The selection of American universities is a crucial part of the application for undergraduate and graduate students in the United States, and reasonable selection of schools is one of the considerations for applying to American universities. When applying for American universities and colleges, many students will be confused by the question: “What kind of college/university should I apply for?”. For students who are new to college applications, how to choose the school they should apply to is a big difficulty since they cannot choose schools only by QS rankings or other rankings.
Today, let’s take a look at the factors that need to consider when applying for schools in the United States.
School ranking
The first thing is to look at the school’s ranking. Many students will use the school’s domestic ranking and world ranking as one of the important reference factors for school selection. After all, this is an intuitive display of the school’s strength. But it should be noted that not only focus on the school’s ranking this year, but also look ahead a few years – development trend and stability of a university is also very important.
Generally speaking, undergraduates can pay more attention to the ranking of schools, while graduate students will take majors as their main reference. There are many rankings of universities every year. The ranking of American universities can refer to the list released by U.S.News. This is the most authoritative university ranking website in the United States, which not only has comprehensive school rankings, but also professional and college rankings.
School reputation
School reputation is also an important factor. Historical and outstanding schools often have good reputation, such as the Ivy League schools in the United States. These schools have won a good reputation with years of hard work and excellent performance, and have become the ideal halls in the hearts of the majority of students. Therefore, when choosing a school, you also need to pay attention to the reputation of the school, which can somewhat reflect the strength or academic atmosphere of a school.
Geographical location
Geographical location can greatly affect the employment of students and their spare time life. The local industrial environment largely determines the human environment, employment resources and development potential of its industry or profession. In terms of life, the urban structure of the United States is different from that of Asian countries. The living facilities in big cities are relatively dense and complete, while small cities are relatively backward. Of course, the cost of living in big cities is much higher than in small cities, so students should also consider their own economic situation. Finally, differences in geography also lead to differences in climate. Taking the east and west coasts as an example, the northeastern part of the United States has four distinct seasons, and there are often blizzards in winter, while the west has a tropical climate with warmer winters.
Comprehensive factors
Students should also choose a school that suits them according to their interests and majors. Before deciding on a school, students should have an in-depth understanding of the school’s relevant information, such as school type, tuition fees, course difficulty, teacher-student ratio, etc. There is a huge difference in tuition between private schools and public schools in the United States. The length of schooling for different majors is different, and the study time is closely related to tuition and living expenses. Therefore, students should choose a suitable school according to their study abroad budget.
These are the 4 main factors that should be considered when choosing a university to study in the United States. For international students, choosing the right school is important, so students need to be patient no matter how much time it takes to choose a school. This is taking responsibility for yourself.
To get more information about studying abroad, you can visit Cateight.com, a platform full of news and tips on overseas study.
