<p>I'm from Israel, almost 21 and applying to FSU.
What do you think are my chances to get in FSU / how well I'd fit in there?</p>
<p>I graduated high school in 2008. My overall unweighed high school GPA is 3.7, however I took the most advanced science courses and received A's on them. I put a lot of effort into my studies my last two years in high school and have very high grades in those years. I took two BA level courses at a university here when I was 17 and received 89 and 90 (out of a 100). Served in the army here in Israel in an elite unit and lead a project that received the Israel Defence Prize (Israel Defense Prize - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). I have a lot of leadership experience, within and without the army.
I took the SAT on Sunday and hoping for somewhere between 2000-2150 (M:780, CR:650, W:720 - but I really dont know). I'm taking SAT II in January in math 2 and chemistry. My TOEFL is 112 (30 on the reading there).
Work Experience:
Software developer from the age of 16 to 18. Lead a year-long high grossing project when I was 17.
During and alongside the army, worked as a head of technology for a start up in the mobile phones field.
Currently a senior software developer at a hitech company.
Currently working as freelance security expert (malware research, reverse engineering and so forth)
Also involved in a start up with a few Harvard BS students.
ECS
Spent 4 months in the states after high school and obtained a private pilots license
Volunteered at Pilots for Charity to fly children with long term diseases.
Volunteered at El-Al Israel Airlines and helped them built their pilots training program.
Been playing guitar for 5 years, school performances and so forth.
Tennis played for 5 years and coached kids.
Volunteered at the Israeli civil guard and as an anti drugs spokesperson.
Traveled extensively around the world, for business and for pleasure. </p>
<p>We dont have honors / AP here in Israel, however I received a 787 out of 800 (99th percentile) on the Israeli SAT equivalent.</p>
<p>My writing is good and I think I have a lot to say about myself I am a high achiever and I have a lot of interests, an interesting perspective and can offer a great deal of diversity. I get along with everybody, am very sociable, and have very good recommendations (from teachers, army, and employers). I also don't require financial aid.</p>
<p>It really is pointless for you to guess at your SAT score. When you know your scores, post back and others can help you to figure out your chances then.</p>
<p>The one thing I will say is that American kids go to college at 18 yo typically. You are older and far more experienced than they are. You may be astounded at their lack of maturity and how much they take for granted how good we have it in this country. I know I am and I have lived here all my life. I question how happy you would be immersed in a world of US college students given your life experiences.</p>
<p>From the thread on the Parent’s forum, several of the posters suggested to the other Israeli student that he get his undergrad degree in Israel and come to the US for grad school because it would be far cheaper and he would still get a very good education. I have to agree for that reason and this - You would be a 21 yo freshman when all the other freshman were 18 yo. You have served in the military and held a real job. Between the age difference and your life experiences, quite frankly, you would not fit in with them. I honestly think you would be annoyed with the kids here and how immature and unworldly they are. And they would look at you more like they look at their parents because quite frankly, you have more in common with their parents than you have with them.</p>
<p>Go to undergrad in Israel and come here for grad school if you are still interested. It is not worth the money to come here for undergrad and I don’t think the experience would be fun for you being older, wiser and more worldly than the kids you would be in school with.</p>
<p>giaviv - I clicked on your post history and I can see that part of what you are interested in is fun and parties at college. I think you need to be honest with yourself about whether you would really have fun at the parties at a US undergraduate college.</p>
<p>When I was an undergrad sometimes the grad students would come to our parties mostly guys looking to find younger women to date. They were only a few years older than we were but I can tell you that we perceived them as much older than we were not due to them actually being that much older than we were, but because we were so immature. </p>
<p>Anyhow, I bring this up because from your post history, you seem to be interested in the fun and parties of a US college experience. I can’t see an older student fitting in with the dorm and frat party scene except for they might try to use you to buy alcohol for them since you would be old enough. As for the bar scene, you would fit in better there but unless the bar is letting in under age kids, only the seniors are hanging at the bars.</p>
<p>I am sorry to be Debbie Downer here, but our system is very different from the system in Israel. We don’t have mandatory military service and our kids are young and immature when they go to college and you are not.</p>
<p>One more thing - please don’t take this the wrong way. When I said the college kids here are young and immature and you are not, I don’t mean to say you are not young. Compared to me, you are a baby. But compared to the undergrads here, you might as well be middle age. You have served in the military in a country that is perenially at war with its neighbors and held a real job. Most of the kids in US colleges can’t even point to Afghanistan on a map despite our military being over there and have held menial jobs at best. We are talking working at McDonalds, not working as a senior software developer like you have. </p>
<p>Undergrad is very expensive here for someone from another country. So before you make that investment, make sure you know what you are buying. If what you think you are buying is fun and parties, well, you may find your money wasted because of the difference in age and life experience between you and the kids you would be going to school with. If you are serious about an education, I think your money is better spent at a college in Israel than at FSU. Not that FSU isn’t a good school it is, but you can get just as good of an education for a lot less money in Israel.</p>
<p>And if your predicted SAT scores pan out, you are way too qualified for FSU. The middle 50% of FSU admits have SAT scores under the 90th percentile. In other words, 75% of the applicants admitted to FSU have SAT scores under the 90th percentile. Your predicted SAT scores would put you in the 98th percentile. Yet another reason you wouldn’t fit in there.</p>
<p>guys, first of all, thank you very much for your responses. let me better explain myself.</p>
<p>I do indeed have a lot of experience in life; i’ve done and seen many many things and i’ve met a lot of people from a variety of backgrounds. that being said, i’ve also been serious - worked at an office, travelled. the way i see it, now is the for me to have some fun, since i only get one chance at being in my early 20is.</p>
<p>as for the states, i’ve spent a lot of time (probably around a year in total) all over the states and i’ve spent a lot of time around colleges such as UMD (that entailed going to frat parties, hanging out with the people and so forth). so its not like i watched american pie, said oh this looks fun, and decided that i should try it. i know exactly how it is.
furthermore, even though im 21, i’m very very easy going. i like to have fun and go crazy as i get along with everybody. i’m completely fluent in English (i’ve had an american girlfriend for over a year) and i’m very sociable - i make friends wherever i go, no matter the circumstances - i have a lot of confidence. im not worried about my social life at all. i have an american friend here in Israel who is doing his masters here, he went to FSU and said that i’ll love it.</p>
<p>FSU welcomes international students, over 1000 international students attend FSU. Israel and the state Florida have strong ties. FSU has a long history of serving U.S. veterans, so it’s sorta stupid to say you are too mature to attend FSU. Check in with FSU’s International office for assistance if you haven’t already. Some Florida universities have linkage agreements with Israel to assist with financial needs and to offer guidance.</p>
<p>If that is what I had said, you would have a point. My point about maturity was about the social scene, not about the education. My point about the education was that he could get just as good of an education for a lot less money in Israel.</p>
<p>giaviv - now do you see what I was saying about the SAT percentiles?</p>
<p>He went to FSU undergrad as an 18-21 yo, correct? Ask him what he thinks the experience would have been like if he were 21 yo when he started as a freshman and see what he says.</p>
<p>have you read my previous comment?
other than that, I understand your point about the SAT percentiles. how significant will that be for me? will i feel there is no one smart around me?</p>
<p>I got the part about you viewing a US college as about the fun from your past posting history. Hence my posts addressing that issue. Again, you are looking for fun in your early 20’s. US college kids by and large are teenagers for the first two years of college.</p>
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<p>Fine, but how old were you when you were going to those frat parties? From your initial post, some of the time you spent in the US was right out of high school. Hanging out at frat parties right out of high school, that is what I was talking about. Lots of US students do the frat scene for 3 years right out of high school and then their senior year, they are tired of it and move to the bar scene when they hit 21 yo. </p>
<p>In fact, I have a nephew who is a senior in college at UF and that is exactly the position he is in. He is in a frat and just the other day he was telling me how he feels old at the frat parties now and prefers the bars. He just turned 21 yo and like you is ready to have fun in his early 20’s. However, at 21 yo his idea of fun doesn’t include frat parties any more, although he found them incredibly fun when he was a teenager his first few years in college. His attitude at 21 is “been there done that” when it comes to frat parties and he is ready to move on to another stage of his life.</p>
<p>Well, I am certainly not going to be popular on the FSU forum for saying this, but here goes - yeah, I think you would feel like that somewhat at FSU if you are capable of 98th percentile SAT scores. The bulk of the students at FSU aren’t any where near your level if you are at that level. Are there some that are? Sure, but the bulk of the students at FSU aren’t.</p>
<p>I think you would benefit from posting some of your questions on the Parents Forum. This is the FSU forum. You are going to get very biased answers here.</p>
<p>I agree. I experienced the frats scene when i was 19. im actually still 20, and haven’t experienced a lot of it, so im definitely interested in experiencing it some more. to my understanding, even freshmen are sick of the frat scene after sophomore or junior year at best, i think i will feel the same way after two years at college, but not now, not in my first year or two there…
btw, i was also very mature after high school when i did experience this type of life, and it didn’t bother me at all. i haven’t changed much since, so i really don’t see how it will be a problem…</p>
<p>in terms of admission, do you think i will not have a problem getting in in case i decide to apply?</p>
<p>I don’t think FSU cares if u served in the Israeli army or were a software developer at aged 16. They pretty much will look at your SAT scores and your GPA and that’s it.</p>
<p>They receive over 50,000 applications a year, they do not have the resources to read over resumes, personal essays, etc. You either have the grades are u don’t. That’s it</p>
<p>will my grades be enough? again, i have a 3.7 high school GPA and projecting around 2000-2200 on the SAT. if i did really really bad on it, itll be 720 on the math, 570 on the reading and 600 on the writing (1890 total). i don’t think theres any chance id get lower than that.</p>
<p>I am not very knowledgeable about how hard it is to get into FSU as an international. What I can tell you is that some schools recruit internationals who can pay full price for tuition. So when you are researching schools, look to see if they are need-blind in their admissions of internationals. If a school is not need-blind in their admission of international students, you can’t compare yourself to their admits unless you can pay full price for tuition. Whether or not FSU is need-blind in its international admissions, I don’t know. </p>
<p>If you were a US applicant, you would be in. The only doubt I would have about admissions as a US applicant is that they might think someone with your credentials would be looking at them only as a safety school. Sometimes schools don’t admit obviously overqualified students because the students don’t take their application essay seriously or otherwise indicate to the admissions people that they are not serious about the school.</p>