which college to apply?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>hi guys</p>

<p>it's my first time here and im seeking some advice on what school to apply to. </p>

<p>i am a student studying in singapore and about to finish my junior college.</p>

<p>my concerns are generally two things: high ranks (lets say top 30), and relatively easy for me as an international student to get financial aids (since my family's not able to afford my tuition fee if i am going to US)</p>

<p>yah basically i searched for a lot of universities online and im not sure which college to apply to. they are either too prestigious for me or the ratio of international students get financial aids is too small. now i am so tired of looking through each school's profile and after i starting to like the school then i found out that there is juz so little financial aid they give to international students... </p>

<p>need a little help here~~</p>

<p>thx in advance!</p>

2

<p>are you going to study in US/spore? I think if you graduate with good scores in Spore's JC, you'll be definitely accepted at Spore's national universities (NTU, NUS, SMU). Those school, esp NTU & NUS are one of the best in the world and you might want to consider those (and does singaporean pay cheaper tuition there?)</p>

3

<p>yeah..i've also experienced what you are dealing with right now and it's sucks. Once you've find a good university, apparently you aren't eligilble for the scholarship (usually because you're international student who are not PR/US citizen). I usually try to email the admission office/the admission advisor at the department and ask them if there are any scholarship/financial aid for international student. Sometimes, they know other scholarship that wasn't stated in their website. You might want to try to search other Singaporeans at MySpace/Friendster/FaceBook, etc who are studying at universities in US and ask (email) them about the admission process and scholarship that available for Singaporean. Usually insiders (current students), who came from the same country as yours, are the best sources to know the 'real' condition of the university.</p>

4

<p>Oh..i forgot to mention: universities that are "too prestigious" as you've said, don't mean impossible to get into. As I've just realized, sometimes what they stated in their website or what people said about the university aren't really true. And yes, there are many universities that try to look "hard-to-get-into" so smart student want to apply those university.</p>

5

<p>hey thx alot lydia!</p>

<p>yah, NUS and NTU are not bad actually, ranked world top 20 and top 50 respectively last year. i study in raffles JC, even though im not the top student but i think getting into these two wont be a problem for me, but i think i might juz want to change to a new environment.</p>

<p>btw, im not really a singaporean, i came from china on scholarship =P but still government subsidizes us for university education so tuition fee is quite cheap too.</p>

<p>i checked with my friends recently and they told me that it's not impossible to get financial aid as international studetns, juz that it's too difficult. and when u apply, they will consider those with similar result but who do not ask for financial aid first...but without financial aid there is really no chance for me to go overseas. anyway, im considering universities rank from 25 to 40 to see if it's more possible, and i may consider canada too~~ even though i dunno where to start off..</p>

<p>thx again!</p>

6

<p>Singaporean here. Though I cannot claim to know how you feel, I can emphatize with your situation. I will not speak much about NUS and NTU (heaven knows I've said enough about them already) but allow me to ask you a few questions.</p>

<p>What major are you thinking of doing? Are you absolutely set on something like engineering/business/finance/computer science? Or are you undecided?</p>

<p>Implications: If you are set on doing, say, medicine, then considering your lack of financial support, you should look to admission into NUS (which is definitely attainable for you I'm sure junior =p). Or the British system e.g. Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge which have quality medicine programs. If you're set on doing engineering, then perhaps consider places like NTU (although please go there only as a last resort), then for the US unis like MIT, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd College, University of Illinois, Lehigh University etc.</p>

<p>Note that for business, it is not a necessary condition for you to major in business. If you (die die) have to choose an undergraduate business school, then places like U Penn, NYU, Northwestern, Babson College all have good programs, though they differ in reputation of their specialities.</p>

<p>If you are undecided, your choices increase substantially. I always like the US system because of their flexibility and freedom in tertiary education.</p>

<p>Second question: What kind of environment do you want to be in? Suburban? Small town? close to a Big city? Rural - far away from it all, lots of snow? lots of sun? beach? lakes?</p>

<p>Giving some stats (predicted A levels/ or what you think you can get) and SAT scores, CCA participation and anything notable will help too.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

7

<p>hi! D.T. </p>

<p>well, im pretty undecided about my major, but definitely not in the medicine field, probably something related to business or engineering, and im interested in computer science and IT stuff too, so i guess i will leave that decision to later.</p>

<p>anyway. i think my predicted results for A levels are A for maths, physics and chemistry, probably D for econs(i suck >.<), and C for GP. My SAT...well... my score is not so good, that's why im considering universities rank from 25 to 40. without writting section my score is 1280, considering i tried my SAT the first time without any preparation but for experience purpose, i think there is pretty much room for potential improvement...</p>

<p>CCA aspect, well.. im juz an average guy without any amazing achievement, so i guess that's about me~~</p>

<p>location doesnt really bother me that much. should be fine anywhere. but somewhere near the ocean will be preferred =)</p>

<p>btw, universities i hav in mind for now are Uni Texas Austin, Georgia Institute of Tech, Uni of California San Diego. im still looking into details and searching for other universities as well. any opinion?</p>

8

<p>bump bump....</p>