Getting admission to a college in the U.S. has taken a much more different out look of lately. Restrictive visa atmosphere and security check-up protocol introduced following the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. have sent waves of disappointment among the potential international students scholars planning education in the U.S. Even before this landmark event, industrial countries had already begun luring international students on board. The post 9/11 developments in the U.S. and other major occurrences in education policy like the Bologna Process of 1999 which was formed to facilitate the mobility of students between 46 countries in and around the European Union (EU) have begun to show quantitative changes in international student dynamics globally. Thus, between 1990-2005, United Kingdom has seen a rise of International Student enrollment in its colleges by 28%; Australia: 42%; Germany: 46%; and France 81%. Significant increases in far eastern countries such as China, Japan, and Korea also have been reported. Closer to home, India is seeing its share of increase from surrounding countries like Sri Lanka.
Pressured by National Association for Foreign Students Affairs (NAFSA) and the academic community as a whole, the US found it necessary subtly impound its aggressive stance towards foreign students and scholars wishing to come to US to carry out their academic work. This trend resulted in shift of visa policies in favor of international students. Thus in 2006/07 an increase of 3% and in 2007/08, 7% of international student enrollment was observed. Under the present uncertain economic times, schools not only looking for the enrichment of the composition of its student population but are more and more paying attention to the good dollars these students bring to U.S. to spend on their education. These competitive developments dawn on the U.S. regulators that there is danger of losing its competitive edge in the world.
The quality of education output in the U.S. colleges remains as higher as ever. Therefore, any student planning to expand his or her academic horizons and lay a strong foundation for a strong career prospects must have a U.S. college as the first choice of destination.
Numbers:
There are 623805 International Students enrolled in US according to Open Doors (2008), published by International Institute of Education (IIE), the premier organization which tracks international student attendance in the U.S. colleges. Throughout the years, geopolitical trends have influenced the numbers in International Students population in the U.S. In the 1st half of 1980s the post revolution environment in Iran resulted in Iranians students making the majority in the U.S. international student numbers. In the 90s it was the Chinese and in 2008, India, being a strong political and economic ally of the US provided the largest number of international students to US colleges.
Among the colleges, University of Southern California, followed by New York University,
Columbia, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, UCLA are top universities in enrolling international students. Smaller and lesser known universities draw more students as tuition money they bring has became a considerable fiscal stimulus to these institutions and communities they are in. According to Newsweek (Feb 26, 2007) foreign students added 13.5 billion dollars to US economy a year and Institute of International Education (IIE) brings this figure to $15.5 billion in 2008.
Asian countries send more students than any other continent. State of California hosts more students (84,800) followed by New York (69,844). Cities of New York and Los Angeles have more international students than any other city in the U.S.
One out of every 5 student comes to US to study Management and Business. This is followed by Engineering (17%), Physical and Life Sciences (9%). Being one of the largest agricultural producers in the world, share of the international students in Agriculture in the US is a surprising 2%.
International students come to US sponsored by the individual colleges, the US or student's home government, and other local and international organizations in the US and overseas.
Types of Schools
Post-secondary education in the U.S. consists of 2- year colleges, also called community colleges or junior colleges, 4 year colleges, and professional schools such as Dental, Medical or Law. Two-year colleges usually cover the first two years of a 4-year degree. The 'American Colleges' in Sri Lanka are usually 2-year colleges. 2-year colleges do not award bachelor degrees. Instead a student can get an 'Associate Degree' on the way to getting a bachelors degree from a 4-year college. In order to do that, a student must transfer the academic credit earned in the 2- year college to the 4-year college, where the student then will complete the balance 2 years.
In addition to Bachelor's degree, with certain exceptions1, most 4-year colleges award post- graduate degrees such as Masters, Ph.D. and some professional degrees. There are about 3,000 colleges in the U.S. Therefore, finding the right college is the least of problems a prospective student has. Los Angeles, the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the U.S. has over two dozen universities and over 15 junior colleges.
There are several steps to consider when planning your studies in the U.S.
1 Finding the right college.
2 Contacting the college for information.
3 Submitting of application (almost exclusively online now).
4 Searching for funding.
5 Admission decision by the college.
6 Submitting of documents to get visa documents.
7 Application for visa and 8 Arrival.
Finding the right college:
While it is no secret that the ultimate desire of every student is to get into the best university
there is, a host of factors needs to be looked into in order to select the best university that fits in to your needs.
The percentage of international students in the student body can be a very persuasive pointer you need pay attention to. It is also important remember that a large number of international students enrolled in a college does not necessarily reflect that school is 1) easy to get admission; 2) the best choice there is and; 3) the best fits into your personal circumstances. However, all thousands of non-US students enrolled in a college cannot be wrong and must indicate something good about that school.
Most schools maintain statistics of number of Teaching Assistantships and Research Assistantships awarded annually. A large number of TAships awarded means a better chance of getting an assistantship for you if you are a graduate student. If you have friends studying in the college here, their input is as most valuable as any other source of information about the place. If you are thinking of a medical, engineering, or any other professional career, of course it helps to start from the right college from the beginning. However, in an imperfect world, this cannot work perfectly
Sri Lankan Diaspora
If you think of studying in a school in a community with a strong presence of Sri Lankan Diaspora, then your choice should be cities like Los Angeles, New York, Houston, San Francisco and Boston and Washington, DC area. Notwithstanding the confidence one feel that everything will take care of itself once you enter the U.S. with a reward of admission to a college, the unfamiliar academic environment and away from the family and thoughts of sweet home can sometimes sour the experience. The Sri Lankan Diaspora in major cities in the U.S. is very active in organizing community events. Sinhala and Tamil New Year, February 4th celebrations, Thaipongal, Wesak and Katina Puja and Christmas celebrations are some of the events you can join and be feel at home. In addition to these festivals, occasional theatrical productions by visiting artists or local theater groups are a common occurrence.
Cost of Education
We all agree that the budget plays the major role in this process. While some schools may provide some degree of financial aid, your application formula must have your own funds as a constant. The budget is usually computed on a 9 month academic year basis. The cost in a larger university in a major city like Los Angeles can easily top $45,000.00 a year. This includes tuition and education fees (commonly called tuition fees), room and board, non-resident tuition, mandatory medical insurance and educational supplies such as books. All international students must pay non-resident tuition which is 4 to 5-fold higher than resident rate.
Having a relative or a friend in the city you plan to study will help to a certain extent but some times, if not most of the time, relative and friends have their own limitations about hosting someone even it happens to be the first cousin. Therefore, student should not plan or have unfair expectations from the relative or the friend for support of your education. This said, having a relative in the general region of the school is a tremendously advantageous asset when you step into a completely unfamiliar world.
Housing Cost Etc.
Another advantageous factor is the living cost in a smaller city. A one-room apartment (flat) in Los Angeles will cost on average between U.S. $800.00 to $1500.00 a month, while in a State like Wyoming, same apartment may cost approximately $600.00 or even less a month. Also, some rural universities are known to provide at least some degree of relief in tuition cost to International Students. An exception is that large private universities while looking to enrich its student population may provide an attractive financial aid package if you happen to be judged among the top few students in Advanced Level examination. In contrast, most larger universities such as UCLA, under graduate international students do not get tuition and fee reductions to undergraduate international students. To mitigate this disparity, large universities may have better opportunity for a student to engage in on-campus employment which is allowed under existing regulations and if one is lucky can join a research group to learn research techniques and methods while attending classes.
After you complete your undergraduate degree in a smaller university, you can always transfer to a larger university with better opportunities that fits you to pursue you graduate studies which will be discussed later.
Flexibility
A great advantage the U.S. has that most other countries cannot provide you is the flexibility the education system offers you to navigate the academic system to reach your ultimate goal. A science student in Sri Lanka may take a 4-year degree in economics here and then apply to the medical college after taking a few more selective additional classes2. Therefore, even if you don't have a clear goal in the outset, a college choice should not depend on such criteria. Your direction can be changed after you start the school, since you select the major in the second or third of year of enrollment. Nevertheless, I should underline the fact that for a prospective applicant there is no substitute for clear planning and beginning in the right way.
Competition to secure a place in the entering class is very high in major universities like UCLA and UC Berkeley. For example, UCLA receives every year over 40,000 applications (largest in the U.S.) for a freshman class of about 4000. Although, a large number of students in a university is an enriching and enticing environment to be in, an applicant should weigh in all other factors before applying to such a college.
Colleges in less populated cities and rural States on the other hand vie for the same applicant pool to fill the slots in their next years entering class. This creates a competitive environment among the 3,000 or so universities. The quality of the entering class usually reflects the quality of the academics output and the research activities of the college. Students also nurture the economic environment of the institution. Specially, since international students bring their own money, colleges are aware that admitting foreign students can be a major boost for its fiscal outlook. What this translates in to is that there may be schools in rural areas that need you just as a city university needs you. But the allure of the glamour, name recognition may pull many students to the city universities creating more competition. Therefore, applying to a university located away from a large city sometime can be advantageous as the school may place more emphasis and importance on your application than a city giant. For the purpose of this essay, States like Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Minnesota, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Maine and some
parts of California may be considered rural. These schools will provide you a better chance of getting admission than a larger university.
Transportation
Cost and manner of travel to and from school in particular, and in the city in general is an another factor a prospective student should take into consideration. On this aspect, cities like New York, Boston, San Francisco and many other large cities possess brilliance in public transpiration traditions. But in cities like Los Angeles, also called the City of Cars, public transportation is in a liminal state. Getting from home to school in a city like this can be a major issue sometimes. Due to this inadequacy, such cities place copious volume of concerns for an International Student who has to juggle budget issues to remain in the school. Since housing is expensive closer to the university campus, living further away from the school will ease the budgetary pressures. However, not having a good public transportation in the area can complicate this issue.
Academic terms:
Colleges in the US hold classes either on quarter system or semester system. There are three quarters of academic work a year. Starting from Fall (Sept/October), the academic year will consists of Winter Quarter and ends in Spring Quarter which ends the academic year. Intervening months between Spring Quarter and Fall are called Summer break which usually is the vacation period but optional classes are offered in most schools Summer break.
In the schools that have Semester system, there are two semesters - Fall and Spring. Fall usually starts in Aug/Sept and ends in December/Jan. Spring starts in Jan/Feb. and ends in May/ June. Students should check each school academic calendar to be familiar with deadlines and other important information.
Tests Admission Process.
There is no standardized single examination like the GCE (A/L) to select students in to U.S. universities. Students are admitted to universities and junior colleges based on high school diploma (or equivalent), scores of the standardized tests and if necessary recommendation letters. In Sri Lanka, having passed the Advanced Level examination will meet this requirement. SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and ACT (American College Testing) are the most used tests by universities for undergraduate admissions. Tests are offered multiple times a year and information can be found their websites or in most libraries. There are two parts in the SAT examination: Reasoning Test and Subject Test. ACT also tests a prospective student's math, science, English and reading aptitude. In addition to these tests, schools use the GPA, extra- curricular activities and class rank as supplementary information for evaluating a student's application. Some junior colleges do not ask for SAT scores of the applicant. However, all 2-year and 4-year colleges/universities ask TOEFL scores from International Students. This may extend to visa officials who may ask for the test results at the time of the visa interview in the consulate, just to be sure of your academic and language proficiency. Even if you have completed two years in an affiliated American College or an International School in Sri Lanka, be prepared to take TOEFL exam. Sri Lanka is not recognized as an English speaking country by the U.S. education system
for the purpose of admission to colleges. Therefore, even if you education has been in English medium from the kindergarten, you may be required to show TOEFL scores.
Transferring from a 2-year college to a 4-year college generally does not require SAT scores. Yet, there may be exceptions to this practice and a student should check carefully the admission requirements for transfer students to ensure what the specific requirements are.
At the time you submit the application to a university in the U.S. for admission, you must have SAT and TOEFL scores, and official transcripts of GCE (A/L) examination. Official transcripts are defined as transcripts sent to universities by your high school in sealed envelopes to be used in the evaluation of the application for admission. Transcripts transmitted to admission offices in any other manner are usually not considered 'official transcripts'. Universities have specific instructions as to how the transcripts are to be submitted. Universities may also chose to admit you pending receipts of the official transcripts. This is called 'conditional admission'. In such a situation, the admission office must have the transcripts before you enroll in the classes. Failure to produce the transcripts will result in cancellation of admission offer. In Sri Lanka if the Principal is authorized, he may send this or Department Education has the authority to send them directly to admission office. A printout you get from the Education Department may not be accepted as a transcript if it is not given in a sealed envelope.
Most universities ask at least 3 AP (Advanced Placement) classes (college level classes offered in high school) and A-G requirement of course work. Check University of California website, UC Pathways websites to familiarize with admission requirements of one of the major university systems in the U.S. I should caution that application for admission is not a uniform process among universities. Albeit there are common terms used, student should be familiar with the terminology used by each college or college system.
Application:
All applications are now on line, except in some cases, a hard copy may be asked to be sent to the admission as a follow up. Some private universities such as Stanford, Harvard and many other major universities may require, in addition to other common application supporting material, recommendation letters (from school counselors and teachers). You are also required to write a personal essay. Some applications have essay-type questions. Essays have a limit of word-count usually around 400-600 words. Therefore, it is imperative you write and rewrite several versions of the essay in a separate Word document; only when you are absolutely sure cut and paste it on to the application. When writing the essay, stick to the point, address directly to the essence of the question and don't waste words as the essay needs to be strictly within the word count limit.
Major university systems like University of California, California State University have their own common application for all campuses within the system. Applicant can apply to multiple campuses in the system in which case, application fee has to be paid for each campus (university) even if only one application is submitted. When multiple campuses are chosen, they must be written in the order of preference. The fee can paid online by credit or debit cards or any other acceptable online payment method designated by the school.
It is fair to say that application deadlines are absolute. Undergraduate admission application
deadline usually falls on November 30th. This may be different in the case of transfer students. Check for each schools admission website for deadline information and deadlines to submit other supporting documents. If your application consists of recommendation letters as supporting documents, you must ensure to instruct the your teachers of professors who have been designated to write the recommendation letters to send the letters before the published deadline. Etiquettes aside, if you had to remind them on weekly basis, do it. They already got their degrees. You are the one who is looking for one.
In so far as the extra curricular activities are an important way to share social responsibilities, identifying them in your application gives weight to its quality and totality. Examples of extra curricular activities can be: have you given free tuition to underprivileged students? 'Sunday school activities, working with entities that are geared towards social and public welfare work (Red Cross, First Aid troops, Boys/Girls scout guide troops), cadetting, association membership, debate team, athletic competitions and activities any other activity that separate you from the rest of us.
The purpose of the application for admission is not just to know your grades, GPA and the schools you had attended, but to get to know the applicant, applicant's well-roundedness and potential.
If you know the major, obviously you must write it on the application. Major is the field of study you are planning to concentrate on. If you are unsure, you can leave it as 'undecided'. The college will have instructions for students about when to declare your major.
Some universities consider requests for waiver of the application fee due unusual circumstances such as proven economic difficulty.
Before beginning the application process on line, you have to open an account in the website by creating your access code or using the access code already given by the university and password. Then you can save the partially completed application and revisit the incomplete application whenever you have time.
Your application should have your personal information such as email address, phone number residential address and mailing address.
The application will have a question which asks as to what visa you have now (if you are in the US already) or what visa would you like to have. Generally you can chose either F-1 or J-1 (if you are partially funded by the home government or US government or an organization).
Schools generally let you know when the admission decisions are made. You can find whether your years of toils have become fruitful by the application results by checking in to your account in the school's admission website.
The Colombo office of the Fulbright program is a tremendously helpful source of information to prospective students. Notwithstanding the summary discussed above, assiduously keeping contact with the prospective schools, Fulbright office, US embassy and your school counselors will make the task of getting admission to a school much easy.
Author : Lokubanda Tillakaratne
Publisher : The Sunday Observer (in 6 parts)
Date(s) : 5th, 12th,19th and 26th September, 3rd and 10th October 2010
