Very Tough Situation - Homeschooled, International, no leads on what to do

Applying to College
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I really can’t say anything but agree with you.

I have become extremely complacent after not being in a school for 2+ years. It took a huge toll on my mental health and left me stagnating for a long while.

I wanted financial aid for tuition mostly, since there’s no way I could afford 40k/year. But my father definitely could help me with living costs, which would be the only issue in the countries that I’m gonna choose at the moment.

Well yeah, so what if I’m narcissistic? I have been humbled many, many, many times, yet I still persist with this narcissism. Does that speak anything to you?

I would really appreciate if you would just provide feedback to help me move forward instead of trying to beat it into me. Did you not see how my attitude developed over the course of this thread? I took all the good things you all said, and removed all the kinks from my plans and thoughts. From trying to magically find a solution to get a full ride scholarship to a 40k/year school on top of many other things, to realizing that there’s not a high chance I could do that, and instead heading to Germany or someplace where education is guaranteed and nearly free as long as I could learn the language, and in the meantime I’ll find the best job I could (I’m not gonna stay idle if I can’t find a job as an interpreter, I’ll of course change plans and find the next best thing). I spoke with some people and they said my grades are definitely enough to be accepted to most unis in Germany, since all they care about are grades, not ECs.

“You don’t appear to listen to experience.” Yes, I agree. From my experience, every time I listened to people with experience, I always regretted it, and I generally don’t trust the experience of people that haven’t earned my respect (like online strangers?). I’ll take the good, and consider what I don’t think is good anyways.

Please, don’t get too sidetracked trying to dissect my attitude. I’m clearly heading in a positive direction already with how I’m formulating my plans, please understand that and keep the train running; there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I really don’t wanna seem rude, and I really don’t intend to be rude, but I want to focus on what matters. Thank you for your support all along.

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Thanks for your troubles Tigerle.

I have already researched the requirements for admission in Germany, and asked a few people who study in Germany on discord if my grades are enough; they said it’s more than enough for most universities. I just need to get a decent fluency level in the meantime, convert some paperwork, and a few other things.

Yeah I’m prepared for the studienkolleg, in fact I might need it. I do thrive in a classroom setting but it’s been 2 years so who knows.

Just a quick question, isn’t federal aid only available AFTER I gain residency? Which would be a few years after I arrive in Germany. My parents probably can support me if it’s only living costs (along with a tiny part time job or side hustle or something), but still, what would be the situation in case they don’t and I’m supposedly still not eligible for federal aid?

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I’ve been educated for 7 years in English, but I don’t know about interaction with native English speakers. I’m probably coming off as arrogant and narcisstic because I actually am, in certain respects. I’m trying my hardest to give all the appropriate info about my thought process and plan frameworking so you guys can point out any fallacies in it. Instead some of you are scrutinizing my own self instead of my plans and perspectives. I’m not gonna ramble again on who I am, but it should be irrelevant, since I believe I have entirely changed my plans to something much more realistic and achievable with a backup plan (which should be indicative that I’m making positive progress, right?!). Learning German (or relevant language) and working on relevant things is definitely not any easier than grinding for ECs as I previously incorrectly suggested much earlier, but it is the right course of action and has much more guarantee.

I don’t have any interest in the US for my bachelor’s. I might in the future for my Master’s or Doctorate, but I don’t think it’s worth pursuing now, especially with my complacency and lack of ECs, plus a whole myriad of headaches like taking the SAT and worrying about the more difficult visa process. Thank you and much appreciated.

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I’m gonna start learning German/French very soon. I should be able to achieve (or almost) a B1 proficiency, which will be enough for me to roughly communicate and understand conversations and some technical terms. The studienkolleg should elevate that to a B2, and then I’ll be fully prepared for uni.

I’m gonna admit, yeah I wasn’t doing much use with my time. Read some useless articles, scrolled social media, played videogames, and attempted to give an effort for something productive, but failed most of the times. It happened cuz of family issues, detachment, financial issues, lack of a good social setting (like a classroom or club) and encouragement from others. I don’t wanna put excuses, but the past is past. Hopefully I can move forward and learn from all that. Thanks for your concern, and I don’t blame you for having doubts on my abilities lol, only time will tell.

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I know man, and it really hurts after realizing it. I could’ve done so much, but I just lazed around aimlessly instead. I’m glad I’m back on track though.

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Great way to phrase it!

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Please, I’m already over that phase of “I’m so great, I just have to do a few impressive things and universities will drool over me and shower me with cash”.

I definitely was very arrogant, and I still am, but I believe it has went down a great deal. I have to keep some level of arrogance, because if I start being very humble, telling myself “yeah I can’t do that”, then going down a different path and regretting it, I’ll never forgive myself. I’d rather fail being arrogant than achieve a mid result being unassertive. I’m very nice I daresay, but when we’re discussing things about me, I have to be arrogant to some degree. Please note this arrogance is only on the surface tho, I’m really considering all of your suggestions and taking them to heart, otherwise I would’ve pulled a “these guys don’t know what they’re talking about, smh this is useless” long ago if this arrogance was deeply rooted.

I want you to acknowledge the fact that I changed my mindset and perspective about my plans, and it’s going in a positive direction. Would you rather I persisted with Canada with my previous market haggling attitude? Please, don’t waste your time trying to dissect my attitude, things are already going in the right direction if you notice how I developed over this thread. I really appreciate every single one of your replies, they’re very informative and insightful. I can’t thank you enough.

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I wish you well in Germany.

There’s a lot of middle ground between arrogance and being “unassertive”.

In the US a hard-working attitude is what gets you the farthest. We have probably an unhealthy attachment to that idea as a culture and produce a lot of work-a-holics who can’t take a vacation/holiday without checking work emails. But a student who projects a hard-working attitude on a college application in the US is on the right track. That’s what colleges like to see.

Your attitude has changed some across the course of this thread, but it’s still reading as somewhat arrogant to me. It’s not as bad as when you first posted, but it’s not something that college admissions offices in the US would like to see. I realize that is not your target, though, so maybe not a big deal in Germany, but I’d just check yourself to see how it’s coming across there and make sure that you are projecting what they want to see.

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130

I’ve hesitated to jump in, but the adults on this thread are bothering me.

I get it, the OP comes across very differently than most US students. Since we don’t know him in real life, I would ask that we give some thought to the fact that he is a non native speaker, from a very different culture, who is also very young. Cut him some slack!

Also, I see many people have chimed in, and yet most have pretty much no idea what advice applies/is helpful to the OP. If you don’t really know your stuff – have actual knowledge of European requirements, e.g., consider whether your post will advance the OP’s knowledge. While the OP needed a reality check initially, far too many have piled on insisting pretty much every option is out for the OP. I just wish we could be helpful

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131

Can we move away from posts that are only piling on how the OP comes across? Point made. Further belaboring will not help the OP

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132

OP, you are right, you need residency for federal aid, which you will not get right away. I forgot that even though you are Syrian, you would probably not get refugee status in Germany because you have residency in a third “safe” country. But this is complicated and changing all the time…

The good news is that for a regular student visa, you will only need to prove that you can afford 861 EUR per month and only for the first year, that’s 10,332 EUR. I understand that that might be doable for your parents - if not, you’ll need to work and save.

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Yo what if I let my residency status in Dubai expire? Would that help the case? If you don’t know I could ask my father to ask his friends about this stuff.

Also 861 EUR per month is actually pretty doable, especially for the first year. I previously said $5k/year or something, but I meant that outside living costs, don’t know why I didn’t mention that. I’m still trying to get contacts on some guys in French universities, especially for a classes preparatoires program in hopes of getting into a Grande Ecole after it. If you have any leads on this matter please do share. I truly appreciate your support :^) Thanks.

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Cross posted. I changed “will not” into “probably will not” because the workings of applications for refugee status are Byzantine and I’m absolutely not on expert on that one. But I’d never advise you to let residency status anywhere else expire! If Germany doesn’t work out, and there are no guarantees, it’s back to Syria, the one place you absolutely don’t want to go…

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You have residency status in a safe country. I would not play games with that.

Is attending college in Dubai a possibility?

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@MYOS1634 is the expert on French schools.

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I mean what am I gonna do back in Dubai. My only path forward is leaving the middle east anyways. There are equal opportunities in Dubai and Syria, so it doesn’t really matter much tbh. So far there’s no logical reason why Germany won’t work out. I heard Syrians get their visas accepted very frequently, plus I can manage the proof of funds. And I already know I should be accepted based on the opinions of some German students I talked with.

It’s not the end of the world if I don’t go back to Dubai. I’m pretty safe here actually, only issue is I don’t get very high speed internet lol. I’ll still talk it out with my parents, I can trust their experience on matters like these.

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College in Dubai is very expensive and mediocre, and there aren’t much job opportunities there too. It’s really not a possibility, I’d argue attending college in Syria is better (they’re still both terrible options).

About the residency status, I believe it doesn’t really matter, but I’ll talk it out with my parents to see what their opinion is. Plus it gets more difficult for my father to renew it after I’m 18, and I’m gonna have to drop it anyways once I begin uni; it has to be renewed within 6 months of departure, and I don’t think I’m gonna be returning to Dubai after I leave for uni.

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139

Sorry if I missed it, but what do you want to study?

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Physics (or physical sciences; ik they’re different, but they both give me flexibility) :grin:

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On the one hand, physics is a good choice because it is undersubscribed at German universities, but if you do want to work as a physicist, you need grad school, probably a PHD really. Unkess you want to teach high school, and then you’ll still need to get education credentials and sometimes a master, depending on the country in which you want to teach (physics teachers are in high demand, so if at some point you decide you’d rather not conquer the world but just have a good life somewhere in Europe, teaching physics will help with getting residency and work permits).

Engineering or CS are the subjects that will give you the most flexibility. Maybe you will want to help rebuild Syria at some point.

Don’t play games with residency or asylum applications. It’s not worth it. There is still goodwill towards war refugees from Syria in Germany. If your parents can pay your living costs, you have a good chance to get a student visa, and with a STEM degree, get residency and a work permit. It’s a viable path.

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