I moved to the united states in December of 2018. So, I couldn’t do any extracurriculars in my freshman year and participated in my school’s chemistry and physics club in my sophomore year(I couldn’t attend the competition because I am not a permanent residence). I also participated in tsa high school competition where we made it to the nationals but it didn’t happen due to the pandemic. Next year I am planning to join my school’s science olympiad team which definitely won’t put me in a leadership position and it is also hard to go in. I haven’t taken the sat but have been taking practice exams where I get scores around 1500 and will take around 12 ap classes by the end of my senior year. I am quite worried about my future and kind of depressed about not getting into any colleges because of not having good extracurriculars. I have volunteered in my local library and have tutors in a nonprofit organization throughout my freshman and sophomore year though. Do mildly selective colleges also require good extracurriculars? Do you have any advice on what to do in my junior year? Please help because I am an immigrant and don’t know much about this.
Moderator Note. Edited title.
The key questions are:
- are you a permanent resident, DACA, or international?
- what’s your budget for college?
- what’s your unweighted GPA?
Your academics are good. You do have EC’s (they don’t need to be “in school” so tutoring and volunteering at the library are both valid).
What state do you live in? What do you want to study in college (it’s ok to be undecided and apply as such)?
I am not on a permanent visa my dad is on a work visa. I don’t have a set budget( depends on the college) and currently I have all a’s and a+s. I live in Michigan and want to study Electrical or Mechanical. How can the college validate my volunteer hours could I ask a teacher to state it on the L.O.R?
It’s on the honors system and the hours don’t matter toooo much - I mean obviously if you report 10 hours in 3 years it’s not good… but 200, 250, 280, 300… is beyond the point: what you actually DID matters more.
You’ll be an international for most colleges. However Michigan considers you instate for tuition purpose of you’ve attended for 2?4? Years = check quickly. It’ll make a HUGE difference in costs.
UMichigan is a reach for everyone but possible based on what you state, Michigan State + honors is a good match, Michigan Tech a safety. Add Oakland, WMU, Grand Valley state and you’re good to go.
DO talk to your parents: “it depends on the college” is meaningless. It may mean they don’t have college savings and think you can get a scholarship, it may mean they intend to take a parent plus loan, it may be they have 300k socked away but will only use the full amount if you get into UMich and will use 100k otherwise, etc. Have that talk as soon as possible, and run the NPC on all the above universities as well as on Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Cornell, to see if they’d be affordable if you were so lucky as to get in.
What is your dad’s visa type? How long will your father have his work visa? Will he be green card eligible ever?
It sounds to me that you are doing very well. You are participating in the ECs that you are interested in and doing well with them. This is perfect. Your grades are great. Volunteering at a library is an EC, and a good one. Tutoring is also.
When the time comes, you will need to figure out whether you are in-state for U.Michigan and MSU. This is likely to depend upon your visa status at the time, and their policies. If not, then it might make finding the right school more complicated, but you should still have very good choices even if you need to apply as an international student, or return to your home country, or pick a third country to study in.
“Do mildly selective colleges also require good extracurriculars”
One daughter had essentially no ECs at all until her senior year of high school, and still got into every university that she applied to. Straight A’s (or in her case straight A’s except for one single B+) along with great references can go a long way towards admission at most universities.
^the key element here is that OP will be international for most universities, except Michigan instate (I think and OP needs to check immediately).
Look at HKimPossible’s thread (Reject Train) to have an idea how much that status impacts admission when you can’t be full pay. Admissions for a non “domestic” applicant are night&day compared to a domestic applicant.
So, figuring out whether attending HS in Michigan for x years/graduating from a HS in Michigan qualifies a student for instate status.
For all private colleges, OP will be considered “international” and will thus see his/her odds slashed, especially for Engineering.
My dad is on an L1 visa and I will have to change my visa in my final year.
My parents have about 150K saved up for college
but we will be getting h1 next year
H1B?
If you need a visa to study, you’ll be considered international. An exception may exist for Michigan HS graduates within the state of Michigan, but each state decides, which is why you need to check what their conditions are.
I find that on the college website, right?
Ok I checked and it says three years of high school for it which I meet
So really research the MI publics. Luckily for you, MI actually has a good selection of good to great publics, and you won’t need spectacular ECs to get in to most of them.
Apply to lots of Michigan publics (I listed a bunch of good ones) since you’re going to have priority for admission AND the cost should be Okay.
What is your home country?
" I am quite worried about my future and kind of depressed about not getting into any colleges because of not having good extracurriculars."
Why on earth do you think that you have to have ECs to get into college? Yes, some places do care about those, but many others don’t. The most important place on your application list is your true safety. In other words, you need to find one place that guarantees you admission for your grades (and test scores if they require test scores), that you can afford without any aid other than aid guaranteed for your stats or guaranteed federal or state aid if you are a resident, that offers your major, and that you would be happy to attend if it is the only place where you are admitted and can afford. For most students, that is a public university in their own state. If your grades are good, it might be a place like U of Alabama that has automatic admission and automatic scholarships for certain stats. Start with your true safety, and build your list upward from there.
What have your parents told you about how they expect you to pay for your education? Find that out too. Again you probably want to start with the public universities in the state where you are a resident. Run their Net Price Calculators to see if they might be affordable.
“Why on earth do you think that you have to have ECs to get into college?”
Seriously? Because this student lives in the US, is aiming for a university that can deliver an educational environment which can expand upon his/her stated capacity, is in class and clubs with other such students who are likely all abuzz about the cancers they are curing or the foundations they have founded, and the student is here at College Confidential, where all the children are…(cue Garrison Keillor’s “News from Lake Wobegon”).
^ As I said in another thread:
I’ll note that HS students are probably more susceptible to marketing, social influence, and peer pressure than most and that marketing works.