@aznraffe by all means, I personally love the idea of Film Studies, especially if you are not making movies but just studying them, cannot imagine anything more likely to frustrate the average Tiger Mom (of whatever ethnicity or race).
It is also not quite as simple as that. For example, private universities as premier research will get government grants to research everything from nanotubes to the effects of gender in purchasing motor vehichles (making that up but you get my point). Another thing, and this is incredibly major (and anyone who is an accountant feel free to correct me), is that private univerisites are mostly not for profit, as such they pay no taxes. For example, Apple as a for profit pays X out of every dollar it generates as to the local, state and federal government. Columbia, pays nothing. It is also does not pay property taxes. Columbia is one of the largest landowners in New York City. Everyone who owns a piece of property in Manhattan is subsidizing Columbia and NYU indirectly http://observer.com/2006/05/nyu-columbia-make-a-mint-on-real-estate/
Consider that if someone owns a 1 bedroom apartment in New York, they are paying at least $1000 per month in real estate taxes on average. If someone rents, their landlord is paying it, therefore causing the rent to be higher. Columbia owns the quivalent of 1,000 one bedrooms (guessing here, probably higher) and pays nothing. Every time they buy a new building it takes it off the New York tax rolls. They also pay nothing if they move money around in their endowments (I assume). If I sell a stock for $1000 that I bought for $100, I pay 15 - 25% tax on $900. Columbia pays nothing. Therefore, anyone who is a taxpayer in the US is subsidizing Columbia or any other private not for profit with an endowment. Since Columbia College and Fu do not seem to like to take people from downstate (I know very few people from my area they accepted, I know more people who got into Harvard), this is particularly galling
I am amazed that many people miss out on understanding the symbiotic role between higher education and the government at different levels that @SaphireNY so well documents. This is part of the reason that universities limit their international census.
It is not only public universities, but private universities as well that are needed to train citizens as part of the employment/prosperity equation. If US universities do not advance US citizens, but instead give up the seats to internationals, we are educating other citizens at the expense of our own. Since education is the largest acknowledged driver of socio-economic mobility in the US, the US would be leaving more citizens behind and instead investing in internationals.
The symbiotic relationship goes further. US nationals MUST submit tax returns before receiving financial aid. Errors on the tax returns are federal offenses, possibly resulting in felony convictions and prison sentences, so income is verifiable. This is not the case for all internationals. Income, as well as unsubsidized living expenses, is not verifiable, nor are there consequences to falsifying it. Additionally, all male US students must not only promise to be available for being drafted into military service, but must register their contact information with the US government to make them easily found prior to receiving any financial aid, even from a private university.
I suspect that as rare as financial aid for internationals appears to be in the US, it is much more generous in the US than in other countries where tuition is charged.
I would expect the OP could get a decent grounding in Neuroscience in a German university. Aren’t they free?
Fraudulent representations of income to schools by US Nationals carry much greater consequences than fraudulent representations to schools by internationals.
This was my point. I think it is very clear to most.
An error is an offense against the tax code, which is a matter of Federal Law, so the schools can be secure in believing the numbers that are reported by the US applicant, since they can and do routinely request an income tax transcript from the IRS prior to award.
Whether the offense is prosecuted or not depends upon intent. If the taxpayer is intending to defraud the government through erroneous entries on their tax returns, the government may prosecute. If the errors are deemed to be mistakes, they can be corrected, with appropriate payment of penalty and interest, if any. With no offense, how could there be a penalty?
An error by an international on their financial aid application may never be detected.
Aside from administrative and living costs, German universities are free. However, most (if not all) of them teach in German, which can take up to a year or two to learn. Plus, some universities require a German language certificate for admission purposes.
@DarkEclipse, I am simply pointing out that if the US schools are so hostile, there are other international options. The OP opined that he had spent considerable time & effort aligning with the US language and cultural (testing, etc.) expectations of US schools. Had Germany been his target, it would have required similar alignment.
[quote]
Coming from a different academic background, with my English language proficiency being what one could describe as “elementary” at best, I knew that there has been a lot of work for me to do before I could even consider applying to an American institution. For almost two years, I’ve been spending most of my free time trying to close the education gap between an average American high school student and myself. I even made special arrangements with my school so that I could take some of the exams early and spend more time improving my English skills and preparing for standardized tests. /quote.
I don’t understand why it’s such a surprise to international students that it’s difficult to get a spot at a US college and why some of them blame the colleges when they’re rejected. According to the US News, only about 4% of all college students in the US are internationals, so the # of spots for them at US colleges isn’t very high to begin with, and they’re competing with the rest of their country, if not the world, to get one. The [acceptance rates](http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/lowest-acceptance-rate) are readily available; it’s not like schools are hiding that information. All you have to do is Google, “College X acceptance rate.”
But even when students know the admit rate is extremely low, they somehow believe it doesn’t apply to them. I recently read a post from an international student who wants to attend an Ivy (which one doesn’t seem to matter) asking if his ethnicity gave him a “high chance” of acceptance. It’s not the fault of US colleges if kids look single digit admission rates in the eye and decide, for whatever reason, that they don’t apply to them. Where are the parents, teachers, and counselors who are supposed to be guiding them and managing their expectations? Are there so many kids from their schools/regions being accepted to US colleges that they’re mislead about how difficult it really is?
Managed to slog through the first 3 posts by the OP and have to agree that the misunderstanding by many internationals that US colleges are somehow “lying” with their marketing and advertising and that they should be invited to study in the US on the US’s dime is fascinating. And unless there is something missing, how can 18 schools send 40 rejections? Why use hyperbole? Every year at this time threads pop up from posters who whine that the process isnt fair or they have been discriminated against because they are an ORM somewhere. Same song, different verse.
There also appears to be widespread confusion over statistics. People think that a student in the top 5% of his or her class should be admitted to colleges with 5-10% acceptance rates, as five-percenters, when those colleges only represent 1% (if that) of four-year colleges, and the vast majority of applicants competing are also in the top percentiles of their classes. The majority of high school seniors will not matriculate directly at a four-year college, and so the rankings are meaningless for admission into Harvard or Stanford (not to mention the fact that many of the most competitive and rigorous secondary schools do not rank at all). The same goes for test scores. Most students outside of the top percentiles know that they don’t have a prayer of acceptance at “top schools,” and so the applicant pool is overwhelmingly composed of students in the top 5% of scorers. Stanford’s 5% acceptance rate is not 5% of all high school seniors in the world. It is 5% of the very best and brightest.
In fairness to the OP, @jym626, they applied through two rounds; the first of which was 18 schools (followed by a forced gap year); and ultimately secured a scholarship at a Texas Community College in the second round. I do not think the “nearly 40 rejections” is hyperbole.
US colleges want to attract top internationals in order to enhance on-campus diversity for all the students. While this seems to be an invitation to all internationals to apply with expectation of admission, it is this expectation that is the mis-match. However, if internationals were given no hope, the colleges would not have the choice of international applicants that they currently have. Part of it is a cultural mis-match in understanding how marketing is done in the US.
By the way, some countries have full ride scholarships available to study at US institutions (cheaper than developing a home-grown infrastructure, plus you can tie strings to it). Often students will be intimidated, thinking they could not possibly win one of the 5 awards for the whole country. These same students will apply to Harvard, oblivious to the fact that only one or two students per year will be accepted from their country (and those would probably be the top contenders for the national scholarships).
Internationals should rightfully be upset with their own country for not providing more financial aid so that they can attend schools internationally. The benefit will be to the home country, when the students return with the education and enhance the local economy. Plus the cost to any national budget for a handful of scholarships would not be exorbitant, and might even come from US or UN based educational aid grants, or outside-funded NGOs. Why blame US schools or the US government for not subsidizing their education beyond the inherent subsidies built in to educational institutions?
@jym626, the thread title appears to be the same to me. You read the correct passage, just not far enough:
Note that she took a gap year, and that the second attempt was not much better than the first one (implying that she was once again rejected by about 18 schools).
The title is the same as the first time I saw it, but maybe I came in late. It’s part of the reason I was so surprised at the tone of the original post(s). I expected an “I tried really hard and finally got in so you can too” post, not a thesis about what internationals think is wrong with the US college system.