International student from Norway

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>Hi everybody!</p>

<p>So basically, I'm a Norwegian student who wants to study in the US. I will be graduating in 2014.</p>

<p>My grades are ok I guess, I currently have a 4.9 out of 6.0, but I'm aiming for at least a 5.0 (I don't really know how my norwegian grades will translate into american tho). I have not taken the SAT or TOEFL tests yet, but I'm pretty confident that I'll do decent on both (I'm aiming for at least a 2000 on my SAT). </p>

<p>My high school is one of the few elite schools in Norway and ranked #2 in the country, so I'm used to rigorous academics and hard work. </p>

<p>When it comes to EC's, I've played the trumpet for 9 years (in a school band, long term commitment yay!), been a part of the student council, the youth city council (or something like that), the school theatre (was in charge of event planning this year), and I also have some work experience. I just have to say that EC's are not common in Norway.</p>

<p>So at the moment, I'm leaning towards going to California, and the Norwegian government and will cover large amounts, if not my whole tuition as long as I go to one of these universities:</p>

<p>UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, Stanford, Caltech and University of Southern California.</p>

<p>I guess it's still too early to tell whether I will have a chance at any of these schools, due to fact that I don't have my test results or final gpa yet, but do I stand a chance at all? </p>

<p>I'm mostly interested in schools located in Southern California, but I've visited UC Berkeley and I really liked it there. I'm also going back to Cali this fall to look at schools in SoCal, and is there anything I should ask about during tours/look for/talk to students about? </p>

<p>Oh, and btw, I want to major in geology or double major in geology or environmental science.</p>

2

<p>The key thing is that you will not require any financial aid (lucky you!) So if your SATs are good, you’ll be probably a decent candidate for Davis, USC, Santa Barbara & Irvine. The others - Caltech, Stanford, Berkeley and UCLA - will be tougher to get into just because they’re the most selective on your list.</p>

<p>Don’t worry about ECs - yours sound fine, plus admission committees understand that there are different norms in different countries. You can show your interests/passions in your application letters, mention your work, etc. </p>

<p>I would definitely visit the admission office at USC, talk to representatives there, establish a connection. In private schools that can make a difference. (In public ones, like the UCs, admission is more numbers-driven and personal contacts are likely to make less of a difference.)</p>