chris and farideh

My 17 year old son is obsess with studying/ living in America, he has beg us to move up there, but neither myself or OH wants to immigrate up there, he's A grade student in everything, he was in the top 5% of gifted student back in UK, he's also very good at sports, but he wants to get sponsorship academically rather than sport from a university in USA.


We are in Australia, & he's in year 11 at the moment, he only need another year at high school before going to Uni.

We have checked the university he's interested but doesn’t give us much information how to apply for it, or when is the best time to apply.

What does a sponsorship involves, would he get all his fees paid for.

He's driving us crazy, he just want to do his degree in USA, but we cant afford to pay the high fee’s, so he's only option is to get in via sponsorship.

Hope you guys can help me.

Regards

Farideh

Jerseygirl

I suggest you contact the universities he's interested in and ask their admissions dept.

Bob

each uni has their own application process, probably around $60....how much he has to pay depends on the course, but he'll be an international student and will probably be looking at $30+K a year...plus getting a F1 student visa, wouldn't be allowed to work for the first semester, then after than only 20 hours on campus work, and to get the visa as a rule of thumb, would nee to show you can pay the university, and can afford to live, so looking at around $10K cash a year on top.

As for sponsorship, most would only be for USC's, unless it's a private one through work...rare to unlikely, so best bet would be a sports related get in from the uni, but he'll have to be more than blindingly good at a sport the uni is interested in, so athletics, american football, baseball, basketball, the other sports probably wouldn't have the money for it.

penguinsix

The term of art in the US is 'scholarship' rather than sponsorship, and there are tons of 'financial aid' available for US citizens, but quite a bit less for non-residents.

At each website of each university, he needs to look into the 'financial aid' section for more information. Basically, aid comes from:

Federal government
State governments
The University itself
Private, third party awards.

The first three are by and large all administered by the financial aid office of the school he is attending. The fourth group are a bit harder to find, but you can get them more or less directly from the group with the cash.

Sports scholarships would require exceptional skill, but may be a way to go. I'm assuming he isn't playing the 'big 2'--American football or basketball, and is instead concentrating on an Olympic sport (i.e. track, swimming, volleyball, etc). At his age in America, most of the students who are serious about sport have concentrated into one sport or another and are focused solely on that sport. If he is interested, you should pull together any newspaper clippings, videos of him participating, awards, letters from his coaches, and send them off to the appropriate athletic coaches at the university he is considering. (NOTE: I should note he would need EXCEPTIONAL ability in a sport--many people who run athletics for the national teams of their country, or play women's soccer for the national side are studying in the US on sports scholarships).

One other consideration--most universities offer a 'study abroad' option--where you take one year and study at another university. I know the University of Notre Dame in Australia is affiliated with the American University of Notre Dame, with students going back and forth between the two campuses. You might look for an Aussie school that has some exchange program with a US university.

Might I also suggest sending him over for a gap month or two? Let him get a taste of the US, good and bad, so he can have a better idea of what to expect.

Celsius

Does he know what he wants to study? As an international student, he'll pay through plenty of $$$ to study in the US so it'd be best to focus on at least the better schools in the fields of study in which he wishes to major. That way, once he graduates, he'll have a good degree from a good school (as they say in the US).

Bob

Brunel uni, west london has an exchange system with San Fran uni, and so does Sydney tech uni I believe, but your still expected to stump the US tuition fee and living expenses, but might be able to claim some help from erasamus program.

lapin_windstar

Erasmus is Europe only, afaics.

Bob

If the uni your mainly going to is based there, exchanges can be abroad....that's what my mates used, though there is also another program to help with funding, but I can't remember what that's called, either way, it doesn't pay for everything and there's some pretty strict guidelines to follow or they'll want their money back.

chris and farideh

So my son doesnt want to go via sport, is there no way would any uni take him acadamically where he is so gifted, so this really confusing for us.
but thank you for all your suggestion.

chris and farideh

Yes he does, even thought the best university for what he want to study is in UK, well the top 10, is between UK & USA, one in Japan.
I dont know why he wants to study in USA is beyond me, he has only been for holidays there, & never really liked it, so why he think is best place to study.

chris and farideh

He was in the swimming squad team, he loves the challenge, but he's really very good at everything he goes for, but he loves the challenge he gets academically more, I have spoken to him what you suggested he tells me thats possibility, but he rather does the whole degree there.

penguinsix

Of course schools give academic scholarships, but the competition is very tough. The US schools look for a well-rounded student, with good grades, extracurricular activities, sports, good scores on the standard tests (SAT or ACT) and other factors. They want a good mix. And even then, the competition just to get into the top academic schools is fierce, with the vast majority of students who are technically qualified (i.e. meet the numbers) turned away because there are not enough spaces...and those who are left competiting for the money.

What does he want to study? What school is he looking at? You know something like 75% of American students change majors AFTER they get to Uni. In fact, as most schools your first year is a required spread of arts and sciences in an effort to expose you to a field of study you might not have considered.

penguinsix

Some people have the wrong idea about sports scholarships. They think they get one and then they sort of just hang out at the university participating in sports and representing the school. Actually quite the converse, especially in the Olympic sports--you are expected to be a student first, an athlete second. All sports scholarship students have to make steady progress toward a degree, and cannot fall below a certain GPA or they are kicked out of school. While some schools fudge and twist these rules (i.e. you will major in basket weaving and then get a degree from Ohio State University) others are more serious about their academic mission (note: Yes, I'm insulting Ohio State on purpose).

Jerseygirl

I know 2 girls who got into Ivy schools purely through athletics...didn't even have to apply they were approached. Their SAT results were poor to fair...course work not much better.

lapin_windstar

Chris / Faridah: go straight to the source.

Buy a copy of the US News Best College report (they had this in Borders in London, so they might well have it in Oz, and I am sure you can mail order it): http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandre...ndex_brief.php

Find the colleges that are best for your son's desired degree, then start calling the admissions offices and get a picture of cost and any other help that might be available.

If you're a mason, Rotarian, ethnic minority (of any type - there are even scholarships for Scots), there are scholarships available.

Finally, hit the Fulbright Commission - I don't know whether it's US govt-funded or not, but their mission is to promote academic and cultural exchange between the US and a bunch of other countries. They have an office in Canberra: http://www.fulbright.com.au/the_commission/contacts.htm


http://www.fulbright.com.au/