<p>basically here's my situation, hope y'all can gimme some advice</p>
<p>i'll be doing my O levels at the end of this year
been studying in a private institute all this time, so basically no ECA/CCA records of any sort
i'll also be taking my SATs at the end of this year (SAT I), not sure if i should take subject tests as well ??</p>
<p>my main question is, is it possible to get into a US college with my situation ??
i'm taking 5 O level subjects, expect to get around 10 points based on my prelims
i don't plan on taking A levels and i feel poly here is a waste of time</p>
<p>my subjects are as follows</p>
<p>English (already took it the year before, got an A2)
E Maths
Pure Chemistry
Pure Physics
Principles Of Account
I'm actually taking Pure Geography as well but i'm not sure how well i'll be doing for that...</p>
<p>looking at engineering colleges in general. i know i definitely won't be able to get into the top 50 colleges, but what about after that ?</p>
<p>If O-level means form 5, it’s technically equivalent to 11-th grade, in the sense that you’ve had 11 years of schooling after kindergarden. O-level exams are kinda similar to SAT II tests, perhaps just a bit broader or deeper. </p>
<p>My guess is “no” for most tier-1 schools. After that, I am not sure.</p>
<p>Like top-50. From my HS in Hong Kong, people finish form 6/7 before going to places like UTexas or Wisconsin. Students take O-level in the spring and results don’t come out until the summer (right before form 6 starts). </p>
<p>You said you would do the O-level at the end of this year; that means you have no O-level result to show by most admission deadline. So you have the same issue. I seriously doubt any decent school would make admission decision without seeing O-level grades.</p>
<p>but do you have any idea where i can get a list of schools that offer admission based on O levels + SATs ?? from what i understand, most of them only offer admission based on A level scores + SATs.</p>
<p>my friends are going through **** coz of A levels lol. plus i haven’t taken mother tongue so i can’t get into a JC. and theres the whole thing of CCA and JC school activities, which quite frankly is a waste of time in my book</p>
<p>and private sch isn’t really an option, you need teachers to drill you during As to obtain half decent scores. getting Cs is as good as not doing it at all…</p>
<p>i have heard of people going to college after O levels though, just not sure of which schools…</p>
<p>if i were to take A levels, i’d have to spend another year just to take mother tongue so i can get into a JC.</p>
<p>and if i go to a private school, i’d probably get C and D, which imo is as good as not taking it at all.</p>
<p>and from what i’ve seen, SATs are slightly harder than O level papers. definitely not as hard as A level papers though. what if i have a proper SAT score + O level score ? what then ?</p>
<p>Less selective universities will accept you with O-levels. But many of these have subpar academic standards (compared to universities elsewhere in the world) and no international reputation. </p>
<p>Google is your friend if you want to find specific programs. For example, try “international admission requirements o levels site:.edu” Among the first ten hits were Seattle University and Ohio University, both of which indicate O levels as sufficient to consider an applicant for admission.</p>
<p>If you think extra curricular activities are a waste of time, I seriously recommend not coming to US at all. About 50% of your college life will be spent in clubs/societies here. Furthermore, if you cant handle the rigor of A-lvls, I wonder how will you survive college</p>
<p>i have friends in the US who say college there is a piece of cake as compared to A-levels. i think its mainly due to the structure of the load, more emphasis is placed on projects, rather than pure mugging. kind of like the poly vs jc thing going on here. 2 from VJC and 1 from SRJC, so its not really a biased statement and i think i can take their word for it to a certain extent.</p>
<p>50% is abit of an exaggeration dont ya think ? are we going there to study or rack up “club memberships ?”
needless to say, if something of my interest is there, i wouldn’t mind giving it a go. just that i’ve never had that opportunity till now since i’ve been studying in a private school since sec 1…</p>
<p>You can decide how you want to allocate your time, but I think it’s a fair estimate that most students spend half of their “productive” time with non-coursework. That might be a part-time job, club activities, a sport, a research project, whatever. Most American college students value the overall college experience more than their coursework. That is in sharp contrast to many other countries where college is all about the academics.</p>
In all honesty, I think that the academics at my average public high school in Europe were harder than the academics at my current American college.</p>
<p>another question: lets say i get into a college. will i be put in the same “class” as other A level/high school graduates, taking into consideration the fact that i’m lower qualified than them ? and will i also graduate at the same time as them ?</p>
You would start with lower-level classes then A-level students because you have to learn material you might have otherwise learned in A levels. For example, if your major requires math, you might start with Calc 1 or Pre-Calc while an A-level student might start with Calc 3 (provided they took A-level math).</p>
<p>Many universities grant transfer credit and advanced standing to A-level students, which allows them to graduate in 3 years. You would probably need at least 4 to finish your degree with O-levels only.</p>
<p>taking all this into consideration, what are my chances of getting into a place like purdue ?? 5x A2 for O levels and i’m estimating 2050-2100 on SATs</p>
<p>There are many, many singaporeans at purdue who were admitted directly after o-levels. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with that if you can afford it. You are likely to be spending 4 years at college, so its gonna cost significantly more than a-level grads who can usually complete in 3 years. The forummers here tend to have a fixed view on applying to college:</p>
<p>o-levels at top govt school -> a-levels/ib at top govt school (-> scholarship/NS) -> ivy league or other top-tier university.</p>
<p>there are more than one path to the same goal and I feel that there is a dire lack of understanding of your situation (private school + no mother tongue). Purdue provides a very good undergrad education, especially so if you are entering engineering or business. plus, i reckon spending one more year at a US college would be a much more enriching experience than doing a-levels. if i had the financial capability, i would have taken the same route. </p>
<p>my friend had somewhat similar o-level and SAT stats and was accepted by purdue (couple of years back though). purdue does not place much emphasis on CCA, though i’m not sure if this has changed recently.</p>