Hi All,
I’m leaving for a week’s long vacation today. The blog will be onhiatus until I return. When I do return, I hope to be able to announce – finally – the opening of the main myUface page.
Thanks,
Nate
After some time dancing around the internet, I stumbled across this collection of basic information about culture shock and how to deal with it. The website isn’t the fanciest you’ve seen, but the information is good.
I hope you find it useful.
In honor of those international students who are arriving in these weeks on U.S. campuses, I though I might post this excellent introduction the a subject all international students should be familiar with: culture shock. Enjoy!
What can myUface do for me?
At myUface.com we will help you create a student profile and application and share it with our university partners. Your profile includes everything a university needs to know about you – your educational goals, your financial information, your application materials (like essay and test scores), and even fun things like sports you play or hobbies you enjoy.
Once we walk you through the creation of your profile, myUface will help find the right university and program for you. What’s even better, our universities will be able to review your profile and contact you if they think you would be a good fit for them.
When we find a university that fits your needs, and that university likes your profile, the university will invite you to apply.
Will myUface get me into a U.S. university?
myUface doesn’t have control over the admissions decisions of U.S. universities, so we can’t promise that by using our service you’ll get into a U.S. university. However, we can greatly improve your chances of finding a U.S. university by:
The truth is, the process of getting into a U.S. university is not as complicated as it seems. You can do it, if you are dedicated and willing to work hard. And remember, you’re not alone: we will be there to help.
How much does myUface cost?
myUface is free for students. That means that you can create and publish an online profile for U.S. universities to look at for free.
In the future, we will offer some additional services for an extra cost:
Does myUface.com offer scholarships?
No. But some of our university partners may offer scholarships to outstanding international students. In addition, at the myUface.com blog we will give some advice about international financial aid opportunities.
Who is in charge of myUface?
myUface is owned and operated by three Americans who together have 27 years of experience in the field of international education, and who have spent a combined 19 years living abroad. We decided to start my Uface because we got tired of seeing bright, talented students who dreamed of studying in the U.S. go to universities in the U.K. or Australia simply because the system of college admissions in the U.S. was so difficult to understand.
We want to help as many students as possible gain access to the world’s best education. That’s why we created myUface.com.
Good question. There are a few answers:
First, myUface.com charges a university a fee whenever a student from myUface.com is placed at their university. Through collecting fees from universities, we can offer our basic suite of services to students at no charge.
Second, myUface.com receives a small amount of advertising revenue.
Third, myUface.com does charge students for a few optional services.
Finally – and most importantly – the reason we founded myUface.com is not to make money. Of course we’d like the site to succeed financially, but more than anything else we’d like to see more international students in the U.S.
What Information Do You Need to Complete a myUface Profile? Follow this link to find a separate post addressing this question.
Other questions? Mail them to blog@myuface.com.
The goal of the myUface blog is to collect, in one place, useful information for international students interested in studying in the Unisted States. For new visitors to the blog, I wanted to create a quick list of the highlights from previous blog posts.
This is just the beginning. We’re going to keep sharing as much information as possible in the hope of helping you attain your dream of studying in the U.S.
Please remember to share your questions and comments with us as often as possible. You can leave a comment on any blog post, and you can always e-mail us at blog@myuface.com.
Let’s briefly go over the different information you’ll need in order to complete a profile on myUface. When you first look at this list, you may think, Wow, that’s a lot of information! Remember that this is generally the same information you’d need to complete an application to a U.S. university independently, so you’ll need to collect it sometime. It’s actually quite useful to be able to keep it all together in one place, online, here at myUface.
You don’t need all this information to start a profile, but you will need it in order to complete one.
User Name and Password: You’ll need to choose a user name and password. Make sure it’s something you can remember easily.
Field of Study: Don’t worry too much about this. A lot of students don’t know exactly what they’d like to study. It does hep us, however, to know what subject you’re most interested in.
Biographical information: this is the easy stuff: your name, date of birth, citizenship etc. You’ll also need to input your passport data if you have a passport (if not, obviously you won’t be able to do so, and that’s OK!)
Contact information: Your telephone number, street address, etc. Basically we want to know how we’d get a hold of you. We also ask for your Skype name if you have a Skype account.
Academic Questions: What kind of university are you interested in? What kind of program? We want as much information as possible, so we can try to find a good fit for you as a student.
Family Information: We need some background information on your family. We also ask in this section questions about what percentage of your educational costs your family is prepared to support. Try to answer as accurately as possible. There’s no “right” or “wrong” answer, but it’s a question universities will ask immediately. This is a good point to remind everyone that myUface does not offer financial aid, although we certainly try to provide good advice on how to find some.
Academic History: You’ll need to prepare information, usually in the form of transcripts, that show how you’ve done in school up until this point. You’ll also need recommendations from individuals, such as teachers, that know you and your strengths as a candidate.
Standardized Tests: The kind of tests you’ll need to take will depend on the kind of program in which you’re interested. Generally speaking, for undergraduate students you’ll need SAT and TOEFL results.
Language Information: We’d like to know about your native language, about any other languages you speak, and a self-assessment of how well you speak those languages.
Extra Information: Here we give you an opportunity to share other information that might be valuable to a university (such as any interest you have in sports). We’re going to be updating this section very frequently, so please let us know your thoughts.
Today on our tour of U.S. States: Minnesota! The Land of Ten Thousand Lakes!
One of Minnesota's Ten Thousand Lakes
Activities
If you’ve been reading this series at all, by now you know that in many states, the primary activities involve the Great Outdoors. Well, guess what? The same is true of Minnesota, and not only because it has ten thousand lakes. There’s great hiking, fishing, canoeing and hunting throughout the state. But don’t forget about Minneapolis and Saint-Paul, two very developed cities that have all the amenities you can expect from big urban areas. In particular, Minnesota has a very lively, laid-back arts scene with lots of great museums and galleries – to say nothing of coffee shops and bars with live music.
One of Minnesota's many museums
Extracurricular activities
You can find a ton of clubs that take advantage of Minnesota’s wonderful natural beauty. You’ll also find many clubs that are focused on the arts, or on exploring the nooks and crannies of Minnesota’s creative and unique culture. And you can expect some clubs that explore the bright side of cold winters, such as clubs for ice fishing, hockey, etc.
Universities in Minnesota will tend to have a more laid back, “cool” social scene – less large, loud parties (although those exist) and more small, fairly intimate engagements. There is a lot to do in Minnesota, and universities tend to be fairly well situated within communities, so there is a lot of emphasis on going outside of the dorms (or the bars) and doing something. Wroth noting here: you can’t be in a Minnesota town or city for more than three minutes without finding a really cool place – a cafe, a coffee shop, something – to hang out in.
There are a ton of festivals and events going on in Minnesota, seemingly at all times of the year. They are often quirky (example: races with boats made from old milk cartons), but there are a lot of them and the atmosphere at such events is generally festive. The Saint Paul-Minneapolis area (known as “The Twin Cities”) is very beautiful and has tons of things to see and do. Besides that, there is the aforementioned nature in Minnesota. There really are 10,000 lakes – or it as least seems like there are. And don’t forget the shore of Lake Superior, which provides something like an oceanfront – including lighthouses!
OK, some bad news here. Minnesota experiences extremes in temperature – very, very hot summers and very, very cold winters. Minnesota also gets just about every kind of bizarre, extreme weather – heavy rain, hail, snow, blizzards, tornadoes, thunderstorms, etc. Now, for those of us who like to experience different weather, this variety is a good thing – but if you’re looking for a more constant climate, you may want to look elsewhere.
If you’re interested in more weather data about Minnesota than you could possible imagine, or if you just want to know how much rain fell in St. Paul on October 12, 1965, go to this site (and bring your calculators).
The cost of living in St. Paul – Minneapolis, Minnesota is 39.7% less than in New York; but salaries are only 9.9% less than in New York. (Note to self: move to Minnesota).
Source is here.
Holy Toledo! Or should I say, Holy Duluth! Minnesota has a lot of universities. And here’s a list of them!
Great questions today from a reader:
I just want to ask you, how I can apply and send my application to US universities through this website? I have some difficulties to understand this site, therefore I’m looking forward your kindly help. Thank you!
I’ve heard from a number of other students with similar questions. You’re wondering, when and how can I use this site?
This is a very good question. I understand why we have these questions. The simple answer is that, right now, you can’t send your application to US universities through the website, because the website isn’t 100% ready yet. We are working around the clock to get it finished soon – hopefully by the end of this week. At that time, you’ll be able to go onto the site, create a profile, and begin filling out your application. Now, what will happen after you complete your application? We will share it with our university partners, looking for a good “fit” between you and a university. Hopefully, we’ll find one.
We also will have continuous, daily blog advice about how to prepare and improve your application. The blog has been on-again, off-again for a few days as we focus on the website, but once the site is up, the posts will keep on coming!
In short, please be patient for just a few more days. We’re almost there!
When you spend every day working with U.S. universities and international students on gritty details like applications, tuition and financial aid, it’s easy sometimes to lose sight of the big picture. The big picture is this: universities in the U.S. are amazing communities of learning that empower students to do research that will have a real impact.
Take this Pakistani graduate student – he’s come up with a controversial and difficult subject for his graduate research. He wants to create a computer model of how suicide bombs explode.
Usmani’s aim is to save lives by helping everyone from emergency workers to investigators predict — or re-create — in painstaking detail all that happens when a terrorist’s bomb bursts in a crowded place.
Can you imagine the controversy this topic has caused?
At seminars, some scholars appeared incredulous and suspicious. This spring, one stormed out of Usmani’s presentation at an engineering symposium in Nashville.
It’s a very unconventional subject, but one that could produce life-saving research.
He built a computer simulation that looks at crowd formations, the bomber’s location and the type of explosives. The model could be used to minimize deaths and injuries by influencing crowd control. It could aid emergency workers seeking victims by showing where they’re most likely to be amid the rubble. Or it could be used by investigators who reconstruct attacks to solve mysteries, a method seen in television shows such as “CSI” on CBS.
Daniel Kirk, the 34-year-old rocket propulsion engineer who is Usmani’s doctoral adviser at Florida Tech, overcame his surprise about the topic by understanding the goal of saving lives. The two men got to know each other, sometimes meeting into the wee hours of the day.
“When you peel away all the issues as to why he wants to study this, what seems to be at the core is a very altruistic question: How can I use this computer simulation to help save lives and minimize injuries?”
These are the sorts of innovative – if controversial – learning projects that happen all the time at U.S. universities. Forget what you think about Usmani’s research – just consider what it means that he was able to conduct it in the first place. My hope is that this very freedom, which the U.S. university system gives freely to all of its students, at almost any level, will produce the kind of innovations that make real impacts in the everyday lives of people around the planet.
For anyone who wants a quick eight minute guide to why it is so, SO important to internationalize your education, I highly recommend the following video, produced in June 2007. The message I take away? Education, education, education. Your education is the best investment you will ever make.
What do you think? I’d love to hear your impressions of the film:
Welcome to the myUface blog!
Our goal is to provide you with all the information you need to pursue your education in the United States.
