I guess what’s confusing to everyone is that you keep using the word “qualify” in a different manner. The word “qualify” means that you meet a certain level of requirements.
With your status, you are “designated” as an international student. You either are or you aren’t a US citizen or a green card holder. There’s no “qualification” needed to be considered an international student. All students from other countries who don’t have citizenship or green card status are probably international students.
Your situation is not weird, nor unusual.
Numbers of students from other countries come to the US because their parents work here, or some other family situation occurs and they go to a local high school for a year or two. A lot of them perform very well when they transition to a US high school. They don’t use their move here as an excuse to gain an advantage in college admissions.
Your post is very confusing because you say that you came here your junior year of college. What is your previous school, a college or a secondary school?
I am confused when you state that you took 4 AP courses and a college course during the summer.
Most students can’t take AP courses in the summer because it’s a year long course that covers a vast amount of material. Most universities don’t seriously consider self studying for AP courses. They want to hear from the teachers who are teaching those courses about how you perform in a classroom setting. AP courses are scheduled for students in May each year.
I’m also concerned that you have some really erroneous information and are considering it to be true.
If you are in the US, it doesn’t automatically grant you domestic status.
I have a son-in-law who came here and got married and still was considered a Canadian citizen. He had to jump through hoops to get citizenship; it took a while. In the meantime, he couldn’t work. He couldn’t go to school without paying full fees and being declared an international student. He couldn’t really apply for a new license because he wasn’t a citizen because his status hadn’t been cleared.
Try applying for a job, and see if they consider you as a domestic.
I don’t know of any school who would consider a student, who is not legally a resident in the United States, as a domestic student. But you go ahead and try and see how that theory works out for you.
Also you said that a number of universities automatically consider you a domestic student just for being in the US please answer @DadOfJerseyGirl question:
@QPWOEIRUTYALSKDJFHG, here are some examples. Hopefully you can provide clarifications.
You initially said:
but then said:
Also:
There is no AP exam called “AP Java”! Where did you come across this?
Curious to know why you think you have a better chance, especially as an international student. Is there more to your profile that you haven’t mentioned?
Finally, don’t dismiss the cost and budget question (it’s a major factor).
@QPWOEIRUTYALSKDJFHG you are an international student. Period. If you reside in some states and graduate from HS there, you might be given instate status for tuition purposes only.
You won’t be eligible for aid at schools that don’t give aid to international students. You won’t be eligible for any federally funded aid at all. As an international, you will have a limit on the number of hours you can work.
You are not an exception to the rules… because really there are no exceptions to the rules.
The link below is an old thread so all information should be verified.
I randomly checked a few states and there were pretty specific requirements (e.g. 3 years of high school in the state, certain visa status or DACA, etc.) Of the few I checked it doesn’t appear the OP would be eligible in those states, but perhaps this will give someone a starting point for research.
But I think the key here is that there is a difference between qualifying for instate tuition, and between being classified as a domestic (not international) student. I am not aware of (some DACA exceptions aside which clearly does not apply to OP) any school that classifies anyone other than a green card holder or US citizen as “domestic”. D19 was still on a green card when she started college, so we looked into the classifications quite thoroughly.
Ahh, I missed that part of the question. The thread I provided was only addressing eligibility for in-state tuition rates, not qualifying for aid etc as a domestic student. Thanks for pointing that out.
Im not saying that I am eligible for financial aid. None of this long paragraph that I wrote is for the fact that I am eligible for financial aid. Im sorry if I cant write properly but I’m trying my best:sob: . My main point was that after talking to my counselors, they said that my case was a bit weird because I could only take 4 AP’s as I only had 2 years of US schooling. And when I came here I did not have prerequisites to take high level classes because there was a problem with my transcript. The rest of the time I was in India, where there is no such thing as an AP class or an honors class. The same affected my ec’s. I could not complete the average amount of Ec’s that a highschool student does to get into a good university because there was no concept of Ec’s back in my home country.
Im not using it as an excuse man. It’s a fact that If you come to a highschool in your junior year you’d have less time to take AP’s as compared to if you start afresh in the US. Same goes for extracurriculars. I’m not trying to make excuses , its what ive been told by my counselors. That if I mention that I came to the States in Junior year, admission officers would understand why I have taken a low amount of AP’s and why my Ec’s are a bit low. To answer your other questions, my previous school was a highschool, but it was completely different from a US highschool. You dont get to choose your classes there. For example- If you are in 10th grade you need to take a specific amount of classes and specific subjects. There is no going around that. Also I did not self study any courses. I completed Calc 1 at my local college(it was a 6 week course and it counted towards my weighted GPA) during the summers. I hope that answers any questions.
I really think you need to get outside of your own individual situation. In the US, every high school district is different. Your counselors apparently aren’t aware of the differences.
A number of schools are controlled by how many qualified high school staff are available to teach AP coursework, and/or whether or not they can attract enough teachers to work in the local area.
A number of students are not allowed to take AP classes because their schools don’t or can’t offer them.
No AP teachers, no AP courses taught. Look on this web page and you’ll find that some parents and students indicate that they’re schools don’t allow them to take AP courses until junior year.
As for EC’s, do you honestly believe that every high school in the US is the same??? The high school where I taught, had 30 sports teams. That’s not even considering the myriad of on-campus clubs and organizations.
Less than 10 miles away, in the same exact school district, we had a school that barely had five clubs and sports teams combined. It was originally a very rural school, so the district kept it rural. It probably has 150-200 students now, if that. The gardening and small farm club are popular, as are the courses in the trades (carpentry, plumbing, electrical).
Some are very small high schools and they can’t offer APs nor formal ECs. Some students just stay home and take care of their younger siblings. Some students have part-time work. Some students use the internet to be part of an online club/activity.
Read the room. Everything in the US is different. No two school districts nor schools are alike. You can’t suppose that you are the only individual, in the US, with your situation. Yours is more common than you think because the US gets immigrants from everywhere in the world. They start in different years with minimal coursework on their transcripts. Some barely speak English.
The admissions officers know their jobs and are very familiar with different situations. They will treat your transcript fairly and accept your educational history according to their acceptance guidelines.
And the adcoms will also understand your situation in terms of course availability. You aren’t the first student who did some of their studies in another country. The college adcoms have seen this before.
So…put that all out of your head.
You need to find affordable colleges where you have a decent chance of being accepted…that you like.
You wrote this. My point is…you are an international student for ALL universities. In some states, if an international student graduates from HS in that state, they are granted instate tuition status. But they are still international students (need a student visa, for example).
Can you please point us to your source? Where does it say these schools will consider you a domestic student simply for being present here?
As @aunt_bea said, your counselors seem misinformed. My daughter’s high school, a nationally ranked magnet school, offers only five APs, and most students there don’t take all five. Additionally, moving to the U.S. during your high school years is not unheard of. I’m sure admissions officers (AOs) encounter cases like yours every year and will review your application within that context.
Here’s my sincere advice: toss aside your preconceptions, and identify schools where you have a strong chance of acceptance and affordability, including at least one where this is guaranteed or extremely likely. Then you can add some (affordable) reaches if you like.
Focus on being the best high school student you can be: earn the highest grades possible, engage in activities that genuinely interest you, and follow your passions. This way, you’ll be able to submit your strongest application when the time comes to apply to colleges.
First things first:
What state do you live in?
What visa do you have?
Your chances at Purdue depend in part whether you are attending an IN HS or not.
What board did you follow in India? You will need a certified copy of your Indian transcript OR exam results, especially if you have IGCSEs or CBSE ClassX results (these will be useful to demonstrate academic ability&entrance requirements completion).
1420 is a good score, but if you think you can do better, you can definitely try again after practicing.
Not sure what you are trying to say. ECs can be outside school like Volunteering and helping the community or shadowing to learn about a profession and I could list a lot more. These have nothing to do with your home country. It can be done anywhere.
There may be a misunderstanding about ECs: an “EC” is anything you do outside of class.
If you have significant responsibilities toward younger siblings or elderly family members, that’s an “EC”.
If you have a part time job in a taco joint or a retail stores that’s an “EC”.
Both of those are considered very solid ECs because you need to display adult qualities, be responsible, reliable, cool-headed, polite when interacting with lots of people who would be different from your usual HS kids&parents, etc.
If you’re part of a team, at school or outside of school, that’s an EC - and if you practice cricket before and don’t have a team now but still practice on your own, that’s an EC too.
If you spend several evenings at the gurdwara or the mosque helping people figure out computers or helping little kids with homework that’s an EC.
If you live to knit and crochet with aunties, if you like running or weight lifting, if you play chess… All of that would be an EC.
Colleges only want to know the ways in which you’re more than a student, how you’re not unidimensional.
Showing you care about something or someone other than yourself, that you’re able to sustain an activity or shoulder a responsibility, a sign you have a personality and do things just for fun… That’s how ECs are evaluated for college.
You don’t need a lot of them.
Commitment to a couple activities or responsibility is good.
In short, don’t worry about your ECs, keep doing what you’re doing, do what you find fun&fulfilling.
I studied in CBSE. My 10th grades were pretty good. I scored a 94%. At this point I dont know what to do T_T. I have so many different people telling me so many different things that I dont know what colleges to apply to and what not.
Actually my visit to the US was not planned much. It was pretty unexpected. So I didnt really prepare for extracurriculars. I played for my school basket ball team but I dont have any proof for it. I worked at a blood donation camp and participated in an MUN. I handle my dad’s brokerage account and stuff. thats basically it. the rest of them are more academic based. I worked for the PHD Chamber of commerce and Finance and helped in writing a research paper and stuff. That report was given to the Government on India. That is basically it, yeah.
I understand that but I didnt really do any of them because coming to the US wasnt planned. Education in India just means that you spend 12 hours of your day studying for the JEE and attending coaching institutes that hog your money. So I didnt really have any time for those
. My main point was that after talking to my counselors, they said that my case was a bit weird because I could only take 4 AP’s as I only had 2 years of US schooling. And when I came here I did not have prerequisites to take high level classes because there was a problem with my transcript. The rest of the time I was in India, where there is no such thing as an AP class or an honors class. The same affected my ec’s. I could not complete the average amount of Ec’s that a highschool student does to get into a good university because there was no concept of Ec’s back in my home country.
