<p>I know I said that I had given up, but just after that I received a private message that reminded me that I forgot there are still some lower ranked schools that might be willing to offer me scholarships. The school that she suggested is Truman State University. And I also get a suggestion: Berea College.
Any suggestions that are similar to this kind of schools? But don't get me wrong, I still wish that I could go to a school that I could receive well education.</p>
<p>I don’t recall reading on the previous threads what your SAT score is? It would help if you could share that so we could get a better idea of where you might get in and where you might get scholarships. Also what does your 87 IB translate to on the 4.0 scale?</p>
<p>Berea College is one of a handful of tuition free schools in the US. Students are expected to do a significant amount of work on campus in exchange for their education. I don’t believe that room and board are free though. Here’s an article that talks about Berea and some of the other tuition-free schools, though you’ll have to check to see if they extend the offer to internationals (and if they have programs you’re interested in):</p>
<p>[Pssst</a>! Wanna Go to College for Free? - BusinessWeek](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
<p>I didn’t do the SAT test, because I thought TOEFL would be enough for international students? I am not sure how the TOEFL IBT score translate into the 4.0 scale, can you explain more? Thanks!</p>
<p>I’ve checked out Berea’s website, and yes I think they welcome international students ([404</a> Error | Berea College](<a href=“http://www.berea.edu/admissions/international/default.asp)But%5D404”>http://www.berea.edu/admissions/international/default.asp)But) you have the point, they don’t really have the programs that I want:( I am sure that I will work really hard. Studying abroad is something that I am really yearning for, and that’s why I am now putting extra effort applying to American universities while preparing for Taiwanese college entrance exam. </p>
<p>I am considering student loan, in case I never get any scholarships. Will I have to work forever to pay the money back?</p>
<p>[International</a> Students | Admissions - Berea College](<a href=“http://www.berea.edu/admissions/international/default.asp]International”>http://www.berea.edu/admissions/international/default.asp)</p>
<p>American students usually pay back their student loans over a 10-year period…but those are federal loans that you won’t qualify for. Can you do a semester or year abroad in the US through a Taiwanese university?</p>
<p>Hi there, fellow Taiwanese student! <em>waves</em> A few quick questions: are you a senior now, or have you already graduated? You mentioned the Taiwanese University Entrance Exam which takes place during senior year; have you already taken that? Are you in college now, or are you still in high school? Also, about the TOEFL vs SAT thing: some schools don’t require the SAT for international students, but if you’re serious about studying + trying to get some money, take the SAT. </p>
<p>You should know that it’s crazy, crazy complicated to apply to U.S. colleges. It’s not just a matter of your scores; in the application process, colleges look at personal statements, letters of recommendation, transcripts, and maybe even an interview or two. I nearly went crazy my senior year trying to keep everything in order. sk8rmom gave an interesting suggestion about study-abroad programs in conjunction with schools in Taiwan which you might want to check out. Schools in Taiwan aren’t THAT bad. National pride, yay! :)</p>
<p>Take a look at these colleges (the list includes, but is not limited to Berea):</p>
<p>[Member</a> Colleges | <a href=“http://workcolleges.org%5B/url%5D”>http://workcolleges.org](<a href=“http://www.workcolleges.org/member-colleges]Member”>http://www.workcolleges.org/member-colleges)</a></p>
<p>For example, a quick search on one of them gave me this information:</p>
<p>[Do</a> you offer financial aid to international students?](<a href=“http://voice.sterlingcollege.edu/post/10562282347/do-you-offer-financial-aid-to-international-students]Do”>http://voice.sterlingcollege.edu/post/10562282347/do-you-offer-financial-aid-to-international-students)</p>
<p>There are options out there (although no guarantees - these schools only accept a limited number of internationals).</p>
<p>YO wintercrest, your’re one I’m looking for 
I am a senior in high school now, trying to balance between the preparation of entrance exam and the applications to American universities. Yes now I am going crazy as well…glad to hear that finally someone can relate. As for SAT, I have no idea where I can do this test in Taiwan, there is no possibility for me to fly to the US just for this test. And I doubt if I have extra strength to prepare for SAT! Can you tell me more about the information? I know it’s complicated, I have this American friend who is an exchange student in my school helping me out, she is going to Yale next year. I also have another American friend from Tennessee who was an exchange student last year helping me with scholarships. I really want to do this all by myself(I mean, you know most of the people ask some kind of organization to help doing all the application thing), but of corse I need help. I don’t mind dealing all the things that I have to prepare, the transcripts, letters and essays are not really difficult to get them done.(Interviews? I have to fly to the US?) My problem now is, I only get 87 on TOEFL IBT+my high school scores are not good+I need big number of financial aid. I might not be able to go to private schools, way too expansive. So, I am now looking for public schools that are not well ranked but still good and possible to offer financial aid for me. Any suggestions??? I am also interested about your story, would be so helpful if you could share how your made your way through everything that I am now dealing with. THANKS!!!
I am not sure about that program, don’t get me wrong, I love Taiwan, but I am that kind of person who want to travel for my whole life, so you might see that studying abroad is what I want so much as well.</p>
<p>susgeek,
Thank you for your information, but I’d like to know if these schools are good schools for education? OR not so good?</p>
<p>YO wintercrest, your’re one I’m looking for I am a senior in high school now, trying to balance between the preparation of entrance exam and the applications to American universities. Yes now I am going crazy as well…glad to hear that finally someone can relate. As for SAT, I have no idea where I can do this test in Taiwan, there is no possibility for me to fly to the US just for this test. And I doubt if I have extra strength to prepare for SAT! Can you tell me more about the information? I know it’s complicated, I have this American friend who is an exchange student in my school helping me out, she is going to Yale next year. I also have another American friend from Tennessee who was an exchange student last year helping me with scholarships. I really want to do this all by myself(I mean, you know most of the people ask some kind of organization to help doing all the application thing), but of corse I need help. I don’t mind dealing all the things that I have to prepare, the transcripts, letters and essays are not really difficult to get them done.(Interviews? I have to fly to the US?) My problem now is, I only get 87 on TOEFL IBT+my high school scores are not good+I need big number of financial aid. I might not be able to go to private schools, way too expansive. So, I am now looking for public schools that are not well ranked but still good and possible to offer financial aid for me. Any suggestions??? I am also interested about your story, would be so helpful if you could share how your made your way through everything that I am now dealing with. THANKS!!!
I am not sure about that program, don’t get me wrong, I love Taiwan, but I am that kind of person who want to travel for my whole life, so you might see that studying abroad is what I want so much as well.</p>
<p>susgeek,
Thank you for your information, but I’d like to know if these schools are good schools for education? OR not so good?</p>
<p>You need to take the SAT…you can take it in Taiwan…you need to find out where. Go to Collegeboard website and the locations are probably there somewhere.</p>
<p>You want money…you’re not going to get money without the SAT or ACT test.</p>
<p>ok I’ve registered. So do I have to do SAT subject test?</p>
<p>I think colleges generally don’t require SAT subjects for internationals, but I could be wrong. It varies from college to college, I think, with more stringent requirements if you’re trying to get into engineering. You should probably pick a list of schools first before seeing if they require it.</p>
<p>Okay, first you need to know a bit about public vs private. Public schools have cheaper sticker prices for IN-STATE students. The price for out of state students can be just as high as private schools. It’s harder to get aid from public schools as compared to private. In either case, though, you’ll need high stats to get good financial aid from US schools.</p>
<p>Could you post an overview of your stats? I know you got 87 on the TOEFL ibt, but I can’t remember if you posted your grade point average. It should be on a 100 scale; get transcripts from your school. Have you taken any other tests? Have you won any awards? What are your extracurricular activities?</p>
<p>Alternatively, have you considered schools in Canada, New Zealand, or Australia? I haven’t really looked into them at all, but you definitely shouldn’t rule them out. (:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t know what you consider “good” or “not good” and most people here won’t know as you’ve not provided us with your subjective criteria. All of the colleges you’ll see people recommend on CC are accredited. They all award degrees and meet US educational standards. The term “good” often means “highly ranked”, and highly ranked schools tend to be more selective and more expensive than you seem to be aiming at. So, without making any judgement about the schools that were recommended (because I know very little about them), they are not the big name schools that are flooded with applications but are no doubt capable of providing a decent undergraduate education. They may or may not be strong in your intended major (whatever that is).</p>
<p>I would strongly recommend that you narrow your search by major and look at both US and Taiwanese schools. See if any schools in your country offer exchange programs, or study abroad, with US school you would like to attend. Instead of trying to go it alone, make an appointment with an advisor at a Education USA center near you. It’s worth tapping into their expertise so you’re not wasting time on unproductive searches and applications.</p>
<p>I definitely appreciate all the suggestions that you provided. I surely think that I can receive better education in the US, and that’s why I am trying to get into one now. I have little knowledge about the universities in America. But according to my understanding to Taiwanese universities, there are schools that only care about money, and the students there don’t study at all. I am terribly sorry that I was doubting the qualities of the schools that you suggested, but I hope that you understand I know little about the schools in the US, actually I know nearly nothing about the US, and I just wanted to make sure that I am not going to a school like that. I am sorry that my lack of knowledge might lead to some stupid questions. Anyways I am glad that they are good schools, and I hope that I am qualified to them.
I want to major in Journalism and foreign languages. I want to travel, I have passion in languages, I am interested in culture, issues around the world. I’d like to be a traveling reporter and perhaps work for UN. This is just what I’ve planned to do in my future, are journalism and languages the right subjects for me to study in college? Will I have to take SAT subjects tests?There is one thing that I am curious about, can you explain more about the reason why I have to take SAT to get scholarships?
Thank you for telling me about the private and public schools. But I think the money I have now is not going to be enough for the full tuition of either private schools or public schools. So I need financial aid either ways. I will soon get transcripts from the office of my school, then I can tell you more about my scores and let you know better about the chances for me to get financial aid. What I can tell you now is that my average score of 10th grade is 72(more or less), of 11th grade is 66(because I was in the class that study extra physics and chem, it was harder to get higher grades). I am really worrying about whether I could get any financial aid with my score or not. I don’t know about the situation in the US, but in Taiwan, students who get scores above 80, are the top students. And I am sure that no one gets above 90 in my school.
About the tests that I’ve taken, since I am the senior of high school, I have to take the model test of the Taiwanese college entrance exams(which are held in the whole northern territory. They are tests that we get official scores.) nearly every month until next summer. I’ve done one, and in the English section I got 14/15. I could totally make them 15/15 in the next tests if that could help.Chinese11/15,Social Studies+History+Geography 10/15. Chem+Physics+Bio+Earth Science9/15, leave out Math…I got only 6/15. Will this kind of tests work? About the awards, I wrote an English poem when I was in grade 10 and it was published on the school bulletin. I participated in the English composition and speech contest, I didn’t get any award from them though. I am good at basketball. I was in the school team when I was in primary school(there were no girl’s basketball team in my junior high school and neither in the school that I am studying now). However I still play with the boys on weekends and after school. I am good at English, comparing to other Taiwanese. I might had mentioned, I am the only student in my school that make friends and hang out often with the international students in Taipei(other students are just terrified to talk to them). But I doubt whether this is something that I should be proud of since I am going to an English speaking country where everyone seems to have no problem making friends with international students. I also think that I have other special qualities that others don’t have, which are critical to learning. But I don’t think that this will help at all since there is nothing that I could prove for that, and I doubt anyone cares. But I would love to tell if they help.
Yes I would love to go to university in other english speaking country(actually I would love to go anywhere if I could speak every languages). But the friends that are helping me are Americans, so it would be easier for me to deal with the application. I would definitely apply for some schools in those countries if I had someone to help me.
I will make sure that I get into a Taiwanese university first, since the first entrance exam is on 1/17 & 1/18 in 2012, earlier than the results of the applications come out. If no school takes me, I still have time to prepare with full effort for the second entrance exam which is in the July of 2012. So I am kind of doing applications of different countries at the same time.
I will post my transcripts soon, thank you again for all your help!</p>
<p>Schools like the SAT because it’s, well, standardized. That means it’s an objective way of ranking everybody from different countries.</p>
<p>Ummm. Okay, I hate to say this, but it will be hard to get financial aid with those scores. Umm. I don’t know if your school has this, but my school’s library used to have a place where we could get catalogues specifically for international students who wanted to study abroad. The schools advertised in those catalogues are usually tailored specifically towards students who want to study abroad.</p>
<p>Alternatively, this is a good college searcher:</p>
<p>[College</a> MatchMaker - Type of School](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>You can fill in your preferences there and narrow down a list of schools that might be good for you. Cost will be a big priority. You’ll want schools <10,000 per year, most likely.</p>
<p>What about TOEFL? Isn’t it standardized and a objective way of ranking everyone from different countries?</p>
<p>That’s alright. I’ll check out the library in my school. What about student loan?</p>
<p>Thanks for the website, I’ll check it out very soon.</p>
<p>Lijia Yin,</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes TOEFL is standardized, but US schools want to get an idea of your general ability v. US students. Thats why SAT is so important. You need BOTH, TOEFL to see that you can manage in US language, and SAT to see general ability to do college work.</p></li>
<li><p>VERY few schools give aid to intl students. So unless you can get into Ivy League, you need to do this. Look at SAT scores, look for schools where you will exceed top 75% of scores. You can look at [College</a> Admissions - SAT - University & College Search Tool](<a href=“http://www.collegeboard.com%5DCollege”>http://www.collegeboard.com) for data re average SAT scores. What will happen is that you will be applying to schools where your SATs scores are better than most. You are looking at merit aid, in essence, not need based aid.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You can take SAT, SAT II and ACT’s in Taipei, call US Consulate in Taipei, they will direct you to the right place to register.</p>