<p>First of all, I am an international high school student(Mongolia). I gave my TOEFL exam and got 87. But the problem is, I haven't taken my SAT test yet. I heard most colleges are not really willing to receive SAT scores this late.
My friends told me that I should graduate from my high school in 2015 and get into a national university, and transfer to a US college after taking all necessary tests and having enough experience in fields such as essay writing etc. But i'm still not sure. Any suggestions? ( By the way, I am planning to get financial aid from colleges if possible ) </p>
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<li>many schools accept January test, but not sure if you have chance in your country.</li>
<li>TOEFL 87 is enough for many (not for top tiers though) US colleges…or not even needed if your school is English medium and you get good CR score.</li>
<li>Can you pay? I might suggest a gap year because there is virtually no scholarship or aid for Int. Transfer student</li>
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<p>Improve your toefl score(100 or more), and leave sat1. give sat2 in two to three subjects. And take gap year as paul said. During your gap year give internationally recognized competitions related to your major and apply for internships.</p>
<p>Sorry guys but I don’t know much about this gap year. Where can I know more about it? The benefits, how it affects my chances of being accepted into colleges etc…
But now that I think about it, taking a gap year will open more opportunities for me! </p>
<p>Gap year student here. There are quite a few gap year threads in the college admissions section of the forum. Basically you should intern somewhere, do some volunteer work and study for the SATs and subject tests. The general consensus here seems to be that a gap year isn’t harmful to applications unless you sit around doing absolutely nothing.</p>
<p>NO matter what, do NOT take classes at a local university: this would make you a transfer student and international transfers do not get financial aid.
A gap year is a year after your graduation, which you use to improve your profile or follow a passion or work (or all of the above). You organize it yourself but you have to organize it well so that it’s not wasted.</p>
you can apply to community colleges also. there are some which don’t require sat.
But OP needds financial aid, and community colleges don’t have financial aid… and most importantly, after community college, OP will not be considered a freshman, but an international transfr, which means s/he’ll have to pay the full cost for 2 years.