Received I-20 from Multiple Universities : How to Select One School?

Do you have I-20 visas from more than one U.S. university and are still confused on which university to attend? You are not alone, almost every student planning to attend the Fall 2008 semester is in the same situation.

University selection is a tough process. Most students spend considerable time selecting universities when they apply for graduate school admission.

And after receiving the admission notice from several graduate schools, students would need additional time again as it’s another tough and difficult process to select which university to study at.

If a student has done good homework while applying for graduate schools, then it wouldn’t be really tough to decide which university to attend after getting admission.

If you are confused about which university to apply for a student visa after getting admission from 2 ore more Universities, then here are some thoughts that will help you pinpoint that 1 university that you should attend.

I have made a list of questions that will help students in selecting universities, but it’s time consuming and it involves effort to find answers to the questions before you can actually decide which university to apply.

I will say it again, there is no magic button that will give you the perfect answer that will tell you which university to attend. It really involves finding the correct information, and devoting considerable work, time and effort.

I have known many students who are not happy about the university they selected to attend, the reason being not much of the time spent when deciding on which graduate school to attend.

I was talking to one of our frequent blog visitors who got admissions from graduate school in 5 different universities and he had short listed 2 universities from his list of 5 different graduate schools.

I asked how did he select those 2 schools. His response was not something that I expected.

“Randomly, I selected both the schools,” and I asked why did he ruled out the other 3 schools and his answer was, “I thought those schools were of no value and not worth spending for”.

Both the answers threw me off the couch. He had applied to 6 universities, got admission from 5 and randomly selected 2 to decide on which to attend and decided 3 schools were not worth considering to study at.

So my question was, “Why did you spend about $500 in application fees in applying to those 3 schools that are not worth studying at”?

Questions to help you decide on which university to apply for an F1 Visa:

1. How much is the tuition fee per semester?
2. Can you afford the tuition fees without any form of aid and part-time jobs?
3. How many students get any form of aid (scholarship, research assistantship, teaching Assistantship, etc.)?
4. How long does it take to get aid/scholarship (in the first semester or after more than one semester)?
5. If no aid is available, how do students manage their everyday expenses?
6. Do students get part time jobs?
7. What is the cost of living per month?
8. How much can you earn per month from part time jobs?
9. Do students get jobs directly with companies or do they find job through consultants?
10. Does the university allow students to apply for internship all year round or only during the summer semester?
11. What are the degree requirements for completing a master’s degree?
12. Are you interested in doing a thesis or course work-based master’s degree?
13. If you are interested in doing PhD, does the university offer the major of your choice?
14. How many current students did you talk to to find out information about a school?

If you were to decide on any specific university without even finding the answers to any of the above questions, then you are making a big mistake.

How big of a mistake is that? It’s a very big mistake.