Hello everyone.
First, I’d like to thank you all for the help I’ve got here for the past few months ( SAT strategies, admission procedures etc.)
I am an International student (graduated from high school in the summer of 2014), and I would like to apply for colleges in the US as a transfer student. However, I have no idea about the whole procedure. I’ve done some research online and it all seems very shady and differs from college to college. I’ll post my questions in a list:
What is the rough percentage of colleges that even accept International transfer students? ( mainly interested in good colleges, possibly not Ivy League, but still high ranked )
What are some mandatory things I need to do for all of these ( SATs ? High School GPA? Counselor ? )
What percentage of these colleges offer full financial aid ( I come from a 3rd world country, and was barely able to pay for the SATs; since I had no counselor to ask for fee waiver )
I understand my chances here are very low, especially because my colleges is ranked somewhere around 2000s in the world, but I am willing to try hard. I did SAT ( 2350 ), TOEFL ( 118 ) , SAT Math 2 ( 800), Sat Physics (800), Sat Biology M (800) and hoped these would help. But if all fails, I’d like to know some things about freshman application:
Since I’m not in high school anymore, do I need a counselor?
How can I apply for a fee waiver ( again, without counselor ) at Common app?
Who do I ask for recommendation? Are recommendation of my high school teachers still valid?
Is there an age limit for the application ( I’m 20 )
The reality is that there’s basically no financial aid for international students.
Some universities may allow you to apply as a freshman if you have very very very few credits but typically if you’ve been enrolled for 2 years and have completed 2 years of studies, even if it’s part-time, you will likely be considered a transfer student.
Or are you out of high school and enrolled in something else than a university (since you’re asking about high school teachers recommendations = do you not have professors now who would write these letters?)
You do need a counselor to upload your transcripts. S/he would then check the “fee waiver” box.
There is no age limit for the application.
How much can you afford?
I realize that in most of the developing world, even $1,000 is an extravagant amount of money…
You could have applied to Berea College, but they want to RECEIVE your application on Monday, so you’d have to apply next round (for Fall 2017).
You can email top colleges such as Amherst, Williams, Carleton, Pomona, Middlebury.
Are you a boy or a girl? Some women’s colleges accept female applicants from the developing world as transfers.
What’s your native language(s)?
A lot of the information that you need probably can be found at https://educationusa.state.gov/ So read through that website. Then contact the counselors at the advising center closest to where you live: https://educationusa.state.gov/find-advising-center EducationUSA is a not-for-profit organization. The counselors pride themselves on providing accurate, unbiased information about education in the US. They can help you through the whole process.
Thank you for the answer. I am enrolled at the university but unfortunately, the structure of university here requires no student-professor contact i.e. I’m not sure if any professor would write a recommendation since none of them actually knows me…
There are assistant teachers, but even they would probably refuse to do so since ones that actually know who I am, aren’t very “close”.
Well, $1000 is a lot of money in my country unfortunately. I could probably afford to pay for 2 applications, but I can’t apply without a counselor.
Yeah, i am a bit late. I just did so much preparation and those scored did get my hopes up, but what the hell. Maybe I’ll have a better shot applying for the Master’s degree study in a few years… Maybe my financial status changes by than.
I’ll give it a shot with EducationUSA representative in my city, but I kinda already tried that and got refused…
You need a counselor, a head teacher, someone who’ll coordinate things. That person would check “fee waiver” because you obviously can’t afford the application fees.
Some colleges are free to apply, too, and if you include your test scores on the transcript they usually accept the (keep in mind that if you alter them, you are then rescinded, so it’s not worth including “fake” results or results that aren’t yours).
Your SAT results are very good and entitle you to automatic free rides to lots of places.
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Dedicate today and tomorrow to it - you have till tomorrow night to get those in. HURRY.
Your test scores qualify you for a lot.
EducationUSA, the legit group, cannot “refuse” you.
I know but when i reached out to my high school, they said “I’m not their concern anymore” and that they can’t do anything to help me.
Well, local EducationUSA representative told me they can’t do anything about my fee waiver because I am too late ( I visited them in September). They were also concerned about the fact that I’m no longer in high school…That’s when I decided to stop looking for help there because there was “nothing they can do”…
I’ll work full steam today, I’m not letting all this effort go in vain.
It’s true there’s a problem for gap year students, but there’s a loophole in the new form whereby an official (such as your job supervisor, an authority in the community…) indicates you need that fee waiver for financial reasons many colleges will overlook the fact you’re on a gap year. There’s also a NACAC fee waiver form for transfers BUT since you can’t be considered a transfer due to not having any credits nor any professors or any structure that can account for you, I’m not sure it’s the right form to use. IN both cases, get it signed, then photocopy it and send it to the colleges you’re interested in, with a copy of your tax form indicating how much your family (or yourself, if you’re self supporting), makes. http://www.nacacnet.org/studentinfo/feewaiver/documents/applicationfeewaiver.pdf http://www.nacacnet.org/studentinfo/feewaiver/Documents/TransferWaiverForm.pdf