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US College for international student: Choose by Live example
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October 18, 2008
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If you are an international student from outside the US and would like to go for higher studies in the US, first question that comes to your mind is which college to go for? Can you afford studying in US colleges? Which parameters to check in colleges to make a wise choice? This is the subject matter of this blog post: How to choose US colleges based on an analysis of available college admissions statistics.
Although this blog post is being made for international students, students from even the US should also find the content useful. Two other such blog posts were: Best US College search engines – A beginner’s guide & Prelude to an US Education for International students. May be you would find the contents useful.
 US Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) website America.gov had recently published a story on “15 Top U.S. Universities in International Student Enrollment”. The story gives a list of 15 very good US colleges, in which the enrollments by international student are the highest. The story can be found here.
My analysis of college admissions statistics is based on the statistics of these 15 colleges. The goal of this analysis is to tell you how to choose the colleges from this list: Which parameters to check. For the statistics, I relied heavily on “College MatchMaker” tool of collegeboard.com. Also I used US News Ranking for checking the ranking of these colleges.
What was the methodology used in the analysis of these college admissions statistics?
Well, I grouped the data in two tables: one for “Admission requirements”, the other for “Cost vs. Financial aid”. The reason is quite clear: your choice of colleges would depend on these two factors alone. In both of these two tables, I have kept “Acceptance rate” column common – as this parameter enables you check your chances of entering the colleges instantly.
Following are the findings from the college admissions statistics:
US College for international student: Admission requirements: (click to enlarge)
 (SAT-R: SAT Reading; SAT-M: SAT Mathematics; SAT-W: SAT Writing; TOEFL-P: TOEFL-Paper; TOEFL-C: TOEFL-Computer based; Accept.: %age of student whose application was accepted; App. Fee: Application Fee).
US College for international student: Cost vs. Financial aid: click to enlarge
 (Rank: US News Rank, Intnl.: %age of International students, Accept.: %age of student whose application was accepted, Aid offered: %of student who applied for financial aid and got it, Schol./grants and Loans/jobs: What %age of financial aid is Scholarship./grants and Loans/jobs)
Above two tables gives you a birds eye view of the colleges, so that you can get the most important data in tabular form so as to make comparisons. For any particular college, please visit this College MatchMaker link and search for the college by entering the name in “College QuickFinder” text box at top left.
How to choose your colleges based on the analysis of these college admissions statistics?
If you are a brilliant student, none can stop you from entering the best US college – say suppose from the list above, if your SAT score is 680 or more, you should definitely apply to best US colleges like: University of Pennsylvania (US News Rank: 6) & Columbia University (US News Rank: 8) – financial aid in these colleges expectedly is most: University of Pennsylvania (76%), Columbia University (81%).
Among these, which would I prefer? Columbia University of course, as financial aid offered is more (81%) and that too with more Scholarship/Grants (86%) than Loans/Jobs (14%). Scholarship/Grants are free money, isn’t it?
On the other hand, if your SAT score is not that very good (of around 500/550), consider colleges in which Acceptance rate is higher – in these colleges, admission requirements (e.g. SAT/ACT/TOEFL scores etc.) are not that high. For example: Arizona State University (US News Rank: 121, Acceptance rate: 95%) and Purdue University (US News Rank: 66, Acceptance rate: 79%). Financial aid in these colleges expectedly is lower than those ranking better: Arizona State University (70%) and Purdue University (62%).
Among these, which would I prefer? Arizona State University, although it is ranked lower than Purdue University, for the simple reasons that besides very high acceptance rate, it is more economic (26,739 USD compared to 31,154 USD for Purdue University). Also, financial aid offered is more (70%), that too with more Scholarship/Grants (53%) than Loans/Jobs (47%). More free money! And then the acceptance rate is highest (95%).
If your SAT/ACT scores borders between above two extremes how do you choose?
1.0 First compare your SAT scores to the college admission requirements.
2.0 Compare the acceptance rates of the various colleges.
3.0 Find the college which is more economic (low total cost) and in which financial aid is more. If two colleges offers similar financial aid, which is offering more Scholarship/Grants than Loans/Jobs?
For example, between Ohio State University (Columbus) & Boston University (both with identical acceptance rates – 59% and almost similar SAT score requirements), I would have preferred Ohio State University: It is more economic (29,673 USD compared to 48,468 USD for Boston University). Financial aid offered is not bad (67%) and also it ranks higher than Boston University in US News Rank.
I hope above analysis on the college admissions statistics helps you in choosing the best US colleges – above analysis is only to show you how to use the college admissions statistics for choosing your right best college. It tells you how to group the college admissions statistics in tables and than compare the data to make an informed choice..
Yes, that’s it! You should make your own college admissions statistics table for your target college and than narrow it down to 5-10 colleges. Why? Because for every college you apply to, you have to spend 50-60 USD approximately as application fee. Imagine spending more than 600 USD on applications alone!
Best wishes for your US College search! Visit this blog again sometime – I would post more articles on this subject to make your US education easier! For example, wonder international students from which all countries comes for US education most? See it from the pie-diagram below, a part of my previous post: Prelude to an US Education for International students!
See you here again! Labels: study in USA |
posted by
Prasanta Bora on
October 18, 2008
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