As a US citizen living abroad and enrolled in a Philippine institution, will it be better for me to finish my last year of high school in the Philippines?

Jerald Macachor

As a US citizen living abroad and enrolled in a Philippine institution, will it be better for me to finish my last year of high school in the Philippines and take 2 years of college then move to the US and apply to US universities to finish last 2year?

I did high school both in the Philippines and the US. Studied US institutions in a variety of settings from community college, university bachelors and masters. I even have certificates and stuff.

I suggest to finish high school in the Philippines. Going into the US high school system for 1 year only is probably not enough time to get acclimated to the nuances like taking AP, IB, Honors, high school courses with college credit, and extracurriculars. You might even be forced to repeat a year to satisfy requirements.

First, I would advise that you figure out what you want to learn rather than where.

The top Philippine colleges will be just as instructive as any university in the US for whatever you want to learn.

If you are dead set on US colleges. Here is my advice.

There are many 4-year institutions in the US that are not super selective. There is a good chance you’ll get in. Apply to those. Again, what you study is far more important than where.

If you are aiming for a selective school, one way is to go community college and transfer. The more selective your target school, the better your grades need to be in community college.

Transferring can be complicated as it’s not always clear how transcripts from one school can match up with another. Colleges may take certain credits while rejecting others. Usually, general education courses transfer over easily like Political Science, English, History, Psychology, and Music Appreciation. Higher level courses from one school may not neatly fit in another. For example, some schools teach Anatomy and Physiology separately while others teach them together as one class A and P I and II.

Some schools are in semester credits (16 weeks) and others are in quarter credits (12 weeks).

There are feeder community colleges that have a set path to transfer to into state schools or other schools in that state. This is good because there is a shared language for what courses transfer over.

For example, I went to San Diego City College and completed something called IGETC certification after taking courses that satisfy the requirements for it. This certification guaranteed me admission at at least one of the Universities of California - luckily I got into UCSD and I didn’t have to move. There is another certification for California State University called BREADTH.

It’s important to read the catalog and know the different programs. If I had simply gotten an associate's, then I wouldn’t have a guarantee to get into a UC and most likely would not have been accepted.

I’m sure there are other such backroads as well from other selective schools that one may be interested.