myUface Blog

A lot of international students applying to U.S. universities like to use timelines or calendars to give them a schedule of tasks they need to complete.  That’s a good thing.  Timelines are useful tools for international students.  We’ve offered Summer and Fall timelines on this very blog.  The internet is full of similar schedules – you can see two examples here and here.

These kinds of resources can really help you prepare your application for U.S. universities.  Timelines can keep you aware of upcoming deadlines and help you structure your time.  However, there is a limit to how useful these tools can be, and in my experience a lot of international students end up losing time because of them.

Here’s why:  often, international students download and study one of these timelines.  They resolve to follow it exactly. However, they are intimidated by all the work the schedule says they have to do.  As a result, they find reasons to procrastinate.  They fall behind the schedule.  Now they feel really terrible.  Not only do they have a lot of work to do, but they have a shorter amount of time to do it!  They feel even more intimidated, which makes them procrastinate more, which makes the further behind.  And so on and so forth until, at the last minute, they whip together an application.  Which is often not very good.

To avoid this situation, follow these simple guidelines:

1. Remember, timelines for international students are guides, not rules. If you work according to a different schedule – if you start later on some tasks and earlier on others – that’s OK.
2. If you fall behind the schedule, try to remember that it is very possible to catch up.  Applying to a U.S. university is a lot of work, but it’s not an impossible amount of work.  You can do it!!!
3. Try to develop strategies that keep you from procrastinating.  Here are some internet resources to help you do just that.
4. Finally, and most importantly, RELAX. Remember that you are a smart, dedicated, effective person.  Remember that you want to complete your applications.  Remember that you want to spend the time to make those applications good.  Remember that you want to finish them ahead of schedule, to reduce your stress.  Focusing on the fact that you want to do all these things will reduce any feelings you have that you “have” to follow the schedule.

In short, use schedules and timelines as a tool.  But remember that you are the one controlling the tool – the tool shouldn’t control you.

The four months from September to December are  the busiest for international students applying to U.S. universities.  On Sunday we talked about the Summer timeline.  Today let’s go over what we’ll need to do this fall, if we plan to begin attending a U.S. university in September of 2010.

September

• We should continue working on our myUface profile.  Not only is a myUface profile a good way to apply independently to a number of universities, it’s also a great place to store all of your application materials.  Having all your information in one place will make it easier to fill out other applications in the future.
• We should ask three individuals (teachers, probably) for letters of recommendation.  We want to do this early, in order to give them plenty of time to complete a good recommendation.  We’ll undoubtedly have more posts later about what to look for in a reccomender, but to talk about it briefly here:  the most important thing is that your recommender knows you well.  A lot of students try to get recommendations from “important” people who don’t really know them.  The result is an impressive name attached to an uninteresting recommendation.  It’s far better to get someone who knows you and can talk about your strengths.
• We should talk to our school about preparing transcripts.  Can they provide an English translation?  How long will it take?  Does it cost anything?
• Did we get a good TOEFL score?  If not, try again.

October

• We should have received applications by now from universities we’re interested in.  If we haven’t asked for application, we need to do so immediately. We should look carefully at each application, answering the following:  when is it due?  Is there a benefit to applying early?  Does the application require special information that other applications don’t require?   What are the essay questions?
• We should ask each university that we’re applying to about their requirements for transcripts.  Do they have any special format that they want us to submit transcripts in?  We should ask our school to send certified transcripts to each of the universities we’re applying to, following the university guidelines.
• We should make photocopies of the applications and begin to fill  in the copies. DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT fill in information on the originals.  That comes later.
• We should provide our recoommenders with the addresses of the universities, so they can send the recommendations to the right place.  Even better, we should give our recoomenders addressed envelopes so there’s no way they can make an accidental mistake.
• We should begin writing our essays and statements of purpose.
• If we haven’t already, we should take the SAT.

November

• November is a month for work, plain and simple.  We follow up on recommendation letters, we complete our essays, we finish the rough drafts of our applications and begin on the final copies, we make sure our transcripts have been prepared properly, we take and retake standardized tests (if need be).
• Some U.S. universities will have “early application” deadlines.  By applying to a university early, you may have a better chance of being accepted.  However, by applying early you are also promising that, if accepted, you’ll go to that university.  If there’s one university you really really want to get into, it’s a good idea to apply early.  Early application deadlines can be as early as November, so be aware!
• Even if you’re not applying early, there’s no penalty for submitting applications before the deadline.  So try to not only finish, but send off, as many applications as you can.

December

In December we’re doing three things:

1. We’re continuing to finish and send off applications.  Our goals should be to complete all of our applications by the New Year.
2. We’re corresponding with universities, verifying that they’ve received our materials, asking if they need more information, and responding promptly to any requests they may have.
3. If we have poor tests scores, we’re scrambling to take them one last time.

That’s the calendar for Fall.  In a future post we’ll look at the Winter timeline.

One thing that bears repeating:  don’t procrastinate.  No, really.  Don’t.

Many international students fall into the trap of thinking, Well, I have soooooo much time before applications to U.S. universities are due, I really don’t need to worry about them now. As our Summer timeline showed, however, there are things you should be doing right now in order to get ready for the application process.  The more you put those things off, the more you procrastinate, the more difficult it’s going to be to prepare a competitive application.

We know, however, that it’s not an easy thing to “just stop procrastinating.”  Procrastination is a psychological condition that “can be a persistent and debilitating disorder in some people, causing significant psychological disability and dysfunction.” Overcoming procrastination takes effort and willpower.

To help those of you who have a disposition towards procrastination, I’ve found what I consider to be five excellent anti-procrastination resources on the web.  These sites may  not solve your procrastination, but they’ll at least  increase your awareness of the problem.

1. The procrastination research group offers a ton of resources about procrastination.  Highlights include an online comic about procrastination, a collection of academic research that’s been done on procrastination, and a quick self-help guide.
2. Freedomain radio offers a unique and somewhat inspirational lecture about the root causes of procrastination on You Tube.  Although this is not a medical or psychological opinion, it makes sense in a weird kind of way, and the “solution” it offers to procrastination is worth hearing.
3. If you want a one-page, no-nonsense “how to” guide to overcoming procrastination, you can’t do much better than this, from getmoredone.com.
4. Want a solution to a pressing life problem?  Chances are, you should talk to Oprah.  In this piece from Oprah’s magazine, Martha Beck extracts several Dos and Donts from a book, “The Knowing-Doing Gap.”  As you might imagine, these tips focus on how to get from knowing we need to do something to actually doing something about it.
5. This article focuses on how the internet fuels our ability to procrastinate, and gives us 25 specific actions we can take to reduce the internet’s negative influence in this regard.

If you feel that you really have a procrastination problem, and need more information than is available on the web, you might think about buying a book.  I mentioned “The Knowing-Doing Gap” above.  It’s not specifically about procrastination, it should be noted.  A book that is about procrastination, and which is popular enough to have gone through a number of editions, is “Do it Now.”

One important note here:  although you should look into these and other resources if you have a problem with procrastination, realize that spending a lot of time reading about procrastination can in itself be a form of procrastination!!! So don’t overdo it.

Now . . . get to work!

I’m happy to announce the release of our first myUface student guide,“The Advantages and Disadvantages of University Study in the United States.”

It’s a compilation of some of our early blog work about the advantages and disadvantages of study in the U.S.

Enjoy!

the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-university-study-in-the-united-states

Many international students interested in applying to a U.S. university don’t know when to start. In this post I want to give you the Summer portion of the standard timeline for applying. Following this schedule will give you plenty of time to prepare a successful application.

To make it more “real,” let’s assume that we’re a student who wants to start studying at a U.S. university in the fall of 2010. What do we need to do?

Let’s start with what we should start doing now

• we should be investigating universities in the U.S., and doing basic research about the programs that they offer.
• we should begin preparing for the SAT and TOEFL exams
• we should begin to think broadly about our career plans and our life goals
• we should make sure we get good grades in any courses we are taking at our high school

Over the summer, we should:

• If we feel ready, we should take the TOEFL.  Doing so will give us time to retake it if we get a poor score.
• We should make sure to register for the SAT.  In 2008, the SAT had administrations in October, November, and December – if we register for the October test, we give ourselves time to retake the test in December.
• Make a list of the top 10 universities you know you’re interested in.  Over the summer, learn as much as you can about their programs, with the goal of narrowing that list down to 5-7 universities by the end of the summer.  When you compile your list of universities, you should try to divide them into three groups:  one or two universities that you “dream” about, but may not get into; three or four universities that are very good fits for you, and that you have a good chance of getting into; and one or two “safety” schools, which may not be your top choice, but which you like and will almost certainly get into.

As Summer draws to a close, be sure to:

• Prepare letters or e-mails to the universities in which you’re interested.  You’ll need to ask for application materials.
• Finish your myuface online profile (available early summer).  This is like applying to hundreds of schools at once. And it’s free.
• Keep asking yourself the BIG questions:  what do you want to do in life?  How will studying at a U.S. university help your goals?  These questions are obviously important, but having good, well-thought-out answers will help immensely when it comes to writing essays.

These are the essential steps to take over the summer months to make sure you’re prepared to apply to U.S. universities.

Once a week, every Saturday, I will be putting out a podcast. The goal of the podcast will be to cover the  subjects of the week in audio form, with guests occasionally.

On the first podcast the  co-founders of myUface joined me to talk about the reasons why they think international students should study in the U.S. The first podcast is right here.

If you like the podcast and want us to answer one of your questions on it, please send me your questions at podcast@myuface.com.

Other Podcasts

1. Podcast: Asking Questions - 18 Jul
2. Podcast: Give Yourself Time To Complete Your Application - 13 Jun
3. Podcast: What to Do if your Application is not Accepted - 06 Jun
4. Podcast - The View from Albania - 23 May
5. Podcast: University Rankings - 16 May
6. Podcast: Timeline for Applying to a U.S. University - 09 May
7. The Inaugural myUface Podcast (This post)

So we’ve considered most of the advantages and disadvantages of going to the U.S. for your university education.  But you may still be having difficulty deciding if studying in the U.S. is the right decision.  In this final post, I will present three pieces of advice about how you should go about making the decision whether or not to study in the U.S. (or anywhere else, for that matter):

1. Remember, you won’t be studying at a university called “the U.S.”  You’ll be studying at one particular university in the U.S.  So please, do some research about individual universities.  DON’T think that every university in the U.S. will be more or less the same, because they AREN’T.  Until you bring real universities into your decision-making process, you won’t be making an informed decision at all.
2. Keep your options open. Remember, you don’t need to decide right now that, no matter what, you’re studying in the U.S.  You have should research different programs in many countries, including your own.  You may want to consider pursuing entrance into U.S. universities and, at the same time, applying to universities in other countries as well.
3. Find good advisers. Making the decision to study in the U.S. will be easier if you connect with people who are familiar with the U.S. system of education.  Find such people and develop a relationship with them. The right adviser can help answer all your most difficult questions and lead to a better decision. In your country, look for an Educational Advising Center.  On the internet, you need go no further that myUface.  Remember, you can always ask us questions and we will always give you the best advice we can!

The decision to study in another country is a daunting one, but it can be fun as well.  The options for international students are more diverse and exciting than ever before.  Consider all your options carefully, but always remember:  if you do your research, take your time, keep your options open, and find good advisers, you will find the perfect program for you!

SERIES:  Why study in the U.S.?

• April 20 – Introduction
• April 21 – Diversity at U.S. campuses
• April 22 – Value of U.S. degrees
• April 23 – The Facilities
  
• April 24 – Practical focus of U.S. education
• April 25 – Variety of U.S. programs
• April 26 – The supposed disadvantages of study in the U.S.: visas
  
• April 27 - The supposed disadvantages of study in the U.S.: cost
  
• April 28 - Some real disadvantages of study in the U.S.:  it might not help in your profession
• April 29 – Some real disadvantages of study in the U.S.: will you fit in “going back?”
• April 30 – Other disadvantages
• May 1 – So, should you study in the U.S.?