<p>Ken, I have lived in other parts of the World, including the OP’s native Germany. California is a fine place to live, but nothing special. I agree that California has excellent universities, but they are very tough to get into. Caltech, Harvey Mudd and Stanford are tough for anybody and Cal and UCLA are just as hard on international students. USC is a solid but not great university. Given the OP’s credentials (good but not exceptional), he really should be flexible and apply to other universities. Of course, I am assuming he hasn’t visited other parts of the US. If he has visited the entire country and come to the conclusion that he can only live in California, then so be it.</p>
<p>I guess China is the best country, because more people live there.</p>
<p>Since you like USC and are willing to consider the east coast as well, look at Boston University and NYU.</p>
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<p>California is the most populous state because people moved to California, in droves. Go to California and ask for people’s family histories. You will see.</p>
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<p>If you prefer to live in California, that is a very good reason to attend a university in California. Even if Cornell is better ranked than USC, you might prefer to go to USC than Cornell, since you prefer to live in California. That is not illogical, unreasonable, or anything but good sense.</p>
<p>Maybe if you’re good at math, you could try looking at Carnegie Mellon University. I can see them easing up on your writing and reading because you’re from Germany. CMU (located in Pittsburgh) would be perfect if you want to get into computer science or engineering.</p>
<p>Good luck in your college search!</p>
<p>Ken, you are assuming he visited other parts of the US and hated them. If that’s the case, I agree. All I am asking is if he visited other parts of the US. It is a simple enough question.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for all your advices!
First of all, no, I havent visited other party of America. Been to Las Vegas, San Francisco and LA (around 8 times). I like the weather, I like the people.
But I’m sure I could be happy in NY or other areas of America as well, thats why I want to apply to some schools there too.
However, if I do get admission to a nice school in LA, and I would be really happy to get into USC, I guess Id choose that school over another school.</p>
<p>There is no harm in applying to many schools, its gives more choices =)
But are my chances at schools like NYU really better?</p>
<p>I’ll take a detailed look at the schools you mentioned once I’ve done the June 7th SAT subject test…</p>
<p>Thanks again</p>
<p>@ ZeDschermen </p>
<p>We are providing you realistic advice to increase your chances of admittance. You will compete against other international students as well as domestic students in the U.S. application process. It is not uncommon for an international student to apply up to 10 schools. It is very competitive. Here are some engineering schools I recommend you should learn and visit since financial aid isn’t an issue for you:</p>
<p>California Schools:</p>
<p>in addition to USC, Caltech and UCLA, also consider USCD, UCSB, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Harvey Mudd College</p>
<p>Non-California Schools:</p>
<p>MIT, Northwestern, Michigan (Ann Arbor), Carnegie Mellon, Wisconsin (Madison), Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst</p>
<p>Thanks for the help! 
Did you mistype USCD and rather mean UCSD?
If so, didnt you guys tell me that my chances at UCs are pretty bad, because of they are public schools and therefore prefer instate students?
How about Irvine?
I’ve already heared lots of cool things about RPI =)</p>
<p>Too bad USC doesnt have EA/ED :-/</p>
<p>I think you have a chance at UCSD if you can bring up your SAT scores.</p>
<p>@ ZeDschermen </p>
<p>Yes, I meant USCD. It’s a typo.</p>
<p>I still listed some California schools because it still doesn’t hurt to apply to them even if your chances of acceptance are very limited. I can also tell you are only familiar with the West Coast. When you apply in the fall, make sure half of the colleges on your college application list includes non-California schools in my previous post. Let’s say you decide to apply to up to 8 colleges (4 California, 4 Non-California). If you don’t get into a school in California, at least you have other options. The non-California schools are easier to get into as an international student and have very good undergraduate engineering programs.</p>
<p>Ah, and I forgot to mention that I aim to live in the United States, so I am going to try to get a job after my Bachelor to get a green card.
Are there some schools where the chance of getting a job is higher? Or any specific major that has good chances on the job market? (A mixture of business and engineering is in high demand here in Germany)
What are the chances of getting a job for an international after undergrad anyway?</p>
<p>Computer science probably is the best industry to get a job and get a greencard, tech companies are very used to this kind of thing. The other way is to go on to grad school and get a PhD, that would make getting a green card later an easier process, I believe. Good luck.</p>
<p>@ ZeDschermen</p>
<p>It highly depends on what is your specialization. You haven’t told us what you like. There are many subfields in engineering (aerospace, industrial, chemical, biomedical, automotive, electrical, etc.) If you can give us which specializations you are considering, that can also narrow down your college list. I wouldn’t necessarily say computer science is the best field unless you LOVE programming. It’s unstable too because of outsourcing and competition.</p>
<p>You will do well with an engineering degree anywhere in the United States. Iti s one of those highly desirable fields. That’s why I said even if you don’t get into a California school, you can always move to California after graduation when you are offered a job.</p>
<p>My personal preferences are… ugh…
Don’t really know lol…
I guess electrical and aerospace engineering… And computerscience… I also love math. International Relations is interesting as well.
Well, at least Im sure that I dislike chemical, biomedical, civilian and industrial engineering…</p>
<p>Ah, and Ive got a question concerning class ranks…
I see all these people writing something like:
rank: 1/457</p>
<p>Are there really 457 students in one high school class? O_O
Classes here in Germany are really small, I guess average is 28-30.
Our math course has only around 14 students (and there is only one math “accelerated” course) because its very difficult.
So if ask my teacher to rank me and he says something like rank:1/14, it would look really bad, huh? :-/</p>
<p>With classes of about 400 or so the whole grade is meant, so if someone is ranked 1/500 he has the highest overall GPA in his whole “Stufe”.
Wereas your 1/14 would be your rank in your math class, not your rank compared to other students of your grade not taking your math class. </p>
<p>If this sounds confusing, or didn’t just doesn’t make sense, due to typos or other stuff, PM me and I’ll explain it in German.</p>
<p>I am not sure though if the whole ranking system applies to internationals, since many schools in other countries do not rank per se.</p>