Is there anything I can do at this point to get into a good college?

Student Lounge International Students
1

I’m posting this here because I dont know if there’s a more relevant forum, sorry if this shouldn’t be here. First I’ll give you some context

So I moved to the US this year, near the end of january (came from a south american country) and they put me in junior year. One of my main goals (if not the only goal) is to get into a good university, but after doing deeper research on college admissions, it seems like it’s already too late for me to do anything worthy of getting into one. I don’t really have any of those things that are apparently must-haves to get into a good college, like a lot of AP courses or a lot of prizes and stuff like that, simply because where I come from, your grades don’t really matter to get into a good college, passing an exam would be enough, and I had no idea I’d move to the US until a couple of months ago.

At first I assummed that getting super good grades and a good SAT score in the year and a half of high school I’m doing here would be enough, but I see I need a lot more than that. I’ve been studying a lot for the SATs (specially for the english part, because, you know, esl and all) because I thought a score near perfect + my story of “sudden” inmigration would get me into a really good college, but it certainly won’t.

I wrote all that just to ask you if there’s something I should focus on that could greatly improve my chances, I’m willing to put all the effort that’s necessary, but I simply dont know what to do, or if I should even bother. Thanks, I’d really appreciate any replies.

2

I’m sure you are doing all the right things.

It is easy to focus on universities with a famous names but there are many excellent ones out there that will provide wonderful opportunities. So don’t get hung up on names and limit yourself to narrow ideas about what a good college is. Be open to finding out about colleges you may have never heard of where you can study the field that interests you.

My oldest kid didn’t take a single AP and had just above average SAT scores. She got into a very nice college with a generous scholarship and that has opened more doors for her than an Ivy League college would have. She found a niche in a very small specialized field and her work is getting noticed. I really hope for the same type of experience with my next kid, even if she has more of what a “better college” would want.

3

What do you mean by a “good college”?

Most state flagship universities aren’t just good - they’re very good. And with a good GPA from your American high school, and good SATs, you will have a good shot at getting in. Remember, many of these very good schools have transfer agreements with local community colleges: you can do a year, or two at a community college, and then transfer to an excellent university. No one will know you began your education at a cc – on your resume, it will be your final diploma that counts.

If by saying a “good college” you mean the Ivies or the top 20 schools – remember, that there are more than 3,000 colleges and universities in the US. Hundreds of them are good to very good, schools that will offer you a good education and interesting opportunities.

Get a college guide – something like Fiske – to start familiarizing yourself with the many schools you could consider. Start using search engines – like the one on this site, college board or princeton review. Definitely have a “money” discussion with your parents: what they can afford – and run the net price calculator on schools’ web pages to get a sense of what the costs are.

You might want to speak to your high school counselor for advice: he/she will have a good idea of where you should consider applying. But above all, concentrate on what you’re doing now – grades and SATs. They’re the most important factor for most schools.

Good luck!

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duplicate post

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The appeal of US colleges is that there are good colleges all around…well, not all around(some states like Nevada just don’t have good colleges) but still more distributed thrroughout the nation compared to other nations.

First of all, make sure you study hard and get good scores on SAT or ACT. I would recommend ACT if you don’t have several years of English communication(I actually think you are quite good). I wouldn’t bother trying to do big extracurricular activitie all of sudden unless it’s something you have been doing.

Money WILL be a big issue. Contrary to popular opinion, there are colleges, including STATE ones, that give some amount of merit scholarshisp to international students. The question is “is it enough?”

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Until a couple of years ago, my kids were in the same school system I attended. There are no AP classes available, and no one ever studies for the ACT; it’s just another test. Nonetheless, the students who want to attend college find a school that suits them.

You’ve got another year and a half, and more opportunities and foresight than many. Study hard, do your best, and you’ll be fine.

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A high sat /act will help you no matter what, so keep working on that.
Make sure you take rigorous classes. Are you in honors/ap classes? Can you take dual enrollment classes if there’s a community college with a spring quarter, in order to increase course rigor?
Get a Fisk guide or Princeton Review 's Best Colleges.
Will you be an international student or will you have a green card?

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Sorry, duplicate comment

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Thanks for all the replies! I didn’t expect as many.

Before addressing each individual post, I’ll give you some context. My “goal” college is NYU, and that’s what I mean by a good university. My DREAM college is MIT, but I know it’s unrealistic, at least now. The reason I want to get into a “good” college is because back home I had a guaranteed spot in the best (or second best, it depends on the ranking) university in the whole country, so I want to get into a college that is, well, better, because if I don’t then I’d feel like I’m taking a step backwards. The university is on the same level as “University of california: Riverside” according to the QS ranking, just to give you a point of reference.

@MACmiracle I agree with you 100%. If I dont get into a “big name” I’ll be ok with that (probably more now, after reading your post), but I’ve always considered myself a competitive person, and if I can put my best effort into getting into a good one, then why not? Kind of a applying a “you miss 100% of the shots you dont take” philosophy here.

@katliamom What exactly is a state flagship university? I googled but didn’t really get the “formal” definition. I’ll try to get the college guide, thanks for that! Also, my high school is a public one with a LOT of students, my councellor isn’t that useful because she has to worry about too many students, for instance, I asked her pretty much the same question I made in the OP and her replies weren’t nearly as useful as the ones I’ve recieved here so far (I don’t blame her though, must be stressing to have so many students under you).

@paul2752 Regarding my english communication, I consider it to be good! I have an accent, like any inmigrant, but I’ve been posting on english forums for a long time now, so at least my written english is good enough I think, so I don’t consider that an issue :D! About the ECs, I’ve swum most of my life and also danced, the problem is that I haven’t swum competitively in about two years, so even if I got into the swimming team, which I think I could do without problem, I don’t think I’d achieve anything good. About the dancing, there is no dance club at my high school, I’m not familiar with the “club system”, so I don’t know if I can create one, once that I know more about that then I’ll probably try to. I was thinking about entering the robotics club, even though I know nothing about robotics, but in the past couple of days I read a book about electronics and it seems interesting!

@NerdMom88 Thanks for the encouragement! I’ll put your advice to practice!

@MYOS1634 I’m not on any AP classes because I need to take some obligatory classes before getting into those and they couldnt make my schedule fit, which is a shame because I really wanted to take them. Regardless of that, I’ll take the AP calculus BC exam because I looked at the questions and I think I could pass it with my current knowledge, I could also pass the AP economics and microeconomics exam, but my school doesn’t offer them :-S
I don’t know what dual enrollment classes are, thanks for that! I’ll try to do research on them.
Also, I’ll have a green card.

Thanks again for all the replies! I really appreciate them. Sorry if I come off as arrogant/mean in any of the replies, I think I kinda sound like that when writing in english, not sure why ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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Thanks for all the replies! I didn’t expect as many as I’ve got so far.

Before addressing each individual post, I’ll give you some context. My “goal” college is NYU, and that’s what I mean by a good university. My DREAM college is MIT, but I know it’s unrealistic, at least right now. The reason I want to get into a “good” college is because back home I had a guaranteed spot in the best (or second best, it depends on the ranking) university in the whole country, so I want to get into a college that is, well, better; because if I don’t then I’d feel like I’m taking a step backwards. The university is on the same level as “University of california: Riverside” according to the QS ranking, just to give you a point of reference.

@MACmiracle I agree with you 100%. If I dont get into a “big name” I’ll be ok with that (probably more now, after reading your post), but I’ve always considered myself a competitive person, and if I can put my best effort into getting into a good one, then why not? Kind of a applying a “you miss 100% of the shots you dont take” philosophy here.

@katliamom What exactly is a state flagship university? I googled but didn’t really get the “formal” definition. I’ll try to get the college guide, thanks for that! Also, my high school is a public one with a LOT of students, my councellor isn’t that useful because she has to worry about too many students, for instance, I asked her pretty much the same question I made in the OP and her replies weren’t nearly as useful as the ones I’ve recieved here so far (I don’t blame her though, must be stressing to have so many students under you).

@paul2752 Regarding my english communication, I consider it to be good! I have an accent, like any inmigrant, but I’ve been posting on english forums for a long time now, so at least my written english is good enough I think, therefore I don’t consider that an issue :D! About the ECs, I’ve swum most of my life and also danced, the problem is that I haven’t swum competitively in about two years, so even if I got into the swimming team, which I think I could do without problem, I don’t think I’d really achieve anything. About the dancing, there is no dance club at my high school, I’m not familiar with the “club system”, so I don’t know if I can create one, once that I know more about that then I’ll probably try to. I was thinking about entering the robotics club, even though I know nothing about robotics, but in the past couple of days I read a book about electronics and it seems interesting!

@NerdMom88 Thanks for the encouragement! I’ll put your advice to practice!

@MYOS1634 I’m not on any AP classes because I need to take some obligatory classes before getting into those and they couldnt make my schedule fit, which is a shame because I really wanted to take them. Regardless of that, I’ll take the AP calculus BC exam because I looked at the questions and I think I could pass it with my current knowledge, I could also pass the AP economics and microeconomics exam, but my school doesn’t offer them :-S
I don’t know what dual enrollment classes are, thanks for that! I’ll try to do research on them.
Also, I’ll have a green card.

Thanks again for all the replies! I really appreciate them. Sorry if I come off as arrogant/mean in any of the replies, I think I kinda sound like that when writing in english, not sure why ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Also, I made this post twice already and after editing it, it dissapeared, I don’t really know why but it’s probably some kind of anti-spam system? I’m not sure.

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It’s there, don’t worry. :slight_smile:
Dual enrollment is when your high school accepts credits from a local community college and pays for you to attend. These classes are faster-paced and can be as advanced as ap or even higher. If there’s a community college with a spring quarter, you could take one spring quarter class to demonstrate academic strength.
If ou’ve already covered AP calculus bc and AP economics, register for these exams asap through your guidance counselor (explain you took the class in your country and want to take the test. Even if it wasn’t called AP if it was similar enough, it’s enough.)

12

DrMaven, I completely understand about the counselor. Luckily, you found the best resource in the world: College Confidential. There are people here who’ve been helping students for years.

As to a flagship – usually, that refers to the main branch of the University in your state. For example, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. There are other branches of the University of Michigan, but the main one – Ann Arbor – is the most prestigious. Or University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign – the most prestigious of all the University of Illinois campuses. California is so big and so rich, it now effectively has two “flagships” – Berkeley and UCLA – although Berkeley is older and historically more prestigious.

Most of these schools have agreements with local community colleges. So in case you can’t – for whatever reason, finances or grades – go to one of these flagship campuses, you can usually start at a community college and then transfer.

Tell us which state you live and, if possible, what your parents can afford. You will be surprised how much response and ideas you will get from the College Confidential community.

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Another thing that would be useful to share is your intended area of study, either general or specific.

NYU is known for arts, social sciences, and business while MIT is known for science and engineering. You need a school that fits your academic interests well.

14

Also, make sure to discuss costs with your parents. I’m guessing they thought you’d be living in your original country andbthusbgoing to college for free or nearly free, so they may not have any savings for college.
NYU is notorious for lousy aid, so that e’en if you got in, you may not be able to attend because if costs.
Run the NPC on your state’s flagship, on MIT, on NYU, and on Pomona. Expect big differences. Bring the results to your parents to discuss where things stand when it comes to college budget.
Also, calculate your EFC (look it up). That’ll determine if you can get Pell grants (if ou’re a citizen or permanent resident.)

15

Try out for the swimming team, see what times you can get by May.
You can see if you can create a dance club, but do you mean like ballet/jazz/musical theater or do you mean like dance dance revolution?
If robotics interests you, by all means join the club, there’s nothing to lose for it.
Register for AP’s ASAP, I think the deadline is Monday or something like it!
What state are you in?
It’s very good you’ll have a green card, it’ll simplify a lot of things for you.

16

The primary requirement for university admissions is still the prerequisite secondary school courses. Universities do not require AP courses, that is why they are called ADVANCED placement courses. AP courses are taught at colleges, even at MIT and other world class schools…

You might start over by searching for schools with programs in your areas of interests. There are many very strong programs in schools you have never heard of before. MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Cooper Union and Tufts University are four fine schools in your subject area and are among the most difficult in the country to gain admission. A little less competitive for admission in the Northeast are Northeastern, RIT, RPI, VPI, WPI, Drexel University, Stevens, NJIT and the State University of NY in Buffalo. All of these schools have very highly respected reputations in engineering and highly competitive student bodies. RPI is the oldest engineering college in the United States. VPI, NJIT, and SUNY at Buffalo are public.

Try going directly to selected school websites and check out the strengths and philosophies of these universities… Often the technology centered universities get lost in the mix. You may be pleasantly surprised. The engineering school at NYU was Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute when I was an engineering student at a different school. One of my roommates had transferred from there. The American Society of Mechanical Engineering was founded at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken NJ and just across the river from NYC. MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, WPI, Northeastern, and VPI are all very active in robotics.
.

17

Look at Union, Clarkson, HarveyMudd (advanced math required, lowest possible class for entrance qualification is calculus.)
But also Pomona, Carleton, Bowdoin, Davidson, Grinnell, Hamilton. (Read in your Fisk guide about each of those : you’ll see that each American college has a ‘personality’.)

18

The U.S. contains 337 colleges that would be more selective, by entering standardized scoring, than UC-R:

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-50-smartest-colleges-in-america-2016-10

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Virtually all of the suggested colleges to date in this discussion have student bodies at or above the University of California at Riverside admissions profile. Yes, there are a lot out there that you have never heard of before. Go hunting. Check out their different personalities.

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@DrMaven your English written skills are very good, and so far, they do not sound arrogant. You have a good grasp on communication as you understand how a very direct translation can sound that way! You must have been using English a lot! So much better than my Spanish!

If I might ask, why did you move? Are you still able to attend the best school you were admitted to in South America? Or is this no longer an option?

Do you know how much colleges here cost? Will you need financial aid? If so, do you have a green card? These questions are not intended to be rude, but the answers are important to know what advice to give to you.

The Fiske Guide (which you can find in your school library) will give you the basic statistics about schools (about 300 schools) and what GPA/sat you would need to have a chance. It will tell you what each school is known for, the general feeling of each school, and a little about the place/town/geography. It often tells you the “type” of kids who go there too (mostly local or from all over, studious vs partners, etc.) so that guide is excellent advice.

What do YOU want to study? Do you want to be a doctor? (Guessing from your name?). If you want to go to medical school, the advice may be very different.