Southern Hemisphere Timing Question

Parents Forum
#1

<p>What if....</p>

<p>Student graduates HS in November, applies to US schools in January--but must wait until April to evaluate financial aid offers because he cannot attend without substantial aid?</p>

<p>But the academic year begins in February in his home country (southern hemisphere) and he must start his coursework--in case he doesn't get enough aid to go to US.</p>

<p>How would that be viewed? I suppose he could drop the classes to audit status in April so as not to accrue university credits....</p>

<p>Opinions?</p>

#2

<p>Do you have the semester system? If the academic year starts in Feb then the first semester would end about June if a semester is similar in length to US. If that is a case then no reason to drop anything -- finish semester and see if US college will accept any courses as transfer units. The US college that accepts the student is not going to mind that he is temporarily taking courses elsewhere. Note though that he needs to pick US colleges to which to apply wisely as most in the US offer no aid to internationals.</p>

#3

<p>Cheers:</p>

<p>Is the student applying EA/ED? If not, it's better to ask the colleges where he is applying RD directly. A student who is enrolled full-time in another college may well be treated as a transfer student, that is differently from a regular high school senior.
At issue is full-time status. It might be possible for the student to drop only some classes and retain others and get credit for those he has retained. Even if he does not get credit, he could benefit from placement into a more advanced class, thus not wasting the time and effort invested in the courses taken from February to April ( Note that in the US, college semesters tend to run February to end of April, with exams in May, so in effect, the student would have taken 3/4 of the course before deciding to drop it).</p>

#4

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>He wouldn't apply ED/EA for financial reasons and the first 'semester' deosn't end until July--and I don't think they have semester credit here. I think it's the whole year period. Not sure.</p>

<p>Friend of my S2's. He's just taken the PSAT with S2 to see where he stands. Thanks for all the advice.</p>

<p>D--I thought the aid was very limited too--but got a different sense on this board. This is a brilliant student and musician who possibly qualifies for merit aid. He'll likely get full ride here, so applying to US is simply shooting the moon....</p>