A+ Schools for B Students

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question regarding the actual list being "discussed" ,How is Northeastern a school for average students when it has a 35 % acceptance rate?

mike from FL of FL 7:44PM February 24, 2010

My advise to the foreign student. There are great schools over the USA. For example in California the UC System and CSU system are both good at the undergrade level. The grade level is where the UC system excels. It is just designed that way. The course work is nearly the same for undergrade. If you are an average student, I would advise starting at the CSU system. Working your grades up and then completing a grade program at a good school.
You should consider cost and climate in your school selection. If you have a GPA of 3.5 and a SAT score of 2000 you should find many good schools. Base your school selection based on the program and not on the name of the school. All UC schools are good...UCLA just gets extra mileage from being a large scool in a big city and age and large alumina.
Good luck.

Anil of CA 1:22AM December 25, 2008

I am from India. There are some great schools in India...of course we call them colleges. Grade 1 to 12 is considered school, college is typically undergrad and later. University concept is very different ...in most cases colleges report into universities but function independently. Universities only administer exams, oversee curicula and students would have zero to minimum interface.
Typically no one will advise you to go to college in India. Many Grade Schools in India are very good especially Public Schools (these are really private). But then if you aare ready to pay and live in India...there are equal ones in the USA.
If you like to go to engineering...for the money you will be paying the only ones worth considering are IITs. If you get lucky and get admitted to one of those....you are too good and you probably have received offers from MIT, Cornell, Berkely, Stanford....with a scholarship.
Now here is an option....if you really won't to do medicine.. and cannot find admissions into one of the US schools...then it is worth looking at Indian schools. Try Kasturba Medical College...it has a program geared towards future practice in the USA. They are one of the top 10 schools in India.
I am sure other countries have similar programs. But I assure you that if you go to India as a student...your fellow students will go out of the way to accomodate you...you will join a family not an alumini or club.
Generally, people are good all over the world once hearts open up. American students are weak in theory but Americans in general are more hard working than Asians....of course we compare Americans in general with a group of motivated Asians in America and not all Asians in Asia.

Anil of CA 1:09AM December 25, 2008

The "Foreign Student" that comes to America to learn, produce, and work for a greater life has every right to out-compete and out-score a Native-born Student. I find it encouraging that a student like myself, that works hard but just can't make those A+ grades consistently can still make it into the top schools that a highly driven and hard-working student can.

B- Student of TX 11:18PM November 26, 2008

Just like the person below me implied, these Asian students got to where they are because they worked hard. This sounds like trivial rhetoric, but I have seen this very concept at work (coming from a school with a ton of Asian students) and know that it is true.
Working hard doesn't just mean cramming mindlessly. It means (in my opinion) finding the right strategy that enables you to learn the most information in the most efficient way. You can find the most interesting strategies if you just ask around.
If you're concerned about foreign students attending our universities, think about it from their perspective. The American college education system is world-famous (hence all of those foreign students). It's only expected that a world-famous education system will attract a decent number of foreign students. They are just as entitled to the best education they can find as we are; we just happen to be conveniently located. There are some excellent colleges abroad, though, I will admit that. It's just that the entire Eastern Hemisphere wont be attending those schools. Similar to how the entire Western Hemisphere wont be attending schools there as well.
Which brings me to another point. How would you like it if American students got the same cool reception from people in foreign countries that some Americans give foreign students? I've gotten carried away in the course of my posting, so I'll end here.

No one in particular of TX 4:26PM November 26, 2008

you people need to calm down. if you're so offended, than do something. Otherwise what's the point? The only thing you're expressing to the general public, is that you, like everyone else that's American, have a opinion and dont know how to play the system.
Or perhaps you dont realize that the system has been playing you since your parents signed your birth certificate.

katheryn of TX 4:27PM September 15, 2008

what about those europeans who come to our universities to study? seems to me like some of you are just being racial or are jealous of these asian students. stop whining and start studying. there are no entitlements for lazy people.

working hard of CT 8:51PM August 24, 2008

It is Ironic that the people of the US spent years trying to keep blacks uneducated -- slave codes against educating blacks,Jim Crow laws, segregated schools, de facto and de jure segregation today, etc --and now they have to import over 200,000 chinese and Asian engineers and doctors into the country each year. Many of these scientist turn spy and take technology back to their home country( chinese nuclear weapons ,etc.) Heck,Who cares if foreigners attend college here?

Art of CO 5:46PM August 23, 2008