Eh hi guys! I just recently finished my SPM and whatnot, planning to take my SAT soon. I'm planning to apply as a freshman instead of a transfer student to a couple of American universities like UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC Irvine (definitely not Ivies, but still ridiculously competitive).

Just curious, are there any programs that I can do besides Taylor's 1+4 and A Levels to apply as a freshman? Taylor's fees seem to be quite exorbitant and I'm not very keen on taking A levels.

you can do adp anywhere (well I know of inti and taylor) and still do 1+4 provided you have a gpa of 3.5 above. 3.9 to secure a spot.

Thank you so much . So INTI does offer a 1+4 program that allows me to apply as a freshman? Sorry for all the questions. I tried asking at edufairs, but all of the spokespeople seemed very ... well, misinformed. And the INTI counselor hasn't been free for weeks

Of course, who wouldn't want to go to the ivies, UCLA, UCB, Boston U, Columbia, Brown etc?

They said if you did your first year really well, like maybe with a minimum of a 3.5 GPA, you can apply and then stand a chance to be admitted to the top U's . Well from what I thought was the first year is equivalent to their 12 year of high school so its basically the same thing where you enter as a freshman again and do all 4 years there and burn on the rm20k you spent here.

This post has been edited by dwin95: Aug 16 2013, 08:58 PM

Haha, I was afraid of that. So in conclusion the universities will still take into account your GPA (and of course SAT score) but your credits will not be transferable? Hmm, how's INTI? Has anyone successfully gone to the higher-tiered aforementioned universities through their ADP program? I'm guessing it's virtually impossible to get into competitive unis through the 2+2 program?

Pay the school a visit and you'll see accomplishments of students getting into Ivies and many into UCLA/B around the corridor. Someone even managed to transfer 24 credit hours into an Ivy League!

Omg. That person must be a legend. I'll definitely drop by soon. Thanks sooo much for your help!

It's not virtually impossible to get into competitive unis through 2+2 program.
I have several friends who transferred to Cornell (ivy league), Carnegie Mellon, John Hopkins and the UCB and UCLA from ADP at Taylor's.

Cornell accepts the largest amount of transfers (22% in '11) compared to rest of the Ivies.

Transferring to Ivies and top schools like UChicago is extremely tough as the acceptance rates are extremely low.(Harvard only acceptance rate for transfer is only 1%)

ADP may only limit your options if you apply as a transfer and ADP isn't as well known as A levels or IB. However, the 1+4 option is pretty good, got a friend who was waitlisted for Boston college as he applied as a transfer and asked for financial aid. Only reason why he didn't get in was because he couldn't afford the school.

Applying as a transfer is bad if you are unable to afford college as generally US colleges don't give scholarships or financial aid for international transfers, unless it's a needblind school. (need blind schools admissions doesn't consider whether you'll be able to pay for college or not as they'll provide financial aid if they accept you)

Ah, thank you for giving this little tidbit of information! I was just about to come back here and poke around about needblind universities. I'm currently quite financially stable at the moment but I'd liked to be prepared in advanced and do my research in case anything should happen.

Wasn't expecting to get this much much information from the forums. Pleasantly surprised, I must say. Thanks so much everyone!

Haha, no problem Need any help feel free to PM me.


Btw, for those who aren't sure of checking costs for schools, don't just rely on sites like USNews for tuition and fees prices. Those prices are poor estimates for us international students as it usually doesn't include room and rent etc. Be sure to double check on the school's actual website.

Eg: Boston U's tution and fees on USNews - $42,998
(http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/boston-university-2130)

Actual total costs:$56,184
(http://www.bu.edu/admissions/apply/costs-aid-scholarships/tuition-and-fees/)

Speaking of Carnegie Mellon, what school your friend is in? Correct me if I'm wrong, their Tepper Business School is very strict and does not accept any transfer students.

anyone have experience of dropping your studies in US?(because of some issues for example visa issue,uni management issue etc)

i have few friends who didnt manage to finish up their studies due to above mentioned problems and in the end have to continue in malaysia.sad,but true

Nice to meet you everyone, i've just finished my SPM and planning for my tertiary education now. Is it better to do ADP here or enroll to a college in US(flying there straight)? Feedback required, thanks =)

Just went do double check with them, my mistake. My friends who applied to JH and Carnegie both applied as Freshmans instead of transfer. My bad.

Edit: However, I do think it's possible to transfer though, but much harder to get in and not all subjects taken in Malaysia are transferable.

This post has been edited by Imsilly: Jan 9 2013, 02:57 PM

my sister @ havard now.. will be come back to malaysia in 3 month~ :')

A-levels are a waste of time.

Why not go to a 2-year community college and then transfer into the UC's as a junior?

I'm currently in Santa Monica College (SMC) in Santa Monica, CA. Fees are about $8,000/year which is about the same as Taylor's ADP (so my two Taylor's friends tell me, they both transferred from Taylor's to SMC). If you're already considering to join the UC system as a freshman, then I should probably not have to warn you about the living costs should you take the community college path; it is relatively cheap. And that's saying something, as I live in Los Angeles.

I'm planning to transfer to either UCLA, UC San Diego, or CSU Long Beach after I complete my 60 units here.

By the way, all the Malaysians I know that came from ADP programmes wished that they "knew about community colleges sooner" and would've come here straight had they known that the costs were pretty much the same, save for the living expenses, and they would've enjoyed the American college experience for a couple extra years. Do give it some though.

If you need more info about this, shoot me a message. It seems that you're interested in California, then I'm your guy if you'd like to know more about the cost of living, etc.

I wouldn't say that A-levels are a waste of time though. I gained about 20 hours worth of credit from that before coming to the states as a freshman. An advantage of taking A-levels I feel is that you still have the option of applying for the UK or Australia if you do decide to change your mind.

On a personal level though, I don't think I would have taken the community college route even if I had known about it before applying. I don't know what the transfer rates are from SMC to any of the unis you have mentioned are, but I'm guessing that it's not a given that a person will be able to get into any of those. I'm not sure that I like the uncertainty of that path. Not trying to detract from your experience, latias, I'm just stating my own personal opinion about this.

Ah yes, to anyone who can afford it, California's a much nicer place to be than the Midwest. It's dreary and cold here

Hm, that's true. I guess it's more of a biased personal opinion on my side. But I stand my ground, I still think it's an unnecessary distraction as there are less 'torturous' ways of getting to the States!

As a matter of fact, SMC is the top transfer college in California and serves unofficially as a 'feeder' school to the UC system, as every year, over a thousand SMC grads were transferred in. In addition, students who are in the Scholars program in SMC are given priority admission to several universities including UCLA. You seem misinformed about this, so I'm just trying to clear it up. Simply put, it's exactly the same as doing a twinning/ADP program - you earn credits to transfer, except that this 'ADP' is within the States itself.

Where in the midwest are you? It seems that the Midwestern Malaysian students find themselves heading to sunny, sunny California in the summer in droves! Are you one of them? xD

Hahaha, honestly I didn't find A-levels torturous at all. Quite a lot more relaxing than the pace of classes here. Again, that's just my personal opinion.

I wouldn't exactly say misinformed; uninformed more particularly about SMC would be more apt In general though, I believe that transfer acceptance rates into a lot of US universities are rather low, but perhaps feeder colleges are a different ball game altogether. Well you have the better experience in this matter. Although, the point I was trying to make is, as high as the transfer rates might be from SMC into UC, it's still not an absolute given, am I right, and from my point of view, no matter how minute the possibility of me not getting into UC from SMC might be, in my books it's still enough to unnerve me. Personal preference, like what I said earlier. The uncertainty would drive me a bit nuts

Corny old Illinois here. Miles and miles of cornfields surround my university. Not exactly the most happening place to be, but at the very least the rent is cheap here.

Well, I headed over there over the winter break to escape the cold

Anyone here studying in the States atm? What school are you guys in?