Study in USA

Flying-Man

Plan to send 2 kids to study in USA a few years later. One is now in P.4 and the other is in P.2. Parents are local Hongkong people, no green cards.

Anyone who has kid(s) studying in primary schools (not sure if the term is correct), middle high schools or high schools in USA? Please share your experiences.

Many thanks.

song

This site is excellent. My girls will study in LA soon. I am looking for good high shcools now. Do you have any idea which cities in LA couty have good high shcools?
I would like to have more insurance info. shouls you guys have it.

THanks!

hellohihi123

回復 Flying-Man 的帖子

Medical is a very expensive in US, we usually never go see a doctor unless its really serious sickness.  If you got cold or flu, just go to drugstore and buy non prescription medicine.I recommend you get health insurance for yourself and your kids, as you are not US citizen, you are not eligible for government's medicare.  but health insurance are very pricing and they dont cover a lot.
If you are in area that a lot of Chinese, some doctor will charge a cheaper fee if you go see them in a clinic with n insurance, but probably need local friends to refer as they don't advertise to say they take cash with no insurance

Obiepapa

原帖由 Flying-Man 於 11-09-30 發表
Plan to send 2 kids to study in USA a few years later. One is now in P.4 and the other is in P.2. Pa ...

Public schools are free in New Jersey and some other states for sure. If you don't want to pay tuition, you can choose public schools but quality varies.

cambo

Thanks a lot.

mugtaitai

Thanks kkbbkk. That's good to know

kkbbkk

Dear Mugtaitai,

I think (not sure) universities will treat on-shore and off-shore US citizens equally.

emily_520825

I had my son studied in the US for high school at North Broward Florida and the other daughter at Taxes high school call "The village". Since you can only study private high school in US if you are not citizen so the tuition fee is higher than local. Taxes expenses seem cheaper than Florida. But they studied few years ago so not sure if the tuition is the same now. Here is the agent that sent them both to high school for your reference

http://www.litzusa.com/GBK/progr ... Id=421&MenuID=6

Good luck!

mugtaitai

Thanks kkbbkk. Those are very good insights.

My son currently goes to an international school in HK so he's basically ok with English, although may not be as native as Americans.

I didn't realize US citizens have advantage over international students even for private universities. I thought only state universities needed to give priority to local residents. What about US citizens applying from overseas? Do they also get the priority?

kkbbkk

My kid's experience was:
1) SAT is equally important as School GPA and it is difficult for HK students from local schools to obtain high marks unless you go to the US from at least Grade 10 or earlier.
2) There is advantage to be a US citizen in applying for University
- you are entitled to need-blind financial aids. whereas overseas students are qualified almost only for merit-based financial aids.
3) Some famous universities (at least MIT definitely) do not accept overseas students to apply for ED (early decision). That means, the first round of admission are restricted to US citizen. The college counsellor will advise foreign students to apply for more universities as they all know that for the same calibre, US students will have higher chance to be accepted. (Diveristy is a factor but may not that important unless you are ethnic minorities, ie. those from African, Thailand, Vietnam. HK and Mainlanders are of no advantages at all.

avbee

luckily your son don't have heavy workload......my daughter has extremely heavy workload every day monday to sunday

mugtaitai

Hi bugsmummy,

My son hasn't started any SAT preparation yet but from what I have observed, he doesn't have very heavy workload at school. He has a lot of free time everyday after his finishes his homework so I am guessing (and hoping) it won't be too much of a problem preparing for the SAT

bugsmummy

回復 mugtaitai 的帖子

Hi mugtaita

It's very hard for my kid to prepare for the SAT and his internal school homework/ exam at the same time.  

Do you have this problem?  Thanks

mugtaitai

indeed, I will get him some pass papers and have start looking at them to at least have an idea of how the exam is

avbee

prepare SAT is very important

mugtaitai

Hi acdad,

Thanks for the website. It's very useful. I'll look into it.

If the older boy decides to go to high school there I will have to go with him. He's too young to take care of himself and a house at 16. A compromised solution will be to stay with him for 2 year and move back with the younger one after the older one goes to college/university. There will be some disconnect for the younger one but shouldn't be too hard to pick up at his age

acdad

回復 mugtaitai 的帖子

Hi mugtaitai,

We probably would not move back to US for good. A few months a year is good enough.

I guess it is easier for your family  to make a decsion  as your elder kid is a boy,  who should learn to be independent at age 17 anyway, the younger one is too young to quit Chinese and leave HK, etc.

Anyway, I just tried to plug in my family age info in the insurance website http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/ and get instant quotes for a family of 4. May be you should check as well.

mugtaitai

Hi acdad,

So will you move back to the States for good when your girls are ready to go to schools there?

Yes I do think a lot of things are cheaper in US. It's a different life style. People go shopping when there's sale. They do all the house work and maintenance on their own. They tend to eat out less. We are very used to this life style so there's no problem moving back. The only big item that worries me is medical. My husband's job nature and experience is very local so it's unlikely that he can find anything similar in US. We'll have to live on our savings so medical will be entirely on our own. I've been casually exploring options on health insurance and it can easily cost over U$2000/month for our family of 4 with affordable annual deductible and co-pay. It's going to be quite a burden...

acdad

回復 mugtaitai 的帖子

Hi mugtaitai,

Mine are 14 and 10, similar concerns  as yours, especially in Chinese. We normally stay in  Milpitas when we are in the bay area. Don't U think things are actually cheaper in US, especially those in Costco and  outlets?