PLANNING TO APPLY TO AN AMERICAN COLLEGE?
Are the US applications difficult or time consuming?
It has been my experience that most of the students wishing to attend a college/university in the United States (whether the most selective schools or not) have very little idea of the amount of preparation and work required to complete a potentially successful application.
When should students get started on their research and what type of school should they be looking for?
In spite of my pleading to students to get a head start on researching colleges and coming up with a list of potential schools, much of this is left to the fall. With entrance difficulty into the big name schools on the rise, students need to face the fact that most of these colleges will be a “reach” school at best. Thus I encourage students to look for colleges that will provide the best “fit” – a quality school that has the program of study they are seeking, a wide range of co-curricular or extracurricular activities of interest to them, and a lifestyle (size, location, dorm life, facilities, etc.) that appeals to them. As a college counsellor I am constantly being reminded at college conferences that I attend each year that the vast majority of students who do the best and are the happiest are students who have found the “right fit”. This is something for students to keep in mind as they do their selection process.
How much importance/time should students give to the application essay?
The most important criteria in the application process is, of course, overall academic record, including the degree of difficulty of the program of study, rank in class, etc. Also ranking highly in the application process is the essay. The essay(s) are not something that can be taken lightly or simply written at the last moment. In spite of my warnings to students each year, most students put this off until well into the fall when the time demands of the daily life at the school are already pushing them to their limits. Hence, get started early! There are numerous sources available to give you tips on how to write a good essay. I have given one such example out to the students already.
So, what should students do?
Students need to arrange some sort of plan of attack to ease the whole process.
1. Begin to research colleges now and try to produce a fairly definitive list of schools where they intend to apply. Be sure to include some “safety” schools.
2. Where possible try and arrange through the admissions offices to visit as many of these schools as they can over the summer and,
3. If an interview is required as part of the application process, see if this can be done at the time of thier visit.
4. If they intend to apply for Early Decision or Early Action, they need to pay particular attention to deadlines.
Where can students find information on financial aid?
There are a lot of informative websites where students and parents can find information on financial aid and guidelines to help with the whole process. One such site is through the education site of the “U.S. News & World Report”. When the screen comes up simply click on “Education” and take it from there.
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