What Information To Look For On Foreign University Websites While Researching Admission Options

Now that you have gained knowledge about yourself, this is the stage where you should begin the research process.

We receive a lot of queries from students who don’t know what to look for on a University website. Looking at the websites, you will notice that all of them are very impressive with vibrant images. The student testimonials will be great, the campus pictures will be beautiful etc. If you don't know what information you are looking for, you will only end up getting confused.

However, if you were to visit the classrooms of any large university and look at the classroom, you will realize a few things. The classrooms are huge, they can hold 300 students at a time. This is the average size of a class at larger universities. Most of Indian college or school classrooms are comparatively smaller i.e. an average classroom size is around 25-50 students. So the thought of studying in such a big class can be scary to some, who are used to smaller classrooms. Also, consider the fact if your personality is suited to function well in a big classroom, as teachers will not keep an eye on every student, and you will not receive that push or motivation from the teacher you were used to in India.

Would you be able to handle the responsibility of not having the close attention of teachers? Will you be able to finish your assignments on time without the teacher reminding you? Will you be okay with being an independent learner in a huge class?

This was just an example to show you how little things like the size of a class can affect your learning experience. You don’t need to visit the campus to get this kind of information.

If you have started your research, you must have visited and viewed many university websites. And you must have realized that the websites provide similar information. So how do you make a decision based on the similar information you are getting? You need to realize that it is your responsibility to see how this information relates to you and to ask questions.

The quality of academics is one thing which is uniform across all university websites. You will never find a university which claims they provide average or mediocre quality of education. They all provide excellent quality education apparently.

Some of them will refer to rankings, the awards they won, their amazing facilities like classrooms and laboratories. If you want to study MBA or any humanities course, how important are those amazing laboratories to your course? What if you are a science student and wish to pursue MS, now how important are those laboratories to your course? Take in only the information which will be relevant to your course.

Other Universities will provide the outcomes of their students, like how many got jobs, which companies hired them, or the average starting salaries. Although this is great information, but is it important to you? Are you attending a foreign university to get an education or to get a job? If you wish to pursue only education, then you need to look for information on how is the classroom experience like, how do the professors teach and what are they like? So you need to decide on what aspects are important to you.

University websites also discuss student life on campus in great detail. The most important information you will need will be related to student clubs and organizations. The websites usually list all these organizations, and the numbers run in hundreds. However, it is impossible to be a part of hundreds of these clubs and organizations. The variety and opportunities available to explore new activities are endless but stick to looking for information on certain activities that you love. It is important to research more about those specific activities. For example, most Indian students will look for an Indian students’ club. Many students have told us that it was usually the international student groups or the Indian student groups which made their transition easier. These clubs are meant to provide support and help to new students, so it is essential you join the right ones. Look at how big these clubs are on campus. Similarly, look at which are the most popular clubs.

Student life on or off campus goes beyond clubs. It comprises of accommodation, dining services, religious services, placement cells, personal support services etc. Consider how important to you these are. All the information is readily available on the official websites and social media. You just need to be able to find it at the right places.

This whole process is hard and long. But be patient, and it will all begin to make sense.

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