International Student Admissions

Yale decides to go with a different approach to admissions videos:

The Hotchkiss School is an independent, coeducational American college preparatory boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut. Founded in 1891, the school enrolls students in grades 9 through 12 and a small number of postgraduates. Hotchkiss strives to develop in students a lifelong love of learning, responsible citizenship, and personal integrity.

The diverse student body at the school comes from 40 states and 38 foreign countries. With over 223 courses, Hotchkiss offers a large-school academic experience with a small-school feeling. The average class size is 12, and facilities include: an 87,000 item library, a visual arts center, two theatres, new state-of-the-art athletic and music complexes, a golf course, and tennis courts, all on a 810-acre campus. Over 36% of students receive need based aid from a financial aid budget of over $7.2 million.

Boarding Grades: 9-12,

Enrollment:
Boys: 299
Girls: 296
Boarding: 543
Day: 52
States: 40
Countries: 38
Courses: 223

Accepted gives a good summary of what U.S. MBA programs are looking for from their international applicants. The focus of the post is on Chinese applicants but the lessons are universal -  

• Demonstrated experience in an international business environment
• Applicants who have made an impact
• Rising stars, recognized by senior management
• Leaders, managers, and mentors to others
• Passionate, directed people
• Community activists
• Applicants who understand why they need an MBA from an American institution
• Communicators who ace the interview

Being an international student often means it is difficult for you to visit and learn about a campus firsthand. Many universities have excellent admissions videos that can give you a taste of what life is like on campus. First up is Harvard -

After deciding what university an international student wants to attend, they should figure out what (if any) graduate school entrance exams need to be taken.

Here is a list of the usual graduate school exams. Note: testing requirement vary widely among programs and universities. This means students must do their own due diligence and check what the exact testing requirements are for the particular school/program they are applying to -

TOEFL – We have already gone into considerable detail regarding the TOEFL exam in previous posts. Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

GRE - In order to enroll in an American grad school, you will most likely have to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), which is a computer-adaptive test. The general GRE measures your verbal, quantitative and analytical skills, while the GRE subject tests measure your knowledge in specific subject areas such as biology, biochemistry, English literature, mathematics, psychology or physics.

GMAT – The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is a computer-adaptive test that assesses your qualifications for advanced study in business and management (most commonly used for applications to MBA programs).

LSAT – If you are considering law school, you will almost certainly have to take the LSAT. The Law School Admission Test is required for all ABA-approved law schools, most Canadian law schools, and many others as well.

MCAT – The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is astandardized, multiple-choice examination that is a required component for application to most medicalschools in the United States as well as many in Canada. The test was designed by the Association of AmericanMedical Colleges (AAMC) to assess problem solving, critical thinking, and writing skills as well as the test-taker’s knowledge of scienceconcepts that are necessary pre-requisites to study medicine.

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme for students aged 16–19 that provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education, and is recognised by universities worldwide.

The IBDP was developed in the early to mid-1960s in Geneva by a group of international educators. By the end of the decade a pilot programme had been established; and by the end of the 1970s a bilingual diploma was established. Generally the IBDP has been well-received.

Administered by the International Baccalaureate, the IBDP is taught in one of three languages (English, French or Spanish). In order to participate in the IBDP, students must attend an IB school. IBDP students complete assessments in six subjects and satisfy three core requirements. More to come on this excellent program…

Businessweek has an interesting article on the rising cost of MBA education and the implications of this upward trend in costs on international students –   

[...] Yet the outlook isn’t as optimistic for everyone. International students who are more likely to return home to jobs and be paid in local currency will carry MBA debt in U.S. dollars, making it riskier to loan foreign students the money to attend B-school. “Even if they get a huge job [in their home countries] at $35,000 per year, you can’t service that debt, ” says Rosemaria Martinelli, head of MBA admissions and financial aid at Wharton.

Among international students, default rates are now around 10% to 15%, says Sue Roberts, president of Student Loan Corp., a subsidiary of Citibank. “Our experience is that if they go to their home countries, the default rates are higher.”

This story reinforces the importance of students being mindful of the true costs of attendance compared to future predicted earnings. If these calculations are not done correctly, students can be left with a heavy financial burden after graduation.

This video is a great resource! The production is a bit on the sloppy side but the advice is golden. The questions that are addressed in the video are ones I often hear from students that are looking to get into more selective colleges. Here you can get the answers to these questions straight from the the Admissions Director at Penn! Many thanks to the District Communication Services of Collier County Public Schools.

The TOEFL exam can be taken either online (also known as the ‘iBT’ – Internet Based TOEFL) or on paper (also know as the ‘PBT’ – Paper Based TOEFL). Today we will examine the more common IBT.

Since its introduction in late 2005, the Internet-based Test (iBT) has progressively replaced the paper-based (PBT) tests, although paper-based testing is still used in select areas.

The four-hour test consists of four sections, each measuring one of the basic language skills (while some tasks require integrating multiple skills) and all tasks focus on language used in an academic, higher-education environment. Note-taking is allowed during the iBT. The test cannot be taken more than once a week.

Reading

The Reading section consists of 3–5 passages, each approximately 700 words in length and questions about the passages. The passages are on academic topics; they are the kind of material that might be found in an undergraduate university textbook. Passages require understanding of rhetorical functions such as cause-effect, compare-contrast and argumentation. Students answer questions about main ideas, details, inferences, essential information, sentence insertion, vocabulary, rhetorical purpose and overall ideas. New types of questions in the iBT require filling out tables or completing summaries. Prior knowledge of the subject under discussion is not necessary to come to the correct answer.

Listening
 
The Listening section consists of 6 passages, 3–5 minutes in length and questions about the passages. These passages include 2 student conversations and 4 academic lectures or discussions. A conversation involves 2 speakers, a student and either a professor or a campus service provider. A lecture is a self-contained portion of an academic lecture, which may involve student participation and does not assume specialized background knowledge in the subject area. Each conversation and lecture stimulus is heard only once. Test takers may take notes while they listen and they may refer to their notes when they answer the questions. Each conversation is associated with 5 questions and each lecture with 6. The questions are meant to measure the ability to understand main ideas, important details, implications, relationships between ideas, organization of information, speaker purpose and speaker attitude.

Speaking
 
The Speaking section consists of 6 tasks, 2 independent tasks and 4 integrated tasks. In the 2 independent tasks, test takers answer opinion questions on familiar topics. They are evaluated on their ability to speak spontaneously and convey their ideas clearly and coherently. In 2 of the integrated tasks, test takers read a short passage, listen to an academic course lecture or a conversation about campus life and answer a question by combining appropriate information from the text and the talk. In the 2 remaining integrated tasks, test takers listen to an academic course lecture or a conversation about campus life and then respond to a question about what they heard. In the integrated tasks, test takers are evaluated on their ability to appropriately synthesize and effectively convey information from the reading and listening material. Test takers may take notes as they read and listen and may use their notes to help prepare their responses. Test takers are given a short preparation time before they have to begin speaking.

Writing

The Writing section measures a test taker’s ability to write in an academic setting and consists of 2 tasks, 1 integrated task and 1 independent task. In the integrated task, test takers read a passage on an academic topic and then listen to a speaker discuss the same topic. The test taker will then write a summary about the important points in the listening passage and explain how these relate to the key points of the reading passage. In the independent task, test takers must write an essay that states, explains and supports their opinion on an issue, supporting their opinions or choices, rather than simply listing personal preferences or choices.

It should be noted that one of the sections of the test will include extra, uncounted material. Educational Testing Service includes extra material in order to pilot test questions for future test forms. When test-takers are given a longer section, they should give equal effort to all of the questions because they do not know which question will count and which will be considered extra. For example, if there are four reading passages instead of three, then three of those passages will count and one of the passages will not be counted. Any of the four passages could be the uncounted one.

Cornell University’s Johnson School is known for for its close-knit community. Student’s and graduates are proud of the fact that teamwork is an important part of the school’s culture. So says Randall Sawyer, assistant dean of admissions and financial aid, during a recent chat event. He fielded questions from the audience and Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Francesca Di Meglio about everything from the recruiting outlook to the chances for international applicants. I have selected a few portions that may be of interest to international students -

Ansho: I have a 650 [GMAT score] and a degree in engineering from India plus five years of work experience in business development. What are my chances of getting an interview invite?

RandallAtCornell: We like your five years work experience, but your GMAT is a bit lower than what we would like to see. Our median this year will be 700, and our average is in the 690 space. However, there are more than 20 different things we look at in your file, and while the numbers are good benchmarks, we really look at you as a person and professional.

lakshya: What is the average GMAT score required for the Johnson School?

RandallAtCornell: There is no minimum GMAT score required for Cornell. Most of our students score in the 640 to 750 range, and last year more than half the class scored 710 or better.

MFaulkner: Please explain the emphasis that is placed on an applicant’s GMAT score when the admissions committee is evaluating an individual’s application. Furthermore, how close to the school’s published GMAT score mean would you recommend an applicant approach to feel confident with that aspect of his application? (For example, 10, 20, or 30 points below or above the mean?)

RandallAtCornell: The GMAT score is important, with the quant end of it being most important because we have seen a correlation between quant scores and success in our core courses. I would urge students to score in the 680 and up range.

MFaulkner: What is the most critical aspect of an applicant’s application?

RandallAtCornell: The most critical aspect of the application is the essay. We have [applicants write] three, and we read them closely. They tell us a lot about you. However, should you get an interview, then the interview becomes even more important than the essays because of personal interaction.

This is just a taste, be sure to read it all!