So you want to study in the United States of America? Have you considered how you will go about the application process? There are many questions that should be considered as you begin your journey.

• What program of study do you wish to engage in?
• Which level of study are you currently interested and qualified to study?
• What job prospects come from the program you are interested in completing?
• Are there work opportunities associated with your program of study?

Let’s say you have gone to the diligent effort of sorting through all those questions. You know the type of job you want to pursue after graduation, and you have identified the type of program you wish to pursue.

You have now narrowed your search to one last question. Which school or schools will you apply for? To answer this question, you must go through a rigorous process of researching schools that offer programs that fit your needs, and evaluating which ones will provide the best opportunity for you to get into or progress in the career you want. Then you have to narrow down the options based on a multitude of other factors such as: location, cost, and personal preferences etc…

With more than 4,700 colleges and universities in the United States, it can be a daunting task to perform that kind of research and feel confident that you’re landing at the best school with the best outcomes for you.

How do you go about accomplishing that daunting task? More than 1,100,000 students go through application process and qualify for new a F-1 student visa (for studying in the United States) each year. Somehow those individuals have navigated through the maze and selected a school for which to apply. Providing examples that you can follow.

The truth is, there are really three good ways you can go about the task of choosing a school and making the application process:

1. Direct Apply: This is where you would do the research on your own, then make application directly to the school(s) of your choice.

2. Agent Apply: This is where you hire an education consulting firm to help you navigate the process of choosing and applying to schools.

3. Assisted Apply: This is where you use a mostly-automated system for narrowing down your school choice, then have a professional help you submit your application.

This article will give you a few details on the pros, cons, and some general information you should consider for each of the above-noted methods for applying to the best college for you. This information will help you determine what method you might use for choosing and applying to your best school.

Before we get into all the details for each of the choosing and applying methods, there’s something very important we should point out: There is a RIGHT school for YOU. While everyone might SAY they would love to go to Harvard or Stanford or Brigham Young University (yes—that’s a shameful plug for my Alma Mater), the truth is, they may not really have the ability to either qualify or maintain attendance at these schools.

For example, Harvard and Stanford are both highly selective, and have an acceptance rate of about 5%. For every applicant who is accepted, there are roughly 20 who are denied.

This number may sound pretty reasonable. However, you should note that most applicants already meet the very rigorous standards for new entrants, including high test scores and GPA’s with significant extracurricular and leadership experience. as a result most highly qualified applicants are automatically filtered out by the high level of entrance requirements.

In addition to high entrance requirements and the competitive selection process of these noteworthy schools, the cost of attendance (in terms of tuition, books, and fees) at these schools is very high—not to mention the high cost of living in Boston and San Francisco, respectively.

Let’s take the Brigham Young University example, as well. Even though BYU’s programs are not quite as noteworthy as Harvard and Stanford in most cases, Brigham Young University is consistently a well-ranked institution with high-value programs that produce graduates with notable results. With their fairly low tuition and their nearly 50% acceptance rate, one might think, “I’ll go to BYU, and get a top-100-ranked education for about a quarter the cost of most similar schools.”

Well, unless you’re a member of the church that sponsors that university and you are already accustomed to “BYU standards”, you might think again. In addition to required religion classes throughout the entirety of your studies, BYU requires that each of the students sign and adhere to a strict honor code that limits a wide variety of personal behavior standards, the likes of which many people are not willing to abide. Some such standards include the following:

Refraining from all alcohol, tobacco, and drug use (except as prescribed by medical professionals for medical needs)

Keeping a curfew for being in your dorm or apartment by a certain time

Not allowing members of the opposite sex in you apartment bedroom ever

Maintaining sexual abstinence unless you are legally wedded

And more,

Of course, I’m not trying to dissuade anyone from attending BYU. (Quite the contrary; Brigham Young University is a great school with great programs. If you would like to attend, I would celebrate your decision) The point I’m making is simply this: ranking is NOT the only consideration when it comes to applying to the RIGHT school for YOU.

There is a myriad of factors to consider when it comes to finding the right school. If you want more information on how you, yourself, might go about the process of narrowing down the RIGHT school for YOU, and what factors you should consider as you attempt to do so, check out our article on that topic HERE, at THIS LINK.

In the meantime, allow us to get to the crux of the issue. The following are a list of pros, cons, and general information for the three methods of finding and applying to your right school.

DIRECT APPLY: Direct Apply means you will be doing all the work yourself. You will be responsible for deciding on the most important factors in your education, researching the schools that might best fit your needs, then finding out how to make application directly to these schools, hoping that you met all the requirements and didn’t miss anything.

• General Information: Most schools in the United States definitely allow for direct application. In fact, most schools also have staff members who can help you with your application if you get stuck. It does take some navigating on the school’s website to find how to apply. And each application usually has some kind of fee attached.
• Cost: There is no third-party service fee. The only fees you’ll be responsible for are the actual application fees charged by the schools to which you apply. This makes Direct Apply the least expensive way to apply to any given school.
• Benefits: Cost is definitely one of the best benefits to Direct Apply. It’s the cheapest of any of the methods. Also, direct access to the school gives you a good opportunity to make a good impression on admissions staff.
• Detriments: The biggest disadvantage to the “Direct Apply” approach is the fact that most international students do not have access to all the information to select a school in the first place. Even if you have friends or family who have done well at a given school or program, the truth is, it would be nice if you could investigate a wide variety of schools and choose the one that BEST fits YOUR needs.
• Conclusion: If you already know the exact school with the exact programs to which you want to apply, Direct Apply might be the best option for you. But odds are you’re narrowing your options.

AGENT APPLY: Applying through an agency simply means you work with a trusted education consultancy to help you find the right school. This agency is expected to know and understand the education landscape well enough to guide you to the right school that meets your needs.

• General Information: I would guess that the vast majority of the 1.1 million new F-1 visa getters each year are working with agencies in one format or another. In each country around the world, there are a wide variety of education consultancies who promise to faithfully guide students to the right school for them.
• Cost: Working with an agent is usually the most costly method for arriving at a U.S. school. Prices range from as little as 2,500 USD to as much as 13,500 USD, depending on the services and sometimes guaranteed results.
• Benefits: Having a knowledgeable agent who understands the workings of the US university system and a good variety of programs can create a great opportunity to find the right program and get your application to a school that fits you well completed confidently.
• Disadvantages: Despite all the benefits of working with an education consultancy, there are a few liabilities inherent to the agency model.

1. Agency overall cost and fees are very expensive.
2. Agents and agencies are often influenced by relationships they have with schools they represent. In addition to billing their consultancy fees to the students, agents often receive commission for placements at the institutions to which they help place the students. In some cases, those business relationships can influence some agents to shortchange their clients on the services they deserve. Resulting in agents sending clients to the schools with the best commission opportunities.

• Conclusion: With the vast resources for vetting schools on your own, and with the low-cost “Assisted-Apply” resources available, the possible downside to the “Agent Apply” model might make it a good secondary option to Assisted Apply and Direct Apply.

ASSISTED APPLY: The Assisted Apply method gives you the chance to conduct research via a systematized methodology that quickly gives you a variety of program and school choices. It also facilitates application in a way that ensures accuracy and improves the likelihood of landing at the RIGHT school for YOU.

• General Information: Assisted Apply is quickly becoming the top method for applying to US schools, as it puts the research and application process in the students’ hands, but gives the student confidence that all viable options were considered. In most cases, assisted apply means there is either some AI built into a system or some significant human work designed to filter the schools and programs that fit the students’ needs and present the options that are the best fit, then facilitate application to said programs and schools.
• Cost: The cost of good Assisted Apply services usually ranges from about $500 to $1,000.
• Benefits: While offering the value of a strong education consultancy firm or agency, Assisted Apply services can help students navigate the vast landscape of education in America and apply to the RIGHT programs and schools for a fraction of the cost.
• The nice thing about Assisted Apply services is that the potential for unscrupulous behavior is often mitigated, as the services are mostly ‘blind’ to specific interests in pushing students to any given program. While Universities may still offer commissions for student placements from Assisted Apply companies, the system or algorithms for guiding students to specific schools and programs are usually clean and transparent.
• Disadvantages: Assisted Apply requires more input and/or effort than Agent Apply.
• Conclusion: Assisted Apply takes a little more input and/or effort on the part of the student, compared to an agency. However, the significantly reduced effort, compared to Direct Apply, and the significantly lower cost of Agent Apply methods make Assisted Apply the very best value method for applying to US Schools.

FINAL THOUGHTS: In all, it is highly unlikely that you or anyone else would be able to single-handedly research every one of the more than 4,700 schools in the United States.

That makes the Direct Apply method difficult at best.

The cost of the Agent Apply method for finding and applying to schools in the US makes it prohibitive for most. Plus the fact that you’re putting a lot of trust in a single person or agency to guide you to the best program for you can make it hard to know if they’ll be effective in looking out for your interests.

When all is said and done, finding a system to help vet the right programs and schools for you, using the factors that are most important to you, can be the most effective way to find and apply to the school that’s right for you.

In short, there is simply no better way to find and apply to US schools than Assisted Apply.

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