myUface Blog

Over the past week we’ve had hundreds and hundreds of new users visit the site.  I wanted to take a moment and share with you some resources we have that may be of interest to you:

First, we have two myUface guides:

1. The Advantages and Disadvantages of a University Education in the United States
2. Looking for a University in the United States

You can donwload both of these guides (for free of course) here.

Second, you should check out our Series:

1. Should you study in the U.S.? A comprehensive and honest guide to the benefits and disadvantages of a U.S. education (April 2009).
2. Looking for a U.S. University – All of the information you should consider in selecting a U.S. university – including some things you may not have thought about (May 2009).
3. Finding Financial Aid for your U.S. Education – Need help paying for a U.S. education?  Here’s a guide to how to look for and secure financial support.  It’s not easy, but it’s worth a try (June / July 2009)!
4. Preparing For A Visa Interview – A three part series on the misconceptions many students have about student visa interviews (July 2009).
5. Universities in the Fifty States – we look at what it would be like to live as an international student in each of the fifty states.
6. Writing Essays for University Applications – full of advice on how to write, edit and submit an essay with your university application.

The myUface site tracks the completeness of your application automatically.  When you log in, you can see the percentage of questions in the application that you have answered.

Now, you don’t necessarily have to answer 100% of the questions in order to have a complete application.  Some questions won’t apply to you, after all.

Below is a checklist of four things you need to do in order to have a complete application:

• Answer all applicable questions on each page of the application and on the profile
• attach a resume or CV
• attach an essay
• attach a recommendation or recommendations

When you’ve done those four things, your application is complete.  But you’re not done yet.  You still need to press the “SHARE MY APPLICATION” button under the “APPLICATION” tab.

Be careful, though – once you press this button, your information will be viewable by universities.

As always, remember to ask questions.  The first place to stop for information is the myUface Help Section.

We here at myUface want to take a moment to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving.  And, as Thanksgiving is a holiday that encourages all of us to take a moment and reflect on the wonderful things we’ve been provided in our lives, I want to share something I’m thankful for, that helps explain a little bit the spirit behind this website.

I am extremely thankful for the fact that I was born in a country – through no merit of my own! – where it was very easy to keep informed about colleges and universities.  When I was 17, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and I certainly had no idea where I wanted to go to university.  I was very lucky that in the U.S. universities bend over backwards to reach out to students.  Every day it seems I got lots of mail from universities advertising their programs.  Then, at school, we had guidance counselors whose job it was to help us find colleges and apply to them.

At the time, of course, all of this seemed normal to me.  When I worked abroad, though, I got to see how difficult it is in some countries to find out about universities and apply to them.  In some of the countries I have worked in, students have to be extremely dedicated in order to have a chance at getting into any university, and they certainly don’t have someone assigned to help them.  For them, the thing I took for granted – having lots of universities contact me and show interest in me – is almost impossible.  I was constantly amazed  by the maturity of the students I met.   Had I been faced with such difficulties at seventeen, I very much doubt I would have succeeded.

So I am thankful for the accident of being born in a country where my lack of drive did not penalize me.

And this is a large part of the reason why we created myUface.  We hope that through this website we can make it easier – even just a little bit easier – for those hard-working, dedicated students abroad to find the university of their dreams.  We hope we can extend the benefits we enjoyed as American students – the benefits of having universities contact us, reach out to us, compete over us - to students from the rest of the world.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

The myUface application asks students to estimate the amount they will be able to devote to their own education.

A lot of myUface users are intimidated by these questions.  Some think that, even if they can pay for their education, they should answer differently in order to increase their chances of getting a scholarship.  Other students, who are able to contribute very little, may feel pressured to say they can contribute something, in order to be more attractive to universities.

Let’s clear up the confusion:  the best way to answer these questions is to tell the truth regarding your financial situation.   Even if you can pay your way, many universities may still be interested in offering you a scholarship.  Even if you can’t pay for any of your costs, a university may be able to offer you full tuition.  So no matter what you write, don’t feel that your answer is “disqualifying” you from consideration.  Just give the best estimate you can as to how much you’d be able to contribute.

It’s much better to give universities an accurate picture of your situation now, at the beginning of the process, than later, when the situation may be much more awkward.

Do you haveother questions about the application?  E-mail us at blog@myuface.com or visit the myUface Help Section.

The myUface application gives you the opportunity to upload an essay to your application.  We feel this is important because an essay is an unmatched opportunity to demonstrate your uniqueness as a candidate.

There are two sample essay questions we give you:

1. What do you expect to be the most challenging part of studying in the United States? How will you handle this challenge?
2. You are the assistant to the president of your country. The president has asked you to prepare a policy brief on an issue and to give advice how the issue should be solved. Describe the policy issue and your position, being persuasive in your argument of how you would handle the situation.

We selected these questions because they are similar to many questions that are included as part of an application for an individual university.  By answering them – and answering them well – you will demonstrate the kind of candidate you are to interested universities.

Therefore, we strongly recommend that you take the time to write and upload an essay.  At the very least, it will be good practice!

And remember, the myUface blog has a lot of advice about how to write an essay.  Check it out, and don’t forget to send us your questions at blog@myuface.com.

Visit the myUface Help Section for the answers to more of your questions.

On your myUface profile, there’s a space for a “Personal Statement.”  You may be wondering what you should write here.  The answer is simple.  Write a short statement about three things:

1. Who you are.
2. Where you want to go.
3. What kind of education you are looking for in order to get where you want to go.

The “Personal Statement” is not an essay, and so you should not feel pressured to write something long or structured.  The Personal Statement is something that universities will look at, however, when they first glance at your profile.  You want it to be an accurate advertisement of yourself as a candidate.

Things to include in your Personal Statement:

1. What you’re interested in studying
2. What your career plans are, if any
3. Any information about yourself that is especially interesting or unique

Things to avoid in your Personal Statement:

1. Any statements that are not true
2. Trying to show an interest in everything
3. Anything that does not relate to your field of study and career plans (for example, “I really want to study at a university near the beach so I can get a good tan.”)

We want to update our current users and welcome our new users, and this short podcast seems like the perfect way to do it!

We get lots of questions about the fact that myUface is free for everyone – free for universities and free for students.  People seem skeptical:

“Is it really free?  I don’t have to pay anything?”

“OK, we understand, it’s ‘free.’  But seriously, what do I have to pay?”

This skepticism is understandable.  After all, in the multi-billion dollar industry built around international students, most companies are out to make money.  Students are used to paying for test preparation, for agents, for visa help – for almost everything.

Nonetheless, it’s true:  myUface is FREE for students, and FREE for universities.

No, really, it is.

The next question we get is simple:  “Why?”

Look, it’s not that we hate money, or that we don’t care about making a profit:  we do.  But our first concern is creating something that is useful in bringing international students and universities together.  All of the founders of myUface have worked abroad.  We have all met talented, smart students who would have been great successes at a U.S. university, but never made it there because the system of applying to those universities was too complicated, or the application fees were too high.  It breaks our heart to think of all the students scattered around the world that deserve to be at a U.S. university, and could get there with just a little help.

If we can be that help, we’ll be happy.

Then, after a year or two, if the site is working well and if we’re making those connections, then we’ll stop and think about how to make a small amount of money.  Maybe through advertising?  Through university subscriptions?  Who knows?

But for now, we’re free.  F-R-E-E FREE!  We don’t want to let something as stupid as money get in the way of what we think is a pretty good idea.  And it’s worth mentioning, there are some things we will never do:

• We will never take money from students.  Never, never, never.
• We will never charge universities a placement fee based on a particular student.  We may one day ask them to subscribe to the site, but we will never charge them for students once they’re signed up.

In this way we can avoid conflicts of interest and keep the focus where it needs to be:  on getting talented students to U.S. universities.

myUface will accept students with US passports, and will share their information with U.S. universities.  It will be up to the universities how they want to handle U.S. citizens living abroad.

Your academic record does matter.  However, most universities will also consider your work experience, recommendations, essays, test scores, and other factors.  Just because you don’t have perfect grades does NOT mean you won’t be of interest to U.S. universities.  At the same time, you may want to work extra hard on the other aspects of your application in order to compensate for an average academic record.