Documents you will need Before you apply for a visa and buy your ticket to come to the US, you must first be admitted to a U.S. college or university. In order to begin the process you must first begin gathering a few documents and sending away for applications of schools that interest you. Financial Statements You must be able to demonstrate to university admissions departments that you can pay for your U.S. education. You should immediately identify who will be paying for your studies and gather documents to prove it. To do so, you must collect bank statements and other financial records demonstrating that you have adequate personal savings, a scholarship, or funding from a financial sponsor(s). If the money comes from home, you will need tax returns or bank statements indicating your or your sponsor's ability to pay. Tuition, insurance, housing, and travel expenses quickly add up. You will probably have to spend between $10,000 and $30,000 per year to study and live in the US, not including books, personal expenses, and living costs during the three summer months [to find out the costs at a particular school, click here]. Once at school, you may work part-time to cover expenses, but you will not earn enough to pay your entire tuition. If you are a graduate student, you may be able to apply for a job as a teaching assistant and have tuition waived (canceled). Please note that many of these documents must be translated into English with financial information converted into U.S. dollar amounts. Have your documents translated by a certified translator so that they bear an official stamp. English Language Proficiency Test Scores In order to study at a U.S. college or university, your English must be pretty good before you arrive. You must speak and write well enough to attend classes, write papers, and solve problems. In order to prove your English proficiency, you must prove your competence by taking standardized English examination (usually the TOEFL test) as part of the admission process. You must register for the tests and take them early enough to be able to send your results to the prospective universities with you application. If your English is limited, you should consider taking classes in your home country or attending an ESL (English as a second language) school in the U.S. a few months before you plan to start school. You may be accepted to a university with less than adequate skills provided that you take ESL classes once school begins. The only exception is for students who are coming to the U.S. just to study English; then you will not have to take a standardized English test. Standard Entrance Examination Scores Universities also consider the results of standardized entrance examinations, such as the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test, for undergraduate student applicants) or the GRE (Graduate Record Exam, for graduate student applicants who wish to pursue general studies). If you are applying to business school, you will have to take the GMAT, for medical school, you will have to take, the MCAT, and for law school, you will have to take the LSAT. Transcripts and Recommendations Your educational level will, to a large extent, determine which schools will accept you. To assess your level, universities look at past grades, which schools you attended, what you studied, and your extracurricular experiences. As part of the application process you will have to furnish records of your grades (transcripts) and evaluations from your teachers or employers (recommendations). You should ask your teachers or employers who know your work well to write a recommendation for you early on. You should also request official transcripts from previous schools you attended early on, so that when it is time to send in your applications, they will be ready to go. Please note that many of these documents must be translated into English with financial information converted into U.S. dollar amounts. Have you documents translated by a certified translator so that they bear an official stamp. List of Extracurricular Activities Admissions committees also consider your extracurricular activities (nonacademic activities) like sports, music, work experience, volunteer work, clubs, etc. to form an idea of how you could contribute to university life as well as benefit from it. Make a list and have it ready for your applications. Source: The Princeton Review's International Guide to the U.S.A. by Ian Jacobs and Ellen Catskill, Random House, 1996 Top of page Home | Learn | Mentors/Hidden Treasures | Hotline | Join Us | Member Log-In Mission | Services | Community | Team | Site-Map | Terms of Use ©2000 StudentOasis. All rights reserved.