myUface Blog

A lot of myUface users are asking if there’s a deadline to complete their myUface application, or whether there’s a deadline to complete university applications generally in the U.S.

The answer is, yes and no.

There is no strict deadline for completing your myUface application.  No matter when you complete it, we will do our best to connect you with a good program as soon as possible.  However, the earlier you start, the better.  If you are planning to study in the U.S. in the fall of 2010, you need to get us your completed application by sometime in March, probably, in order to give us time to connect you with universities.  Remember also that there is no promise that U.S. universities will be interested in your application.  This is especially true if you need a lot of financial assistance.

U.S. universities generally have a few different deadlines for submitting applications, and they tend to fill up their classes as applications come in.  Many of them do have a hard and fast deadline as well (usually in March, April, or sometimes May).

Also, remember that in a sense your myUface application is never complete – you can always come back and update or change it to make it better. Even if you miss out this year, you can get an early start on next year!

Several myUface users have asked if they can write their own essay rather than using the questions on the myUface application.  The answer is yes.  However, I wanted to provide a few cautionary words:

First, although it’s perfectly fine to use your own essay question for the myUface application, if you’re applying independently to a university, always use their question.

Second, if you’re going to use your own question, don’t use just any question.  Give some though to your question as well.  For undergraduate applicants, you want a question that will reveal who you are as a person, and what your aspirations are.  Possibilities include:

• What are you most proud of?
• What’s the biggest obstacle you’ve overcome in your life?
• What would your friends tell us about you if we asked?

For graduate applications, you want a question that not only tells us about yourself but also tells us about your knowledge of your field of study.  Possibilities include:

• How will your study of _____ impact your career and society?
• What are the biggest challenges facing practitioners of _____ in your country?

Good luck with your essays, and remember, we have a load of essay writing advice on the blog:

http://www.myuface.com/blog/2009/09/09/how-to-write-an-essay-for-university-applications/

Every university application will ask for your GPA, or Grade Point Average.

Most will also ask you to supply the “scale” for your grades.

For GPA, you need to put in the average of the marks your received.  For example, if you got a 3, 3, 4, 5, 5 in five classes, the average grade you received is a 4.

You also need to provide the scale of those marks.  For example, if you got an average score of 4 out of a possible score of 100, that’s bad.  If you got an average score of 4 out of a possible score of 5, that’s good!

Over the course of my career working with international students, I have come across many incomplete applications.  Sometimes they are missing essays, sometimes they are missing test scores, sometimes they are missing basic biographical information.  The attitude of the student in these cases has generally been, “Well, it’s your responsibility to tell me what I’m missing and to help me assemble my application.”

Now, at myUface we actually enjoy helping students complete their applications, and are more than happy to do it.  However, I have to warn you, if you submit an incomplete application to a university your application will generally go straight to the trash heap.

I understand filling out an application is hard, and requires a lot of information.  But so is studying at a university!  In the minds of admissions officers, if you can’t complete an application, you probably can’t be counted on to complete other academic assignments.

So please, if you apply independently to universities, remember it is YOUR responsibility to complete the entirety of the application!

A number of students at myuface (and international students elsewhere) are in need of a lot of scholarship support in order to be able to study in the United States.  There’s nothing at all wrong with that, and we here at myuface try to find universities that will offer the maximum amount of financial aid to students.

However, it’s also important to realize that universities very rarely offer international students a “free ride.”  When they do, it’s usually because the student’s application (test scores, essays, academic record, etc.) is very, very good.  Even in those cases, many universities require some contribution from the student.

For that reason, as you fill out your application on myuface, or as you apply to U.S. universities independently, you should have realistic expectations about just how much help you can expect from those universities financially.  Chance are, you’re going to either have to:

a) contribute some funds yourself; or

b)  work extra hard to identify funds from other sources.

We hope we can offer good advice on both counts:  our blog has a lot of information about finding financial aid.