<p>I'm Bart, I'm 17 and I currently live in the Netherlands. I've been dreaming of going to college/university in the United States for years but I have a few issues that have so far prevented me from turning my dream into reality; Firstly my parents don't have the money to pay for a US education as it's far more expensive than they are in Holland. Secondly I don't have these extraordinary grades which would qualify me for scholarships.</p>
<p>I really can't settle with the thought of having to go to university here instead of one in America.</p>
<p>Has anyone got tips for me on what I should do?</p>
<p>What are your extracurriculars? Any special talent?
How have you impacted your surroundings? What exactly are your academics like?
What are your goals and ambitions? When do you plan to apply?</p>
<p>If you dont have money you should apply to the need blind universities but if you don’t have what it takes then it might be near impossible to secure admission.</p>
<p>Bring up your grades, become a competitive athlete or convince someone else to pay for your education. Sorry, but if it was that easy to finance a US education, a lot more international students would do it.</p>
<p>I dont have a lot of extra curriculars but I am in this bilingual department, therefor I’ve had extra classes in English and I’ll have an International Baccalaureate Certificate at the end of next year.</p>
<p>I’ve had an e-mail conversation with someone from the Fullbright Centre but as I thought that I wouldn’t be able to pay for the full tuition I kinda gave up hope, do you think its still worth visiting them?</p>
<p>They can help you determine whether or not you might be able to get a scholarship that will make it affordable for you to study in the US. They also are likely to know which colleges/universities in the US have exchange programs with your local universities, and they can advise you about post-graduate studies here. If you visit the Centre, you aren’t going to lose anything but your time.</p>
<p>Bart,you need to give us a breakdown of what EXACTLY your academics are.There might be schools out there that can offer you some kind of funding,but we can’t point you to those schools until we have a sense of your grades and SAT scores.</p>
<p>I’m not a 100% sure whether I understood your question but I hope the following will do:
I’m in high school and I have average grades (6-7 on a scale of 1-10), I’m sure I’m able to do better (7-8) if I work harder (hate myself for not starting work harder earlier). I’ve never taken a SAT or TOEFL. Would I’d be helpful to take them or would it be a complete waste of money?</p>
<p>I hope this is what you asked for, if not please let me know.</p>
<p>You are correct, post-graduate or graduate studies are when you already have completed your full first or undergraduate degree. Many international students come to the US for a Master’s degree or a Doctorate.</p>
<p>When you get to the level of grad school, you are doing very specialized work, and you need to go wherever the expert in your field is. Students who pursue a PhD in science or engineering usually don’t have to pay anything because the have teaching or research assistantships. Most of the time PhD students in the humanities don’t have to pay either because they have teaching assistantships. Sometimes an employer will help pay for an MBA or MS in science or engineering. What is expensive is law and medicine. However you wouldn’t study those here unless you already had your degree from your home country, and you wanted to do a specialization in the US.</p>
<p>Ah okay, thanks for the explanation!
I want to study either international business economics or management so you recommend to get a bachelor degree in Holland first?</p>
<p>Having the ability to finance your education is really important as it is a deciding factor on your chance of getting a visa to study in the US.</p>
<p>I would absolutely recommend that you complete your bachelor degree in Holland. Then work for a couple of years before applying to graduate school in your field. At that time you will have a better idea about where you want to study - maybe the US, maybe somewhere else entirely!</p>
<p>I’ve been considering that for a while but I’m afraid that when I’ve completed my bachelor degree in Holland I might, at that moment not want to study in the US anymore, which I probably will regret later on.</p>
<p>In Holland I am in the highest layer of high school education (I do not mean to brag!!!), would it be recommendable for me to take the SAT test and see what score I get?</p>
<p>Instead of taking the ACT orSAT itself, try to find a sample exams that you can take on your own. When you visit the EducationUSA office, find out if they offer mock ACT or SAT exams, or if they have any exam prep books you can take a look at. After you do that, you will have a better sense of how much work it would take for you to get the kind of exam score that you would need to have in order to make studying in the US possible.</p>
<p>It depends on the university, but for example, for the SAT, a 1500 is considered an average score. 50% of the people who take the SAT score higher, and 50% score lower. I can’t think of any school that offers scholarships for that kind of score. You’ll need to get scores of 1900 or 2000 and over if you want to be seriously competitive for merit scholarships.</p>