My plan - if you can spare a minute of your time

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>First of all i would like to say hello to everybody, i've just registered on cc.</p>

<p>Here is my story, problems and plans, if you could help me with some of them i would be very thankful to you.</p>

<p>I am from Croatia, senior year now, since we use a 1-5 scale, where 1 is the lowest, i have no idea how to transfer that to GPA.
My average is 4.3 (in Croatian scale obviously).
I've not taken a SAT or TOEFL test but i am planing to take them in October - November.
In high school i've took.. how can i explain that, something like a major in US, we call it direction here.. It was Multimedia. And we have plenty of subject that relate to that, it's something similar to a major in US. I have all 5 from these kind of subjects.</p>

<p>I've heard that all us schools pay a huge attention to a extracurrical activities like founder of chess club etc.
In Croatia we do not have that :(</p>

<p>I'm playing guitar for some time now, used to play "real" football and tennis but now only street football, table tennis and badminton.</p>

<p>One other important thing is financial aid, with this kind of information and lets imagine that i get 2000+ on SAT test, what kind of financial aid can i expect, because i need a big one.</p>

<p>I almost forgot does a membership in MENSA counts, i know that i cannot hurt, but do colleges pay a attention to that?</p>

<p>Since i will try to continue my education is USA, Computer Science or something related to that, what colleges are realistic for me?</p>

<p>Thank you for reading this :)</p>

2

<p>Is there anyway you could get for information ? Can you school counselor make your 4.3 equivalent to American GPA ? What rank are you in school ? Top 10% ? top 25% ? bottom 50% ?
Try taking a practice SAT so you can have an idea what you will score. What makes you assume that you will get 2000+ ?
I went to an American school, so extracurricular activities were the norm here. But, from what I understand they are more lenient depending on your and your school's background.
I'm not sure what your status would be if you said you took a "direction" in multimedia. Schools generally wants a liberal arts curriculum.
For example they require/want this at Washington & Lee:</p>

<p>Required units: 16 total
Electives 4
English 4
Foreign Language 3
History 1
Math 3
Science 1
Science Lab 1
Social Studies 1
Recommended units:
History 2
Math 4
Science 3</p>

<p>source: College</a> Search - Washington and Lee University - W&L - Admission</p>

<p>Regarding colleges that award financial aid, look in collegeboard's website for colleges that award aid to internationals. There is like a search for colleges option in collegeboard and you need to check a box that says filter schools that award financial aid to internationals. If a school does give financial aid to international you can see how much money it was, either if merit or need based, and divide it by the total of students awarded aid; thus giving you the average financial aid. Also check Princeton Review's website, it tells you the average of financial aid given to internationals.</p>

<p>If you are accepted to a university applying for aid, that does not mean they grant you aid. According to Princeton Review, Villanova's Average Undergraduate Total Need-Based Aid is $33,256.00 . Even though I was accepted at Villanova, it didn't give me any aid at all.</p>

<p>If you are applying for aid as an international, every school is a reach. Make sure to apply to a lot of colleges, 10+ in my opinion.</p>

3

<p>thanks for reply</p>

<p>I will ask them if they can convert 4.3 to GPA when school starts.
Also, we do not have ranks here but i assume that i'm in top 25%-10%.
About SAT, i think that i will score over 2000+ because i am practicing 4-5 hours each day for it..</p>

<p>Well, what can i say, school system is completely devastated here.</p>

<p>if i got this part right required units means that for example math 3, that you have listen math for 3 years?</p>

<p>About that "direction" i think that you call it curriculum here, if i figured that out correctly.</p>

<p>i had in 1st and 2nd year:
Math
Physics
Croatian
English (1st year only)
Science (2nd year only)
German
History
Sport
Geography
Ethics
Art
Multimedia tehnology
Web Design
Computer science
Web design
Photography and film (2nd year only)</p>

<p>and in 3rd i've lost: history, geography, physics, art and photography and film, but i got a bunch of new subjects related with web design and computer science..
We do not have so liberal program here, you can only choose as i said "direction" and then school tells you which subjects will attend.</p>

4

<p>I want to add that many schools focus on CR and Math. So you might want to look more into those sections. Yeah Math 3 means math for 3 years. I don't know how the classes you took will be seen by admission officers. The fact that you only took 1 year of English, might look really bad. You must get a high TOEFL and CR score to upset that. You might want to talk to admission officers to see how valid or how does the Croatian curriculum compare to what they expect. The fact that you are Croatian might be good for admissions, I don't think so many Croatians apply to the US.</p>

5

<p>When you report your grades to US colleges, report your Croatian grades as given. Do not attempt to convert them to American grades. If you want to convert them, report both your Croation grades and the converted grades and indicate clearly where you got your conversion guide from (ideally an authoritative source like the US embassy in your country or a foreign grade evaluation service like WES, <em>not</em> the gut feeling of you or your teacher.) </p>

<p>Regarding your mensa membership: I wouldn't report it unless I was an active member (went to meetings, organized events etc). It makes you look presumptuous, and colleges should be able to figure out from your grades and test scores that you are smart.</p>

<p>An early specialization is not bad per se - European high school students generally start specializing in their last few years of high school and take more advanced classes earlier (even before they start specializing). For example, calculus in taught to sophomores in my home country, while in the US calculus is most frequently taken by seniors or college freshmen.</p>

<p>Maybe you should avoid using the word "multimedia" on your college application. It sounds like you spent most of your time studying journalism, video production and graphics design. Instead you want to highlight the academic classes you have taken (math, computer science, physics, history, English etc <em>not</em> web design or photography).</p>

6

<p>Yes i will take TOEFL test, i have to :)</p>

<p>Thanks for suggestions, i really appreciate it.</p>

7

<p>don't convert anything, just ask your school to send a school profıle and your transcript as it is to all colleges you're applying to.
if you're in your senior year right now, i think it would be really hard for you to take care of all your SATs, TOEFL and also do some other extracurricular activities, such as community service etc. maybe you can consider taking a gap year?
even if you don't, you can apply to small liberal arts colleges that give ample financial aid for internationals. most of them have computer science. start looking at the CC forum and their websites, and narrow a list down to 15, of course with some bigger universities too.</p>

8

<p>No need to convert anything. However, you do need to send your school profile and original transcript. </p>

<p>A gap year should be a viable option. You could gain valuable experience (and beef up your resume) by working or doing community service in your gap year. Additionally, you could also get plenty of time to prepare for the standardized tests and research the colleges. HOWEVER, a gap year has plenty of disadvantages as well, and if you think you can manage well enough without one, you should go for it.</p>

<p>The financial aid you get is not dependent on your SAT score at most top colleges - it depends on your financial need. However, a higher SAT score does give you a greater chance of admission to these college.</p>

<p>I just looked up MENSA in Wikipedia, and found the concept pretty interesting.:-) Include it in your application only if you have been an active member, or taken part in any program organized by MENSA. A membership, per se, is probably useless.</p>

<p>About your college search, USNews.com:</a> America's Best Colleges 2008: National Universities: Top Schools and USNews.com:</a> America's Best Colleges 2008: Liberal Arts Colleges: Top Schools are good starting points as they serve as a very good compilation of colleges. However, use these lists as compilations only, and do not use them to make your final college decisions. Many of the liberal arts colleges give good financial aid, and some national universities too give good financial aid.</p>

9

<p>I didn't thought about a gap year, but it's a reasonable option..
But i will do my best to do everything this year, also thank you for your suggestions, they're really helpful to me.</p>

10

<p>I just want to add, if you want a safety school apply to the University of New Orleans. If you have a 3.5 GPA (i know you don't know yours), and a 1210 SAT (CR and math), you apply for the chancellor scholarship, which means almost a full ride. I know a lot of people here look down on this "place", but after all it is university. I was looking at the computer science department, and a professor there "received his BA in Computer Science from Brown University (1995), his MEng. in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University (1997), and his PhD in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College (2003)". All fine institutions.</p>

<p>Anyway here is the link to the scholarships Undergraduate</a> Scholarships for Out-of-State Residents . If you apply, make sure to apply early because scholarships are given on first come first serve.</p>

<p>Oh and you could join the honors program there.</p>

11

<p>my mom went to high school in Egypt and they also have "directions" there. she went with a math based direction. It sucks IMO because it forces you to decide your career even before high school.</p>

12

<p>danhernan, have you been to New Orleans recently? I haven't heard any recent news about UNO, but I am really curious to what extend they are still suffering from the aftermath of Katrina. You are right, they are a university, but it would be nice to have classes in actual classrooms and not in tractor trailers. (Not suggesting that this is the case - I am just wondering if they have managed to rebuild all the buildings in just three years. Time doesn't seem to be as much of an issue here as money.)</p>

13

<p>To be honest, no I haven't been to New Orleans in years, but a friend spends his summer and Christmas time there and says while there are parts destroyed, life moves on. The town isn't the same as it used to be, but it is recovering. </p>

<p>They have a new residence hall built just last year. While they did suffer damage luckily most of the campus did not get flooded, overall the University is recovering well from what I understand. However, enrollment is still low. My source was a university officer, so it is biased. From my understanding although some buildings were damaged, it wasn't total destruction. I believe the windows of the business building were shattered, but by this time they have fixed that. There must be a UNO report on the hurricane damage, but I was not able to find it. The surrounding residential area is destroyed, and I guess it can be depressing. However, owners are motivated to rebuilt since some students want to live nearby the university. </p>

<p>I couldn't find many photos, but here is what I found</p>

<p>Center</a> Austria - University of New Orleans - What's New Spring 08 - Laissez les bon temps rouler</p>

<p>Center</a> Austria - University of New Orleans - Center Austria Image Galleries - 2008 International Nite</p>

<p>Center</a> Austria - University of New Orleans - Center Austria Image Galleries - Cold Fun on a Hot Day</p>

<p>campus map
The</a> University of New Orleans - Lakefront Campus</p>

<p>Again, I'm not saying it should be a dream school, but it is an affordable option and in a fun city.</p>

<p>Here are some maps of the areas of New Orleans that were flooded </p>

<p>NOAA</a> Home Page - Hurricane Katrina Flooding and Spill Maps
<a href="http://danswenson.com/paper/katrinagraphics/03katrina-flood-map.jpg%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://danswenson.com/paper/katrinagraphics/03katrina-flood-map.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>You can see where UNO is in the second map. It seems from both maps, that most of the university was not flooded.</p>

14

<p>please don't get me wrong, but as an international student, i would rather stay in my country rather than going to university of new orleans-it really isn't worth the hassle. croatia is a nice country too--one might as well stay there for college education and go for a masters/doctoral degree to the united states.</p>

15

<p>Everyone has the choice whether to stay in one's country or to go to the US, even if it means UNO. I guess it all depends where you are from. If I recall correctly Jason Shah from Nepal (I think), is off to UNO instead of staying in his country. If I was a European citizen, I would probably wish to stay in Europe rather than UNO since there are so many universities in the EU, and from what I understand are pretty much free for EU citizens.I'm throwing the option here, a full ride, seems at least one CCer took it. Why not spread the knowledge for the 2013 class. </p>

<p>A full ride means that you might actually make money while in college. To be honest New Orleans is a fun city, and sure it is still recovering, but one can be part of the recovery effort. At least Trump believes so.</p>

<p>TRUMP</a> International Hotel & Tower, New Orleans - Home</p>

<p>I found a thread by Jasonshah
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/511371-university-new-orleans.html?%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/511371-university-new-orleans.html?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Yeah UNO sustained damage, but supposedly it has/or is recovering</p>

16

<p>

Keyword in this is "EU citizens". Croatia, unfortunately, still has a long way to go until it becomes part of EU. So for the most of Croatians with typical Croatian earnings, universities in EU are way out of reach (remember the Oxbridge tuition stories?), and they'd have a better chance getting a scholarship from one of the US colleges.
But the story is, Croatian CS college is not that bad, so Fejky could always prepare and take an entrance exam if US does not work out.</p>

<p>Since Europe is mentioned, I'd like to suggest Jacobs University Bremen - an English-medium school on north of Germany that has very good grad-school and career placements. Their strength is their Sciences department (they even competed with HPMC etc. in Physics competitions and came in 4th overall), and it offers CS. The greatest deal of all is that it has a need-blind admissions and every accepted student has an opportunity to get aid (for demonstrated need) or (merit) scholarships. School's facilities are great, it's closer to Croatia than USA, and there are many low-cost airlines for flights within Europe which means you could come home each school break (too expensive if you went overseas). They have 4 application deadlines and the tip is to apply early to have a better chance of getting aid.
Jacobs</a> University Bremen: Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Give it a shot, if nothing, just to have a broader range of options.</p>