Dear friends, good wishes for all in New 2018 Year!
I’m a civil engineer from Asia and a father of two freshers 2018-2019, and I need your helping. Now I have got an ideal experience of the chat members here. We have a joke in Russia: in domestic chat you asking your question and as long as you’re not left there have to listen which sorts of the fool you are - without an answers for your needful (( It’s real so. But here I have seen a true wishes to help.
So, I wanna ask you one question only, but it could be genuine “The Garden of Forking Paths” because I’m the absolute beginner in that area. My children study in International Bachelor (IB) school in Israel. All of us a Russian citizen, white, caucasian. Now my daughter informed me about her idea about an admission to US Liberal Arts University. O’K, but I think her data aren’t ideal for that. TOEFL 107, SAT 1350, GPA is average 6.5 from 7 (I can’t transfer it to the US scores), and we indeed will need a financial aid. For example, VASSAR refused her request of early decision at December. I heard the opinion an IB programmes’ results are identical an AP scores in US but haven’t idea how I can to translate it completely. My daughter has many additional achives like 4-year guitar music school diploma, B+ in the ballroom dance, cartoon maker diploma and so on. She is a silver scouts’ tie member from YMCA summer camp and alumni of a leadership school (half way for a camps’ chancellors), and a social economy or a human rights are her preferences.
Please, couldn’t you help us to design the best strategy for her admission to the US University and creating balanced college list? I’m not a Mr.Putins’ fan, and hope to provide to my children a better destiny )
I hope my son will get scores next year better than a daughter, and our present experience will give us some success. And, maybe, it will be an America )
Thanks for all.
Does your daughter’s high school send many students to the US, or is she the only one from there who has applied here recently? If many students from her school apply to the US, her own guidance counselor should be able to give her good advice about other places to apply to. If not, the counselors at the EducationUSA advising center in Jerusalem will have useful ideas for her: https://educationusa.state.gov/centers/educationusa-israel
Many places that have good financial aid have early cut-off dates for applications. Your daughter might want to think about taking a Gap Year so that she can work on her SAT score, and make a good list of places where she can get the aid she needs.
How much can your afford? There are a lot of universities and colleges in the US (between 3,000 and 4,000), so getting in somewhere should not be an issue. Being able to afford it might be an issue.
Getting a degree from a university or liberal arts college in the US does not allow one to then stay in the US. In most cases it is assumed that after graduation international students will return to whatever country they came from.
There are other countries that do give work visas to university graduates.
American University’s Carmel Institute of Russian Culture and History has a program that provides grants for Americans to study in Russia and Russian students to study in the US. https://www.american.edu/cas/carmel/ Perhaps your daughter can contact someone there to see how to apply for a grant to study in the US.
Hello everybody!
Thx for all, I will reply soon because Orthodox Chirch have Christmas Eve today.
Thank you,
to: happymomof1
we have got a longterm experience of Moscow EducationUSA and we know their strengths and weaknesses. You’re completely right I have to ask them about translating the 7-balls scores of IB programs to GPA and Advanced Placement system because most of IB classes have a College level. As for a gap year - daughter, of course, not against to have a long period without the mandatory classes, which can be devoted to correcting past failures. but I don’t really like this option because 1.I heard that after a gap year Universities raise their requirements in comparison with the beginners and we really need a serious improvement and 2.for me from Singapore it will be difficult to help her daily and 3.I can’t see a big difference between Vassar and Auburn like a Russian and like an Asian gazer.
to: DadtwoGirls
Approximately half of the required. if not for the boy who was going after the daughter, with a difference of 1 year, we had nothing to discuss (( Daughter have got some offers from Europe Universities (Berlin, Bremen, Amsterdam) but here I’m for a case of US education.
to: My3Kiddos
Hmmm… excuse me, but IMHO Carmel Institutes’ programme working to one side only, from the US to Russia, it’s a bright (also expensive and useless) sample of Putin’s’ soft power which needs to show to World. Since USSR century the KGB provided it for “useful idiots” on the Wide West. When I lived in Warshaw at 80-th one of my teachers was a wife of Russian Goskino’s chief in Poland (Government Cinema Department), and it means, in fact, he was a resident of KGB in Poland ))
I think you have incorrect information about American University’s Carmel Institute. It was started in 2015.
Their Mission: “The Carmel Institute builds lasting connections between Russian and American youth through musical and theater performances, Russian and Soviet film screenings, conferences, student exchanges and trips, and art exhibits. The Institute offers grants to Russian and American students to study in each others’ countries.”
Gap year: The expectations of a gap year applicant are not higher than for a regular one. Instead it is that many students improve their test scores or do something else that makes them a stronger candidate during the gap year. If all your daughter gets done during a gap year is come up with a better application list so that she can target good financial aid, that might be enough for your family.
Russia/Asia: The country of your daughter’s passport is what determines if she is Russian or Asian. The country where she completes high school, and the program offered by that high school, determines which person in the international admissions office reads through her grades.
to: happymomof1
What about next year after Gap Year, when my son will try to get admission too? IMHO, even in a case getting her SAT scores 1500, it won’t increase her chances so strong for being sure.
to: My3Kiddos
Are you seriously believe that the institution with the stylistics of the Russian house at the last Olympiads, with black caviar, balalaikas and skaters girls, in a five-minute clip of which a quarter of the time is represented by Mr.Kislyak, the most toxic ambassador in the world, one call to him is sufficient for impeachment, and other faces like Gegrgiev, Buntman or Shakhnazarov are Putin’s representatives on a three last elections is an oasis of friendship between Russia and the US? WOW
Okaaay…so you want your daughter to receive money to study in America, but you’re not willing to have her apply with an organization that actually provides grants to students for this purpose?
In America, we have an expression: “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” I suggest you learn what it means.
The FAFSA does not apply to us, there is a form of CSS filled through college board. About the horse - there is a similar Russian proverb, word by word. I believe in help but not from KONTORA. I suggest you learn what it means. 
I’m well aware of a lot about Russia. My husband briefly worked there before we had children. One of my children has also lived there with a host family and is planning to direct enroll in a Russian university in the near future. We’re happy to take the grants if we can get them!
@alienfromrussia The real questions are how badly you want US educations for your kids, and how much you can afford to pay. There just isn’t a lot of aid out there for international students. But given the number of decent US colleges and universities, you may be able to find some place(s) that you can afford without aid where they can be happy.
It is probably too late for a HS student to apply to colleges for fall of 2018 attendance. Most schools application deadlines will have passed by now or the end of this month, especially schools of the caliber you will be looking at. With kids doing well in an IB program you are likely looking at upper tier US colleges- those where students will often have taken AP classes or IB ones.
It is very hard for foreign students to get aid for US colleges. The reality is that most students either need to be full pay (including all costs- books, room and board, travel) or have exceptional statistics. Even for most US students the reality is going to a school they can afford. Be sure you are adding up all costs- travel and vacation living expenses that are not covered in dorm fees. Most schools will give cost of attendance figures, but those do not include extra costs those from abroad will incur.
Remember what an earlier poster said. Going to college in the US means nothing when trying to live and work in the US after college from the government visa standpoint. You and your children need to discuss where in the world they envision themselves after college.
Agree about taking money you can. Also try your church. There may be scholarships offered to those by US churches in your faith.
Thx. Now, don’t without your helping I knew more about that case. By the way I have got more information from my daughter she made with her mother more than 10 requests to different Universities around the World including US, but all American Universities are same like Vassar (McAlester, for example), which IMHO too cool for her achieves. In Russia we have an expression - low (and easy reachable) level is “tit”, middle is “duck” and high is “crane”. Until now daughter shooted to “cranes” and “ducks” only. This way, I need to transform my question to the next: which of USA Universities could become a “tit” for her?
If you add all of your daughter’s predicted IB scores, what’s the total? Colleges wouldn’t expect an average of all scores but a total like 28, 34, 38…(have your daughter correct it on CommonApp if she wrote 6.5). Also, IB should be International baccalaureate, not International bachelor (an international bachelor is a college degree, which would make her a transfer student not a freshman, and would greatly decrease her odds of admission). Her TOEFL is excellent, the 1350 is decent. You may want an experienced reader on this forum to read over her commonapp essay, too.
I think you’re correct in not getting involved with that organization on the Russian side since either your daughter has no chance due to your political views or she may be taken for nefarious purpose.
There ARE some excellent colleges still accepting applications.
As far as I know, Carleton, Grinnell, Macalester, and St Olaf all accept applications till Jan 15, and Dickinson is either Jan 15 or Feb1st. Look into Denison and Kenyon, too.
Brandeis will have a scholarship specifically for kids coming from Israeli schools.
Bryn Mawr has an excellent Russian program and they may be interested in students who can take advanced Russian civilization classes from an American point of view in order to share their own experience and views.
Her getting a 1450 or 1500 on her SAT would mean access to automatic or competitive scholarships with score cutoffs.
There are many places that would accept her right now. However, they probably are place that you have never heard of, and they certainly would expect your family to pay the full costs.
What is your family willing to pay? We need a figure in US $
What does she want to study?
Do you care about where she studies? For example, is a community college in Iowa OK for the first two years, and then a transfer to one of the oublic universities there? Or, are you only interested in places that will give her a lot of credit for her IB scores?
Apparently UNebraska gives a lot of credit for IB diplomas, as does GMU
A student used to the caliber of IB classes should not be attending a college, community or four year, where the majority of the student body is so much more average. The academic peer group and pace of classes would be wrong for her. She needs to be with her intellectual peers and not just at any US college. There are vast differences in the caliber and many other cultural factors to consider. One or two weeks likely is not enough time for all materials needed by a school to be received by deadlines. Choosing a community college may mean not learning much as she will already have covered the material/skills in her HS classes. She would not end up on a college campus as many of those students commute and so would not be among fellow students except in classes. She would also have to look for housing separately.
Most important is finances. You need to be able to pay for everything with your money and any aid from a school before being allowed to enter the US. Do you want to pay for an average college just because it is in the US? Your D would be much better off with options that put her with top tier students (not just elite but above average college ones) in other places. Imagine her HS career if she had to be with regular students. Then imagine paying a lot of money to do so for college, plus having her thousands of miles away from familiar culture and family.
State flagship U’s are excellent for above average students because they educate top tier students who choose them for cost and location. However, they often do not give merit aid and OOS costs (much less out of country) can be high.
1.5 years ago, our daughter won the opportunity to spend a few weeks in a summer school in Yale, CT, absolutly free include a round-trip tickets and transfer. It was an unforgettable experience, and by the way, it was there that she heard about the IB program. I tried to understand with the help of her mentors her scores, it turns out that the weighted GPA is about 3.83, and ACT 29-30. She always cracks the SAT tasks like a nuts but at the exam in Jerusalem she received not so much as she expected. That’s life. Perhaps, will been better if there was no hassle with the hotel because she was not yet 18 years old (and still not yet 
and she did not knew until the last moment whether she would be had permission leave the Kfar and goes alone for 70 miles.
I think we can to make expensives about 100+K in 4 next years but it means we have to sell a some of our property. And if my wife will find a job and me won’t loss my position I could to provide same volume by my incomes. Don’t forget we have two children. This way a European University is cheapest, even I learned some US student’s topics which would prefer to save their parent’s money and going to Europe but for reasons of quality of the education and safety of the life US campus is the best.