myUface Blog

For today’s mailbag I want to respond to some common questions we get when talking to students (or others) about myUface.com.  Fairly soon we’ll incorporate some of these into a “Frequently Asked Questions” page on the main site.

OK, here we go:

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.

When will myUface be open for business?

myUface.com is currently building a strong group of university partners. We plan to open the site to students on in early summer, 2009.

In the meantime, please visit this blog for daily advice about getting into university in the U.S.  The blog is also a good place to post comments or questions about the process of getting into university in the U.S.

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:

• simplifying the application process
• providing you with a way to advertise yourself to many different universities at the same time
• giving you advice about how to improve your application

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:

• you will be able to get myUface.com’s team of professional proofreaders to read and comment on your application essays.
• you will also be able to have myUface.com interview you, and comment on your interview.

Have an additional question? E-mail it to blog@myuface.com

Every Friday we’ll open the myUface.com mailbag and answer a question or questions from international students.  Here’s how it works:  you send us a question at blog@myuface.com, we research your question thoroughly, and then we provide an answer.  So if you have a question about anything, send it to us and we will do the work to answer it.

Today’s question:

I am interested in mastering in the dental field at an American university.  How should I send the program of my college to American dental schools?

From your question I understand that you’ve already received an undergraduate degree from a university in your home country, and you want to come to the U.S. to get an advanced degree in dentistry.  Unfortunately, this is one of those situations where American higher education probably won’t help prepare you for work in your chosen field (dentistry).

A “Master’s” for Dentistry doesn’t really exist in the U.S.  Dentistry is clinical training, which means more or less that it’s not broken up along the lines of the degree systems common in other parts of the world.  Every American state varies, but in general, although it is possible to continue studies in the dental field, it is extremely complicated.

There is no such thing as master’s in dentistry or 2 year residency in dentistry (which is common abroad). Pretty much, a student would have to come over take some undergrad courses to prepare himself for DAT (Dental Admission Test). In other words, the student pretty much starts from scratch.  Even if you are a dentist who is already practicing, when coming to the U.S. you will still have to basically start over or be in school for another 3 or 4 years depending on the state.  So if you have already finished your undergraduate work in dentistry, the U.S. may not be a good destination for continuing study.

Have a question?  E-mail us at blog@myuface.com.

Over the course of my career I’ve had the chance to participate in a lot of online forums, blogs, etc. with international students. And I’ve noticed something disturbing: in general (and obviously there are numerous exceptions), international students don’t seem to like leaving comments or questions. They like access to information, but they seem hesitant to challenge that information or express their opinion of that information (again, with many, many individual exceptions).

This blog just has to be different.  We have lofty goals here. I’ve looked around on the internet and found a lot of information for international students, but none of it seems quite complete. I want to create a site that is complete – that addresses the total range of concerns for international students. But in order to do this I absolutely need your help. Please comment on the blog. Tell me what posts you like, what posts you don’t like, which of my opinions you think are wrong, what I could do to make the blog better, etc. Argue, debate, questions, discuss. Because a blog is so much more than its author – it’s the entire community of readers that makes a blog special.

If you don’t want to leave a comment, for whatever reason, that’s fine – but remember you can always e-mail me your comments, questions and suggestions as well, at blog@myUface.com.

Please take advantage of this blog as a resource. I will always try to answer your questions!

OK, now that we’ve said that, let’s get to work.