How To Connect With Universities Before You Get Admission

So far in your research, you have taken the time to identify colleges you are interested in and to research them. Now you should connect with those colleges on a personal level.  

The one factor that influences the decision-making process is an in-person visit to the college campus. Unfortunately, for international students, physically visiting the shortlisted colleges is not possible. And the best thing is no one expects you to do that. The research you did is considered close enough to an in-person visit. 

First, see if it is possible for you to connect with the college face to face. Many universities and colleges travel outside the US to attend education fairs in order to meet international students. If a college of your choice is attending a fair in or around your city, you should try your best to attend it and meet the college representatives.  

Once you meet the university representatives, make sure you ask for their contact information, so you can follow up with a thank-you email. It is an important step which most of the international students forget about. This is how you bring your connection to the next level, by doing it online.  

Many international admission officers have their contact information available on the college's website. You should feel free to use it and to get in touch with them. Be careful to email the admission officers with well thought out in-depth questions, and not smaller details like average IELTS scores or deadlines.  

When you email them, make sure you identify yourself by including your name, where you are from, and other important information like we met at the education fair in this city. Nameless, faceless and poorly written emails are less likely to receive a response. If you don't demonstrate good communication skills in your emails, that gives off a negative impression about your ability to study at the university. 

If English is not your first language, admission officers understand that your emails are not going to be perfectly written. But the emails have to be able to get your point across and show that you took out some time to write it.  

Depending on the time of the year, it may take the admission officers some time to reply to you. It is OK to send a polite reminder email after some time has passed. During the busier times of the year, it might take an admission officer one or two weeks to reply to your email.  

Sometimes you might be disappointed by the lack of a response. But what we can say is that only the best emails most likely to receive a good response. So take a good time to write an email. Many universities will offer you the opportunity to connect with current students. If you are offered this opportunity, take it. Current students are the best source of information about a university. You might connect with the current students over online chat or by email or Skype.  

Foreign universities may not be allowed to give you the contact information of current students because of privacy laws, but you can give your contact information to the university and request a current student to contact you.  

Finally, you should consider connecting with a professor in your chosen area of interest. The process for contacting a professor is the same as contacting an admission officer. But know that professors are even busier than admission officers.  

By connecting with a university or college, you will have all the important questions answered, and you will also get a sense of the personality that college has. Connecting is about the feeling that you get from a university, and it is that feeling which is going to be really important when it comes to choosing one university which you will attend.

 Complete Series: How to Apply to Universities Abroad