<p>Lightpaddle it's very unfortunate to hear that. </p>
<p>Clearly people around you have nearly no understanding of higher education in the United States. In this competitive world, a prestigious school is one thing. But most importantly, it will always be your personal characteristics and innate potential that will ultimately win the day. No matter what school you go to, you and your parents must understand that.</p>
<p>As an high school student, I have no problem going to university, as long as I can do studies that will help me in the future.
For the most part, my parents believe so too. But, older people in Japan (and many young people) still believe in the importance of "school value", because that was what they were taught. Even though my parents don't expect me to be going to the best schools possible, they think that if I were to be going to the <em>US</em>, that would be very expensive, and therefore they believe "the money paid should have some extra meaning to it", and obviously they think that the extra meaning is in "school value".
I couldn't believe my ears when they said this. Unfortunately, they look like they won't be changing their stance. I know this is frustrating to many people, but for me, I should be studying, and I just want to know how my chances look.</p>
<p>Hey, light_paddle.</p>
<p>I am also studying in Japan, and have applied to US colleges for 2007 entry.</p>
<p>I have applied to HYPS, U of Penn, Dartmouth, Duke, Washington U in St. Louis, Cornell and some other liberal arts. I'm still waiting for the decisions to come out...in fact, most ivies release their decisions about 7 hrs later! I have already been accepted to Washington U and Vassar(liberal arts).
Seeing I haven't received the outcome from most of the unis you want to go to, I'm not sure if this will help you... but I'll share my statistics with you anyway. </p>
<p>SAT: CR720 W720 M790
SAT2(Approx.): JAP800 M1-670 M2-670 English Literature640 (not very good... I wish I could re-take)
GPA: around 3.0/4 (which is not very good, but I attend a very selective high school)
TOEFL: 117/120 ibt</p>
<p>Extra curriculars: won 1st prize for national English speech contests and essay contests (about 4/5 of them- well known contests in Japan)
volunteer activity
eiken 1kyuu (obtained at the age of 14)</p>
<p>as for tuition... many schools offer financial assistance to international students as well. HYP are need-blind for international students as well(meaning they don't consider the applicants' ability to pay tuition at the time of admissions process). When I was accepted to Washington U, it came with a $24000 scholarship, which doesn't cover all of the tuitions, but it definitely helps my family. You should look for some information on the college websites.</p>
<p>Having published a book at such a young age is definitely going to be a hook, as someone has already mentioned.</p>
<p>As for SAT, I personally believe you don't need to obtain an extremely high score as an international applicant if you are not attending an international schoo, or some other schools that offer education in English. Seeing your curriculums, I am guessing you go to a normal Japanese school. Have you ever lived abroad? If you have, the admission officer WILL expect some amount of English ability, and you expected SAT scores for CR and W may not be satisfactory for them. However, if you've never lived abroad, your expected scores is not so bad at all. In fact, I know a guy from Japan who had never lived abroad , got CR540 M760 W610 and got into Harvard. (he was top in a selective school, and had some HOOKS)</p>
<p>I hope this information will be some help...When I first learned that US colleges cost SO MUCH, I almost gave up, too. Fortunately, my parents were really understanding about my choice, and helped me look for some ways to pay for college. I can also understand your parents view of placing a great value on "school value" or "name value"...my grand parents (on father's side) are just like that. But PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP!! You should probably show "World's best college ranking" to them- HYPS, and some other ivies are ranked much higher than Tokyo University.</p>
<p>ps. I recently joined "mixi". My HN is "momiji"(in Japanese letters). Look me up using some words like "ikeda" (in Japanese letters). GOOD LUCK!</p>
<p>Again, thank you for you reply. It is very nice to know that there are still very kind people in this world.</p>
<p>this<em>is</em>my_life says if I don't have living experience in the states, even the highest schools won't ask for a really good SAT score. Personally...</p>
<p>-I have lived in the US for 5 and a half years, from pre-school to grade 3.</p>
<p>So, do the schools really consider these aspects? And, does my going to the US when I was very young count?</p>
<p>Some other additional information about me...
-A recent diagonosis test result says my scores are currently about M770/R550/W590. I have confidence that my scores will increase [my goals are 800/650/700], but for now, this seems like my best scores.
-I got a 935 on the TOEIC (grade 8)
-My publisher was going to make me write a second book (BUT, because Windows Vista isn't as popular as expected, they decided not to)</p>