<p>Hi, I am an international student that didn't get into any US colleges last year because I asked for financial aid. Now, I am more secure financially and won't have to ask for aid. </p>
<p>Though I am attending a good college in my own country, I really badly want to receive my education in the USA since I've been in my own country for a LONG time.</p>
<p>Now I am looking into transferring to a college in the USA. There are a couple of schools I'll apply to soon.</p>
<p>However, I'm really stuck, since there are colleges I'd like to apply to as a freshman for these reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I have people I know where they're located and I want the full four years of college experience.</p></li>
<li><p>I want to secure a spot at a US college as soon as possible, but if I apply as a transfer, I will have to wait until May/June for the replies, which is really late. I want to apply to schools with an early action plan, but those are only offered for freshmen.</p></li>
<li><p>And then there are cases where the colleges explicitly state if I attended college I must apply as a transfer, BUT they have a minimum number of credits needed for transfer and prerequisite courses, which I probably don't have, or won't have, because of some classes I have to take (e.g. PE)
My school's system is very different (trimester) and I have no idea which of my credits are transferrable either (probably aren't, since we are FORCED to take classes like PE or health eduation that take up our time in the schedule, but don't transfer). What do I do in this case? Apply as a freshman or transfer?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In general, am I allowed to apply to some schools as transfer and some as freshmen? If I apply to a school as a freshman for these reasons, even if I have attended a college, what are the consequences? Will I get blacklisted and not be allowed to apply to an American college, or get all of my applications cancelled for the year?</p>
<p>I'm really worried about this. You don't know how desperate I am to get to the USA, especially since I didn't get in last year because of money and now I'm watching all my friends there and I'm stuck in a college in a place I've been all my life. : (</p>
<p>First, colleges vary as far as who they consider a fr and who is a transfer applicant. For instance, GWU says that if you take 1 college course post-HS, you must apply as a transfer; on the other hand, other schools will let you apply as a fr if you haven’t completed 1 full year of college post-HS. So, first of all, you need to go to the websites of the schools you’re interested in and read their definitions of what a fr and transfer applicant is. </p>
<p>Second, your case is unique because you are attending a college in a different country, so it is difficult for us to comment on your transfer credits. For that question, you will have to contact the individual college and find out how they would consider the classes you’re taking/planning to take this year.</p>
<p>Yes, you might end up applying to some colleges as a fr and others as a transfer, as they have different policies, that’s perfectly fine if you are following the definition for each school. For instance, you could go to college for a trimester and still apply to Yale because they allow anyone with less than a year of college apply as a fr. However, if you apply to say GWU as a fr and your transcript shows that you took college classes this year, they will simply disregard your application. No repercussions, but you will have wasted your time and money applying to that particular school.</p>
<p>I am currently doing my research as to which colleges I should/could/want to apply to as a freshman/transfer, but I didn’t know if, for example, I apply to a college as a freshman, get accepted, then find out I wasn’t allowed to do that becuse I’ve attended a college, if I would be penalized and I my applications for even the transfer colleges will be cancelled.</p>
<p>So you’re saying basically that, if a misunderstanding like that happens, it’s only that college’s application that’ll be cancelled, it’s not like that would happen for my other colleges?
I’m really paranoid about this, but then again, there are thousands of applicants to each college…I can’t imagine the college caring about other schools I’ve applies to so.</p>
<p>anyway, thank you so much, you don’t know how much it takes off of my mind!!! :D</p>
<p>A misunderstanding like that would never happen. That’s because when you apply you will send in all of your HS and college transcripts. If you have applied for fr admissions and your transcripts show that you really should have applied as a tr (according to their definition), the process stops right there, you would never get as far as getting a decision. Now, I don’t know if they would contact you about the problem and tell you to apply as a tr instead (due dates are later for tr than fr admissions).</p>
<p>As far as making a mistake with one school and having that affect other applications, the only time that might happen is if you’re applying to different branches of a state school. For privates, or between states, schools generally don’t have that kind of contact nor are they very concerned about this kind of problem. Because if you apply as a fr when you should have been a tr applicant, the only person that really suffers is you, because all your efforts were in vain. </p>
<p>Now, if you applied as a fr and consciously didn’t send you college transcript, that’s an entirely different matter.</p>
<p>You need to make a list of the places that you are interested in, and then you need to email the admissions office at each place and ask them what category to apply in. Different schools have different policies. If you ask them directly, you will know what their policy is, and you will be certain to use the correct forms.</p>