Colleges

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eponinethen

Majk
Joined
Aug 22, 2004
Messages
6,478
Age
40
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
So I don't live in the US but I'm considering going to college there in a year. Problem is I don't know much about the system.. I know you have to pick a major and you can chose different courses and all..
But I don't know where to apply or.. anything.
I'm not asking you to explain it all to me, I think I'll probably figure it out some how, lol.
But if those of you who are in college and those who have been there can tell where you go/went and what it is/was like or something..? Well, of course the rest of you can tell where you would want to go.
 
I heard you have to have a certain amount of points from a swedish universty (like 40 points, that's one year/two semesters) before you can go apply for college/univeristy in another country. But I'm not sure, you should check that out.
 
I started out in a huge university (Rutgers - 29,000+ students) and I didn't like it. I mean yes there was more people to meet and things to do, but as far as learning I like a smaller environment. Right now I'm a senior at Ramapo College of NJ, which is an amazing school. It's smaller and the dorms are actually nice...I didn't live in them, but have friends that do and have visited. They're currently building up the school so much and have a great selection of majors.

I did the Sorority thing at Rutgers which made a bit of sense since it was such a big school and it made it easier to meet lots of different people, but its not for everyone.

As for choosing a major, usually your first and part of your second year it's common to be undeclared and to take courses that interest you to find out what path you would like to pursue. Hopefully I've been a bit of help to you 😀
 
Dont you have to win a scolarship or something?

Or am I just seriously confuzzled?
 
Are you talking about that you have to win a scholarship just to go to an American School if you're an international student?
 
I'm sure you don't have to win a scholarship since I have two friends who've gone to college in the US. They just had to do some courses before going.
 
I feel your pain.

I have to make the biggest decision of my life in a couple months: Where oh where to attend school at?

Ideally I would goto Williams and double major in Poli. Sci. and Economics and then attend Oxford for 2 years to get my Masters in Finance and my MBA concentrated in Finance.

But I just can't make up my mind.

Should I goto a big school or a small school? Public or Private (The public schools in my state are actually good)? Liberal arts or just a business focused curriculum?

And then theres the part about me not wanting to take 3 SAT II subject tests!

All my top choice schools require them - Amherst, Williams, MIT, Colgate and Duke. :mad66:

But as for your question, I think you should go somewhere besides your country for either undergrad or grad school because you don't want to live your life in one place forever and not gain perspective from another part of the world do you?

As to how you can apply there are two websites which give a lot of information such as student reviews, rankings, et cetera on schools and even online applications to them:

1. Princeton Review-
http://www.princetonreview.com
*I believe this to be the better of the two, more information in terms of actually how the college/university is.

2. College Board-
http://www.collegeboard.com
*Little less in depth, but you have to register for the SAT, SAT II Subject tests here, well if you want to do it online
 
E
eponinethen
Thanks a lot! Really grateful for the links, I'll look at those sites.
doppelgänger said:
I heard you have to have a certain amount of points from a swedish universty (like 40 points, that's one year/two semesters) before you can go apply for college/univeristy in another country. But I'm not sure, you should check that out.
Click to expand...

Well, there is this Erasmus scolarship that you can get if you first study a year in Sweden. But if you want to go to college I'm pretty sure you don't need that. Actually I spoke to a woman today who wanted me to go to college with their help.. EF it's called.. but then I'll only have four or five colleges to chose between.. So I didn't really like that (although it's much cheaper that way)..
But why would you have to study a year in Sweden first..? If I do that I'll be two years older than the other students in college..

Thanks a lot, it sounds really interesting.. I really want to go. My parents are not over joyed about the thought of having me that far away.. I think they'll let me go though.

I'm glad to hear as much as possible about this.. Cause I'm starting to feel really stressed about this and I feel like I don't know much about what it's like.. college..
 
Most colleges and universities accept international students.
I couldn't tell you what the requirements are, because I've never been an international student. Each college is different, I suppose. They probably have some criteria that you must meet in order to be accepted and enrolled at thier school.

Most school have you take general education courses for about two years. You are to decide on a major, and in your junior year, you usually begin taking 300/400 level classes that pertain to your major for graduation. You can also choose minors (which is a certain amount of credits in a specific focus, less work than a major). Once you have fullfilled all of your schools graduation requirements, you're done.

I go to Northern Illinois Univeristy, where we need 120 hours to graduate. But honestly, I wouldn't recommend ANYBODY every coming here. Not if you want to be sane when you are finished. Thank God this is my last semseter and I can get out of here.
(I am an elementary education major.)

*remember: NIU=death. 🙂
 
I feel the need to plug my school, if only because I love it and it always comes off poorly in rankings--basically because it doesn't fit into any prescribed formula of ranking.

Basically its a small liberal arts college dedicated to the study of the history of western thoguht, and you spend your entire four years reading the "Great Books" beginning with Aristotle and Plato and ending in the 1950's. But not boring like I made it sound.

Check it out:
www.sjca.edu
 
eponinethen said:
But why would you have to study a year in Sweden first..? If I do that I'll be two years older than the other students in college..
Click to expand...

Well, it has everything to do with CSN actually. [CSN are the "kind" people who gives and lends money when you go to school/college]. I read it somewhere, when I was in highschool I recall, that you need some 40 univeristy points before applying to a foreign college. I could be so dead wrong cause I wasn't really with it in highschool. But...
Like almost two years ago I went on a date with this really cute american guy named Precious [OT: I only went out with him cause he asked me if I was from New York and later told me I looked like a New Yorker and then said he would buy me a beer] and I remember him telling me that it was smarter to, for example, go some years to a swedish university and later take a master in the states.
And about the age, I don't think you have to worry about that since most foreign exchange students I've seen around campus in the university in Luleå (I live like five minutes from campus) are kinda old.
 
doppelgänger said:
And about the age, I don't think you have to worry about that since most foreign exchange students I've seen around campus in the university in Luleå (I live like five minutes from campus) are kinda old.
Click to expand...

Take it from an American student, there is no faster way to make friends than to be a freshman/sophomore old enough to buy alchohol.
 
eset said:
I feel the need to plug my school, if only because I love it and it always comes off poorly in rankings--basically because it doesn't fit into any prescribed formula of ranking.

Basically its a small liberal arts college dedicated to the study of the history of western thoguht, and you spend your entire four years reading the "Great Books" beginning with Aristotle and Plato and ending in the 1950's. But not boring like I made it sound.

Check it out:
www.sjca.edu
Click to expand...

Ah Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander III The Great, so many others.

I'm a dual enrollee, meaning I take college courses while I'm still in high school. Currently taking Western Civ.

But I don't think you should base your choices on rankings. Though a lot of good schools are nationally recognized, there are a lot of hidden gems.
 
cool, about your plan.. i was also wanted to go to univ or coll in the us.. i wanted to go to california state LA.... 😉 well... here in norway you have to take like a test to get into american colldges, to test abilities and stuff(like english abilities...) it's an foregian version of the SATS(sp?).. TOEFL(you have to have like a sertain score 😉) well i don't know if it's like this in sweeden, but it might be a good thing to check it out 😉 well good-luck!!
 
eset said:
Basically its a small liberal arts college dedicated to the study of the history of western thoguht, and you spend your entire four years reading the "Great Books" beginning with Aristotle and Plato and ending in the 1950's. But not boring like I made it sound.
Click to expand...

This sounds great actually, not boring at all.

doppelgänger - about CSN.. I know, I've hread that too. But I also know that JollyApe is in England studying (with help from CSN). And I have talked to a lot of people about this, I no one has said I can't go..

About the language.. I know, that's the hard part.. I'll have to do something about my English.. Get a lot better quickly I guess.
But my English teacher tells me that in scandinavia we have the best English education in Europe (?) and that I will manage.. (Which I don't believe, but she got me less stressed about it..)

Another question.. how do you afford college? This is my biggest problem right now, the money..
 
I was hopong to go to An American college myself so thanks for this thread. I've been looking at Colleges in California. For an international student to apply to an international college you have to be "over average" at the subjects you apply to take!
 
You know what, I really really hope you can make ends meet and stuff and get the chance to go to college in the US.
There's this college that I've been checking out that I plan to go to after I've done this documentary thingy at either the uni or "Dramatiska Institutet" and that's UC Santa Cruz. I've heard a lot of good things about this school and I think you should check it out:
http://arts.ucsc.edu:16080/film/
 
Oh, there seem to be so many great colleges..

But the once that are cheaper (cause of EF) are Lynn in Florida (don't wanna go to Florida though), Santa Monica College, Santa Barbara College.. and some weird college in Boston, don't remember..
 
I'd love to go out of the U.S and attend a big Equestrian school I've heard much about that's in Germany, but I don't even know if I wanna go very far from home! lol...At this point I just know I want to go to a school that at least has an equestrian team...although I have become increasily interested in law...
 
Ehh...I don't know of what help I could be. Just that, if you're interested in comign to college here, do it! College is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I'm stuck at a community college right now, with plans to transfer to University of North Texas next fall. But, the community thing worked out for me, because it has provided an opportunity to go to London in May. I would love to go to a university outside of the United States, although there's a lot of factors that lead me to believe it woudn't be the best choice for me. I'm happy with small, liberal colleges!
 
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