Hello guys,

Yes, I'm one of the thousands of people with the dream of spending one or more years studying in the United States :-)

I'm only in a very, very early state of research at the moment. I'm just browsing the net, looking for people who are sharing experiences, looking for information about various university aspects, like the quality of education, choice in study, tuition fees etc. I'm a bit lost though and I was wondering if any of you Americans (or any nationality for that matter) could offer me some help.

A little about me and my school career. I'm currently in my final year of the Dutch equivelant of high school (years 12 - 18), VWO level (won't mean that much to non-Dutch people) My grades are pretty good. They could be way better, but I've been lacking motivation since about a year. My best subject (which I also find the most interesting) is English. I'm entering my exams with an 8.9 (which is an A+, according to this) and planning to raise that this year. I also excell in subjects like French, Arts History and Geography. I hate and suck at exact subjects like Math. (I'm sharing this information in regard to scholarships/exchange programs; tuiton, next to everyday expenses seriously adds up )

I'm 18 at the moment, 19 when I'll graduate this schoolyear. I'll take one year off after school to 1) work full-time to start saving up and 2) to get more oriented as to the what, where, how and when regarding my year abroad. If you can't tell by now, I'm quite serious about this idea, but do want to be as prepared as I can be.

So, you know, every single piece of information is more than welcome, whether it's about university information, cultural differences in and around America(n universities), legal information (e.g. visum) or any other aspect you could think of.

Kind regards,

Arno

tl;dr. Want to study in the US, gimme info please.

I've heard it's easier to pick up girls in america than it is in Europe!

Other than that I have no advice... I would also like to take a year studying or working in usa, or at least some foreign country.. Got to work some at home after I finish school to save up money first though

If you're getting A+'s I don't think you'll have any trouble finding a school here, it's a huuge country. And colleges here love finding foreign students, it gives them credibility. Worth a shot imo

Tuta says:
I've heard it's easier to pick up girls in america than it is in Europe!

Funny, i heard Scandinavia is the best place for that

Jet777 says:

Tuta says:
I've heard it's easier to pick up girls in america than it is in Europe!

Funny, i heard Scandinavia is the best place for that

at least works everything with alcohol :DD, no matter if with american girls or european girls

In America, you have to be 21 to purchase and consume alcohol (legally). This includes attending bars.
Also, the girls that are easy to pick up are better off ignored, for various reasons.

Anyway, I'm at Rutgers University in New Jersey. I love it. It's very diverse in its student population (125 represented countries) and available areas of studies (>100 available majors). There's over 50 000 students, but I still run into people I know every day. There's also a train station within walking distance, and New York City is an hour away on the train. I could probably exceed the 30k character limit talking about how great its history is, or how much fun it is going to a football (USA) game, but I'll spare you.

My sister is doing a year of high school this year, she finished her HAVO and is now there until June/July. I can tell you more about it if you want, by PM

I'd love to hear some general things about American university life from your perspective Buck

And there seems to be a difference in tuiton fee between in- and out-of-state students at a lot of universities. Does being a foreign student in a certain state make you in-state or out-of-state ? (Not sure whether out-of-state means living in a certain state, but going to school in another, or being born in a different state from the one you go to school in). These differences can be up to 10,000 or 20,000 dollars .

but there are lots of grants that foreign students can get in the us, offsetting a part of this.

@ Frozen: well, that's a load of my back :-) I'll inform with my dean about that.

And I've found out the reason why out-of-state tuition is so expensive and, even though unfortunate, it's understandable. (In-state residents have been paying public school taxes to fund in-state education; out-of-state students have to pay more since they haven't paid taxes to the public schools in the particular state). In-state tuition can be charged for out-of-state students, but one has to meet with several requirements which are quite impossible to fulfill for foreign students :-(

Ah well, I'll ask my dean and English teacher if they have any info/tips/advice/help and I'll keep on boring you guys with my updates

Remember to watch out hamburgers!