The biggest question students often have is ‘Where should I apply?’
- It is an obvious question because where you study will define your career. However, you can ask the question around and ask yourself, what do I want in a college/University?
The most common answer will be I want a good college/University. You will realize how generic this answer is when you think of this fact – most of the 10,000+ universities and colleges abroad are good, meaning you will get a great education and a respectable degree. However, what is good for one student is not going to be good for everyone. If you don’t have some kind of shortlisting criteria, you are going to have 10,00+ options of good colleges that you can apply to.
- This brings us to the second step of self-assessment – identifying what you want in a university or college.
To find your answer, think about what you may like in a university. And the best part is that as an international student, you do have the option to change your mind and switch universities (in most cases).
There are many students who will say I want to apply to a top university. If you wish to go by rankings, that gives you 100 universities to choose from. Whatever your choice criteria are, remember that too many university options mean they all might not be a good fit for you.
To narrow down your options, you will have to decide which universities of your choice are the most ambitious options, which are the probable matches, and which are easy admission options. Then, make a list of the criteria that you want in a university and prioritize those criteria; put them in the order of how important each of them is.