u meant this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOEFL

Hi. I'm leaving for the States in August. I am taking up a BFA in Game Design at Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA.

Of coz not. Its for a year worth of tuition fee.

PTPTN? JPA? How well are your studies? Provide us more info about u first. SPM graduates?

Wow. early preparation. Tats good.

Yeap. Application for top schools like MIT. Normally it takes around half a year of preparation. Sat, Toefl, necessary documents etc etc. So if u prepared well. Right after SPM, u can submit all of em, and wait for good news. By then, u wont miss the very short deadline which is around feb IINM.
For ur art school, i cant provide much info as i dint research on that field.  But more or less the procedure is similar.

If u wan financial aid from the uni itself, that would depends on ur applications and how you deal with the uni itself. You should check on the uni tat u are aiming. Because different uni has different offers

As for scholarship from malaysia, since u still have plenty of time. i strongly recommend u to read through everything in the following thread tat im about to share

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/137439

The recent one that i gone through are

http://poobalan.com/eduhelp/index.php?opti...tid=4&Itemid=68

and

http://malaysiascholarshipblog.blogspot.com/search/label/US

As for ranking, personally i will advice u to check here

http://www.usnews.com/education

from there u choose ur specific field of studies and read the reviews.

That would be the most appropriate place to research about rankings. Dont bother wasting ur time googling. Other websites may provide false information. Like what i did previously 

nah. its because i was researching regarding US unis n how things work. Im still not mr know it all. plenty of stuffs tat i still dont know

glad i helped dont feel shy to post ur doubts. we r glad to help

I highly doubt that it's 36000 for four years. It should be the annual fee including boarding ( excluding summer sem) and food.

Thanks. You too! All the application settled already.

What about you? Where are you going and what course are you taking up? And when're you leaving?
Thanks. Actually, it's USD 36,000 annually. However, it's easy to receive student grants and such in the States. You may check this this page to explore options in financial aid.

May I know what you are interested in, specifically? Photography? Digital art? Or others?
Right you are. Indeed, USD36000 covers the tuition fee, boarding and my meal plan.

yeap. still studying

As for the cost, i will strongly recommend u to go for it if u can afford it. When i say u can "afford" it, it doesn't have to be ur parent's money. It could be educational loan or fund. Once in a lifetime exposure. Unless, u r tellin me tat u will study abroad when you get older. that i have no comment.

Everyone starts from scratch. If you know u r not up for it yet. read more now. get urself prepared then

Thanks! Actually I'm just about to start my four-year degree haha.. only going to apply for work in game companies after that. Wow, that's nice! Rockstar UK is really good, working on great projects and games right now. Well if you'd like to continue your education you could.. and build your portfolio so you could come back and work for Rockstar (or any other game companies in mind).
Haha, nah. I just took SPM last year.

Haha, when I was in Form 5 (last year) I went to several American Education Fairs in KL to talk to the college representatives about my options. Many of them offer animation. They're very helpful and will talk to you (and your parents) about what you can do, etc, etc.

In fact there's one coming up, I received this from an email. They regularly email me about the education fairs heheh. Open the spoiler to view the details of the event.



It's actually very simple.. just a few clicks here and there, and about 10 tabs open in Mozilla.. you can just explore the universities from the comforts of your home! In fact I went to about three different American Education fairs, I found two prospective universities which I applied to (Columbia College Chicago and San Diego State University) but as for the one I'm heading to right now (Academy of Art University), I found it in a forum where Game Design/Dev students were discussing colleges.

No, I didn't receive a scholarship.. we did tick the 'Apply for Financial Aid' box in the form, but that'll be sorted out later after I send in the bank statement. Actually, my family is funding my studies there by selling one of our old houses.. 
I see. Where are you taking up your ADP? And what's your concentration?

Hey, take your time. I started research at about this time too, last year. Finalized my decision on one of the days that I was sitting for SPM.

Haha, it's okay, you're not bothering me at all. You can ask as many questions as you like, after all this is a place to discuss.

Yes, you have to take TOEFL. Each university have a different mininum requirement for TOEFL score (usually around 75-90, depending on school). The maximum score is 120. Yes, you can sit for TOEFL this year too if you want. But I suggest you do it after you have chosen several universities that you have really strong intention of going to, because when you register for the TOEFL iBT, they'll ask you for the name of the institutions that you're going to so that they can send your score along with your application directly to the universities of your choice. Keep in mind that you should have started the application for the university by that time.. they can't send your TOEFL score if the colleges there don't have your name in their database.

I suggest you take your time to shortlist the colleges you wanna go to in the next few months, apply when their Fall 2012 application is open (around October or something, depends on college) and then register for TOEFL iBT online and take it at your nearest TOEFL test centre. I registered in late December and sat for my TOEFL on February 12, the results came out a few days ago.

No problem. Just bear in mind. Stay positive and everything will turn out well 

You can actually sit for TOEFL and enhance ur english. Future proof too. If u're free, why not?

IINM, if u r taking ADP program, you dont have to take SAT, and onli TOEFL when u transfer to US.

BTW, SPM, just take it easy, honestly, from my experience, its very easy, compared to my school's standard. Just pay attention in your class when teacher is teaching. And do some revision maybe once or twice a week? That would be more than enough for normal students. Unless u r reli slow then u have to buckle up and do extra revisions. Last minute revision (approximately 1-2 weeks b4 exam) can get you a good result too if u paid attention in your class.

PS. Im not encouraging u yea  im just saying.

I know, sometimes, in class, you can't resist the urge to chit-chat in the class, to be with the "cool gang" to do something naughty, be rebellion, trying to get, maybe the girls attention? by doing something unusual and end up neglecting your teacher in front. Its ok for few times, but always please. You should enjoy secondary school times but make sure u dont go over the limit.

There is never too many questions. Do clear ur doubt b4 its too late. Dont go "AIYA WHY I DUNO GOT SUCH THING ONE" when u r in the US. DOOM 

Yes u should discuss with ur parents. I duno ur parents but mostly all parents are the same. They may show "duno dun care" face in front of u but deep down their heart they are very curious about their own children interests and future. They would be glad to hear ur say. After all, they would be ur bank wat 

Of course, dont tell me just because a college will accept u with 5 credits so u just neglect ur studies because 5 credits is like peanuts. You should do your best. Straight As ease your application for scholarship and entrance to uni/college.

What do you mean by officially translate?

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Added on March 1, 2011, 7:34 pm
oh yea. no wonder i felt abit fishy

Thx for pointin out. will edit it.

But SAT is excluded right?

You're welcome!

Yes, you should discuss with your parents. It is important that the parents are involved in this process.. after all they've been taking care of you all your life and they will fund your studies there in the States. Have a talk with them. I discussed this a lot with my father as well as my relatives as they've all studied in the US and thus can share their experiences.

Your SPM results doesn't really matter.. I mean, don't get like 9G for your SPM! Like 5A's should be fine too (that's what I'm aiming for!). Most of them don't really look at your SPM results, they just want it to make sure that you are a certified high school leaver.

You can translate it yourself and get your school to chop it (I made a thread on this a couple of months ago!) or you can find translation services by notary publics (according to my cousin) and also the state education office.
Haha, ADP is for those who want to stay in Malaysia for 2 years first lah. I didn't want to.

I didn't subscribe at any website, I just attended one of the fairs and filled up a form. They'll start emailing you with emails about upcoming fairs after that!

Nice! Chem Eng, fairly hard subject.. you must have really good marks in school for your science subjects!

Well, most of them have already settled there, with only one studying at Ohio State University. It's.. not much of a difference, since USA is so big. Me being in California and them in Ohio would feel like you living in Malaysia and your relatives living in Japan, Hong Kong. xD

Haha, well I suppose so. I mean, so many people get straight A's nowadays. The competition is rather stiff, especially if you're an average scorer like me. The portfolio development is only required for masters students.

The thread is right here, bro! http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=1700006&hl=

You're welcome.

Yeah! I mean, look at the size of each STATE alone. Most are bigger than Peninsula Malaysia.. we're only as big as what, the Florida peninsula?

Indeed, I'll be staying at a dormitory (there are several to choose from, there are coed, boys only, girls only, over 21 only) which they provide shuttle buses to and from the campus (or you can take the public transport if you want). A meal plan is provided, we can choose whichever that is most flexible for us. Well, that 36,000 USD is all-in. Tuition, lodging, meal-plan, and also estimated personal expense. The housing cost actually varies, depending on your taste. You wanna share the room with another guy or you'd rather be alone? No bathroom? Half bath? Full bath? The full price list can be found here http://www.academyart.edu/campushousing/costs.html . They also have a housing page specifically for freshmen like me. You can also take a virtual tour of the rooms in different dorms, if you wanna get a 'feel' of it. http://www.academyart.edu/campushousing/in...g_freshman.html

Hi there a brief intro of myself. Last sem in INTI AUP, majoring in CS.

TOEFL will not be difficult if you're used to speaking English. You don't need to take a course before sitting for TOEFL, but it will definitely help. In my opinion, get yourself familiar with the test format ie. test duration, what you'll be tested for, basically just reading, listening, speaking and writing (in that order). Still, practices are important to score well in TOEFL, especially in the speaking part (at least for me speaking is the most difficult part as I got nervous )

CS = Computer Science

Insights? What I feel about TOEFL is it really tests your confidence rather than your English, although you must have a strong foundation in English ie. your vocabulary must be good (though its standard is way lower than that of SAT). Reading is easy, if you know your English. Listening is OK, just that you have to focus on the lecture/conversation for quite sometime (~5 min). For these 2 sections, one of them will have an extra section (not sure what they call it), that is, you'll have either more articles to read or more conversations to listen. For my case, I have to endure those [c]boring[/c] "interesting" talks for 9 times!!! (the duration of the listening topic gets longer and longer, the most is around 5 minutes) At first I tried to note down every single details I think is somewhat important, but I gradually got tired of it. So, instead of writing everything down, I just sat there and listen the talk as a whole. Guess what, it works!

Speaking...try not to be nervous, and practice some critical thinking as you have little time to prepare for your speech.

Writing. There will be two essays. The first one, you'll read a short article, then listen to a lecture, then write the essay. Normally the article and the lecture will have contradicting points ie. article says a=1, b=2, c=3, but the lecturer says the other way round. So, in your essay, you'll have to relate the points in the article and in the lecturer's speech. The second one will be of a random topic, so this is the time to show your writing skills One note though, it's better to write more. I wrote ~500 words for the second essay and got quite a decent score. Write an organized, coherent essay.

For TOEFL test centers, you can refer to TOEFL HomePage to check whether the center is available on the test date. I took the test in Subang Jaya near INTI College.

U will have summer break in US unless u wish to continue studying

It doesn't really matter lah, unless you have relatives there and you wish to stay with them to cut costs! I have a friend who's going to Georgia Tech just because (apart from the fact that the courses that he is interested in are available there) he has an aunt who lives a few miles from the campus..

I'm not sure wether I'll be able to travel out of state or return to Malaysia, that depends on wether I want to come back or wether my family will come to the States to visit me.. more like, visit the shopping malls here HAHAH.

It's not exactly difficult.. although the way they present the test to you is somewhat foreign to us. Tonnect91 provided a good summary of TOEFL test (which is also how I see it), so read up on that one. No, you don't have to sit for the TOEFL preparatory course.. it costs money (not sure how much) and I believe you have a very high command of English, so you won't need it. You just need to familiarize yourself with the format of the test, that's all.
I second what tonnect91 said about TOEFL. I was rather nervous during the speaking part (I did not prepare for the TOEFL at all - totally forgot about it) and half of the time allocated for answering into the microphone were garbled sounds and "err.. ahh.. um..".

Nevertheless, I did manage to squeeze in the points when I DID speak some sense.. I got 100 for my TOEFL score.

wow. u all are reli good 

Lz zach, do u speak in english among ur friends?

The whole test is about 4 hours long! The time allocated is 9:00am-1:30pm for me, but I left at about 12:45pm. There is a 10-minute break somewhere in the middle of the test, you can go take a piss or quickly go buy water or something before returning.

Thanks! Well.. judging from your posts here, your English should be just as good as mine hahah.. so no worries!

Are you talking about AAU? If so, yes, they do ship out a THICK catalog to you. It's very informative and nice to read. I ended up reading the book cover-to-cover although I really needed to read only the Game Design section LOL!

If you're talking about TOEFL.. no, they don't ship out anything AFAIK.. I didn't receive anything at all.

You're welcome! When you sign up for TOEFL, you can choose several packages. You can choose to include the TOEFL Official Guide + Practice Tests eBook or you can have them shipped to your home (for a fee).. I bought the eBook, didn't read it though (only realized I have TOEFL the day before the test) so I just did a few sections of the practise test. I suggest you take this package and spend some time familiarizing yourself with the test format.

Yeah.. it's a book, not even a brochure LOL! The curricula is broken down in the catalog. Spend some time reading it!

Sorry for the late reply, Zach (may I call you that?). Was busy in the past couple of days.

Well, I'm sure you can (tell me what you COULDN'T get over the internet hahah..). But the way the TOEFL eBook is given to you is pretty weird and pirate-proof. It's sent in the form of an .exe file, which is a downloader. You start the program and authenticate it. Then, it'll start contacting the TOEFL servers to download the eBook. The eBook isn't in a .pdf format, it's started by a program. But I'm pretty sure somebody's uploaded .pdf version already, you can Google for it.

To be honest, I have no idea. But it seems most of them want TOEFL, so what the heck. My friend told me that he has to take IELTS as he's going to Australia after completing his AUSMAT here in KBU International College. I'm not entirely sure about this, but I'll just assume that TOEFL is generally for those going to the States.

It's quite simple really, TOEFL was designed for the purpose of University admission for those who are thinking or going to the United States while IELTS was designed for places like the UK and Aussie and are also administered by groups from those places.

True that. Good things don't come cheap. Take your time, you still have plenty of time to choose, decide and plan. Don't rush it.

I don't think so it will breach anything hahah. Many eBooks are distributed freely over the internet. Yes, I do. The .exe is mine to keep forever.

No problem.