Hi everyone
I’m a 23 yr old college student from South Korea. I just started my research for studying abroad, specifically in America.
-My background
I was in the states when I was a baby and a year as a fifth grader in Cali.
I was a real good student and enjoyed my life there. The only thing I achieved then was a 7th grader CTY math course. (I know this won’t help at all rn)
I messed up my GPA in high school here, did not study at all for a certain period for personal reasons related to my family.
After putting several years to make up those days now I go to a okay-university in Korea majoring in AI, Big Data (however in my standards, it’s a very bad school) and only finished my first year. Almost done with my military service, seeking for opportunities to go back to America where I have good memories. I got to work with the U.S. Army and I know most of these guys aren’t really smart. But as speaking English I realized that I feel more comfortable with the American culture than the Korean ones despite I speak better Korean and lived most of my life here.
-What I’m aiming
I’m looking for options however I really want to get into one of Stanford/Harvard/Yale.
The problem is that I still don’t know what to study and put my whole life in. I’m still trying to figure out.
-My status
Have a 2.x GPA from high school. 3.8 GPA from my first year from Univ.
Since I just started to look into studying abroad I don’t know how to go do my research and what to prepare.
I need any comments or advice that’ll help me out.
I’m sorry if that part was offending I sincerely appreciate their service.
I was just trying to say it was only the cultural part that I experienced, not the academic part.
My budget is enough for any college but I don’t have enough to get in for legacy admissions.
I am not a US citizen but I could attain one in ten years.
And it’s for my bachelor’s degree not for graduate school. That was one of my options but I really want to start a new chapter from undergraduate school.
This doesn’t make sense. Legacy students don’t get a discount on fees. And it doesn’t sound as though you are a legacy anyway. Did one of your parents attend one of the colleges you’re interested in? Or do you mean you don’t have enough to donate millions for a new building?
You said you want to go to a top private university in the US. Do you have $85,000 a year to fund yourself? Because you are almost certainly not going to get any financial aid. As a transfer student from an international university, I can’t imagine many colleges, high ranked or not, are going to give you any financial aid at all.
Any top college will have incredibly low transfer acceptance rates. Furthermore, you need very solid reasons for wanting to attend one of those colleges. Not just wanting to be in the US.
If you have plenty of money, you will be able to find a college in the US. You will need compelling reasons to want to be at HYPS. You will need not only excellent grades, but also excellent professor recommendations, as well as being able to show what you do apart from academics.
How will you do this?
You can’t say that a whole group of people are stupid, by the way. As a person who did military service yourself, you surely know that most are far from stupid.
I’m not sure what you mean by that. Are you a legacy at any US college? Your cost won’t be any different based on legacy status. Very few US schools meet full financial need for international students, and even fewer among these are need blind in admissions. Your best bet may be schools that provide a lot of merit money, but it’s going to be hard with your stats.
How do you plan to do that?
With a year of college already under your belt you’ll be considered a transfer student. And at age 23 you’ll be considered a non traditional applicant. All these factors make it a lot harder to be accepted at a top U.S. college.
(Edit: cross posted with @Lindagaf and inadvertently repeated some of the same points)
What do you mean you “don’t have enough to get in for legacy admissions”.
You will be an international transfer student. You probably should look at the full costs of attendance at colleges in the U.S. because many colleges don’t meet full need for transfer students and some don’t meet need for international students at all.
Getting citizenship in “ten years” is not going to help you with college admissions and aid in the U.S. now.
IF you apply to undergrad schools here, you will be required to include your transcript from your current college.
My opinion…finish your bachelors degree in Korea and then work, and THEN decide if you want to come to grad school in the United States.
Also, what do you plan to do after you get your bachelors degree here? In most cases, international students are required to return to their home countries after finishing college. Going to college here is not to be viewed as a path to getting a job or citizenship.
We all appear to have posted at the same time. And it might be relevant because we want to ensure this student understands that studying in the US is not a path to citizenship.
I’m going to give you my honest assessment of your chances here in the US based on what you’ve written. With your record, anything in the top 50 ranking is not going to happen. If you want to come to the US, you need to start looking more in the 50-200 range. There are lots of large publics (not the top ones of course) that would be willing to take you since you are full pay. You need to refocus your search to lower ranked schools.
Before replies on the main part, I sincerely apologize once again. It was my fault to say so.
My father has a J.D from Columbia I don’t know if that might be considered as a legacy. Columbia is a great school it might also be my option since I really don’t have the supreme qualities like having awesome ECs or so especially me being considered as a foreigner there I know I really have to develop myself hard there.
(I had a slight misunderstanding about legacy admissions)
From my research so far, transferring from my current university to those great ones won’t be possible. I’ll have to get in as a freshman or transfer from community colleges.
One of my families have a US citizenship, might use the. family based immigrant visa but it’s going to take about ten years.
I had a slight misunderstanding on legacy admissions.
Don’t know if my parent having a J.D. from Columbia might be considered as a legacy. I’m trying to find on that right now.
And yes I have enough budget for almost all US colleges. Budget is not a problem.
Transferring from my current univ. will be almost impossible from my knowledge so far. I know I have all the disadvantages that I have.
Thank you for the reply and your opinion. I really appreciate it.