Atttending school in the U.S
A student wrote to me: “I am applying for admission to study in the U.S via an university representative in my country. The representative will help me with admission paperwork but my family will have to pay money to get accepted. Is it possible to apply directly to the school? The representative said without school representative, it would be impossible to get accepted to U.S Schools. Please advise.
Answer: It is NOT correct. Anyone can apply directly to any college in the U.S. You can go to their websites and follow the instructions. College representatives or agents are individuals who are hired by colleges to recruit students. The college pays these people a percentage of the tuition for each recruited student. Some representatives receive money from both sides, by charging fees for student who want to enroll in college and also from the college that the student attends.
It is illegal for U.S college to pay representatives to recruit U.S students, but it does not forbid them to recruit foreign students. Some U.S schools are paying these people to do that, especially schools that do not have good reputation or do not have enough student enrollment. When working with these “representatives” you must be careful for not making a bad choice or be exploited.
You must stay away from representative who try to convince you to attend schools that you are not interested in or schools that you never heard of. It may be easy to get in. It may be easy to get all paperwork complete but if it is not the right school for you than you should be careful because some of them maybe “phony university” (Please read the blog on phony university).
You must be careful when some representatives tell you that they can guarantee to get you admitted to top U.S. colleges. Most top schools do not need to use representatives because they are the most sought-after. They are very selected and only admit 10% to 20% of their applicants. Basically no one can guarantee to get you accepted at these schools.
You must be careful when a representatives promise to fill out applications for you and, especially, write your admission essays. If your application admission essay is very well written but your TOEFL scores and your SAT/ACT writing scores are difference then admission committees may discredit your application. Admission officials are skilled at identifying these different details and any false claims.
Applying to U.S. college can be difficult, especially when you are not in the U.S. It can be helpful to have someone to guide you but you must find a honest representative. It is best if you contact the U.S embassy for some guidelines. Today, with the internet available, you should spend time do your own research for the right school, you must check on the admission process and if possible apply directly. It is important for you to study at the best school for you, not at a school that is beneficial to the representative.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
