Couple of questions for Int.St.

ioanabounce · February 24, 2011, 3:46pm

Hello everyone, first of all, let me introduce myself, i'm Ioana and i'm from Bucharest -Romania, and of course, as everyone here, i need some help.
My situation is the following:
-i`m a first year student, but i will apply as a freshman student not as a transfer student
-i have a list of like 15 universities/colleges in NYC where I want to apply
-i will take the SAT/TOEFL tests in june

Well, and my questions are :)) :

1.i missed the fall 2011 enrollemnt, i'm able to apply in the summer for the january 2012 semester? all universities/colleges have this 'option' of late-enrollemnt?

2.a reliable source for student loans that can pay the full tuition? i don't know what they're called, but you have to pay back after graduation,in a number of years,after you get yourself a job.
I found on the net all kinds of websites,but i don't know if they're any good
for example: International Student Loans Center - Student Loans for College Students
I want this kind of funding, because i don`t qualify for a merit-based scholarship,and i really can't afford to pay :)

3.any tips on the personal essay you have to write for admission? :)

my dream is to go to NYU or Pace univesity, i want to study "event management" / "hospitality and tourism management", and these 2 are kind of the best (and of course,on the other side, i didn't found any other university where u can study this)

I hope you can help me, and i'm looking forward to discuss different issues and hope to meet some nice people :D

thanks a lot for your time and help

b_r_um · February 24, 2011, 3:57pm

[quote]
i`m a first year student, but i will apply as a freshman student not as a transfer student

[/quote]

Would the universities on your list allow you to apply as a first-year student at all? Many don't. NYU, for example, explicitly instructs all students who have ever been enrolled in a degree program to apply as a transfer student.

[quote]
2.a reliable source for student loans that can pay the full tuition?

[/quote]

That exists only if you have a reliable US co-signer. Otherwise your best bet is loans from home. If you don't have family in the US, don't have money to pay for college, and cannot get some sort of financial aid (in grant form, not loans!), it's most likely in your best interest to finish your undergraduate education in your home country. You could consider coming to the US for a graduate degree, which is often much easier to finance than an undergraduate degree.

b_r_um · February 24, 2011, 4:23pm

By the way, is there a particular reason that you are restricting yourself to NYC? The city is so expensive to live in that it doesn't seem like an obvious choice for a student with financial restrictions.

I don't know if you saw the following document, but I thought it was interesting. It's a ranking of the top universities for international hospitality management, based on a survey of hiring managers in the industry. Only a single US university made the list (Cornell). Some of the European schools on the list are much more affordable than American universities (e.g. Hotelschool The Hague in the Netherlands) and may offer more global opportunities than the lower-ranked universities in NYC as well.

INDUSTRY</a> RANKS SWISS HOSPITALITY EDUCATION TOPS IN THE WORLD

(Do take it with a grain of salt though: the Swiss universities who conducted the survey came out on top as well.)

ioanabounce · February 25, 2011, 3:00am

Thx a lot for your answer. Well, first of all, i choose NYC cuz of personal reasons, i really want/need to study/live there . And i belive that you have much more opportunities there than in any other place..

And regarding the loan, yes, i have a valid US co-signer, that's not a problem.
Oh, i saw this on the net ( <a href="https://www.studentloan.com/privatestudentloans/citiassistundergraduateloans.htm%5B/url%5D">https://www.studentloan.com/privatestudentloans/citiassistundergraduateloans.htm</a> ) and there's nothing there saying u need a co-signer, or i'm just missing something?

And another question, how do they decide if you're getting the loan or not? what are the conditions?

"Would the universities on your list allow you to apply as a first-year student at all? Many don't. NYU, for example, explicitly instructs all students who have ever been enrolled in a degree program to apply as a transfer student. "

I didn't saw that on NYU website :( I just assumed that u can apply however u want. But if the program i enrolled in my country is Management of example, and i want to study event management at NYU, can i still apply as a transfer student? i was under the impression that u have to study the same thing.
Anyway I preffer applying as a first-year student, i will request more informations from the colleges about this, but it seems kind of stupid.

Thanks a lot for that document, really interesting...as I said, I choose NYC for a reason(or two), but you may be right here, I will look into it aswell. What do you mean by "more global oopportunities)?

macmill · February 25, 2011, 3:24am

New York is a VERY expensive place to live!And since you have limited finances its not a good idea to live in NY.My advice:broaden your college search to include the whole of the US.This will enable you to identify schools with lower cost where you can identify some scholarship opportunities.Funding your entire education with loans is going to put you in A LOT of debt.Start searching for schools that offer any sort of funding and also look for scholarships in your home country.

b_r_um · February 25, 2011, 9:02am

You can change your major as a transfer student. First-year vs transfer status is usually determined by your educational background, not your future intentions: students who have attended a university before are evaluated differently from students applying straight out of high school (e.g. their college performance is taken into account) and that's why the application process is a bit different.

As for the Citi loans w/o a co-signer: Try completing the first page of the loan application without a co-signer. You will get an error message saying, "International borrowers must be at least 18 years old and have a U.S. citizen or permanent resident co-signer with a valid social security number. Apply with a Co-signer."

The approval rates depends on the credit-worthiness of your co-signer. Is his/her income high and stable enough so that he/she could repay your loan if necessary? Does he/she have a good credit history?