insaneabd

I am an international. Is it possible that I enroll in a uni in my home country, study for one year here and apply this fall for Class of '13?
The reason I don't want to transfer is that; one FA is not available at most places for transfer students; two its very difficult to transfer from international unis....

I would just as well take a gap year but the reason I want to enroll is that in case I get rejected from everywhere like this year, I won't be wasting an year....

b@r!um

You would have to check with every single college you would like to apply to because policies vary, but I would expect that many colleges would not consider you for first-year admission if you have already completed one full year of college. It is rumored that some applicants pretend to do a gap year while actually going to college abroad just to qualify for financial aid...

jasonshah

the colleges u r applying to won't know that u were studying in ur home country unless u tell them. I don't see any problem.

aktiv8d

^lot of people do what jason said where i am from

boho_girl

^^ But what do they say about what they were doing in their "gap" year?

danielcarp17

I guess some internationals make up a few EC's? But also, if your country's like mine, university is probably piece of cake. In other words, you can go to the university and still have plenty of time to do other interesting stuff.

And I agree, if you don't tell the colleges they won't find out if you do go to a college in your country.

aktiv8d

boho_girl: people say that they were involved with ECs/jobs. like danielcarp, people who go to uni where i am from also do find the time to do other stuff

boho_girl

Interesting.

I wonder how many people get into college like that each year...

insaneabd

I know about not reporting to the university that you already are a student somewhere else. This practice is quite common from where I come from but that doesn't mean that I have to indulge in it. So, I was wondering about this.

Thing is that a lot of colleges I am interested say that you can't already be a student somewhere else, but I thought that since most website are designed with mostly US citizens in mind, they might mean that you can't already be studying in a US university and not just any university.

Any thoughts?

b@r!um

College applications ask you to report all academic institutions that you have attended in the last 4 years. That includes colleges in Pennsylvania and California and Germany and Korea.

And when a college says "We consider you a transfer applicant if you will have finished one full academic year by the start of the fall semester." then they also refer to any (accredited) college in the entire world, not just colleges in the US. (Accredited means that it has to be a real college; if your grandpa opens a "college" in his attic with him being the only professor, that would not be considered a college)

boho_girl

So if a college finds out that you actually attended an accredited college but decided to not to report that, they could rescind you?

Now I'm really getting curious how many students don't report and get caught...

tanveer149

i doubt anyone gets caught...its seems almost impossible for an American college to find out if someone has attended a college outside the US

NBZ

In case you do want to reveal the fact you are a student somewhere else, be aware that most colleges in the US (at least the ones offering FA) won't let you apply as a first-year. There are some exceptions of course: Harvard, Yale and Amherst used to allow this, though I am not sure if it's still the case. But I would say most colleges will just tell you to apply as a transfer.

mourad23

I know that Columbia allows students who have completed one year in a non 'us-style' university to apply as first-year students. I'm intending to re-apply next year and take advantage of this policy.

"Columbia welcomes applications from international transfer students. However, in order to be eligible to apply as a transfer, you must first meet certain criteria. You must be enrolled in a “U.S.-style” college or university. A college or university is considered U.S.-style if:

1- courses are offered term by term (quarters, semesters, etc.);
2- a grade is given for each course in each term;
3- your college/university can provide an English-language transcript showing those courses and those grades.

If your school in not U.S.-style as defined above, you must apply as a first-year student, by the appropriate Early Decision or Regular Decision deadline, and only in your first year of study; if you have begun your second year of study or beyond, you are no longer eligible to apply to Columbia as an undergraduate at all. Should you be admitted to Columbia and accept our offer, your post-secondary work can be considered for possible transfer credit. "