myUface Blog

Dear Friends,

We are very pleased to announce the official opening of the myUface online profile, available, FOR FREE, at www.myuface.com. I want to take a few moments of your time to remind you about how you can use this tool to gain admission to U.S. universities.

The myUface.com student profile is a way for you to provide the information a university needs in order to evaluate you as a potential student. It includes biographical and financial information, academic history, notes about your hobbies and interests, and much more. Once you create an online profile, we will share your information with our university partners, looking for an institution that would be a good fit. In addition, our university partners will search the myUface database looking for students that fit their needs. Our ultimate goal is to connect talented international students like yourself with U.S. universities.

I need to stop and mention again that all of this is FREE for you as an international student.

The online profile is not 100% complete. Over the next weeks and months, we’ll be constantly adding new features to increase your ability to present yourself to U.S. universities. But please, start your profile now. The U.S. admissions process will start very soon, so there’s no time to lose.

Also, please feel free to let us know what you think about the service myUface provides, and how we could improve that service. This is our very first week of operation, so I’m sure some things will need work. The only way we’ll learn about what we need to change is if you, the students, let us know. So e-mail us early and often: contact@myuface.com.

Two more quick notes: remember, myUface is just one tool to help you get into a U.S. university. You should also pursue other options, like applying independently to U.S. universities. To help you, we have a daily blog with advice on preparing your university applications both here at myUface and on your own. Remember, our goal is for you to fulfill your dreams of studying in the U.S. We think myUface can help, but if you can find another way to realize your dreams, we’ll be just as happy for you.

Alright, friends, time moves on. In a few short months U.S. universities will begin to make decisions about which students will be part of the 2010 class of incoming students. It’s time to get to work – we’re ready if you are.

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.

Great question today about myUface.  A student wrote to ask when the site would be fully operational.  He notes that we had mentioned before that it might be ready by the middle of July.  So, he wonders, what’s going on?

Great question.  Right now at myUface we are focused on two things:

1)  Completing the site so that it’s useful for students and easy to use.

2)  Reaching out to universities to partner with us.

I’ll be totally honest:  both are taking longer than we’d planned.  But not so much longer than we planned.  I would say you can expect to see a fully functional site sometime in the next few weeks.  And sometime soon after than you can expect universities to begin using myUface to meet international students.

In the meantime, please, keep reading the blog, keep researching universities, and keep thinking about your career goals.

We begin our look at choosing a university in specific U.S. states with my home state, Colorado.

Activities

Colorado has a very diverse array of activities, many of which are centered on the Rocky Mountains, which roughly divide the state into two parts:  the eastern plains and the western, mountainous slopes.  If you like the outdoors and activities in them, Colorado is going to be a great place to study.  Hiking, biking, skiing, fishing, rafting, birdwatching, nature photography, camping, snowboarding, ice skating – the list is almost endless.

Extracurricular activities

Because of the wonderful natural setting of many of Colorado’s universities, there are a number of clubs that encourage students to involve themselves in the great outdoors.  In addition, clubs or volunteer groups that seek to protect or preserve the environment are very common.  Finally, because many students partake of an active lifestyle, sports are very much a large part of most students’ experience.

Social Activities

Many of Colorado’s universities are situated in medium-large sized towns such as Boulder, Fort Collins, Greeley or Colorado Springs.  Because these towns are somewhat dependent on their student populations, there will tend to be a large amount of student-oriented bars, clubs, and other businesses, serving to create good opportunities for a healthy social life.

Denver, the capitol, is a fairly large city.  It lacks the size and frenzy of mega cities like New York or L.A., but does have many, if not all, of the same amenities (clubs, mega-malls, stadiums for concerts, etc.)

Tourist Sites

The number one tourist site by far in Colorado is Rocky Mountain National Park.  The other main tourist attractions in Colorado are the ski resorts.  There are a number of other national parks and wonders to be seen, including ancient native american dwellings at Mesa Verde.  If you love natural beauty, you could spend years in Colorado and not even scratch the surface.

Weather

Colorado has a reputation for crazy weather.  It’s one of the few places on earth where it can be hot and sunny one hour and cold and snowy the next.  If you like predictability in your weather, Colorado is probably not for you.  Overall, though, the weather is quite good:  hot in the summer and cold in the winter, but without much humidity, with long falls and winters.  Here’s the summary from the Colorado Climate Center.

Cost of Living

One quick note on how I’ll be providing this information:  I’m going to use New York City, one of the most expensive places in the U.S. (and the world), as a baseline.  I’ll then tell you:

a)  how much less it costs to live in another place; and

b)  how much less employers pay

I’m including the data on employer’s pay because it gives you an idea of the overall quality of life there.  If, for example, the cost of living is 10% less but the average salaries are 25% less, it probably means people living in that location have a lower standard of living than in New York (at least in financial terms).  If, on the other hand, the cost of living is 25% less but people make only 10% less, the standard of living is probably higher than in New York.  Does that make sense?  If not, let me know.  Anyway, onto the data for Colorado.

The cost of living in Denver, Colorado is 39% less than in New York; salaries are 12% less than in New York.

Notable Universities

Here is Wikipedia’s list of Colorado universities.

Posts in this Series

1. Choosing a University in the U.S.: North Dakota - 12 Sep
2. Choosing a University in the U.S.: Minnesota - 12 Aug
3. Choosing a University in the U.S.: Alaska - 31 Jul
4. Choosing a University in the U.S.: Utah - 24 Jul
5. Choosing a University in the U.S.: Colorado (This post)
6. New myUface Guide and New Series - 20 Jul

I’m pleased to announce the release of our newest international student guide, “Looking for a University in the United States:  A myUface Guide.”

The guide is based on a series from May, with some editing and some additional material included.  Donwload it, share it, comment on it, draw on it, rip and up and use it to stuff your pillow . . . whatever!

Also, starting today, we’ll be elaborating on the guide by taking a state by state look at universities, using the guide’s criteria for evaluating universities.  In other words, we won’t be looking at rankings, academics, etc; but rather at other factors like climate, tourist sites, nightlife, etc.

Obviously, since there are fifty states, the series will take at least fifty posts.  In between I’ll still want to talk about other things, like applications, interviews, etc. – so my goal is to finish by the end of 2009.

I hope you’ll join me for the journey!

We’ll start tomorrow – Tuesday – with my birth state, beautiful Utah.

Posts in this Series

1. Choosing a University in the U.S.: North Dakota - 12 Sep
2. Choosing a University in the U.S.: Minnesota - 12 Aug
3. Choosing a University in the U.S.: Alaska - 31 Jul
4. Choosing a University in the U.S.: Utah - 24 Jul
5. Choosing a University in the U.S.: Colorado - 21 Jul
6. New myUface Guide and New Series (This post)

A student wrote to ask if there’s such a thing as asking too many question sof a university – especially when it comes to financial aid.  The student is afraid that asking too many questions might annoy the university representative, and hurt his or her chances of being accepted to that university.

The answer is that sure, at some point you should stop pestering university staff about financial aid.  If you ask about scholarship opportunities and loans, how other international students finance their education, etc., and you receive all the answers, then at that point there’s really not much more the university staff can tell you.  At that point asking more questions might seem a little pushy.

But in general, so long as you are polite, and so long as you remember that the university admissions staff has thousands of students they work with, and not just one (you), than you should feel free to ask as many questions as you want.  Remember, the job of admissions staff is to find qualified, talented students and enroll them in their university.

So while there is such a thing as askign too many questions, the much more common problem international students have is not asking enough!

To conclude our long series about financial aid, I wanted to take a step back from all the information about scholarships, tuition waivers, loans and so on and ask a very basic question:

What is a U.S. education worth?  What is its value?

And the reason I want to ask that is this:  many international students approach studying in the U.S. as something that would be “nice,” provided they can get financial aid.  “Sure,” they say, “I’d love to study in the U.S., but only if I can get a scholarship.”  These students are not placing a high value on U.S. education, since they are in effect saying that they would only study in the U.S. if it were free.

Well, for the vast majority of students, it’s not free.  Period. Like it or not, most of you will have to pay a significant portion of the bill for your studies.  Whether that portion is 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% will depend on your ability to sucessfully secure financial aid; but the chances of getting 100% of your education funded are pretty slim.

So, you need to ask yourself, how much are you willing to pay, to sacrifice, in order to get a U.S. education?

In answering this question, it’s useful to think of education as an investment in your future.  A better education will, generally speaking, get you a better job, with a higher salary, and more chances to make a large impact, which could lead to an even higher salary, etc.  In trying to quantify exactly how good an investment education is, some have suggested that the “return” on education is between 10 and 15%:

Private rates of return . . . range from 10 to 15 percent – levels that are competitive with returns on most alternative investments available to individuals.

Now, of course, like every investment, for this one to work you, the investor, have to make good decisions.  You have to research career paths, select a good university and program, and maintain the value of your investment through hard work and study.  But, assuming you do all these things, you can expect a healthy return on your educational investment.

Keep that in mind as you look for financial aid.  Remember, it’s great if you can find someone to help pay for your university study; but the person who has the most to benefit from your education is you, and so you should therefore consider investing your own money as well.

By combining your talents and funds with modest assistance from the different sources we’ve talked about, you can make your dream of studying in the U.S. a reality.

Posts in this Series

1. Your Education is an Investment (This post)
2. Researching Scholarship Opportunities - 07 Jul
3. How to Ask Questions About Financial Aid - 28 Jun
4. Ninth Option for Financial Aid: Loans - 27 Jun
5. The Difference Between Scholarships and Fellowships - 26 Jun
6. Eigth Option for Financial Aid: U.S. Universities - 25 Jun
7. Seventh Option for Financial Aid: Ethnic Communities in the United States - 24 Jun
8. Sixth Option for Financial Aid: Private Organizations in the U.S. - 23 Jun
9. Fifth Option for Financial Aid: U.S. Government Programs - 22 Jun
10. Fourth Option for Financial Aid: Scholarships from International Organizations - 20 Jun
11. How to Ask for Support - 18 Jun
12. Looking for Support in Your Country: Why it Makes Sense - 17 Jun
13. Third Option for Financial Aid: Individuals in Your Country - 16 Jun
14. Second Option for Financial Aid: Private Businesses or Foundations in Your Country - 15 Jun
15. First Option for Financial Aid: Government Programs in Your Country - 14 Jun
16. The Third Step in Financial Aid: Find What's Available - 11 Jun
17. The Second Step In Financial Aid: Identify Your Assets - 10 Jun
18. The First Step In Financial Aid: Identify Your Needs - 09 Jun
19. Finding Financial Aid for your U.S. Education - 08 Jun

What is the best place to learn about financial aid for international students?  The question is difficult to answer, as there are a bewildering array of websites, books, magazines and other resources that claim to be the best source for information on the topic.  A quick Google search for “international student financial aid” reveals hundreds of possible sources of information.

In this post, then, I’m going to focus on four places you can go for information.  Two are online resources, and two are “actual” places with “actual” people to help you.  This is by no means an exhaustive list of all financial aid resources. Rather, it is a starting point for you to investigate financial aid opportunities.

Educational Advising Centers

Your local Educational Advising Center.  These centers are supported by the U.S. Department of State, and exist to “advise prospective international students and other audiences on higher education and study opportunities in the United States.”  They give you access to all the online and hardcopy financial aid resources through their libraries.  They also serve as a meeting place for students interested in studying abroad.  Finally, they are staffed by Educational Advisors, individuals with an in-depth knowledge of the process of applying for and receiving financial aid.   If you have an educational advising center in your area, it is probably the best place to begin your search for financial aid opportunities.

The website of the U.S. Embassy

The U.S. Embassy website in your country will have a section called “Education and Culture” (or something very similar).  There you will find a wealth of information about studying in the U.S.  Here, for example, is a list of financial aid links for citizens of Thailand, compiled by the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok.

The information you can find at the website of the U.S. Embassy in your country is valuable because, first and foremost, it is specific to your country. If there are scholarships offered by your government, for example, chances are these scholarships will be listed on the Embassy page.  Embassy web pages will also provide links to the more reputable web sites offering financial aid information.

The (international) admissions offices of the universities to which you’re applying.

Here are a few simple questions you should ask to every single university to which you’re applying:

• What financial aid is available for international students through your university?
• How do international students at your university generally finance their education?
• Are there any potential sources of financial aid that you would advise me to look into?

Admissions officers – especially if they specialize in international students – are used to students in need of financial aid.  As such, they have probably developed a very good sense of what financial aid is available.  If you ask politely, they will most likely help.

Scholarship Databases

There are a number of online databases of scholarships and other financial aid opportunities.  These databases will match you and your educational goals with potential scholarship opportunities, and list for you the financial aid for which you’re eligible.  A few things about these databases:

• They do not include every source of financial aid, so do not rely exclusively on these sites for your research
• A number of these kind of sites charge a fee.  DO NOT PAY.  The free versions of these sites are as good – if not better – than the pay versions.
• Many sites require you to provide a lot of information before you can access the database.  This is so they can more accurately “match” you to scholarship opportunities.

To get you started, here are two sites that are quite good, generally speaking:

1. International Scholarships – basic scholarship search.  You need to register in order to get access to scholarship details.
2. FastWeb – good information, but you need to go through a lengthy registration process to access it.

Stick to these four resource at the outset.  In the course of your research, you’ll undoubtedly come across other resources. If you ever come across an invaluable site or resource, please let us know about it (by e-mailing us at blog@myuface.com or leaving a comment).

Happy hunting!

Posts in this Series

1. Your Education is an Investment - 08 Jul
2. Researching Scholarship Opportunities (This post)
3. How to Ask Questions About Financial Aid - 28 Jun
4. Ninth Option for Financial Aid: Loans - 27 Jun
5. The Difference Between Scholarships and Fellowships - 26 Jun
6. Eigth Option for Financial Aid: U.S. Universities - 25 Jun
7. Seventh Option for Financial Aid: Ethnic Communities in the United States - 24 Jun
8. Sixth Option for Financial Aid: Private Organizations in the U.S. - 23 Jun
9. Fifth Option for Financial Aid: U.S. Government Programs - 22 Jun
10. Fourth Option for Financial Aid: Scholarships from International Organizations - 20 Jun
11. How to Ask for Support - 18 Jun
12. Looking for Support in Your Country: Why it Makes Sense - 17 Jun
13. Third Option for Financial Aid: Individuals in Your Country - 16 Jun
14. Second Option for Financial Aid: Private Businesses or Foundations in Your Country - 15 Jun
15. First Option for Financial Aid: Government Programs in Your Country - 14 Jun
16. The Third Step in Financial Aid: Find What's Available - 11 Jun
17. The Second Step In Financial Aid: Identify Your Assets - 10 Jun
18. The First Step In Financial Aid: Identify Your Needs - 09 Jun
19. Finding Financial Aid for your U.S. Education - 08 Jun

Give then we just celebrated July 4th, Independence Day here in the U.S., I thought I’d take a break from discussing the ins and outs of financial aid to talk for a moment about something which U.S. universities value very highly:  independence.

In most countries around the globe, the university system has some type of formalized relationship with the central government.  Often, this takes the form of a Ministry of Education providing funding (and rules) for the national system.  Thus, in many countries, if the president or prime minister says, “You know, I really think our universities should do X,” there is at least a good chance those universities will be required to do so . . . by law.

U.S. universities, in contrast, are by and large completely independent from the central government.  They often receive funding of some sort for ongoing research, and so they are beholden to government support in that respect; but there’s no sense in which they are in the chain of command of the political leadership.

Although the U.S. is in now way unique in this regard, I would suggest that, for historical reasons, universities in the U.S. are perhaps more protective of their independence than universities in most countries.  And this in turn leads to the incredible diversity of educational institutions and programs you see in the U.S.  When there isn’t a central bureaucracy controlling the curriculum, individual schools are free to to determine their own path.

This is somethign to keep in mind as you look for universities and programs in the United States.  Don’t assume that one particular university – Harvard for example – is superior to other universities in every regard, as might be the case in a more centrally-controlled system.  Instead, remember that each university will establish programs based upon the needs of whatever it considers to be its “community,” and with funds that are secured from a variety of sources – not only the government.   This gives you the opportunity to look closely for a particular university to suit your needs – thereby exercising your own “independence.”

In the past three days we’ve gone over three different ways for you to look for financial aid in your own country.  I’m sure many of you are thinking, Sure, that sounds good, but when are we going to get to the REAL information about scholarships from the U.S.?

Many international students seem to think that getting financial aid from the United States should be easy.  After all, U.S. universities are some of the wealthiest in the world, as are U.S. foundations.  Surely there’s a better chance of getting funding from the U.S. than from your own country.  Right?

Wrong.  Remember – between 66% and 80% of all funding for international students comes from outside of the U.S.   Much of that is from the students themselves, or from their family; but a growing percentage is from “local” sources of giving, such as governments, businesses, foundations and individuals.

In other words, if you don’t consider these sources of aid, you’re going to be missing out on a huge pool of potential resources.

There’s another reason to consider aid from local sources:  generally speaking, the competition for such resources is not as intense as the competition for the relatively small amount of U.S. support that exists.  Think about it:  students from all over the world will compete for scholarships or fellowships for international students, whereas students only from a particular country (and maybe only from a particular region or even city) may compete for more “local” scholarships.

The hard part about getting “local” support is finding it.  Such opportunities aren’t always well publicized.  But if you are able to locate opportunities in your home country, you’ll have a much better chance of securing that aid than you will of securing aid from hyper-competitive scholarship programs in the U.S. (although you can, and should, try to secure assistance from both).

The Wikipedia entry on “scholarships” sums it up nicely:

It is typical for persons to find scholarships in their home region. Information on these can be found by asking local persons and organizations. Typically, these are less competitive as the eligible population is smaller.

So, by all means, look for scholarships in the U.S.  But don’t neglect potential aid from your own country!

Posts in this Series

1. Your Education is an Investment - 08 Jul
2. Researching Scholarship Opportunities - 07 Jul
3. How to Ask Questions About Financial Aid - 28 Jun
4. Ninth Option for Financial Aid: Loans - 27 Jun
5. The Difference Between Scholarships and Fellowships - 26 Jun
6. Eigth Option for Financial Aid: U.S. Universities - 25 Jun
7. Seventh Option for Financial Aid: Ethnic Communities in the United States - 24 Jun
8. Sixth Option for Financial Aid: Private Organizations in the U.S. - 23 Jun
9. Fifth Option for Financial Aid: U.S. Government Programs - 22 Jun
10. Fourth Option for Financial Aid: Scholarships from International Organizations - 20 Jun
11. How to Ask for Support - 18 Jun
12. Looking for Support in Your Country: Why it Makes Sense (This post)
13. Third Option for Financial Aid: Individuals in Your Country - 16 Jun
14. Second Option for Financial Aid: Private Businesses or Foundations in Your Country - 15 Jun
15. First Option for Financial Aid: Government Programs in Your Country - 14 Jun
16. The Third Step in Financial Aid: Find What's Available - 11 Jun
17. The Second Step In Financial Aid: Identify Your Assets - 10 Jun
18. The First Step In Financial Aid: Identify Your Needs - 09 Jun
19. Finding Financial Aid for your U.S. Education - 08 Jun