Re: US College System
 

No, but I've got a 21- and a 19-yr old in college....you learn fast about all the options.

Re: US College System
 

I appreciate the info too as my son is a HS freshman and I'm well aware of the mine field we're about to step into !!

Re: US College System
 

Find out from the uni who they want to translate the grades, because it's an unregulated business, anyone can do it, so uni's tend to have a preference, no point doing it in advance unless you know who they want, WES probably, but might not be.

Also note, as an L2, your kid won't be allowed to work whilst studying and I know that affects some here, less the money, just the fact that they can't get involved doing stuff with friends.

BoA offer private loans to be used for college, the rates are crap though, but if that's all that your able to get, it's something.

Oh, and in v out state fees would depend on the uni, most do require you living in the state for 12 months or so, but some still won't give you in state rates unless you are a permanent resident, so double check that with the uni.

Re: US College System
 

Check the university rules - my uni has an exclusion that people on non-immigrant visas do not qualify for instate tuition even if they've been living here for 12 months. However - you can appeal, which I did, given that my visa is indefinitely renewable.

Re: US College System
 

It was just slightly different for us as my DD was out here on a visa working for Disney for a year before we moved. So we had to prove that she had been living independently in Florida for 12 months. Which fortunatley as she had paid rent and a car loan we were able to do. We had no problem with then converting her english results but she is at UF and they take quite a few international kids and are therefore used to it. If she did GCSE's she should have no problem with her SAT's


Anyone any idea why I am not getting e-mail alerts at the moment when I have ticked that box ?????

Re: US College System
 

Hi
I need as much info as possible as we are poss moving out towards end of year and my daughter will be completing her GCSE's by end of June..... Can you point me in right direction to even finding a suitable - good college in the Kissimmee sort of area.
Would appreciate all your help.
Thanks

Re: US College System
 

Ok, from my limited knowledge of Brit terminology from my OH, I know that Brits consider 'college' different from 'uni'. FYI, here in the US, they are one and the same. There are literally tens of thousands of colleges/uni's in the US. Just to give you a crash course, in case you don't already know:

You get local community colleges that typically offer certificates and associates degrees (2yr degrees), and some will even offer bachelor degrees. They usually only offer limited fields of study. Then you have the higher level uni's/colleges that offer bachelor's and masters and PhD's. Some are going to be more specialized for certain fields (such as liberal arts, science, medicine, etc) or at the very least they will have a reputation for certain degrees (med, business, engineering).

To find a uni, you can use Google to find ones local to area, and then start eliminating them based on tuition, degrees offered, locale, admission standards, etc. What you define as good will be completely diff from what I consider good. You probably need to get started looking into admission standards now. Given that she will have no education history in the US, you may need quite a bit of documentation. It's almost absolutely certain that they will have to evaluate her scores into a US equivalent in order to deem it sufficient for admisstion. This procedure differs by school, so it's best to narrow down the schools first, so that you are not going through too many of these evaluations (sometimes you may have to pay for yourself - I know we had to).

Re: US College System
 

Hiya
Well thanks for that, was quite confused re college/uni - I have trawled the net so to speak, but will get back on it. Thank you :)

Re: US College System
 

Hi:

Elder daughter went private on East Coast, but is now in scientific PhD for which she has grant money. Younger one graduated from UC Santa Cruz.

The rules can get complicated -- had a client with a green card, but whose father had abandoned residence -- Community College and CSU&C considered him a resident eligible for in-state fees, but UC did not. The weird thing is that CSU&C and UC were following the SAME legislative provisions -- go figure.

Re: US College System
 

Here kids attend high school for year 11 and 12...they don't go to college during this time as many do in the UK.

Re: US College System
 

Hi
So are you saying she should really go to High School until she is 18 (is it 18 years...) and then look to go to a US College/Uni as she would in the UK. Then I can look at High Schools, dont suppose it would make a lot of difference if she was a year older/younger... thanks

Re: US College System
 

Yes normally kids attend high school until they're 18...then go onto uni. It used to be the same in the UK until 6th form colleges were introduced.

BTW an undergrad degree takes approx 4 yrs in the US.

Re: US College System
 

Generally speaking a college offers degrees in only one field of study, and a university is collection of many colleges. The University of Illinois has a College of Engineering, a College of Business, a College of Liberal Arts, etc. whereas you may see smaller schools like St. Johns College offering only Liberal Arts degrees (no business, engineering, etc). Community colleges are 'associate' degrees--two years that can either provide you some vocational skills (auto shop, carpentry) or can be a low-cost way to save before you transfer somewhere to a larger college or university for your bachelor's degree.

It's also worth noting though you've probably already discovered that 'residency' for the purposes of in-state tuition has nothing to do with 'residency' for the purposes of immigration. Two different bureaucracies using the same term with different meaning.

Re: US College System
 

We came over here when my eldest daughter was 16. She had just taken her GCSE's. She did two years (junior and senior) at a US high school and then applied to US universities.

She was able to use all of that to her advantage because she could say

"look at me...I made a huge transatlantic move at a crucial time but I still graduated high school with a GPA of 4 (her school maximum was a 5 GPA). I took my SATs and ACT and got an acceptable result and I have these funny things called GCSE's. I also joined in with everything I could in my two years at high school and all of this shows what a fabulous person I am!"

or words to that effect.

She was on an H4 visa at the time which caused it's own problems but that's another story.

We found we had to speak directly to the colleges at a really high level..think president/ VP for admissions and she wrote a personal essay outlining her achievements and emphasizing the move.

My middle daughter came here as a freshman but she is still finding that the transatlantic move makes her interesting to colleges now that she is applying.

We now have green cards and so both daughters are eligible for grants/scholarships etc which makes a huge difference.

Re: US College System
 

Hi
Our daughter will be 17 but would you suggest then that she does the last 2 years at High School... sounds from you that it will be the best idea, i dont suppose it would make much difference if she is 19 when she leaves, would it? Do the schools have the same terms as us eg do they start a new school year in Sept, as this would be the date we would have to make sure we were here for ready for her to start a new school year. When we have confirmation of where we will be living is that when you contact the local school? What did you need to provide/produce when you applied for her at High School? Did you have to get her GCSE's converted (as might be difficult as she wont get results until end of August). Thanking you in advance for your answers...thanks....