FIVE-STEP GUIDE TO APPLYING TO COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES IN THE UNITED STATES

Ø     Time spent improving your grade point average and extracurricular resume early in your high school career will pay dividends when you apply for college.  Colleges and universities are impressed with extracurricular activities such as sports and academic organizations. 

Ø     If you are currently attending high school in the United States, show involvement in your school and your community by using their facilities and opportunities to enhance your personal skills and talents, whether athletic, academic or community-minded. 

Ø     If you are attending school in a foreign country, and are considering attending college or graduate school in the United States, you have an excellent opportunity.  American colleges cherish diversity, and you can impress them by showing your involvement in your native country.

Ø     As early as your sophomore year, begin to consider what general fields you may like to go into.  If you are not sure what you would ultimately like to do, you may want to take a self-assessment test to determine which careers match your skills and interests.  See your high school Guidance Counselor about it, or find an assessment test on the Internet.  A couple of websites to check out for these are www.collegeview.com/career/career_planning/self_asses/assesstest.html and www.ncsu.edu/careerkey.  Others can be found at most career center sites.  This will facilitate your selection of colleges.

Ø Apply to colleges that are well-respected in the field you would like to pursue.  You can check to see how American colleges and universities compare by checking the college rankings, the most respected ranking coming from U. S. News and World Reports. See their web site at www.usnews.com or check rankings at other sites such as http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/rankings.htm. 

3. Research Colleges

Ø     Studies have shown that the more time a student spends investigating colleges, the happier they are in their college experience. It is a good idea to begin your search around your late sophomore year.  The U. S. News and World Reports website listed above is an excellent resource for conducting your search. 

Ø     In addition to the rankings, the site also provides vital information on the schools, such as their address, web site, tuition costs, and the number of students attending. 

Ø     Once you narrow down a list of schools, find out their requirements for admission. Will you need to take both the SAT and the ACT test, or will you need only one?  Find out if they accept advanced placement exams.  It does you no good to waste time and money on exams only to find out that the school you want does not accept them. 

Ø     For more information on the standardized tests listed here and others, please go to College Entrance Exams. 

Ø     Reputation is important because you want to get the best education available to you within your means.  A college with an outstanding reputation greatly enhances your resume and your position in the marketplace.

Ø     Cost  As was previously noted, 67% of international students need to pay for most of the tuition with their own resources, so obviously tuition rates are a major factor.

Ø     Size  A very large university may have an excellent faculty, but the class sizes will be extremely large.  Smaller universities are often more expensive, but you will be able to have more individual attention from your instructor.  Decide what environment would be best for your studies.  s

Ø     Location is a major factor in several ways.  The cost of living is significantly higher in some areas of the United States than in others.  Your prospective college will often be able to provide you information about the cost of local housing.  Weather is a factor that should not be underestimated.  If, for example, you have been accustomed to living in a Mediterranean climate, it could be a major adjustment to go to college in the Northeastern United States, and have to deal with torrential snowstorms.  Likewise, if you are from a small rural area, and decide to go to New York University, you may be overwhelmed in the heart of Manhattan.  These factors can have a powerful effect on the quality of your studies.  New York University is an excellent school, but the city of New York is not for everyone.  This is true of most schools, so keep this in mind during your search.   

Ø     Most Colleges and Universities have web sites that are an excellent resource for information.  On a typical College website, you can take virtual tours of the campus, compare its academic programs, and see a list of faculty and courses offered.  

Ø     Most colleges now allow you to apply on-line.  To find a colleges web site, you can go to a search engine such as yahoo.com or altavista.com and search for a University’s name, or you can experiment with the domain name, which is usually the school’s name (or an abbreviation of it) followed by “.edu”—for example, Harvard’s web site is www.harvard.edu and the University of California at Los Angeles’s web page is www.ucla.edu. 

Ø     For more information on suiting colleges to your needs, see http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cool/search.asp. 

4.  Prepare the application and other requirements

Ø     Once you determine which tests you will need to take, look for a preparation course (often offered through your High School), or purchase a Prep Book for your particular test.  There are many practice tests available for the ACT and the SATs.  The College Board, a private organization that administers the SAT and other standardized tests, also sells preparatory materials.  Visit their web site at www.collegeboard.com to order these materials on-line. 

Ø     Letters of recommendation and written materials, such as a statement of purpose or essay, are often required.  High School Guidance counselors are a good resource for reviewing these materials with you.  Spend a great deal of time on this part of the process, since the supplemental materials are a large part of what college admissions look at.

5.  Tying up the loose ends

Many colleges have application fees between $35 and $150, so be aware of that when you apply.  Remain constantly aware of all deadlines, including those for financial aid and scholarships.  If you require a Visa, make sure that you obtain the appropriate permission.