<p>Hello there! I'm an international student (currently a high school senior) looking around for colleges that offer full/significant amounts of merit or need based aid, so I was hoping some of you had any suggestions. Here are my stats: </p>
<p>GPA: currently it's around a 3.85
SATs: 1910 - 590 math, 680 critical, 640 essay
Extracurriculars: really focusing on doing service work, I volunteer every Saturday to teach high school kids from public schools here in the Philippines
Awards: High Honors all throughout high school (so far, at least) </p>
<p>I'm currently looking at John Carroll (since I heard they offer significant financial aid to int'l students) and Calvin College in the US, I'm a Christian but I'm alright with going to a non-Christian college as well; I'm not extremely religious. I'd really prefer a smaller college, where I can easily get to know my professors. I want to be an English teacher, so I'm planning on getting a Bachelor's in English and then going to grad school for a Master's in Education. I'm also currently doing the IB program, if that would help things? My predicted scores aren't out yet, though.</p>
<p>If you want to be a teacher, you need to get your teaching degree in the country where you plan to work so that you have the correct coursework for certification. This means that you need to go to college in your own country. It is almost impossible for foreign teachers to find employment in the US. The only cases I have ever heard of are foreign-trained native speakers with several years of teaching experience in their home countries who come here to teach their own language on a short-term work-exchange visa. It also is all but impossible for those few international students who are studying education here to find schools where they can do their student teaching because the schools want to work with students who they might eventually hire. No school is going to go through the headache of processing an H1B (work) visa application for an English teacher when there are already about a gazillion unemployed US citizen fully certified English teachers on the job market here.</p>
<p>Sorry. I know that isn’t what you wanted to hear, but the sooner you know what you would be up against if you were to study here, the better.</p>
<p>I already talked to my dad about this, so I’m not planning on getting my Master’s in the US. My only concern is finding colleges that offer financial aid for my Bachelor’s degree - in case I decide that teaching isn’t for me, at least an English degree would offer broader opportunities for me.</p>
<p>You’d probably need to mainor/major in Education and TESOL or ESL. If you plan on getting an American degree to teach English in your home country (where it’d make you a desirable candidate vs. candidates who haven’t left the country) you don’t have to major in English. You can major in American studies with an English minor (American Studies is interdisciplinary and encompasses a lot of the “content” knowledge you need to teach English abroad: history, political science, economics, culture/cultural studies, sociology as applied to the US.) The English minor then adds the Literature component and the Education minor/major teaches you a few professional skills.</p>
<p>An exception to being able to teach is if 1° you’re certified to teach your native language and another language 2° you are certified in a subject that there’s a need for, such as bilingual education or math.
However some States bar foreigners from teaching there, outright.</p>
<p>I don’t want to teach English as a second language though, I wanted to be more of a high school teacher? So I’d be teaching literature, etc…does that change things or should I still go for American Studies?</p>
<p>International students typically don’t have access to a lot of financial aid. Your stats are not high enough for merit aid. You’ll probably be paying full fees and that is really expensive ($50K to $60K per year).</p>
<p>On top of that, if you major in English, all you will be able to teach is English and maybe high school journalism classes in you country. If you receive a degree in Education with American studies, you can sub in classes for history, poli sci, social science and will have more options. </p>
<p>I’ve taught in my local high school and there are so many US high school teachers out of jobs who have majors in English and Social Science.</p>
<p>If your country isn’t English speaking and you plan on teaching English there, you’d be teaching English as a second/foreign language. The skills you need are different from the skills you need to teach English to native speakers. To teach secondary school English you could indeed use an American Studies major and take some English literature classes (typically, one Shakespeare classe plus Surveys - overview of literature - are sufficient to teach secondary school abroad.) You could also ask if you could “create your own major” and choose classes based on what you’d need. Remember also that in the US about 1/3 classes are general education classes so you could take topics that would serve you for your goal.
A 3.85 GPA is pretty good, as is having High Honors throughout high school. Your SAT score is on the low side for financial aid but you should study and retake if at all possible. Even as now, there are lots of colleges that you can apply to. I’m thinking of Earlham, Hendrix, Clark, Austin College, Marquette, Saint Louis University, Allegheny College, Guilford, Quinnipiac, Butler, Trinity(Texas), Rollins… With a score reaching 2000 (very doable), you would have even more choices.</p>
<p>John Carroll does NOT give need-based Financial Aid to int’ls.</p>
<p>*Financial Aid</p>
<p>Q: Does John Carroll offer scholarships to international students?
A: Yes,*International students are also eligible for all other University scholarship programs that are detailed on the university scholarship website. These scholarships can be combined.</p>
<p>Q: Is financial aid available to students who do not have sufficient funds?
A: International students are not eligible for our need-based aid programs, but are eligible for all of our merit-based aid. International students that cannot choose the University for financial reasons should be in contact with our Director of International Admission to discuss their circumstances in more detail.*</p>
<p>It does award some merit scholarships for high stats. Have you looked to see what stats would be needed? Your 1270 Math + CR may not be high enough for the amount of merit that you need. I think your scores would get about $15k-20k. That’s less than half the cost to attend. </p>
<p>How much merit do you need? How much will your family pay? Would they pay the remaining $25k+ to attend?</p>