nj8199

australian citizen, 27, wantin to attend college in america.
can that even happen? can an australian come and start college without any college education from australia. just come to usa and start fresh.
which is best visa? fees associated with visa?

ellenem

Start your research here:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/visa_1750.html

ellenem

Here's a better link. Scroll down to student visas.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1286.html

nytraveler

You can come on a student visa only AFTER you have been accepted to a college. (and if you drop out of the school the visa is no longer valid.) You need to begin that process from where you are. And attending college isn't cheap - so you will need to come up with tuition as well as living expenses. (State universities can be not too expensive - but only for in-state residents - those from other states and definitely countries will have to pay full freight.

And I'm not sure - do check - but I believe it is illegal to work while here on a student visa unless it is a program that has compensated on job training as part of the degree program (like nursing or pharmacy).

So assume starting fresh will cost you a minimum of $40,000 per year or so.

nytraveler

Oh - and you will need to start by organizing to take SATs and gathering up all of your educational records - to see what schools you might qualify for.

J62

FYI, the SAT is a 3 part standardized test used by most schools as one of the admission criteria.

http://sat.collegeboard.com/register...S|e|6910299524

But the universality of the SATs is waning. There are many colleges that now consider the SAT test optional, and even some that don't consider the test scores at all.

The good news is that many US colleges have a strong desire to attract international students, so I'd say the visa part is the easiest thing to take care of. Schools will help with this.

But I agree with nyt that the place to start is gaining admission to a college, and it may be a little late to start that process. The normal cycle is something like this:

- Applications due 12/31/2010
- By April 1, Students notified of rejection (a small, thin letter), or accepted (a full sized, heavy envelope).
- May 1, deadline to commit
- Sept 1 - school year starts, and runs through early May.

There are of course many different variations to this theme, but you get the general idea.

Some schools allow late applications, but it's a case by case basis.

Start with looking at schools you'd like to apply to and go from there. There are numerous online college search tools available that help you narrow down based on various criteria (geography, school size, admission selectivity, cost, curriculum, etc). I can dig some of those up if you are interested.

Age 27 is a late age to start college in the US, but it's not abnormal by any means. The normal age is right after high school, around 18yrs old, but there are many schools (especially state schools) that are trying to do more to attract older starting students & recognize that their needs (educational and social) are different than a younger population. I don't know how school admissions departments look at applicants such as yourself, so I can't advise you there. If you've been bumming around for the last 8 years and have decided it's now time to grow up is a very different story from needed to get right to work at at younger age to support family, and I'm now looking to further my education.

Neither I nor anybody else here on fodors needs to know those details, but a college will certainly want to know your story when you apply.

nytraveler

Many schools work on the semester system - and this mean you can start in Jan or Feb - for the second semester. but even for that you would have to be applying now. And the process is quite comprehensive - requiring filling out a host of forms, your complete educational history, writing essays, providing references - and still for most schools taking SATs. The reason for the latter is that school systems in the US vary incredibly in the education they provide (since it is almost completely funded and supervised by the separate states and local school boards) and schools don;t know what grades actually mean unless they are familiar with the school you graduated from.

Assuming you have some university experience in Australia the process is somewhat simpler - but you would still have to move quickly to apply for the spring semester. It's true that many school are open to foreign students - but there is still a process involved to be accepted.

If you're thinking you can just sign up for a few random courses at a junior college or similar without applying and matriculating - that won;t qualify you for a student visa.

persimmondeb

I went to a state college in NJ that attracted quite a few foreign students, and I recall that most of them were somewhat older than the rest of us. Twenty-seven wouldn't have been much over the average for a foreign student.

Generally with colleges and universities in the US though, if you can pay, someone, somewhere will take you, although it may not be terribly rigorous, and can be expensive.