<p>I am an international student studying in class 12 and will be applying to colleges in America later this year.
Someone just told me that American colleges and universities require their students to take atleast 2 years of science (physics, chemistry and biology) in high school. I suck at science and took alternative subjects throughout high-school.</p>
<p>How much will this hurt me?</p>
<p>(I will be applying for aid)</p>
<p>My advice is that you email schools you are interested in formt he US and ask if they’d even consider your application. Email at least 6 schools, and if the general consensus is ‘no’, then you might want to apply to schools in like…the UK or Canada. If they say yes, though, there is no harm in trying.</p>
<p>I know that the Ivies, Amherst and Williams, will consider you. It might hurt you a bit though.</p>
<p>^What is this guy thinking.</p>
<p>Foreign students are held to a much higher standard.</p>
<p>Anyways.
No, you’re essentially screwed.</p>
<p>Top schools here practically require 3-4 years of AP level science.</p>
<p>I can’t even imagine how bad you are at science right now. The freshman science course will probably make your life terrible.</p>
<p>PurpleMist -</p>
<p>The colleges and universities that you apply to will be fully aware that your program is different from a US HS program. They do not expect you to be exactly like US students. </p>
<p>Read everything at the EducationUSA website <a href=“http://educationusa.state.gov/undergrad.htm[/url]”>http://educationusa.state.gov/undergrad.htm</a>
and then make an appointment with one of the counselors at the advising center nearest to you [url=<a href=“http://educationusa.state.gov/home/education-usa/global-left-nav/education-usa-advising-centers/center-directory]EducationUSA[/url”>http://educationusa.state.gov/home/education-usa/global-left-nav/education-usa-advising-centers/center-directory]EducationUSA[/url</a>] These people are the experts on helping students like you from your country find good places to study in the US.</p>
<p>You also should take a look at the Financial Aid Forum and at the International Student Forum here. Click on “Discussion Home” in the upper left of this screen and then scroll down.</p>
<p>I love the number of exclamation marks in the title.</p>
<p>If you avoided them voluntarily, then your chances at top U.S. schools are very low. If it was by circumstance, then, if well conveyed, it shouldn’t be a big problem.</p>
<p>There are some American colleges that will accept you, I’m sure. But I won’t do you a disservice by lying: the ones you get into are not going to be that good.</p>
<p>do you have a unique circumstance that explains why you have no science courses?</p>
<p>if you have no excuse for the fact you didn’t take any science courses, and you don’t have any compelling factors such as great science exam scores, self-studying science, or a major hook to counter this gaping hole in your application, your chances to the top 25-50 schools in the US look really bad at the moment. if you have some good explanation / very compelling achievement, then you might be alright…maybe</p>
<p>however, this is just my opinion. still, colleges know that you’ll be toast in the science classes if you don’t have any science experience during high school.</p>
<p>This hurts you. The ivies want well-rounded students. No science is an issue here. Some liberal arts schools and perhaps Brown might not crack down on this as much…</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure the OP’s high school system is probably similar to the high school that one of my friends used to go to, which is that basically the high school splits its courses into humanities and sciences. </p>
<p>This means that the student either takes a bunch of humanities and almost no sciences or vice-versa. I’m pretty sure that’s what his school system is like, but if this is wrong then my post becomes meaningless</p>
<p>If you’re considered one of the best students in your school, and you have ample creditability in your ECs, and your school really does operate differently from msot American HSs, I wouldn’t discredit you, though I don’t really know. As people have said, the best way to figure it out is to contact colleges, and see how this will work. But the best universities have different “niches” they like to fill, and if you can prove to be one of the best students in geography or history or something, and show through your ECs and schoolwork and awards and such that you’ll be an asset’s to a school’s history or geography or whatever department, then they’ll consider you.</p>
<p>Does your school go by the British school curriculum? It sounds like it. If that’s the case, then probably most colleges (some of the good ones and the bad ones) will understand only after you email them before-hand. If that’s not the case then I really don’t know:/</p>
<p>this will only kill you at publics like Michigan and UCLA which require 2 or 3 years of science.</p>
<p>What country are you from PurpleMist?</p>
<p>But yeah, if the colleges are familiar with the system that your country uses (South Korea, etc), you better have a damn good excuse. If not, a four year high school curriculum without any science courses… Seems far-fetched for any college to swallow.</p>
<p>Where are your from? If, in your country, students typically take all humanities or all science/math courses in high school, and if this enhances the students’ chances of being accepted to a local university, I think you’re OK as long as the US university admissions offices understand your situation (which you can explain). If you’re from a British-equivalent system in which students typically take a bunch of O levels in a variety of subjects and then specialize in a few subjects clustered in a particular area for their last couple of years, so that your O levels (or something like O levels) would have some showing in math/science but your A levels are all non-science, you’re also OK. (Am I dating myself here? Are British hs exams still called O and A levels?)</p>
<p>If other students from your high school who specialized in a particular area of study have applied to American universities in the past, you might want to check into their application and acceptance/rejection histories assuming your school maintains those records.</p>
<p>Strange. Hmmmm.</p>
<p>Can you fit in a biology/earth science class this year? Most colleges do have a science requirement and I’d hate to walk into a college science class with absolutely no prep!</p>