<p>Hey! I am a US citizen though roots are in India.
I am in my high school senior year and financially we're not that capable(40k)
Now I'm an ok student with a SAT score of 1900 and SAT math-(670) chem-(680) and phy (730)......... I'll also be taking calculus,phy and chem for my AP exams.
So that was a lil about me,due to financial issues,I considered going to a community college first(though I'm not that keen)
What are the advantages?
Plus is it better to wait an year and then apply to a 4 year college? ya I know I'll be needing the finances.How much can one take up in loans?
Plus I heard that people transfer to a same state university where there CC was.I don't want to limit my options :(
Help would be much appreciated<br>
Regards
PS: I have a GPA of 3.4,I consider going to a CC to improve my GPA too!
But I don't wanna influence your reply,so Please go on :)</p>
<p>Did you apply anywhere at all this year? Have you filed the FAFSA?</p>
<p>Many of your questions are answered in the Financial Aid Forum. Go there and read up on both need-based and merit-based aid. Pay particular attention to the threads on guaranteed merit aid. If you can pull that SAT score up a bit, or perform better on the ACT, yes there are places that would give you merit money. Most have early cut-off dates that you have missed, but some are still handing it out, if you pick up the phone and call them.</p>
<p>The best aid is for freshman students. Even one class at a community college after high school graduation can ruin your ability to apply as a freshman. If you decide to try for merit money, you need to take a gap year with no college-level classes at all and apply for admission this fall. There are lots of threads on gap year activities, but given your family situation, chances are you just need to get a job and make some money.</p>
<p>Lots of students start at community colleges. If you are serious about that route, make an appointment with the counselors at the CC that you would attend, and find out about any scholarships they have to offer. Talk with their financial aid department about how student loans and other federal aid work. Ask the Transfer Advisor about the colleges and universities that their students transfer to, and whether or not they receive significant merit or need based aid. Yes, there are places that have scholarships for students who have graduated from a CC with excellent grades. For more reading on this topic, see the Transfer Forum.</p>
<p>Community colleges don’t really limit your options. I’ve taken classes at community college and I’ve heard of people transferring to Ivies, Stanford and Georgetown. My best friend’s sister did transfer to a state university, but then got into Georgetown for Ph.D. Most high school graduates go to state universities too!</p>
<p>And you CAN get merit aid as a transfer. Try to go to a CC with a Phi Theta Kappa chapter; many schools offer money for that.</p>
<p>*The best aid is for freshman students. Even one class at a community college after high school graduation can ruin your ability to apply as a freshman. *</p>
<p>This isn’t even true at the majority of schools. One class doesn’t make you a transfer student; most schools require at least 24 credits before you are classified as a transfer student. I think a few schools may consider 12 hours to be a transfer. But one or two classes is not going to make the vast majority of colleges designate you a transfer student.</p>
<p>There are a lot of pros and cons; it’s not universally better to do one or the other. It depends on your own needs and desires. However, if you don’t want to limit your options and money is a factor, you may want to take a gap year and apply to colleges with big merit scholarships next year. In the meantime, you may also want to retake the SAT or take the ACT to see if you can get higher scores, as the big merit scholarships tend to go to students with really high standardized test scores.</p>
<p>In the intervening years, you could do something like City Year or Americorps. Those programs allow you to basically volunteer in your community and also give you some money to use for college education.</p>
<p>@happymomof1— I haven’t applied this year
@mmmgirl---- Thank you.Good booster 
How can one get into phi theta program?
@Juliet— Thanks !
Now I haven’t applied to any college this year.My parents have around (60k) saved and a home where we live(assets) plus a lil more.Yes one possible way is to work my chin off and get good merit aids through my SAT.But if I could save(seeing my financial condition),then I’d love to start at a CC but then some keep confusing me that having a CC on your resume kills it 
true?
If you could just see my profile and chance me for merit based aid and scholarships?</p>
<p>Nationality- American
I live in India though
10th class- 88%
12th class-86% (approx)
SAT 1= 1880(math-720…reading-580…writing-580)
SAT physics=730
SAT chemistry=680
SAT maths=670
AP(will be taking physics both,chem and calculus and am well prepared to nail them)</p>
<h2>Took the highest level of course load possible in my school</h2>
<p>EXTRA CURRICULAR !! academic
qualified for round 2 in the NTSE(National talent search examinations)
won the english book prize in class 10th(best performance in my grade)
SPORTS~~~
U-14 and U-16 cricket(was the highest wicket taker in the tournament)
Football at school level
Table Tennis mini Olympics(though knocked out in second round nevertheless qualified
National cadet corps(NCC) A certificate
Table tennis districts tournament</p>
<p>Co CURRICULAR ~~~~
School band (lead singer in both indian and rock band)
School dramatics main play 9th and 10th
House play 7th ,8th,9th,10th,11th each year
IPSC cultural fest at Indore(winners)
Participated at various state level music competitions and have won in about 3-4
was aired on Doordarshan(a TV channel in india) for a speech and a song
though that was in class 7th</p>
<p>Community SERVICE!!!
worked for about 2 years for an ngo for rural development and facilities
Taught around 20 kids in that village basic maths,english and science concepts
Taught at another ngo cum ashram (had debates on various topics as abortions and stuff</p>
<p>Mostly in Caltech,UCs,Michigan,GeorgiaTech,purdue,UIUC,stanford,USC,UCSD and any other you’d know of.</p>
<p>@preetsingh - Some of the schools in your list do not give any merit based aid/scholarships and the schools that do give merit scholarships award them to students who would be at the top of the population applying to the school. Google the “Common Data Set” for each of the schools that you are interested in and you can get a lot of good information including typical SAT scores and GPAs so that you can see where you match up. It is often suggested that you need to be solidly in the top 25% of the applicants to have any chance of being competitive for merit scholarships, but specific details can be found on each school’s website. Good luck!</p>
<p>Any body else??</p>
<p>juillet -</p>
<p>Yes, it is true that there are plenty of places out there where anything less than a full-year of college credits will mean that the applicant is still a “freshman”. However, there also are a number of institutions where even one credit (not just one course) earned at a college-level institution after HS graduation will turn the applicant into a “transfer”. Unfortunately, the picky institutions also are among those that are most generous for financial aid for “freshman”. In the case of preetsingh, money does indeed appear to be an object. In his/her case, the downside of taking college classes (unless he/she is firmly committed to the CC to 4-Year plan) is too big.</p>
<p>preetsingh - </p>
<p>Since it looks like you won’t be headed to college anywhere this fall, read through everything at [EducationUSA</a> | Study Abroad, Student Visa, University Fairs, College Applications and Study in the U.S. / America](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.state.gov%5DEducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.state.gov) and then make an appointment with the counselors at the advising center closest to you. There are several in India: <a href=“https://www.educationusa.info/India[/url]”>https://www.educationusa.info/India</a> If no one at that advising center has worked with a US citizen recently, surely some of their colleagues in other centers have. There are lots of kids like you in India!</p>
<p>The challenge for you in starting at a CC this fall, is that your parents live in India. It is most likely that you would be considered an out-of-state student everywhere in the US. That means that the 60k/4 = 15k per year won’t go very far. Unless you have friends or family here to live with, your living expenses would just about consume every cent of that. Add on the OOS tuition and fees for the CC, and it will get very ugly very fast. If you have some place to live, it might be possible for you to move here, get a job, and establish in-state residence on your own. That is not possible everywhere - and is not necessarily possible for every CC or public college/university even within one state. You have to check the policies at each individual website. When it is possible to do so, in most cases, it takes a year to establish residence, and you will need to be able to demonstrate that you provide more than 50% of your own support.</p>
<p>Your reading score, and writing score on the SAT are not good relative to your other scores. Is the primary medium of instruction at your HS not English? In that case, take the TOEFL. If Engish is the primary medium of instruction at your HS, you should try a practice ACT, and then decide whether you want to prep for the ACT or the SAT so that you can bring the reading and writing scores up.</p>
<p>Having a CC on your resume will not kill it. In fact, most people don’t even list their CC, just the 4-year institution that they end up graduating from with their Bachelor degree. </p>
<p>Many CCs have chapters of Phi Theta Kappa [Phi</a> Theta Kappa Honor Society](<a href=“http://www.ptk.org/]Phi”>http://www.ptk.org/) Membership is by invitation based on the student’s grades. You need a 3.5 average over a certain number of credits to receive the invitation at our local CC. Different CCs may have different policies about that.</p>