Before You Apply for Schools

The first topic of the blog: Pre-registration.
Before applying to universities in USA, I would recommend doing three things: Know your school, know your major, and prepare for the admission requirements.

1. Know Your School

America has a sum of 2618 accredited universities and colleges in the country, according to Voanews.com. Before applying, it is important to do research on schools; finding out their acceptance rate, entry requirements, etc. Some schools have ridiculously competitive admissions while others may have have acceptance rate as high as 30-40%. I will categorize the universities and colleges into 4 categories: The impossibles, the "1st" tier, the 2nd tier, and community colleges & pathways.

• The Impossibles

This category encompasses schools like Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, University of Chicago, et cetera. In my opinion, schools in this tier will give a "wow" impression to people when they hear them, and even people who have never been to US know their names too. I hate to tell you this, but if you are reading this to know how to study in the US, chances are these schools are unrealistic for you to aim for. Unless you choose a less popular major, have special connections, or possess crazy amount of wealth, your chance to enter these schools is close to 0. People who want to attend these schools will have prepared for their admissions at least three years before they apply—while you are reading this probably a year or less before application deadline.

I do not really know much about these schools as I am not qualified for them either, but I will give my guess on your chance. A strong applicant to these schools should have at least 2000-2100+ SAT, 105+ TOEFL or 7.5 IELTS, and graduated or transferred from a high school or junior college that was recognized by the destination university. Usually, the realistic way to get admitted is as a freshman applicant, or transferring from the "1st" tier schools. However, you can always try your luck and apply to the schools, I heard one or two students from community colleges got in every now and then!

• The "1st" Tier

Schools in this tier are arguable and might intersect with the above or bottom category. You do not have to agree with me, and you can make your own classification. I believe that schools ranked from 10-100 can be included into this category—New York University, University of Washington, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Colorado School of Mines, Purdue University, and the list goes on. I feel that being in these schools give you an illusion that you are in the "best" school in the US but I still think that best should describe only one school, that is the first ranked—usually Harvard or MIT.

The schools that I included in this tier offer the same standard of curriculum as The Impossibles, but this tier has a higher admission rate. Therefore, I can guarantee that you will find yourself a way into one of these schools if you follow this guide.

Freshman admission for this school can sometimes be as competitive as The Impossibles, that is why I said the two tiers might intersect. A strong freshman candidate should have 2000+ SAT, 100+ TOEFL or 7.5 IELTS, and a solid personal statement/essay. Nevertheless, you can also apply as a transfer applicant. My best advice is to research the highest transfer traffic to the university and discuss in forums such as College Confidential. I will discuss further on transfer because it has its own topics in the upcoming post.

• The 2nd Tier

Schools in this tier have 30%+ admission rate, which makes them easy to get in. Sometimes, your agency might have some collaboration (read: sponsor) with them and will urge you or talk you into attending these schools. Some examples, in my opinion, are Colorado State University, Oregon State University, Arizona State University, and University of Massachusetts Boston. Again, I might be wrong and the classification can interchange, so feel free to make your own.

Some people apply to these schools for safety to anticipate if they are unable to get admitted to the above schools. Honestly, these schools are not that bad too. They have great facilities, curriculum is essentially the same with the schools above, the only difference is the people and network you make. Advantages of attending these kind of schools include cheaper tuition, a more comprehensive submersion with the locals, and distinct experience with the top tier schools. Usually schools in these tiers have less competitive culture and thus, you can create strong friendship and sense of belonging to the campus.

Freshman admission might waive SAT and a 70+ TOEFL would suffice for admission. The myth is that you can transfer from here to another university, but as you can read from my experience in the previous post, it is quite hard to do; or I might be an unlucky one.

• Community Colleges & Pathways

Finally, it is the community colleges & pathways. Just as a note, when I mention "college," I usually mean community colleges. In my opinion, community college is still the best option by far for those of you who are clueless. College is cheaper, lets you assimilate slowly to the American culture and life, and allows you to transfer to a variety of schools out there. Community colleges & pathways are everything that you can usually complete in 1 or 2 years. Although I know a few people who did 3 years for their community colleges. *wink*

Again, the best way to choose a college is to review their transfer rate to the school you want. For example, Diablo Valley College has a ridiculously high transfer rate to UC Berkeley but not De Anza College or Pasadena Community College. Some colleges have honors program which usually distinct yourself as a transfer candidate from other applicants. Usually, the closer a community college is to the university, the higher the transfer rate they have. Once you are enrolled in the right college, you have had 50% of you journey done right!

Some colleges offer honors program, which I recommend to do in order to transfer to the "1st" tier schools.

A few community colleges that I recommend are: Diablo Valley College, Mt. San Antonio College, Rockland Community College

"By knowing where you want to attend, you can then prepare accordingly for your admission."

2. Know Your Major

You should decide where to go from your major and not from the ranks of schools. However, some schools might not offer the program that you want. For example, not all schools offer actuarial degree, or fashion design program. Another case is UCLA's undergraduate business major is a business economics program offered by their College of Letters & Science instead of their business school and it is a bachelor of arts instead of science. Therefore, please do great research so you will not be shocked when you attend the school.

Again, I would recommend to look at your school from their program that interests you rather than their overall rank because the rank does not represent well.

Sometimes, a less competitive major can also ease your way to a better university such as taking economics major instead of business at a competitive school.

3. Necessary Preparations for Admission

• TOEFL/IELTS

My advice for language exam is to finish it at least 3 months before you plan to apply. Moreover, please retake as many times as you like because the schools do not care how many attempts you made and they do not have access to it.

For example, you can take TOEFL and score 50 for the first time. However, just retake it again and again until you score in the range of 80-100! That's why I suggested you to take TOEFL early and prepare well. If you are to take it only once and it is 3 months before applying, imagine what state you will be in if you did not meet the required scores?

• SAT/ACT

SAT is more challenging than TOEFL, and thus, is required for admission in the top tier school. The best way to prepare for SAT is to take SAT preparation classes for ~3 years before your last year of high school. This depends on your confidence and ability. Some people prepared for only a year or did not at all but are able to score 1900+ in their first attempt.

Nonetheless, just like TOEFL, I suggest you to take it as many times as you want.

• National Exam/IB/AP/A level

National exam is not that important, in my perspective, as the US universities have no idea about what was tested and how the standard of the test is.

On the other hand, IB, AP, and A level test can grant you some school credits if you score highly. These examinations also set you apart if you pass with flying colors.

• Club involvement/ competition

Unless you win an olympiad; I don't think it is much considered because those activities have no credibility. However, try to give as much details of your involvement or activities as well as responsibilities so the school has a picture of what type of a person you are.

Next Topic: How to Apply