American Universities

Introduction

If you are thinking about an American University application start in the LVIth.

While British university applications are submitted via UCAS, applications to American universities are submitted individually and directly to each university. In addition, each university may have its own unique application procedures, policies and requirements. The best source of information concerning these matters will be institutional web sites; key sections to examine include: "freshmen admissions", "international student admissions", "financial aid" and "programs/courses/fields of study/majors".

Evaluating An Application

In attempting to identify the most appropriate candidates, American universities will base their admission decision on the following factors:

• GCSE grades
• AS grades
• A Level predictions
• SAT results
• Teacher evaluations/two teacher letters of recommendation
• A review of the student's extra-curricular/co-curricular background
• Required writing submissions (essays, personal statements and short answer responses).

Timelines

Timelines can vary from institution to institution, though most top tier American universities (Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc.) usually have a usual (regular) deadline of 2nd or 3rd January of any given year, for the following September. Students are notified of admission decisions (for regular admissions, not Early Decision) toward the end of March or early April.

Procedures For Applying

In most cases, the following application procedures will be used:

1. The student submits the completed application, an application for admission processing fee (usually about $50-$80) and the required essays, personal statement and short answer responses. A curriculum vitae can also be enclosed.
2. The student submits, through the College Board (the test organisers) results of the SAT. (see paragraph below)
3. The school submits the two teacher evaluations/recommendation letters and a school report form, including a transcript (a formal record of your academic performance: courses undertaken and grade results achieved). Top tier universities will also require a mid-year grade report form, usually due in February.
4. Unless you are an American citizen, parents will be required to submit, even if financial aid is not required, some sort of international student financial declaration indicating that sufficient funds are available to cover required fees. This form is usually due in the United States by the 1st February; some institutions will not, however, require this declaration until after a place has been offered.

The SATs

In theory, it isn't too late to start thinking about an American University in the UVIth, though it will be a real uphill struggle to get everything done if you've left it this late: research into universities, the SAT, SAT prep, the applications, etc. You really need to get the ball rolling as early in LVIth as possible.

If you decide very early in LVIth to pursue the American educational option, you could take the SAT as early as October. In practice, however you will probably want to undertake some form of formal SAT prep; if you do this, it is more likely that he will aim to sit the SAT in November or December or you could try in January, May and June of your LVIth, or the October and November dates in your UVIth.

It is possible to sit the SAT several times, and most students get all of their test taking done prior to the submission of their applications. If a student is endeavouring to meet a 2nd January application deadline (for the following autumn term), he will usually have done all of his testing before the application goes in; some universities will, however, accept the January SAT and factor it into the application. This is usually, however, a "last gasp" for someone desperate to raise a score, and we would not recommend the January date for entry that September unless absolutely necessary.

Normally, a university will factor in only the highest SAT result, though they will see all of the other results. Some universities will, however, average the scores of all test sittings. The advice is to engage in formal SAT prep, thus helping to make sure that the first SAT result is, if possible, the best.

The Format of the Tests

The test is comprised of three parts: Critical Reading, Maths and Writing. Each section has a score range of 200 - 800, thus a perfect test result would be 2400. A score, therefore, that more or less confirms A grade student status would be 2100+ (700 / 700 / 700). In the past couple of years, however, many top tier universities have been ignoring the new Writing component and have been citing figures using the old two section model: Verbal Reasoning & Maths; thus, a 1400+ was confirmation of A grade status. It is expected that more and more of the top universities will move towards the new tariff and will begin to cite scores that take the three sections into account.

Remember too...

If English is not your first language, and you haven't been in full time English-taught education for four years, you will have to pass a English proficiency examination in addition to your SATs.

Advice

Have a look at this website that provides the national rankings of US universities. It also provides clickable links to useful information about the universities.

There are some general advice books and prep test papers in the Universities and Careers library, together with many of the prespectuses for American Univerisites. We can also put you in touch with a consultant (who charges a fee) who is an expert in admissions to American Universities. Look at the links at the top of the page for some very useful websites.

The Fulbright Commission is an organisation dedicated to encouraging study in the US. Look too at collegeboard.com which is packed with information. We also hold an American Universities Evening, where a specialist comes to the school to talk you through the application process.