Choose Your Courses
13-15 months before beginning your study

Application Strategy
We advise applying to three to six universities, as applying to one or two can be risky if you are rejected or no funding is available, while applying to too many institutions will increase your workload. Some people prefer to apply to only the most competitive universities, while others prefer to apply to a mix of competitive schools and those with larger intakes for a greater chance of acceptance.

Identify Courses in your Subject Area

    • Use web-based search sites - see below
    • Use general and subject-specific directories available at EAS centres and some university careers services.
    • Talk to your UK tutors and lecturers and enquire about their US contacts.
    • Read journals and books to identify key scholars and institutions in your field.
    • Contact university departments to discuss courses and funding.

Sites to help you choose
www.gradschools.com General search
www.alleducationschools.com Teacher Education programmes
www.gradhealth.com Health Programmes
www.gradscieng.com Science and Engineering Programmes
www.gmat.org Business Programmes
www.gradprofiles.com General Graduate programmes search

Admission Difficulty
Be realistic about your chances of admission. Most departments can tell you the percentage of successful applicants (figures also available in the Peterson’s Guide to Graduate Programs). Also look at any minimum test score criteria and discuss any concerns you have about your academic background with the department.

Costs
Each university sets its own tuition fees. Tuition for one academic year (nine months) at state universities ranges from around $4,000-$13,000, and for private universities from around $8,000-$35,000. Living costs vary tremendously. They can range between $7,000 and $20,000 per academic year. However, do not necessarily eliminate costly courses as they may offer financial aid to offset these costs.

Financial Aid
In 2001-2002, US universities were the primary funding source for 37.9% of postgraduate international students, 51.5% of students used personal/family resources and 10.6% were funded by other sources (IIE Open Doors 2002).
University financial aid may be available through:

• Scholarships or fellowships – can cover tuition and fees, living costs.
• Teaching/research assistantships – can cover the above costs, and you are required to work within the department for up to 20 hours per week.
• Loans – may require a US citizen to co-sign the loan.

Click here to go to our postgraduate funding section

Confirm with universities that funding is available to international students. Some universities will only give funding after the first term or year of study. Note that financial aid deadlines can be earlier than the university application deadlines.

Non-university awards may be available from bi-national exchange programmes, foundations, corporations, governments, or individuals (see Appendix for a sampling of awards). Awards may be categorised by eligibility criteria like nationality, subject area, gender, degree level, intended university or state. Such awards are competitive and may cover full costs, but are more likely to only cover partial costs. Deadlines tend to be earlier than university application deadlines.

Other Considerations
In choosing where you will be living for the next one to six years of your life, some other factors to consider are:
    • Location: climate varies enormously, as do urban and rural settings.
    • University Size: enrolment size can vary from 200 - 50,000 students, with some universities resembling small cities.
    • Number of International Students: would you like to be part of a large international community?

Institutional Personality
Some universities have a religious or ethnic affiliation or are single-sex only. Some schools are known as ‘commuter schools’ with a lot of part-time students who may not live in the local area.