International student Problems

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello to you all.</p>

<p>Right now I'm facing quite the problem in my choice of the U.S Colleges that I plan on Applying to. The Reason Behind this is the fact that I have never visited the colleges that I have an interest in (I have never been to the US ) to determine which one felt suitable.</p>

<p>Another thing is that my parents are worried that i would have trouble facing some challenges such as living in a college dorm with no family living near-by and thus having to cook my on food, clean, do laundry,etc... I have Some family members Living in California ( an Uncle ) and some living in Michigan ( Grandma, 3 Uncles), but even those will only provide little help, as the college I'm interested in are in different cities or towns. Although attending colleges that are located in the same state they live in might help if a problem were to occur or during the holidays because then i would have a place to resort to in both cases.</p>

<p>Well of course, there are a number of other factors to take into consideration:</p>

<ol>
<li>Financial capability: Let's get this out of the way first, my parents cannot support me financially at all, basically 1000$ a year is all they can do. However, one of my uncles (who is in very good financial state ) offered to pay most tuition costs. </li>
</ol>

<p>I realize that most colleges do not offer financial aid for international students, yet i'm still trying to search for good colleges that do.because i don't want to be a burden on my uncle, even though he was willing to pay my tuition costs. </p>

<p>Grades and other Factors: This is probably the only factor that relieves me. I managed during 10th grade and 11th grade to maintain a GPA of (3.9), and when I took the SAT for the first time last June i got 1960 (700M, 650CR , 610W) that I'm planning to raise to 2200 as I have all summer to study for it. In addition to what would be considered as great ECs (First Prize at an international science competition, 5 years of Kickboxing, Cooking for a long time,and some activities and competitions here and there).</p>

<p>Here are some colleges that I'm thinking of applying to:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>University of Michigan- Ann Arbor</p></li>
<li><p>MIT (Might as well as try)</p></li>
<li><p>UCLA</p></li>
</ol>

<p>So To all International Students and people who plan on attending college or are attending now, I am need of advice.Any help is greatly appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Not all U.S. kids are able to visit before selecting their schools. My daughter went to school across the country without ever having visited the East Coast or the school. You have many resources to get a feel for it. The college website, virtual tours, visit reports on this and other websites, the individual college discussion forums here, will all help you.</p>

<p>You are expected to learn some basics about taking care of yourself in college. If you don’t know laundry basics, you can ask about it before you go away. All college kids take care of their own laundry. There will be machines available. You usually don’t cook your own food. Not all dorms have access to kitchens. If yours does, fine-- you can make a few simple things, but you will likely be on a meal plan and eat with the other students. At least at first, unless you get your own or a shared apartment off campus. After freshman year you will know if you can cook for yourself in a suite or what. Many students are too busy to. Start with meal plan. You only have to keep your own room clean, are you really going to have difficulty doing that?</p>

<p>You can fly to visit your relatives on holiday break. Or, most campuses will house international students in a dorm over breaks. </p>

<p>Read the Financial Aid section of these forums and look for the threads on aid for internationals.</p>

<p>UCLA does not give fin’l aid to international students. You will need about $60,000 per year to attend. Michigan pretty much doesn’t either. That leaves MIT.</p>

3

<p>You need to find out just exactly how much money your uncle is able to pay each year, and under what circumstances. For example, will he pay the same amount for any college or university here, or would he pay more for certain places?</p>