Debunking myths about the undergraduate admission process in the US

US colleges are looking for well-rounded students

Most applicants understand that US colleges take a more holistic approach to evaluating applicants than UK or Pakistani universities.  They evaluate applicants on a host of factors other than just exam scores and grades, and often want students to have interests in activities outside the classroom.  However, it’s easy to overplay this point.  In fact, most admissions committees would rather have a well-rounded class, than a class filled with well-rounded students.  Once a college admissions committee has ascertained that you can handle the difficulty of the coursework at their school (most applicants can), what they then look for is a special talent, skill, interest or experience that makes you stand out relative to the other students in a given year’s applicant pool.  This standout quality or “hook” can be any number of things — I’ve counseled students with interests or talents that range from being eccentric (such as collecting rare Japanese anime trading cards) to slightly more conventional (such as being an exemplary writer or public speaker).  So rather than signing up for every available after-school activity out there, try to demonstrate a high degree of passion or ability in one or two areas that will differentiate you from other applicants.

US is the most expensive place in the world to go to college

Wrong. Australia is the most expensive higher education destination in the world for international students, though the US isn’t far behind.  The advertised or “sticker” costs of tuition at US universities may seem high at first glance, particularly for private universities (public universities cost about half as much).  Some students do pay this amount; however, most students at US universities pay less than the sticker cost due to the availability of financial aid to offset these costs.  While less financial aid is available for international students than their US citizen counterparts (since much of this type of aid comes from the US government and is thereby limited to US citizens), many colleges do offer generous financial aid packages to international students.  In fact, eight colleges — Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Amherst College, Dartmouth, MIT, Cornell and Georgetown — do so on an entirely need blind basis, meaning that your family’s ability to pay has nothing to do with your admission’s decision. Also, applicants are often surprised to learn of the many merit scholarships available to them from some of the colleges they’re already interested in, many of which are exclusively for international students (such as Rice University’s Allen International Scholarship). US Aid also has a number of merit and need-based scholarships available exclusively to Pakistani students. Another factor to consider is that while the cost of college tuition rises annually all over the world, other countries have outpaced the US in tuition hikes in recent years.  In 2010, for example, tuition fees in the UK increased threefold, putting the tuition fees at many UK universities on par with many US private universities. However, tuition costs are just one part of a student’s total expenditures when studying in the US.  You also have to look at the cost of room and board, transport, books and so on. When you factor in these added expenses, many US colleges actually compare quite favourably to foreign universities that are located in cities where the cost of living can be prohibitive (such as those in Europe and Australia). This is especially true for colleges in US states that have a lower cost of living such as Texas, Indiana and Tennessee.

The US News & World Report’s “Best Colleges” rankings are a good place to start your college search

Colleges that regularly sit on top of the US News rankings are often revered in the same way that consumer goods carrying designer labels are fawned over. However, unless you agree with all of the criteria that the US News uses to evaluate these universities and assign the exact same weight on each of these criteria that US News does, it is highly unlikely that the 10 colleges perched on top of the rankings ladder are the top 10 colleges for you.  In the rare event that the US News methodology does jive perfectly with your innate sense of what to look for in evaluating colleges, you run into one additional problem — it’s actually very hard to properly measure any of the variables these rankings are based on.  Malcolm Gladwell, in his article The Order of Things wryly and systematically illustrates this very point, along with a number of other flaws inherent to any attempt to rank colleges. My personal bone of contention with college rankings is that students who overly rely on them are simply being lazy. Finding a college that is a good fit for you requires meticulous research and introspection. People who complete their undergraduate studies in the US usually feel a strong emotional attachment to their alma mater and many of them can fondly reminisce for hours about their college days. If you were to ask them what factors were responsible for their overall satisfaction with their college choice, chances are they would single out highly subjective, intangible considerations such as the quality of their friendships or a transformative life experience that occurred while they were in college. It is these types of anecdotes and experiences that simply can’t be measured, weighted, and quantified for the purpose of coming up with a college list. In carrying out you college search, the best resources to turn to are the ones that can really help you get a sense of the “feel” of the college.  While campus visits are the best way to get this information, it can also be helpful to talk to recent alumni of the colleges you’re looking at. School counselors can often help in this regard as well.  Additionally, there are some college guides that do a commendable job of making colleges “come alive” for their readers. I’d recommend looking at the Fiske Guide to Colleges and The Insider’s Guide to Colleges by the editorial staff of the Yale Daily News.

The writer is a certified Independent Educational Consultant who specialises in US college and graduate school admissions.  She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard University and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School.  She attained her college admissions counseling certification from Rice University and has been a Harvard alumni interviewer for nearly a decade.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2014.

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