Moving overseas for High School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could be an advantage to apply to US colleges from a NL high school. It is considered geographic diversity.

Maybe it’s geographic diversity for some universities where European applicants are rare, but keep in mind that international applicants have lower admissions rates than domestic applicants-and a highly selective university may take just one applicant from a country, if any.

At many admissions offices, there are separate applicant pools for "US citizen living abroad" and "Foreign national". Above discussion applies more to the latter group and often does not apply at all to the former (US citizen abroad) group.

There are thousands of American universities, and it would be a mistake to assume we understand the nuances of how all of them process applications, but from my (limited) experience, I have had expat students abroad tell me they were considered in the same pool as the international students from the country from which they applied. Others on this thread have posted similarly.

[Anonymous]

This just sounds so so hard for your kid. I would assume he/she may want to stay in Europe for college to be near HS friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband was in this situation. A couple of things:

1. Check residency requirements for in-state tuition. In many cases, just owning property in a state does not establish residency. You need to live there full-time. Additionally, there’s often a required time period, sometimes a year or more. So, if you move back summer before 12th, maybe they’d qualify for in-state tuition (bc that’s when 1yr happens) but would be considered an oos applicant (bc not 1yr yet. And some places have different acceptances for in/oos)

2. Make sure foreign school covers topics to be successful in American universities. Eg, science/math/language every year. My Dutch relatives specialized by high school, the would be lawyers dropping most STEM, for example. A US friend in Switzerland had a tutor for their kid bc their (excellent) school focused more on humanities & they knew their kid would need hard science for US college apps (I think they were indecently doing an AP?).

3. ECs matter more in US than foreign universities, so don’t neglect those.

Now, if your kid would be most interested in private schools and/or money is not a problem for you, #1 doesn’t matter. If your kid would possibly stay in Europe, none of this matters

+1 as a German

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This just sounds so so hard for your kid. I would assume he/she may want to stay in Europe for college to be near HS friends.

Living overseas is a terrific adventure which many kids see as a great privilege. It's life-changing, and living in the Netherlands is certainly not a hardship.

[Anonymous]

Would stay in the Netherlands, make sure they learn Dutch, and then have them go to college in the Netherlands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would stay in the Netherlands, make sure they learn Dutch, and then have them go to college in the Netherlands.

I wouldn't go that far. But European universities cost a small fraction of what American private universities do, even for international students.

[Anonymous]

Learning Dutch in high school is no small feat. You have to go to a special school and you miss out on the higher level track (VWO) with your age group if that's your academic potential.

I still sense OP is more likely looking at expat options, but they seem to have disappeared. We have had a great experience in the Netherlands, but our kids have an American curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband was in this situation. A couple of things:

1. Check residency requirements for in-state tuition. In many cases, just owning property in a state does not establish residency. You need to live there full-time. Additionally, there’s often a required time period, sometimes a year or more. So, if you move back summer before 12th, maybe they’d qualify for in-state tuition (bc that’s when 1yr happens) but would be considered an oos applicant (bc not 1yr yet. And some places have different acceptances for in/oos)

2. Make sure foreign school covers topics to be successful in American universities. Eg, science/math/language every year. My Dutch relatives specialized by high school, the would be lawyers dropping most STEM, for example. A US friend in Switzerland had a tutor for their kid bc their (excellent) school focused more on humanities & they knew their kid would need hard science for US college apps (I think they were indecently doing an AP?).

3. ECs matter more in US than foreign universities, so don’t neglect those.

Now, if your kid would be most interested in private schools and/or money is not a problem for you, #1 doesn’t matter. If your kid would possibly stay in Europe, none of this matters

This is a really big one. Canadian and European schools don't care much about ECs so they don't really emphasize them as much as they do here and guidance counselors won't know much about how they help a student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could be an advantage to apply to US colleges from a NL high school. It is considered geographic diversity.

Maybe it’s geographic diversity for some universities where European applicants are rare, but keep in mind that international applicants have lower admissions rates than domestic applicants-and a highly selective university may take just one applicant from a country, if any.

At many admissions offices, there are separate applicant pools for "US citizen living abroad" and "Foreign national". Above discussion applies more to the latter group and often does not apply at all to the former (US citizen abroad) group.

There are thousands of American universities, and it would be a mistake to assume we understand the nuances of how all of them process applications, but from my (limited) experience, I have had expat students abroad tell me they were considered in the same pool as the international students from the country from which they applied. Others on this thread have posted similarly.

Others have also posted differently, which some seem to ignore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could be an advantage to apply to US colleges from a NL high school. It is considered geographic diversity.

Maybe it’s geographic diversity for some universities where European applicants are rare, but keep in mind that international applicants have lower admissions rates than domestic applicants-and a highly selective university may take just one applicant from a country, if any.

At many admissions offices, there are separate applicant pools for "US citizen living abroad" and "Foreign national". Above discussion applies more to the latter group and often does not apply at all to the former (US citizen abroad) group.

There are thousands of American universities, and it would be a mistake to assume we understand the nuances of how all of them process applications, but from my (limited) experience, I have had expat students abroad tell me they were considered in the same pool as the international students from the country from which they applied. Others on this thread have posted similarly.

Others have also posted differently, which some seem to ignore.

I’ve only seen one poster saying they’ve seen data that the American students who are overseas are in some special pool with other American expat kids but when asked to show that information-nothing was shared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could be an advantage to apply to US colleges from a NL high school. It is considered geographic diversity.

Maybe it’s geographic diversity for some universities where European applicants are rare, but keep in mind that international applicants have lower admissions rates than domestic applicants-and a highly selective university may take just one applicant from a country, if any.

At many admissions offices, there are separate applicant pools for "US citizen living abroad" and "Foreign national". Above discussion applies more to the latter group and often does not apply at all to the former (US citizen abroad) group.

There are thousands of American universities, and it would be a mistake to assume we understand the nuances of how all of them process applications, but from my (limited) experience, I have had expat students abroad tell me they were considered in the same pool as the international students from the country from which they applied. Others on this thread have posted similarly.

Others have also posted differently, which some seem to ignore.

I’ve only seen one poster saying they’ve seen data that the American students who are overseas are in some special pool with other American expat kids but when asked to show that information-nothing was shared.

No verifiable data has been posted by anyone as yet.

[Anonymous]

Do NOT be back to a US high school, even one that your current neighborhood feeds into, after 3-5 years abroad and ESPECIALLY not senior year. Ask me how I know.

[Anonymous]

It absolutely matters what kind of school they will be attending overseas, and then what schools they will be applying to when they graduate.

If it is in an American school based on US curriculum, (like a DoD school) or an international school that is accredited with an AP program or IB program, or if you work for the federal government or the military, it is very much more likely that you’re considered a US citizen and your home state may be considered “in state”

If you attend a Dutch school, or are sent overseas by a private company, it is more like you are an “international student”, regardless of your citizenship.

Definitely ask at the school you’re considering what students’ college options are like and what they’ve done in the past years with Americans applying to American colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It absolutely matters what kind of school they will be attending overseas, and then what schools they will be applying to when they graduate.

If it is in an American school based on US curriculum, (like a DoD school) or an international school that is accredited with an AP program or IB program, or if you work for the federal government or the military, it is very much more likely that you’re considered a US citizen and your home state may be considered “in state”

If you attend a Dutch school, or are sent overseas by a private company, it is more like you are an “international student”, regardless of your citizenship.

Definitely ask at the school you’re considering what students’ college options are like and what they’ve done in the past years with Americans applying to American colleges.

Wtf. This is so wrong. Stop posting on things you don’t know about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It absolutely matters what kind of school they will be attending overseas, and then what schools they will be applying to when they graduate.

If it is in an American school based on US curriculum, (like a DoD school) or an international school that is accredited with an AP program or IB program, or if you work for the federal government or the military, it is very much more likely that you’re considered a US citizen and your home state may be considered “in state”

If you attend a Dutch school, or are sent overseas by a private company, it is more like you are an “international student”, regardless of your citizenship.

Definitely ask at the school you’re considering what students’ college options are like and what they’ve done in the past years with Americans applying to American colleges.

+1. Been there, done that as an American who attended HS in NL while my father was attached to NATO SHAPE Tech Ctr near Den Haag for several years. I was considered an in-state MD resident by UMCP and I was considered as OOS US citizen (and not as an International student) by other US universities.