In general, Chinese high school students going to the United States to study for undergraduate studies should be divided into the following steps.
1. Take standardized tests
The standardized test for undergraduate studies in the United States includes two parts, one is TOEFL and the other is SAT test.
Compared with postgraduate applications, US undergraduate applications have higher language proficiency requirements for students. Undergraduate education requires a large number of courses, and exchanges between classmates are more frequent and extensive. Without a good English language foundation, it is difficult to adapt to study and life in the United States. Generally speaking, applicants must have a TOEFL score of no less than 600 and an essay score of no less than 4.0. Although the higher the applicant's TOEFL score, the better, but generally speaking, a score of 620 is enough. I once knew a high school student who won a full scholarship from an American university in 2003. When he applied, his TOEFL score was 637 and his essay score was 4.0.
SAT is the abbreviation of Scholastic Assessment Test. It is a test that American high school students must take to enter American universities. Its importance is equivalent to China’s college entrance examination. It is also a test for whether high school students from all over the world can be admitted to prestigious American schools. An important reference for admission and whether you can get a scholarship. The SAT is relatively unfamiliar to students in mainland China, but it is very popular among high school students in Hong Kong and Taiwan, because it is many years earlier in Hong Kong and Taiwan to go to the United States for undergraduate studies than in mainland China. The teaching quality of American high schools is not the same, so high school scores alone cannot objectively evaluate everyone's qualifications, and the SAT test provides such a standard. SAT consists of two parts: SAT I and SAT II. Generally, good schools require the scores of SAT I and II, and international students are no exception. Therefore, students applying to American schools must have SAT scores. In this way, you can at least provide the American Admissions Committee with a standard to compare with American students and increase your chances of admission. Generally speaking, Chinese high school students only need to score around 1,400 on the SAT. The author once knew a New Oriental student who scored 1,400 on the SAT. With this score (of course she was also relatively good in other areas), she finally got the Full scholarship admission to Smith College in the United States (ranked 15th among American universities in 2005), and I was approved with a high SAT score when applying for a visa.
It is worth mentioning that ETS will launch the NEW SAT test in March 2005. This is actually good news for Chinese high school students because the NEW SAT is simpler than the current SAT. The Chinese section of the current SAT test has analogies and antonyms, similar to the current GRE test, so candidates are required to memorize about 15,000 words, which is undoubtedly a torture for Chinese high school students. However, the NEW SAT canceled the vocabulary part of the Chinese part and added grammar, which Chinese students are good at. In addition, the NEW SAT also adds an essay. Although composition is relatively difficult for Chinese high school students, it accounts for a very low score. The full score of the NEW SAT is 2400 points, and the current SAT is a full score of 1600 points.
2. Preparing application materials
With TOEFL and SAT scores, applicants only have a basic condition to apply for undergraduate admission to American universities and scholarships. In order to complete the application, applicants also need to submit the following materials:
1. High school academic performance (GPA)
Applicants generally need to provide high school transcripts to the university they are applying for. There are two copies in Chinese and English, each with the official seal of the school. The average high school score is generally above 80 points, which is enough for applicants. Academic scores in the United States are generally calculated based on a full score of 4.0. Chinese students only need to provide the original transcript issued by the school.
2. Letters of recommendation
Applicants generally need to provide 3 letters of recommendation in English. Some schools only require 2 letters. According to the actual situation of Chinese students, you can ask the class teacher, grade leader or school leader to write it. It is best to get a letter of recommendation from the principal. However, these 2-3 recommenders must have actual contact with the applicant.
3. Personal Statement (Essay)
American universities generally require applicants to provide one to several personal statements (Essay).
These materials are important documents for admission and scholarship applications. A general principle when writing essays is that you must write around your own characteristics, because what American universities hope to understand through essays is the applicant's specific situation. Therefore, applicants must write down their unique characteristics. In addition, the word count of each essay must be strictly controlled according to the specific requirements of American universities.
4. Other supporting materials
Applicants should also submit other documents that can fully prove their talents. Especially if the applicant has won awards in international competitions, the chances of being admitted and awarded a scholarship will be greatly increased.
5. Application form provided by the school
Applicants need to fill in the application form in a unified format according to the requirements of different schools. The form can be filled out online and submitted directly after completion. If you are applying through the school website, you must also have your credit card ready and pay the application fee online.
3. When applying to study abroad, don’t give up the college entrance examination
Don’t give up the college entrance examination when applying to study in the United States for undergraduate studies. Don’t give up the college entrance examination for the purpose of taking exams and applications to study abroad. The author suggests that it is best to focus on the college entrance examination and supplement it by applying. It's great to be able to apply to a good school in the United States and get a scholarship, but if you can't apply to the ideal school, you can still go to college in China. Then try to transfer to another school during your studies or apply to go to the United States to study as a graduate student after graduating from undergraduate degree.
High school is the golden period of a person's life, and it is also a period of very heavy learning tasks. Therefore, if you plan to apply for undergraduate studies in the United States in the future, you must make a detailed plan. Specifically,
1. Preparation period (from the beginning of the first year of high school to the summer vacation of the second year of high school): This stage is mainly a period of preparing for and taking various standardized tests. It is best to complete both TOEFL and SAT at the end of the second year of high school, and at the latest in the first half of the third year of high school. The exam is over.
2. Application period (first half of senior year): Prepare and submit all application materials.
3. Waiting period (beginning in the second half of the senior year of high school): While waiting for an offer, maintain contact with American schools.
4． Visa period: After you get the offer, you need to prepare for the visa, but the visa time is usually after the college entrance examination, and now even if you get the offer, the visa officer usually needs to see your college entrance examination scores when applying for the visa.
Comprehensive ranking
1 Harvard University
2 Princeton University
3 Yale University
< p> 4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT5 Stanford University
6 California Institute of Technology
6 University of Pennsylvania University
8 Columbia University, The School of General Studies Columbia University
8 Duke University Duke University
8 The University of Chicago
11 Dartmouth College
12 Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University
12 Washington University in St Louis
14 Cornell University Nair University
15 Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University
16 Brown University Brown University
17 Rice University Rice University
< p> 18 Emory University Emory University18 University of Notre Dame
18 Vanderbilt UniversityVanderbilt University
21 University of California Berkeley California University of California, Berkeley
22 Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University
23 Georgetown University Georgetown University
23 University of Virginia
25 University of California Los Angeles
26 University of Michigan Ann Arbor
27 University of Southern California
p>28 Tufts University Tufts University
28 Wake Forest University Wake Forest University
30 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill< /p>
31 Brandeis University Brandeis University
32 College of William and Mary
33 New York UniversityNew York University
34 BOSTON College
35 Georgia Institute of Technology
<p> 35 Lehigh University
35 University of California San Diego
35 University of Rochester
35 University of Wisconsin Madison University of Wisconsin-Madison
40 University of Illinois Urbana Champaign University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
41 Case Western Reserve University Washington Catholic University
41 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
41 University of Washington
44 University of California DavisUniversity of California, Davis
44 University of California University of California, Irvine
44 University of California Santa Barbara
47 Penn State University Park Penn State University-University Park Campus
47 The University of Texas at Austin
49 University of Florida
50 Yeshiva University Yeshiva University
51 Tulane University
51 University of Miami
53 The George Washington University
53 Syracuse University
p>53 University of Maryland College Park
56 The Ohio State University,Columbus
56 Pepperdine UniversityPepperdine University< /p>
58 The University of Georgia
58 University of Pittsburgh
60 BOSTON University
60 Clemson University University of Minnesota
60 Fordham University
60 University of Minnesota Twin CitiesUniversity of Minnesota Twin Cities
64 Rutgers University New Brunswick University New Brunswick Campus
64 Texas A&M University Texas A&M University
66 Miami University,OxfordMiami University Oxford
66 Purdue University,West Lafa
yettePurdue University West Lafayette Campus
66 Southern Methodist UniversitySouthern Methodist University
66 University of Connecticut
66 The University of Iowa University of Iowa
71 Indiana University, Bloomington
71 Michigan State University
71 University of Delaware University of Delaware
71 Virginia Tech
71 Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester Polytechnic Institute
76 Baylor University Baylor University
77 Marquette University Marquette University
77 Binghamton University SUNY State University of New York Binghamton University
77 University of Colorado Boulder University of Colorado Boulder
80 Clark University Clark University
80 Colorado School of Mines
80 University of Missouri St. Louis
83 American UniversityAmerican University< /p>
83 North Carolina State University, Raleigh North Carolina State University
83 SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
83 Stevens Institute of Technology
83 The University of Alabama
83 University of Tulsa
89 Drexel University Drexel University
89 Iowa State University Iowa State University
89 University of California Riverside University of California Riverside
89 University of Denver University of Denver
89 The University of Kansas
89 University of Nebraska Lincoln
89 The University of Vermont
96 Auburn UniversityAuburn University
96 Northeastern UniversityNortheastern University
96 Stony Brook University SUNY State University of New York
96 The University of Arizona University of Arizona
96 University of California Santa CruzUniversity of California Santa Cruz
96 University of Missouri Columbia
102 Florida State University
102 Howard University
102 Illinois Institute of Technology University
102 University of Massachusetts Amherst University of Massachusetts Amherst Campus
102 University of San DiegoSan Diego University
102 University of the Pacific
108 University of Dayton
108 The University of Oklahoma
108 University of Oregon
108 University of South Carolina Columbia University of South Carolina, Columbia
108 The University of Tennessee
113 Brigham Young University Provo Brigham Young University
113 Texas Christian University Texas Christian University
113 University of New Hampshire
116 The Catholic University of America
116 Loyola University Chicago
116 Ohio UniversityOhio University
116 University of Kentucky
116 Washington State University
121 Arizona State University< /p>
121 Clarkson University Clarkson University
121 Michigan Technological UniversityMichigan Institute of Technology
121 University at Buffalo State University of New York
New York State University at Buffalo
125 Colorado State University
125 University of Arkansas
127 New Jersey Institute of Technology
p>127 University of San Francisco
127 The University of Utah
130 Duquesne University
130 Kansas State UniversityKansas State University
130 Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge Louisiana State University
<p> 130 Samford UniversitySamford University
Academic Ranking
National Ranking School* World Ranking Regional Ranking
1 Harvard University 1 America 1
2 University of California-Berkeley 2 Americas 2
3 Stanford University 3 Americas 3
4 MIT 4 Americas 4
5 California Institute of Technology College 6 Americas 5
6 Princeton University 7 Americas 6
7 Columbia University 8 Americas 7
8 University of Chicago 9 Americas 8
9 Yale University 11 America 9
10 Cornell University 12 America 10
11 University of California - Los Angeles 13 America 11
12 University of California - San Diego 14 Americas 12
13 University of Pennsylvania 15 Americas 13
14 University of Washington-Seattle 16 Americas 14
15 University of Wisconsin-Madison 17 Americas 15
16 Johns Hopkins University 18 Americas 16
17 University of California - San Francisco 18 Americas 16
18 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor 22 Americas 18
19 University of Illinois - Champaign 25 America 19
20 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities 28 America 21
21 Northwestern University (USA) 29 America 22
22 Washington University - St. Louis 30 Americas 23
23 New York University 31 Americas 24
24 University of Colorado - Boulder 32 Americas 25
25 University of California - Santa Clara Barbara 32 Americas 25
26 Rockefeller University 34 Americas 27
27 Duke University 35 Americas 28
28 University of Maryland-College Station 36 Americas 29 < /p>
29 University of Texas - Austin 38 Americas 31
30 University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill 41 Americas 32
31 Pennsylvania State University - College Station 43 Americas 33
32 University of California-Irvine 46 America 34
32 University of California-Davis 46 America 34
32 University of Southern California 46 America 34
35 University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center 49 Americas 37
36 Vanderbilt University 53 Americas 38
37 Rutgers State University-New Browns Wake 54 Americas 39
38 University of Pittsburgh 56 Americas 40
39 Carnegie Mellon University 58 Americas 41
40 Ohio State University-Columbus 59 Americas 42
41 Brown University 65 America 44
42 University of Florida 68 America 45
43 Purdue University-West Lafayette 69 America 46
44 Boston University 77 Americas 47
45 University of Arizona 78 Americas 48
46 Arizona State University-Tenby 81 Americas 49
47 University of Utah 82 Americas 50
47 University of Rochester 82 Americas 50
49 Michigan State University 86 Americas 52
50 Indiana University-Bloomington 90 Americas 54