Thank you so much but I have decided on Germany already 
You should have more than one iron in the fire. For instance, Grinnell college, the place that gave the kid from Belarus a chance, may be an option for you as well. They like a large international presence and have a generous endowment and may look more favourably on unconventional candidates than many other colleges.
Your thread asking about viable options in the US has been derailed somewhat - and some realities did need to be clarified - but maybe some knowledgeable posters might rally and throw out some ideas for colleges that are worth a shot.
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Wouldn’t say i am knowledgeable but foreig kids needing full aid have done well at Colby, Washington and Lee.
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I honestly came here more just to set my thinking straight, not for recommendations or anything. The amount of information I got here was phenomenal, which I’m very grateful for.
Here’s the thing, I just don’t think the US as a whole is suitable for me. There are many factors for this; safety (I’m not even gonna start on the healthcare system lmao), prices, culture, the fact that Syria has heavy political beef with the US, and a few others. Plus I’m really not interested in it as a whole as a studying destination. I’m pretty much guaranteed admission in Germany, since my grades are more than enough, and physics classes aren’t very competitive. I was against the idea first since it seemed too good to be true, and I hate such things, but it really is, and it seems like one of my better options to go out into the real world with some safety nets. I could still totally try to somehow get enough funds and get into Canada, but first of all it’s not guaranteed, and I don’t know where to start, and I don’t have enough information, nor the real-life strategic thinking skills, to make whatever crazy vision I had become reality. I have to bite down on my pride and take the “too good to be true yet is true” option that is Germany in my case.
There are plenty of universities to choose from in Germany, and all of them offer basically priceless education as long as I’m fluent in German to the required degree, and all of them offer similar high qualities of education. The only factors I have to consider is the pros and cons of the facilities that each university offers, and the city where I’ll be living and studying in.
Good luck to you!
Good luck in Germany.
Just as a general rule, it is best not to “lmao” at people who might give you hundreds of thousands of dollars until you are absolutely 100% sure you won’t need it. For example, have all your German paperwork in order and you’re ready to go. I don’t believe you have been accepted into a single German university yet.
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bro why are you guys assuming my personality here translates to my professional one I’m just being lighthearted and stuff y’know. I’m a multi-faced dude.
Also yeah I haven’t been accepted yet cuz admissions didn’t open, I have to wait for December to apply.
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Some people seem to want to give you a hard time. I am glad you’ve been able to take the helpful advice and disregard the rest.
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[quote=“ScrollG, post:189, topic:3617163”]
bro why are you guys assuming my personality here translates to my professional one[/quote]
- What you post is all we have to go on.
- We are assuming you are treating us with honesty and respect, and not playing juvenile games like this.
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Ahh I think my problem’s with no. 2.
I am honest, and I try to be as respectful as I can, but I do “gamify” almost everything in my life. I don’t take 99% of the things I do as seriously as most others do; my definition of “serious” is very different than for those around me, and it’s definitely not a good thing in most scenarios… but that’s just how I am, for the time being. Recall that I’m an 18 year old who hasn’t had much social interaction for the past 2-3 years.
Thanks for pointing out anyways! I can try and improve on it.
Part of what can make users question your maturity is constantly addressing them as “bro” or “man.” AFAIK, none of them has that as their given name. Plus many of the responders are female.
We’re not hanging out with you in your HS hallways, and most adults don’t talk like that.
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“Question” my maturity? I’m 100% sure everyone here thinks I’m immature, no doubt about that. As far as my preference and intent with using slang like “bro”, that’s just how I talk in a non-professional setting, lots of women use “bro” to each other too, I don’t see the issue. And why is their given name being brought into this? It makes zero sense to me as to why you’d bring that up.
Once again, I’m 18, and I don’t consider myself an adult yet, for reasons I mentioned in a comment that’s a few weeks old, so as long as I am as respectful as I can be, I don’t see an issue with the way I talk, aside from showing my intent to represent my real attitude as accurately as possible, which just needs a few tweaks.
I don’t see the value in your argument with nitpicking the way I communicate online. I honestly find it very intrusive and aggressive. I’m sure this is not your intention, but rather you’re trying to help me find what I could improve on? I think it’s best to just let me self reflect on what I should do by myself, as from what you’re saying it really seems as if you’re implying for me to talk as if I’m in a professional setting (relatively), which seems like it would be counterproductive to creating a more relaxed and honest environment, to get the best exchanges of information and advice possible.
This forum, and I believe this thread, skew towards more parents/adults. I think it would be better to address people a bit more professionally on this forum- think of it as practice for when you are talking to other adults like your professors, advisors, or work colleagues!
Do you know what schools you are going to apply to in Germany yet?
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I get that you see using these terms as a way to convey “relaxed atmosphere”, and you probably don’t have a context to understand how NOT relaxing that is for us.
Each time you use “bro” or “dude” with an adult, you’re insulting them. You may not mean to, but that’s the effect.
Being insulted is the opposite of a relaxed environment to get the best exchange of information, because people whom you insulted will not want to respond, or will respond aggressively, or will have a skewed perception of yourself as an arrogant twat (basically).
I don’t think that’s what you are but each time you use these words here that’s what people hear from you.
Almost all the people who reply and provide info here are 40-65 year old professionals who donate time on this website to help kids such as yourself, and a majority of these professionals are female.
“Bro” or “dude” is what teenage boys say to one another. It’s a form of street talk or slang used within specific parameters of familiarity, gender, and age similarity.
Girls certainly don’t call each other “bro” (though they may call each other “girl” in certain specific, casual interactions, and, perhaps, rarely, “dude”), but it’s very disrespectful to call adults, especially women, “bro” or “dude”.
Imagine if a teenage boy talked to your doctor or any female in a position of authority that you know, calling her “bro” or its equivalent in Arabic.
Imagine your teacher’s reaction if you came to him/her and punched him/her in the shoulder to say “hello” instead of “Hello, Ma’am” or “Hello, Sir”.
Imagine your parents’reaction if your doctor or teacher told them what you just did, how embarassed they’d be that you showed such shameful behavior with people they’ve taught you to respect.
We can assume you didn’t mean it and didn’t actually realize what you were doing.
That’s what @skieurope was trying to convey.
You can use “dude” (less gendered than “bro” and less associated with negative images, such as “lax bro”…) in the Chance me forum, because there are lots of teens there.
But with adults in the College Admissions/Selection forums, you need to refrain from that (unless you DID mean to be insulting - again: I don’t think that’s what you wanted to do).
Tuck this away for later:
In Germany, you’ll also need to learn terms of respect and use the “Sie” form with all adults (not the familiar “Du”). Using the familiar form with an adult is always an insult if you’ve not specifically been invited to do so.
(In Arabic there are other ways to convey respect so that “you” does not lead to 2 different words, forms, and conjugations, so it’s a difficult one to master, but also crucial.)
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Thank you. Very well said.
Turning attention to and addressing everyone: At this point, since the OP is now focused on German universities, I think we should contain future posts, if any, to that topic.
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Look into the German equivalent of community colleges (CC’s-typically two year institutions), but that might be a more affordable starting option, if OP finds a program that would interest them. While CC’s aren’t going to have an Associates of Physics, it would allow OP to get some of the core classes out of the way (you’d focus more on physics based classes at a 4 year institution and for only two years which means you save money on tuition).
Community colleges would probably fit OP’s preferred learning method as well (grinding out the work) which means they’d have free time to seek out the needed opportunities/experience (internships, work as a teaching or research assistant etc), make strong connections at the CC (for letters of rec.) or even at the closest (even if its not the college you later apply for) 4 year institution (for research/networking etc).
Depending on how far they want to go into Physics, it would help them line up their college career for grad school (which typically requires LOR’s).
OP would have to see how many transfer credits their chosen 4 year institutions accept and if certain classes transfer entirely (otherwise you’d just have to take the class at the 4YI since sometimes the classes differ just enough, but at least you’d be in).
CC’s don’t exist in Germany. Also, all programs (except for 1 or 2 private, ie., less reputable, ones) are tuition-free.
I posted a couple links for German programs above.
Here are a few more:
https://www.physik.hhu.de/
https://www.rwth-aachen.de/cms/root/Studium/Vor-dem-Studium/Studiengaenge/Liste-Aktuelle-Studiengaenge/Studiengangbeschreibung/~gthcn/Physik-Plus-B-Sc/
https://www.uni-due.de/studienangebote/studiengang.php?id=85
http://www.physik.kit.edu/
Good luck!
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I’m easily capable of switching modes of communication, at any given moment. I just did not deem it necessary to use professional language here, so I have decided that I will use it for the rest of my presence in this thread.
About German colleges: yes, I do have about 5-10 universities selected already. I have done most of the relevant research, and will further continue to research more, especially about the details that each university entails.
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That’s all very true. Thank you so much.
I honestly did not think that the majority here would be older than 30 years, I genuinely thought I was talking to mostly 20-30 year olds, and that’s why I had the lax attitude. With that in mind now, I can move forward with using adequate language.
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Hah! Reddit is for the young ones.
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