Selecting an American University

SELECTING A COLLEGE

There are 4,360 colleges in the United States. Some, like the University of Central Floria, have over 60,000 students while others, like Deep Springs College, have fewer than 30. Some, like NYU, are in the centre of a bustling metropolis while others, like Kenyon college, make their home amidst serene nature preserves. 

You will research rankings and acceptance rates – scouring US world news, QS, Forbes and much else besides for hours on end. 

You will – after many sleepless nights – finally decide on which six or seven you’d like to go to, sorting these into dreams, targets and safeties. 

You will write, edit and redraft countless statements and supplements – sheafs of virtual paper gone to waste. 

You will hit submit – paying hundreds of dollars in application fees. 

You will receive an acceptance – sometimes from your top-choice, sometimes from one a bit further down the list. 

You will have an experience like no other. 

This is the promise the US university admissions process makes.

Frankly, it sounds like a lot of effort. Allow us (people who have fallen victim to all the same traps as you) to make it a little bit simpler. 

THE RESEARCH

Before you decide to get into the ins and outs of which college is where on what ranking scale and so on, it’s worth asking yourself what you’re like. We find that there are six questions you can ask yourself that will limit the set of universities you should look at a great deal:

1. Do you consider yourself competitive, or do you prefer to work at your own pace?
2. Do you require close, familial bonds for support, or are you more independent?
3. Do you like the hustle and bustle of a city, or at you more at home in nature?
4. Do you want a college that has brilliant sports programmes, or are you of the more bookish sort?
5. Do you want something tangible out of life, or are you of a more spiritual bent?
6. Have you found your passion, or do you still want to explore?

Once you’ve answered these six questions, you’ll have much more of a handle on things. Wanting to live in or near a city, for example, immediately eliminates most of the small liberal arts colleges; as well as a fair few larger research institutes including Ivies like Cornell or Dartmouth. If you like close familial bonds, you might be well served by universities which have a fraternity culture like Northwestern or MIT (quite contrary to the stereotypes admittedly); if you don’t, stick to universities like NYU, Amherst or Vassar. If you want something tangible out of life, there’s nowhere better to go than business schools like Wharton or Stern, technology hubs like Caltech or Stanford, or places with phenomenal networks like Harvard or Yale. If you’re of a more spiritual bent you might find yourself at home at places like Oberlin, Middlebury, or indeed, Deep Springs. Remember that getting accepted into a college is not a prize to be won, but a match to be made.

Let’s say you’re a person who enjoys a competitive environment, is independent, likes a city, is bookish, wants to explore, and wants an education for education’s sake rather than something tangible out of their degree. Having settled these six questions, your options for university become pretty simple. Your list would probably look something like Columbia, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania (CAS), New York University (CAS), Georgetown and Northwestern. There isn’t much variation that can follow from this; some colleges, like say Vanderbilt, Rice or Johns Hopkins might appeal more to you than the other ones on this list, but you still have reason to ignore a whole host of others like Williams (too rural), Brown (not competitive enough), or Occidental (too close-knit) even if they hit five out of six. The list also naturally sorts itself into dreams, targets and safeties: universities avoid focussing on the same things as others in their admissions rate bracket because of competition. So, before you read through every single university’s faculty list, course descriptions, notable alumni and so on, it’s important to find out what matters to you.

THE PERSONAL STATEMENT 

Once you’ve figured out what you want in a university, drafting a personal statement becomes a lot simpler. If you’ve selected universities based on how they fit, rather than on name-recognition alone, you’ll find that there’s a certain personality they all look for that just happens to be your own. This makes writing a personal statement a lot easier, though we do have a six recommendations to make sure your personal statement captures what the university wants – namely, you. 

1. Write in a narrative: Writing a story about yourself is a lot easier than describing yourself. When you write in your natural voice, it can also make your ideas a lot more clear than they might otherwise come across in something more like a list.
2. Write with an objective in mind: Try and make sure that your personal statement is structured around a single overarching theme. Each of your paragraphs should introduce and discuss a single idea that is relevant to this theme. Avoid addendums – even if they provide some information that you think is important – as these only distract the reader. Remember that the assessor doesn’t know what you’ve left out; all their knowledge about you comes from the page.
3. Write without a word limit: Get all your thoughts down without worrying about word count. If you’ve kept to making each paragraph focus on one idea, the editing process becomes really simple. You can choose to prioritise the ones you deem most important to you and cut what isn’t later on.
4. Write without repeating ideas: Each of your essays should introduce something new about yourself; the purpose of the supplements is to let you cover stuff you weren’t able to fit in your personal statement.
5. Write consistently: Make sure that you’re mindful of word-choice, tone and voice throughout your essay. If you’ve chosen an informal style, there’s no reason to use words like ‘hence’ or ‘therefore’ rather than ‘so’ or ‘because’. Make sure you’ve earned any complicated words; there’s no reason to go to the synonyms button on your word processor to make you seem more distinguished; clarity and simplicity will impress the assessor much more.
6. Write something you’re happy with: If a draft doesn’t sit right with you, don’t get too attached to it. Starting from scratch can often take less time than editing something that you’re uncomfortable with.

If you’ve managed to keep within the lines of these, you’re on the right track to having a spectacular college essay. Once you’re done, proofread creatively. Read your essay aloud to make sure it flows. Ask teachers, friends and family to take a look at it to make sure that they think it’s true to you. Ask competent writers to make sure that the language is appropriate and the writing is impressive. Don’t just keep looking over it correcting minute grammatical mistakes once every five readings. Remember that there’s no shame in asking for help. 

The Schedule

As you can see, there’s a tonne of stuff you’ll need to do in a very short amount of time. Here are six tips to make that a lot easier:

1. Don’t just rely on the internet, talk to people: If you’re unsure whether a university is for you based on what you’ve found online, get in touch with anyone whom you think might help. Find out whether there are any alumni you know. Talk to university representatives if you have the chance to. Email international admissions counsellors at each institution. If you can visit some of your top choices, all the better! You’ll learn so much more from people than from the internet alone
2. Get a head start: Try to get everything you can done as early as possible. You’re going to have to balance writing personal statements and SATs with all the schoolwork you’re going to have to do in your second year of high school. It’s a lot easier if you set yourself manageable deadlines to make sure that you’ve got more than enough time to do everything.
3. Read about your passion: Fiction, non-fiction, articles, epics. Try to read as much as possible about what your interests are not only so you have stuff to talk about in your application, but also to understand the kind of voice that dominates your field and to give yourself a head start on what you’re going to study.
4. Try and apply early: It’s daunting to have all your stuff ready by late October, but the rewards for applying early far exceed the costs. Your chances of gaining admission into one of your top-choices shoot up exponentially, and there’s one less thing to worry about when all your schoolwork begins to come to a head.
5. Be confident: You are a brilliant candidate. You’ve found universities that are a good fit. You have nothing to worry about. The admissions process is draining, sure, but the fact that you’re able to deal with it makes you ready for university.
6. Find someone who can help: Still, you shouldn’t be afraid to lean on people. Whether it’s school teachers, friends, family, or organisations like ours, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Other minds offer perspective, expertise and support. Use them.