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School Selection > Selecting Final School |
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The
Final Schools
List is prepared after you have researched your
schools carefully in the pre-application stage.
One of the simplest ways to begin is by plotting a chart
based on the following the variables to check if the school
meets these requirements and if they fit in with your profile and
personality. Base your selection on the following parameters: Personality is an important factor to consider while choosing a school as some large schools such as University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Minnesota -Twin Cities, University of Colorado to name a few, where research shows that their class size is a hindrance to learning. There are several students who fear the ratio of one teacher to 300 students. Considering the astronomical fees students pay, they may expect a little more than being taught just by senior students rather than professors or listening to pre-taped lectures and worse still learning through earphones or mikes because the lecturer is too far to be audible. Read the brochures very carefully and ensure that you fulfill the requirements and preconditions for admissions to a particular college. Simultaneously you will start seeing some colleges come to your doorstep and do soft marketing, these are recruiting efforts, to get you to apply to their colleges. Of course you have to be prudent in your commitments. Remember United States alone has over 3,300 colleges and each one looks more attractive than the other. Your final list should have at least 15% difficult or competitive schools that you would like to try for. These are your dream schools as they re fairly competitive and perhaps rank in the top 50 for your major. The next 70% of your schools should be realistic choices where you have a fairly good chance of getting into the school for your program/ major. The final 15% of schools must include sure-shot admits; schools where you can be certain you will gain admissions into. Depending on your academic grades and test scores you can increase the range of competitive schools to 35% keeping at least 50% realistic schools in your list and 15% sure shot schools. Once you have finalized your school list you can begin with the form filling process. Once all your application packages have been received by the University, the admissions office will convene to make a decision on your file. Waiting Period This is the stress period when you will be eagerly looking forward to receiving admissions and financial aid awards from the Universities that you applied to. Some of the schools will mail you acknowledging receipt of your applications. Besides acknowledgement letters, there will be letters from the schools or specific departments informing you on the status of your application file. For example, if you have some missing documents or test scores, these will need to be furnished immediately or then accordingly answered about their availability. The most common items missing are the TOEFL / SAT / GRE / GMAT scores. Although you might have already requested ETS to forward your scores to the universities, the processing time might take upto 3-5 weeks from the date requested. Hence do not panic, simply reply to the universities informing them that you have already requested the ETS to forward the scores to them. Interviews These are often required or suggested by graduate and MBA schools when admitting students or considering them for financial aid. if you are not residing in the USA, the admissions committee will schedule a telephonic interview with you. Ideally they will email you and advise of your local time that they will call. An interview can be a very important opportunity for you to persuade the institution’s admissions officer or committee, that, you would be an excellent candidate for their program. Interviewers will be interested in the way you think and approach problems and will probably concentrate on questions that enable them to assess your analytical skills, rather than questions that call upon your grasp of technical knowledge. Bear in mind that the interviewer is more interested in how you think than in what you think and to learn about your research interests. As in your essay, you may be asked to address such topics as your motivation for graduate study, personal philosophy, career goals, related and work experience, and research areas of interest. Once a decision has been made, you will receive an official letter stating whether you have been accepted into the University, and if you have received financial aid. You will also receive housing information, sometimes immunization forms which need to be completed by your family physician. You may also receive insurance policy information. After applying to the 10 colleges that best suit your profile, you will now have to make a decision on the final school where you would actually spend the next few years as a student.
Base your selection on the following parameters:- Madhavi Desai recommends you review placement successes and starting salaries of the higher ranked schools versus the lower ranked aid giving schools. Also view the location as an asset if it is a large city. For instance just being in New York there will be a lot more job opportunities and your accessibility to attending an interview at short notice.
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