Choosing Right University

Student Exchange

Choosing Right University

University Selection is an extremely critical aspect to be taken very seriously by you while applying to Universities. There are multiple steps to approach that you need to pay attention to.

1.Major Selection

Identification of a specific course of interest to you and trying to find a potential match to the interested course offered within the university is extremely important and this lays a perfect path for you to shortlist from the options based on your academic performance and standardized test scores obtained. This may not always be a particular course or a branch of study that you have pursued before. E.g. if a student is currently pursuing Mechanical Engineering considering the option to do Automotive , Aerospace , Bio-Mechanical, Master of Business Administration are also potential choices and this helps you to widen the scope of opportunities and simultaneously increases the flexibility the do research across the platform. Following are the points to be noted during the selection process of a major within a university

  1. You should identify your strengths in a course or a core subject.
  2. Having a passion and identifying it for achieving success in a particular field of study is extremely important
  3. Having a specific goal or a complete idea over a desired work life after finishing education will drive you to achieve it.
  4. It is always beneficial for you to seek the help of peers, seniors, professors at schools and work closely with advisers to receive necessary guidance to decide upon a major.
  5. Ranking of the university is very important. Identifying a particular major in a university and comparing the facilities, labs, course outlines, demo sessions etc. will help you to narrow down to the right major and university selection.
  6. Being introspective (to know yourself and your strengths) and proactive (to attend seminars, meetings of academic institutions, counseling sessions by professors, speaking with students at the university) helps you in landing at the right university.
  7. Identifying the cost of the entire program is also very important aspect while deciding to select a major at a university.
  8. Exploring various department specific jobs with respect to scholarships, research positions, teaching assistantships, and graduate student assistantships helps students in being ahead of time even before arriving at the university.
  9. Last and critical aspect is to never choose a major or a course in a university because your friends are at the university or your parents want you to study at that university. Making an independent decision while choosing a major is important. Your decision should be driven by your capabilities, strengths and passion.

2. Weather, Climate, Time zones

Another major aspect while shortlisting universities are local climatic conditions, weather patterns in and around the surroundings places of the university. Because this plays a significant role in a student life style and helps in taking necessary precautions to face those conditions over a prolonged period of time.

  1. States like Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Montana, Washington, Oregon are all present on the northern belt of USA and are closely bordered with Canada and have 4-5 months of critical weather conditions like snowfall and chilled weather during the entire year.
  2. States like Maryland, Virginia, DC, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Utah have tropical weather conditions and are mostly suited for India way of living. Even though there are critical situations like Twisters and Tornados University life is very pleasant.
  3. In states like South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California the weather is extremely hot during summer time and mild cold during 3 months of winter. You should be aware of Hurricanes, Flash floods, Drought, Depressions, Sink holes etc. while staying in these states.
  4. In a similar fashion students' needs to identify various time zones (Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific) which are separated by an hours gap among each other respectively. Once a list of potential universities is identified a student needs to prepare a table with all the universities in mind and compare each across a range of different requirements that are important, from Scores Accepted, Research opportunities, Campus life and living, computer facilities to tuition fees. The university should be the right one for you from all aspects. Finding out what careers a specific chosen subject can lead to and thinking hard about whether you can see yourself doing those options in future helps. After the Test is completed and scores are made available every student needs to report the score to the shortlisted universities. This helps in saving time and money as you need not report to those universities at a later point of time.