Tips to the Steps

P.S: If this were the first time of your visit to my blog, please go to the label which is called "How to get into the US College and University" for more information. Thanks:

Things would be easier if we knew the the final cut. right? After we discussed how to attract the US Colleges and Universities, here are some tips that we should avoid to be elected as a candidate.
I plan to post scholarship information too. Now, I am doing research on the scholarship information that are available for Burmese across the world. Please do let me know if you knew any scholarship that were available for either Burmese or international students. Your contribution is greatly appreciated. Thanks ahead to you all and I'm looking forward to hearing form you soon.
I will be writing some of my experience soon Ma Thin Zar, may be by the end of may. But for now, I will keep posting scholarship information. Please do come back and share this information with youth in Burma who might need it.
Again Best wishes with your endurance and searching my dear friends..... you may be elected. :)

I got both of those pictures form here.

Make The Final Cut

Competitive schools receive far more applications than they can accept. Reviewers start by looking for reasons to reject applications until they have reduced the pool of applications to a manageable number – then the critical evaluation begins. Although processes vary from school to school, you can visualize the process as a four cuts policy ( ၿဖတ္ေလၿဖတ္).

Cut 1 All incomplete and late applications are generally rejected at the start.

Cut 2 All applications with test scores and grades that are clearly below the minimum acceptable level are rejected. Also, applications are rejected with poorly written essays and poor recommendations, or which appear to be falsified.

Cut 3 The pool is further reduced to the most interesting applications.

Cut Stars: From the above batch, the most interesting and qualified students are selected.

~~~best wishes my friends~~~

~~~Great thanks to Maran Zau Seng~~~

Tips to the Steps

Here are some tips that I promised. Hopefully, these information would be helpful in somehow. Again best luck with your searching and endurance.

Tip 1

Start Early: It takes time to identify appropriate schools, to collect applications, transcripts, translations and recommendations, and to write and rewrite essays.

Tip 2

If You Snooze, You Lose: School application and visa interview deadlines are important and are not flexible. Don’t waste all of your efforts by being late. Better yet, be early. If you apply early, your application is likely to receive closer attention and you will make a positive impression.

Tip 3

Prove Yourself: Don’t reduce yourself to a TOEFL score. Unless your score is exceptionally high, your TOEFL score will not make you appear exceptional. Rather, it will merely indicate that your English is good enough to study at the school. Moreover, a TOEFL score only reflects your English ability and most of the students at the school are native speakers.

Schools are interested not only in selecting applicants who are capable of doing well at the school, they are also looking for students who are motivated, self-directed and who will contribute to the learning environment at the school and to society generally. So, everything that makes you special needs to be made explicit in your application (in the essay(s), in application questions about extracurricular and community activities, and in your recommendations). Schools are also interested in any difficulties you have overcome– for example, poverty, poor educational opportunities, family problems, etc. Make your application as comprehensive and personal as possible. You are special and full of potential, but if you don’t make this clear in your application, the school will never know.

Tip 3

Be diligent, organized and efficient: Completing the school and visa application process is a long and complicated affair with many steps and many tasks that must be performed on time. You need to carry out this process with surgical precision. Make checklists and schedules and plan ahead.

Tip 4

Seek Advice and Assistance: The school and visa application processed are complicated. Whenever possible you should seek advice from those who have already completed the process. If possible, you should find a native speaker with a college education to help review your application and essay. Don’t guess and don’t rely on rumors.

Tip 5

Take charge: You stand to gain the most if your application is successful. Although your application will be stronger if you seek the advice and assistance of others, you have to do most of the work. If you fail to show initiative consistently then others will be much less likely to help you. If you don’t care enough to pursue your own education with great vigor then why should someone else be keen to help you? Yeah?

~~~best wishes my friends~~~

~~~Great thanks to Maran Zau Seng~~~

I want to study in US but I have no $$$ then this message is for you.

How to Apply

Some friends in Burma asked me how to get into the US college and university. So I decided to write a post so that I don’t have to write email to individual but referring to this blog. And I also thought this information would be helpful for those who are trying to apply US colleges and universities. I know how stressful it could be. I was blessed by my friend, Maran Zau Seng, for these processes. He not only wrote a letter of recommendation for me, he also edited essays and monitored the whole processes. I’m always thankful for that. So I would like to share the blessing with your all. These are the steps he leaded me through, and it works. I have some more tips to share with you all but I saved it for next post since this one is getting too long. Please come back and get more information later. Thanks for now and best luck. Above all, enjoy the following steps.. Make sure you dance the right steps though...:)

Step I. Decide Where to Apply

There are over 2500 colleges and universities in the US. The following factors should inform your choices of colleges:

1) Does the school offer an attractive financial aid package?

a. Tuition fees for US colleges are very expensive ranging from $3000 to more than $20,000 per year. A few colleges offer large financial aid packages to international students. Ideally, you should apply to schools that offer full, or nearly full, assistance to international students. Note: the funding available to domestic and international students varies greatly. When researching a school make sure you do not confuse the two.

b. There are some supplementary grants available to students from Burma who do not have full financial support. These generally amount to only several thousand dollars. If you are accepted to a good school and additional funds are needed we may be able to find a private sponsor or negotiate some arrangement with the school. Unless you have your own sponsor, however, you should not apply to a school unless it will potentially offer a scholarship to cover at least 75% of tuition and living costs. Information on aid packages is available in the tables provided in the book on financial aid for international students.

2) Can you meet the school’s admissions requirements?

a. What tests are required? Schools require standardized tests in addition to the TOEFL. These may include the SAT I, the SAT II, and or the ACT. While the better schools often require these, they are difficult and require lengthy preparation. If you are not prepared to invest the time and money to take these additional tests you should not apply to schools that require them.

b. Are your scores high enough?

• i. Some schools indicate a minimum score that is necessary to be considered for admission. If your scores are more than a few points below this minimum, you should not bother applying.

• ii. Other schools provide average or median scores of successful applicants. You can use these statistics as a rough measure of your likely success. Remember, applicants’ scores were both higher and lower than the average, and schools consider a range of factors in their admissions decisions – test scores are only one of the important elements of an application. So, if your score is not dramatically lower than the average you may be accepted. But the higher is the better. Try your best if you were preparing for the standard exams.
  

3) Does the school have a good reputation?

a. The better the reputation of your school the better the chances you will receive a good education, that you will be able to find additional outside funding, and that you will be issued a visa. A school’s reputation may also affect your future job prospects.

b. The more competitive the school the tougher the admissions criteria.

c. One way to assess a school’s reputation is with the Barron’s Guide, which ranks schools as “most competitive”, “highly competitive”, “very competitive”, “competitive”, “less competitive” and “non-competitive”. You should aim at least for schools that are “competitive” or better, although you may wish to apply to one “less competitive” school as a safe school.

4) Does the school offer a program of study that interests you?

a. In particular, does the school offer the major that is of interest to you?

b. Another factor to consider is the student faculty ratio, whether the school has a religious affiliation (if this is important to you), whether the school is coed or single sex, and the school’s educational philosophy (liberal arts colleges, for example, generally offer a much broader educational experience and more individual attention).

5) Is the location convenient?

a. If you have relatives or friends in the US, or if you wish to be near a Burmese community, location may also figure in your choice of schools.

b. If you have a wide range of choices you may also wish to consider whether the school is in the country or a city, and the area’s climate.

Step II. Get Applications and Additional Information on the Schools that Seem Most Interesting.

You can get additional information on schools from several sources:

1) The Internet.

2) At the American Center; library. The American Center; library has lots of school catalogs in their library. Note: If you get an application from the American Center; library; ensure that it is for the correct year. Applications often change and it looks very sloppy to use an application from a previous year.

3) By sending a letter or email to the school. If you request a school to send you information be sure to request that the mail 1) an application for international students, 2) financial aid information for international students, 3) a catalog. It may be helpful to indicate in your letter that Internet access in Burma is very slow and that you are thus unable to use the Internet to get this information.

How many schools should you apply to?

It is expensive and time consuming to apply to college. Moreover, many schools only offer admission once per year. Nor are there any guarantees that anyone school will accept you. With that in mind, it is wise to apply to several schools to maximize your chances for success. It is also good to apply to a “safe school” – that is, a school for which you easily meet the admissions requirements.

On the other hand, many schools require special essays, application fees generally are $35 to $50 each, and you will need to send each school official copies of documents and TOEFL scores. For these reasons, you will probably want to limit the amount of schools to which you apply. At a minimum, I would apply to three schools.

May you get there soon...
~~~~~Best luck with your searching and endurance~~~~~
Great thanks to Maran Zau Seng who leaded me to master those steps.