I would like to hear your opinion and what you recommend in my situation.
So I have the scores to get attended to UA as a presidential scholar (full tuition paid) and i have the scores to get attended at KTH. KTH is in my home country (Sweden), it is ranked very high here, i think that Karolinska is the the only school that beats it in terms of rankings. The cost would be about the same, i think that UA actually will be a little bit cheaper.
Why im even considering UA is becasue of the internship possibilities i get as a student in usa. In Sweden internships are harder to come by. And of course the whole experience at UA being a big state school with a good football team etc. KTH have nothing like that.
UA is the only college im considering in usa because of the generous scholarship.
With the goal of getting a job in the US in the future, what would be the smartest choice? I could graduate with a bachelor at KTH and hope to get attended at a grad school in usa if that would raise the chances.
Even with a computer science major, it is extremely difficult for an international student with just a bachelor’s degree to find long-term employment in the US. Your chance for long-term employment here would be much better with a graduate degree. Study at KTH. Do a semester or one year exchange to the US to watch football. Then look for a good MS program in computer science here.
I have been to USA many times, I have visited all the regions and many states and I just love it there. I feel like that if I got a computer science related job in the US my quality of life would be better than in Sweden. My sister was one of the winners of the diversity visa green card lottery and is currently living in the US.
My ultimate goal is to work there permanently but i would have to start off with a temporary H1-B.
Thank you, that really seems like the optimal way to reach my goal. Spending 3 years at KTH and graduate with a bachelor, keep up a good GPA and get admitted at at a good MS program in the states. Do I get the OPT benefits and all that good stuff after graduating from an MS program in USA? I think that I read somewhere that there were an additional 20k H1-B visas each year that was only available for students that graduate from MS programs in the US, is that true? I read that the “normal” H1-B:s are gone after a day but those “special”, H1-B:s are they gone as fast as the normal ones?
Alabama will let you use any left-over scholarship semesters towards a masters degree. Many kids who come in with CLEP, IB or AP credits will finish their BS in 3 years and then do their MS in one year…two degrees, 4 years…
That sounds pretty great. Tell me if im wrong but if I complete a course in my country that would equal an american AP class then that would result in me receiving AP credits, right?
“Tell me if im wrong but if I complete a course in my country that would equal an american AP class then that would result in me receiving AP credits, right?”
No. You need to take an AP exam, and receive a score high enough for the college/university to award you credit. Check the U of Alabama website for details on the scores needed for credit on the various exams. AP exams are administered only once each year. CLEP exams can be taken at any time during the year, and can be re-taken after several months if you did not get the score you needed. To find a location near you, check here: https://clep.collegeboard.org/search/test-centers/international
Oh, i had completely misunderstood AP and CLEP credits then, thank you for clarifying that to me. I am going to be a high school senior. I checked the test center link above and there did not seem to be any CLEP test centers in Sweden. There is however a test center in Norway which is pretty close.
I am gonna look further into the CLEP exams, a 3+1 program to graduate with a masters degree is pretty amazing.
I have another question about the undergrad in Sweden and Masters in USA route. In USA a bachelors degree is 4 years (if you dont have enough CLEP/AP credits), and i guess that is because of all the general education classes you have to take in college. In Sweden we do all the general education stuff in secondary school so the bachelors degree is 3 years long. The length of the degree when applying to grad school in the US wouldnt be a problem if you have taken similar classes during the bachelors,would it? I compared KTH:s computer science curriculum to an American university curriculum and it looked kind of similar apart from the GE classes.
This is KTH:s curriculum for computer science https://www.kth.se/utbildning/civilingenjor/datateknik/kursoversikt-1.449976 Its all in Swedish unfortunately but if you click the blue links under the “Obligatoriska kurser” there is an “in english” link which describes the course, i guess you could just google translate the course names too. This is the UA computer science flowchart http://cs.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/12/CS-Flowchart-2015.pdf
Would i be eligible for American grad schools with this 3 year bachelor degree? Its the content that matters and not the length of the degree right?