enframed wrote:timpickens wrote:I didn't want to start a whole new post on this:
The guy I've known at the Shell station across from where I live looked me square in the eye and asked if there's any way that he can get his friend (most likely relative) in to the college I go to, aka in the States. I like him a lot, he's a friendly guy, hardly knows English, but I've grown to like him a lot. Anyhow I told him I'd look into it... the only thing is I don't know where to start... he doesn't speak much English... But I'd really really really like to help him.
Has anyone here had any experience with this type of thing?
tell him to have his friend enroll in college wherever he is and study abroad. there's nothing you can do about this.
This is probably the best bet, though he should definitely contact admission offices at your school for more information. I'm also not certain that one can do this their first or second year of college or university, so he or she may have to endure a year or two at the school in his or her native country before doing the Study Abroad thing.
Back when I was trying to move to Australia, Study Abroad was the cheapest and least inconvenient way for me to get there. However, I was already going into my 5th year of school and had well over enough credits to be eligible. Anyway, I made an appointment with my admissions officer in charge of the Study Abroad programs, told him that I wanted to try to find a program (or should I say "programme?") near Perth that involved marine science or at least biology, and we went over the options. It seemed like a fairly easy process-- you had to be a 2.0 grade point average student or above, you had to have a passport, you paid extra money but financial aid would often cover most of it, you filled out the normal paperwork and made living arrangements if needed.
It's definitely possible to just go to school in another country, but it's generally a shit ton more expensive and one would have to go through all of the b.s. that comes with enrolling in college, except more so. Although I've really only ever looked into schools in Canada, the U.K., and Australia, I'd guess that most American schools would require a standardized test score of some sort.
The other thing that the friend could do is get the equivalent of a B.S. or B.A. degree in his or her country and apply for grad school in the U.S. Apart from the process of being accepted, grad schools are easier to deal with as a foreigner (perhaps not as Foreigner, however). Most grad schools in the U.S. have tuition rates that are nearly identical for in-state, out-of-state, and international students, because A) no one wants to go to fucking grad school B) the programs are more specialized and draw from outside the state's borders.
Also, though it doesn't apply to this situation, if you're going to a university in Iowa and really want to go to school in, say, Maine, there's an intercollegiate exchange program that most people don't know about because most people don't bother to make appointments with their admissions officers. I forget the actual name of the program, but it allows you to pay your in-state tuition rate to attend classes in another state's public university. Also, you can often substitute classes for other classes toward your degree. For instance, if you're a biology major but want a more aquatic emphasis to your studies but your university wants you to take Ornithology, through the program you can go to school in California and take Ichthyology and (with approval) your school will say that the class suffices in counting toward your degree.
"To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost."
-Gustave Flaubert
