Hello, everyone. First of all, thanks for reading this thread. Searching for colleges, I ran into this website and found it very helpful. I see that many people here are knowledgeable and willing to reach out to people like me. So I get up the courage to ask some questions here. As I said in the title, I am a Korean girl and will be studying in the U.S. from September 2022. I’ve got so many questions but no one to ask.
As of now, I have no idea what I want to major in. There are certain majors I want to study, such as communication, journalism, business, or economics. These are the majors I have been hoping to study in college. These majors I listed above, however, require really fluent English skills, I know. In order to study in the U.S. I must be good at English. But to major in those areas, I must to very well. Just as most of the international students shun those majors and delve into mathematics or science, I think I must major in those subjects that inquire less about writing and speaking. Again, I am an undecided college major, but I am entirely convinced that I have a want to study more and learn more, so I came to the conclusion that it would be great for me to get into liberal arts college and try many things out. Now, I will tell you the colleges that are on my college list(most of them are CTCL): Carleton College, Macalester College, College of Wooster, Kalamazoo College, Denison University, Whitman College. Just so you know, I will also jot down standardized test scores as well. I got 140 in Duolingo English Test, 109 in TOEFL, 1330(630, in SAT ‘Practice Test’(will be taking SAT this upcoming August), and will be taking the ACT as well in September(am not good in the ACT), and lastly I took AP Macro and got 4 out of 5. GPA is around 3.6.
So my question is,
Which of the colleges on the list possible for me to get in?
Recommend me other colleges in the U.S.(I want to go to the small liberal arts college)
Any advice?
I really appreciate your help and time. Thank you super much.
Since you don’t mention any financial concerns, does it mean your parents don’t mind spending ~$80,000 a year for your college, or you just didn’t consider finances yet?
The #1 limiting factor will be how much you can afford - and thus, how much each college needs to give you in scholarships.
Wrt your English level, it is more than sufficient to study the different subjects that interest you, be they journalism or communication or English literature. Sure, it’ll be a bit harder for you than for your classmates at first, but surely you’re expecting that, and soon enough you’ll be thinking in English and improving at a fast clip. No need to put arbitrary limits upon yourself wrt choice of major.
Leaving aside any possible financial issues, I think you are on the right track. My son is a rising junior at Denison. He is a native English speaker, but he grew up in Tokyo and college has been his first experience living in the US. He was also an undecided/non-STEM type Asian, and he is really enjoying his Midwestern small-town LAC experience. I would encourage you to apply to Denison, which has communications, narrative journalism, economics and Global Commerce programs that would cover the interests you mention. In addition to the other colleges on your list, you might think about St. Olaf (same town as Carleton but a more relaxed vibe and somewhat less competitive) and Lawrence in the Midwest (Lawrence is quite international), Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas; University of Puget Sound and Lewis & Clark (like Whitman, in the Pacific Northwest); and Dickinson College in Pennsylvania (one of my son’s classmates is at Dickinson and having a good experience) and Connecticut College. A couple of these schools offer Early Acceptance (EA) - Trinity, Lawrence, Lewis & Clark and Puget Sound, as I recall? EA is not exclusive like ED, so you can apply to multiple schools EA. If you apply by the deadline (usually around Nov. 1), you will have their decision before year-end. It can give you peace of mind, and then if you want to aim higher in the Regular Decision round, you can take that risk knowing that you already have a good place to go if things don’t work out. Another tip would be to reach out to the Admissions Officers at schools you are seriously interested in and ask whether there will be any admissions events in Korea or online events you could participate in. Most websites will list the Admissions Officers and the territories for which they are responsible. Depending on the school, there may be an AO responsible for Asia or for international students generally. Pre-pandemic, there were a lot of recruiting events in the fall in Tokyo, including a couple of big college fairs, with a number of LACs participating. We learned a lot at those events, and it’s unfortunate they couldn’t be held these last few years. But maybe there are still some virtual events aimed at international candidates. In any event, it’s worth reaching out to the AOs and it will count as demonstrated interest in their schools. (Schools like to have high “yield” numbers showing that a high percentage of students who received offers accepted. So, many schools keep track of “demonstrated interest” as a tool for judging whether a particular student is serious about the school.) You don’t want to bother busy AOs just for the sake of demonstrating interest, of course, but reaching out to ask how you can learn more about the school in circumstances where (I am guessing) you won’t be able to visit should be fine. Good luck!
Universities are also a good place to try out different majors if you aren’t sure.
The university of Missouri (Mizzou) has a very well known journalism school. It’s a fair size, about 30k students, but not as big as many of state schools. It is also quite a bit cheaper for out of state/international students at about $40k.
Do you know your class rank? (Colleges will need to know whether a 3.6 is a high GPA for your school.)
Carleton is almost certainly out of reach with your GPA and course rigor. Kalamazoo seems like a good target, although it may not have as much journalism as you want. In fact, wanting pre-professional programs like journalism and business is somewhat at odds with wanting a small LAC, as it’s hard for such small, liberal arts focused schools to have strong programs in these areas. A small university may offer more of what you want while still not being too overwhelming in size.
Consider the SUNY (State University of New York) system, which has many smaller campuses that are very manageable in size, have nice LAC-like campuses, could be matches for your stats, and offer the majors you are interested in. Plus they’d be relatively affordable (which also means that if you want to take a little extra time to ramp up your English skills, the cost won’t be a deterrent to doing that). You can search programs/majors here: https://www.suny.edu/attend/find-a-suny-program/undergraduate/currfd_oas_main.cfm
SUNY New Paltz in particular may be worth a look, as they are a match for your stats and also have programs catering to international students who need additional language learning support. You may or may not need that yourself (your written English seems quite good), but having those support structures on the campus could make for a nice environment even if you didn’t go through a formal ELA pathway (although doing that could end up being a much gentler entry into college in the US). SUNY New Paltz - Center for International Programs New Paltz has business and journalism in addition to traditional liberal arts majors, and they only have a little over 6000 students - a really nice size that isn’t too overwhelming but also gives you room to grow and explore. SUNY Fredonia is even smaller - just a little over 4000 students - and would be a very likely admit - but also has business, journalism, and liberal arts, and a Pathway program for international students: The International Pathway Program | Fredonia.edu
For a reach school, you might look at Brandeis University (3700 undergraduates). They have a high percentage of international students and depend on full-pay international tuition dollars, so it might be possible for you to get in even though your stats are a bit below their average. They have a very active Korean Students’ Association. They’re strong in econ and business (with an international focus) and have a robust minor program in journalism. I’m not sure if it’s a realistic admit but it’s definitely more realistic than Carleton.
In terms of larger (but not enormous) universities, Mizzou is a good suggestion. Ohio University in Athens, OH (not Ohio State in Columbus, which is enormous) also has a strong journalism school.
OK, if your parents can afford upto 70K, then a huge hurdle has been cleared.
Is your HS selective or did all children who started kindergarten in your neighborhood/village proceed to your middle school then your HS?
Are you considered a strong student?
(3.6 in the US is good but nothing exceptional and it’s not competitive for top schools, which would expect 3.5-3.8, keeping in mind that in the US it’s common for multiple graduating students to have 3.95+.