3 Concerns of International Grad School Applicants

Check with admissions officers to understand how your academic credentials will transfer to U.S. institutions.

During my years as an admissions dean, I recruited and enrolled thousands of international students. In working with these students, three questions repeatedly came up during the application process.

Students frequently wanted to know how to tell if their undergraduate degrees from institutions in their home countries were equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree. Another common question was how they could convert a GPA to the 4.0 scale commonly used in the U.S.

Students also expressed concerns about how they should approach the standardized test required for the graduate program to which they were applying.

Below are answers to these common application questions from prospective international graduate students.

[Learn how to choose a U.S. graduate school.]

1. How is academic equivalency determined? If you received your bachelor's degree outside the United States, an evaluation will be performed by the admissions office to confirm that you have earned the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree.

In some cases, you are asked to apply before an evaluation of your educational credentials is conducted. In other cases, an evaluation is required before you apply. Clear guidelines about what constitutes academic equivalency are provided in the application section of a program's admissions website.

If you disagree with the decision by the admissions office, let the staff know you believe you have an extenuating circumstance that merits special consideration.

Put your request in writing as a short inquiry, but include all the facts and thank the admissions office for taking the time to consider your situation. Offer to provide any additional information, and make it clear that you will abide by the decision.

For example, if the institution to which you are applying requires four years of college work following high school and you have a three-year degree, but took additional course work, conducted additional research and received high academic honors, you might consider asking for your situation to be given special consideration.

But understand that arguing about an equivalency determination you believe is unfair or does not take into account your particular situation will only make matters worse. Students who argue with and badger the admissions director to make exceptions end up drawing negative attention to themselves.

[Explore what draws students to U.S. colleges, grad schools.]

2. How is GPA converted to a U.S. scale? Each admissions office has a procedure for "converting" an academic record from an international college or university into the equivalent GPA at the graduate school to which applications are being submitted.

The procedure for doing this is set, and based on my experience, is never altered or changed. No exceptions are made. However, there are steps you can take to ensure that your GPA will be accurately converted.

Send transcripts for all undergraduate work with your application. If you took course work at two other institutions before enrolling at the institution from which you received your bachelor's degree, you should submit three transcripts in total.

Do not provide your own GPA calculation. Rest assured that admissions directors and committees are as diligent about this part of the application process as they are all other parts.

At the start of each academic term, the admissions director is usually asked to provide demographic and academic information for the incoming class. In order to provide accurate information, he or she will be very careful about the conversion of international GPAs.

3. How many standardized test scores should I submit? In addition to demonstrating one's ability to communicate well in English, all applicants, including international students, will have to submit standardized test scores. Depending on the program to which you are applying, you will take the GRE, GMAT, LSAT or Medical College Admission Test, known as the MCAT.

[Discover tips to master the TOEFL.]

Taking the test twice or three times indicates that you are making every effort to provide the best application you can. Taking it more than three times looks desperate, and that does not help.

If the admissions committee is genuinely looking for the best students, it will evaluate your application in its entirety and will not place undue emphasis on your test scores. During my years at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, Northwestern University and Columbia University, the range of test scores for the applicants I admitted was quite large, because I found that test scores alone do not predict success as a graduate school student.

Communication skills, motivation, initiative, hard work and working well with others – along with academic ability – are, in my experience, much better predictors of success.

View the original article here

How Grad School Officials Evaluate International Applicants

Graduate school admissions officials have to consider enrollment goals when looking at international student applications.

International students often wonder what those who evaluate their graduate school applications are thinking as they read a candidate's file. Having been a director of admissions and an associate dean for enrollment management, my 28 years of experience in higher education included evaluating and making final decisions on tens of thousands of applications.

I also attended many conferences with other admissions and enrollment professionals. During these events, we had opportunities to discuss our approaches to evaluating applications, including those submitted by international students.

The following are some of the major things admissions officials keep in mind when evaluating and making final decisions about international applicants.

[Understand common concerns of international grad school applicants.]

1. The institution's enrollment goals: These are primarily set by the senior administration, and less often by the faculty. It is rare that the admissions director has input in the setting of these goals, yet she or he is responsible for reaching them.

Many factors are considered in the determination of enrollment goals: the number of men, number of women, number of U.S. minority students, number of international students, average GPAs, averages for standardized tests and more. While enrollment goals may not always seem understandable from an outside observer's point of view, there are usually sound reasons for each of them.

There will almost always be an international student enrollment target number provided to the director. Sometimes this number will be flexible; most of the time it is set in stone.

[Learn what international grad applicants should consider.]

For several years the enrollment goal for incoming international students at one of the institutions I served was 20 percent, and the overall incoming class size goal was 450. That means I was responsible for the enrollment of 90 international students at the start of the academic year.

If that final number was less than 80 – or greater than 100 – administrators were not happy. Over a 10-year period, while the enrollment goals stayed the same, international applications rose from 300 per year to more than 1,000 per year.

Obviously the selection process became more challenging each year. What I often communicated to international applicants was that the enrollment goal was not mine to set; rather, it was mine to achieve.

2. A positive impression of international applicants: My impression of international applicants was and is that they are extremely motivated, committed, hardworking and flexible.

I find international students consider studying abroad to be a real privilege and they are committed to making the most of that opportunity. In many cases, it is assumed that international students complete applications, and that they are able to follow directions well – which is extremely important.

In the mind of admissions officials, someone who cannot follow directions as an applicant will be less likely to follow directions as a student.

3. A belief that international students work hard to adjust: There is also a general impression that international students will make every effort to become part of the educational environment they join. The perception is that international students take great pains to fit in, make friends and become part of the institutional family.

[Explore ways international students can budget for grad school.]

4. Confirmation of good English skills: One of the largest concerns for most admissions directors is the ability of international applicants to communicate in English. Obviously, this is critical to the success of the student, and of the faculty as well.

Sometimes international students view English requirements at various institutions as prohibitive or even punitive, but this could not be further from the truth: The requirements are actually meant to help guarantee their success.

Admissions, student affairs and academic personnel are extremely concerned about creating an environment in which their students will thrive. After all, satisfied alumni are what give an institution its greatest level of credibility.

The last thing anyone would want is for a student to come to the United States for graduate study and fail, especially if that can be prevented. Confirming English proficiency is critical to the success of an international student's application.

View the original article here