game industry and still reasonably new in general, the real need for this kind of person suddenly became apparent with the importance of social media and social interaction between customers and companies.</p>

<p>I myself run a weekly gaming podcast and am heavily involved in a lot of game communities and eSports events. I'm a very social person and have friends in America, Canada, Europe and Australia - all made through gaming or radio broadcasts I've been involved with. </p>

<p>back to the whole America idea.</p>

<p>The game industry in Australia is in shambles, believe me. As a person who has firsthand talked to developers and seen the 'big' releases come and go, it is a fairly obvious problem. I'm the kind of person who dreams big -or... at least bigger then barbie riding adventures or spongebob squarepants the movie video game. I've been looking into courses that would be expected or even compliment my role as a community manager and with no specific courses available, I have wittled my options down to a degree in mass communications and media.</p>

<p>This will provide me options to experiment in different types of media, develop my written communication and hopefully provide me with a way to understand how media and the implications of social media affect a consumer base. I did think about trying to mix in some form of psychology into the degree but so far have kind of left that on the back burner.</p>

<p>Now.. onto my dilemma.</p>

<p>Naturally, since I dream big - I aim big. I am an American citizen and have family and friends scattered around both the East and West coasts. My dad's brother (my uncle) who lives in California seems like the best option, I have a roof over my head and a support network, plus my parents will know I'm in a safe environment. I will be moving to California to begin with on November 27th 2011. </p>

<p>When it comes down to it though, I have the potential to move anywhere in the states. I'm a citizen and I've been saving since I was 14 to afford this. If you know of any good universities in any states for mass comms please let me know but take into consideration the following things.</p>

<p>I rang UCB today (UC berkeley) and besides being disconnected every time I was transferred to an admissions officer, I managed to get a hold of the residency officer. I had a small chat and figured out that to declare residency I have to have a bank account/drivers licence/register to vote + 1 year of living in the state + evidence to suggest I have supported myself for that 1 year independently and that I can continue to support myself for the following year.</p>

<p>With all that in mind, the residency officer told me that it is almost impossible to fulfill these conditions - regardless of the person. It then looked quite grim, I now face possible OOS fees that are nothing short of $30,000 a year... (I was hoping to stay for a year, become a resident and go into the school system as a local resident, thus paying less.) </p>

<p>I've been looking into other colleges but I'm not sure what I should be looking for, they all cost a lot as an out of state student and regardless of what job you have during high school - you ain't getting $120k. I understand a large portion of that can be subsidized under student loans and financial aid but the residency officer suggested that I do community college for 2 years, take out the core classes and then transfer in and declare my major. This would mean two years at international student prices, 60k plus w/e community college costs isn't too bad. I understand the school year apparently begins in August from what the UC representative told me, so I would have 3 days to get my application in after I move. (Deadline being the 30th of November) I'm not too sure what sort of details (both academic and community service) are required by colleges initially but I understand that aside from school, heavy eSports involvement here in Australia, my weekly radio show and holding a student elected high school councillor position, I really don't have time to do much else. I was hoping to volunteer and help those less fortunate when I arrived in America, as I would not be at school every day.</p>

<p>My whole dream for the past 4 / 5 years has been to finish school, move to America and go to college. Live on campus, make heaps of awesome friends and study my dream course. Yes... I understand 'dreams' are subsequently very different to reality, but so far on my search for answers I feel kind of shut out and unable to access much. I'm taking the SAT in combination with my local Australian test (QCS) and also completed a college level subject whilst studying year 12, where I scored a 6 - almost a perfect 7.</p>

<p>My GPA is ok, I achieve mainly A's and high B's in all my subjects. Again, I'm not coming from a family with a lot of wealth. Most of my moving, studying and living will be done through the blood, sweat and tears of the past 4 years of working. I hope to continue working whilst I study in America.</p>

<p>The school I attend doesn't have to be Ivy league, it doesn't have to be #1 for mass communications. I just want a good school that will equip me with the knowledge I need to land a good job because ultimately, my persistence and motivation will get me somewhere eventually. :P</p>

<p>I believe that is all the information I need to list, if I think of anything else I'll probably edit it in later. So I suppose my final question is:</p>

<p>Where do I go from here? </p>

<p>What would be some decent schools to look into in Cali? Where else apart from Cali would be good? (Washington? New York?) How much financial aid would I expect to receive as an international student?</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone in advance for tips or advice, my parents haven't lived in America for over 20 years so the whole system has changed quite a lot.</p>

<p>Thanks again :) and have a nice day ^_^</p>

2

<p>Unfortunately I am not in a position to give you advice on mass communications programs, but there are a few other bits and pieces that I wanted to address:</p>

<p>

I would encourage you to submit your college applications before you arrive in the US because it will take you several weeks to assemble to full application. (Letters of recommendation and school reports can take a while.) </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>If you need to demonstrate that you could independently support yourself in the first year of college, I can see why it might be almost impossible for a 19-year-old to achieve in-state status independently of their parents. Could you pay for the entire first year of college (upwards of $30,000 with in-state tuition) from your own savings and income, without any support from your family?</p>

<p>Here’s another potential problem:

If you truly need to support yourself independently, you would have to pay your uncle for room and board at market price; otherwise your uncle is supporting you. </p>

<p>If you are shooting for in-state status at UC Berkeley, you might have to wait for almost two years before you can enroll. (If you arrive in November, you wouldn’t have been there for the full 12 months at the beginning of the following fall semester; hence you would have to wait another year.) Would you be okay with that?</p>

<p>That all being said, I think it’s wise for you to focus on other schools. Most of the financial aid at the top universities is need-based. How much financial aid you might qualify for depends on your need and is impossible for us to assess. Collegeboard has a need-based financial aid calculator online. It’s not set up to work for families living overseas (since taxes and cost-of-living are different from the US), but it’s better than nothing as a first guess. If you are middle class, be warned that your family contribution will be higher than what you think you can afford. It’s your responsibility to figure out how to make that work. Most families need outside scholarships or additional loans (in addition to the ones in the financial aid package) to meet their family contribution.</p>

3

<p>hey B@r!um :)</p>

<p>Thanks for the response, good to see you went through it thoroughly and considered heaps of the information. I know there was a lot to sort through.</p>

<p>I’m strongly looking into the community college route, despite having good results in senior year, the costs for out of state tuition is just too much. I’m considering attending community college for a year or two (which should help me establish myself as a resident), trying to do some work experience at places (San Fran is the king of game journalism companies and game studios (I can think of heaps :O)) and then transfer across and complete my degree at a college.</p>

<p>The guy from UCB said a lot of people tend to take this route and if it helps me stay $50k - $60k out of debt, then I’m all for it. In that time, I might make some friends at community college or at a church that I can move in with.</p>

<p>Do you have any thoughts on this? Again, I can really only theorycraft from Australia. I don’t have the firsthand experience in dealing with the American education system.</p>

<p>edit: i’ll make sure to apply to the community college b4 I leave too, there is one that is right across the street from where I’ll be living and I know friends and family that have attended it in the past.</p>

4

<p>Did you see this page about establishing residency for tuition purposes in California? The website is maintained by UC Santa Barbara, but I believe that all UCs follow the same protocol. Pay special attention to the section on financial independence, especially bullet point A3.<br>
[Establishing</a> California Residence for Tuition Purposes, Office of the Registrar](<a href=“http://www.registrar.ucsb.edu/residenc.htm#who]Establishing”>404 - Page Not Found)</p>

5

<p>It should be noted that this requirement makes it extremely difficult for most undergraduates who do not have a parent domiciled in California to qualify for classification as a resident at a University of California campus.</p>

<p>Hmm… well that sucks.</p>

<p>I suppose my community college route is my best option then?</p>

6

<p>If you are interested,you might want to have a look at the Park School of Communications at Ithaca College [Ithaca</a> College, Ithaca, NY](<a href=“http://www.ithaca.edu%5DIthaca”>http://www.ithaca.edu) It is very well renowned in the field of communications,and offers both need and merit based financial(quite generous too)It’s in Ithaca,New York,which is against your criteria,but may be worth checking out.</p>

7

<p>One of my good friend’s sister attends Ithaca, I’ll have a look but I’ll probably want to keep it to the California area just because of family ties.</p>

8

<p>It is very difficult to establish state residency while you are studying. You need to be a working person and taxpayer instead. Read through the specific policies of that places you are interested to find out what is possible.</p>

9

<p>@happymomof1</p>

<p>I know that residency is hard to establish but I just don’t feel waiting 2 years on top of being 19 would be a good idea. I’ll finish college at 25 which for a first course that isn’t pre-med or law is one hell of a long time.</p>

<p>I’m willing to consider it but at the very least, 2 years cc -> transfer into a school for final 2 years would be a better option. I was hoping to get the whole 4 year college experience but unfortunately money limits what we want, such is life.</p>

<p>I’m not sure but am I able to call colleges and ask about the financial aid options or ask what sort of aid I’d be eligible to receive? I know UC Berkeley is a dream school for me but at the end of the day, hard work at a decent and cheaper school will trump dad’s trust fund. I was looking at WSU, it’s a good 12k cheaper then any of the UC’s but I’d be living in the middle of nowhere x.x</p>

<p>I’ve looked briefly at some of the Cal State’s and they get C+ ratings on college p r o w l e r (lol it asterisks it) but US news ranks one of them #23 on their list. I’m not sure how reliable the data is but cal state seems a lot cheaper and I could probably transfer into Berkeley for the last 2 years if I’m that desperate, right?</p>

10

<p>Have you looked at the University of Southern California? It’s one of the few top-notch private universities with merit-based scholarships. If your SAT scores are high enough, you might qualify for a half-tuition award.</p>

<p>

If your goal is to transfer to Berkeley, a California Community College is THE place to transfer from. Transfer agreements aside, here are Berkeley’s specific transfer admission rates:

  • from a California Community College: 30%
  • from another UC: 20%
  • all other colleges: 10%</p>

<p>I can sympathize with your situation. I came to the US after I won the green card lottery. That makes me technically eligible to establish residency in a state and apply for federal financial aid, but - just like you - I did not qualify for in-state tuition. I could not claim in-state tuition on the basis of my parents, because my parents are living overseas, and I was not willing to postpone college for 1-2 years in order to work and establish residency myself. I found that my best option were private colleges, which are usually much more generous with need-based and merit-based aid for out-of-state students than public universities. </p>

<p>If you qualify for need-based aid and you are willing and able to cover the need-based contribution, I would strongly encourage you to apply to a few private universities! </p>

<p>Unfortunately, most colleges won’t give you a financial aid quote before you apply. Maybe that doesn’t matter because you don’t have much to lose by applying anyway. In the meantime, you could use either [Collegeboard’s</a> generic calculator](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) – BigFuture), or you could work through the [official</a> EFC formula](<a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf]official”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf) for federal financial aid purposes. The result of the federal formula should be considered a lower bound on the family contribution you can expect - colleges might award you less financial aid but they will rarely give you more.</p>

11

<p>yeah, the whole residency situation sucks but gotta work with the system :P</p>

<p>I honestly don’t care that much about Berkeley as an end goal. I’d like to go to a recognised university but my end goal (community management in a game studio) is not really a highly sought after job position and if they still won’t qualify me for in state tuition, it’ll still be a good 60+k debt for the final two years anyway.</p>

<p>With over 30,000 students at Berkeley, it can’t be that uncommon in cali to see berkeley grads. I’ve heard the state schools can also take longer to graduate because so many people are trying to do courses, I’d rather not be stuck another year for a couple classes and end up paying thousands more.</p>

<p>I’ll definitely take a look into some of the private schools. If I have no luck there, I was looking at UW and WSU but I don’t know much about them and WSU apparently has a rather large party recognition, the lure for me was cheaper OOS tuition. UW is 35K+ too, so I may as well go to Berkeley instead :P</p>

<p>One other thing I was considering is being an RA, it could cut down a lot of my room and board costs and make paying for college even more affordable. I understand you can only have a limited amount of hours of outside work but if it makes college payable, then it could be something to look into.</p>

<p>Would you advise I call the privacy schools and explain my situation and see what they can offer?</p>

12

<p>I am not sure what you mean by “privacy schools.” Private colleges? Sure, it won’t hurt to call them and talk about your options. I suggest you do a bit of preliminary research online before you call: it will help you ask more specific questions and you won’t waste people’s time with questions that are answered in big bold font in the FAQ section :)</p>

<p>RA positions are nice but you shouldn’t rely on them. Some colleges (like mine) won’t give you free room and board - our RAs get $2,000 for the year and that’s it. When the benefits do include free room and board, you should expect the positions to be very competitive. Some colleges (e.g. MIT) hire graduate students as RAs rather than undergraduates. When undergraduates do get hired, it’s usually advanced undergraduates (remember, you are supposed to be the mature, resourceful one who knows the ins and outs of the campus). It’s unlikely that you would get an RA position in your first two years in college.</p>

13

<p>ahhh i meant private lol</p>

<p>I had to run out to the shops real fast and didn’t get a chance to read my post through x.x</p>

<p>Ok, well I guess my next step is to make a list of private colleges and call them, see what my options are and make a plan.</p>