<p>Though I’ve already gone through the college application process and am attending university elsewhere, I have a couple of questions for my cousin since we are in entirely different situations and I’m not familiar with applying to UW. My cousin lives in Seattle, and recently immigrated to the US 1 1/2 years ago from China. Understandably, she’s struggling in school - her English skills are obviously not that great, which precludes her from doing as well in school as she could and from deep social interaction with her peers. Due to family situations, the burden of moving countries mid-high school, being a bit older than her peers (she’s older than me and I’m a sophomore in college, albeit a young sophomore), she’s very much isolated so not very many extracurriculars, and a fairly low grades except in classes like math. Obviously, she’s not applying for the Honors program. She didn’t prepare at all for the SAT due to a combination of factors and got a 1300 (!) on the test (out of 2400). She’s discussing her recent immigration in her personal essays, and the differences in the Chinese and American educations systems, and writes about her struggle to adjust. Despite this, I know that this situation is not rare.</p>
<p>What do you think her chances are? Should she even apply?</p>
<p>I have doubts about her chance of getting in, but more important, would she really want to attend the state’s most selective and demanding public institution without stronger English skills? I think it would be a huge struggle to do that, and would encourage a student like her to attend one of the excellent community colleges in the area. She could work very hard on English, and try to amass a record of good grades that would make a transfer possible - if not to UW Seattle, then maybe to Bothell or Tacoma.</p>
<p>I am a Chinese immigrant myself too. But came to States at a young age. I am doing running start at community college and I think it’s a good way to prepare for university especially your cousin been here for not very long. </p>
<p>And as an immigrant, I understand how frustrating it can be in high school, especially she’s older than her peers. My suggest for her is to go to college for two years first. Because in college, you’re treated as an adult. Nobody yells at you if you flunk a test that you take full responsibility for yourself.</p>
<p>Yeah, as rainmama says, "would she really want to attend the state’s most selective and demanding public institution without stronger English skills? "</p>
<p>However, since she took SAT already and this is her last year at high school(I assume?), she can take a chance and write out the essays from her heart and give it a try. She has nothing to lose. We all know some people get into the UW with SATs of 1200 or so.</p>
<p>Best of luck to your cousin!</p>
<p>Thanks for both your replies, and I appreciate your comments. A lot of it also has to do with family pressure and such, so she’s applying but I also think she’d be OK - or perhaps even better off - at a CC. We’ll see!</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>you’re welcome and actually i am quite interested in her case.</p>
<p>oh, before i forget. your post reminded me of a family friend.</p>
<p>he’s a sophomore in uw this year. it was eight months before his chinese high school graduation when he came to states. but he stayed at high school here for another three years. i don’t know how exactly he was doing at school, but seems he was pretty average, had a gpa of 3.8 and SAT of 1800(approximately). but you know, he is older than his peers. i think he is 22(could be 23) this year. kinda frustrating feeling.</p>
<p>and SAT is really not that hard to do well on. I got sth. like 1300 when I first took a practice test and got 500 points higher in 3 months. rote memorization works!!</p>
<p>She could always attend a community college, work on bringing up her English skills, then transfer to UW.</p>