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Admission Requirements for American Colleges

American colleges are hard to get into for a reason: they have high standards. Though every academic institution has different admission requirements, most of the over 4,000 public, private, and for-profit schools in the USA lookout for similar things. These are some of the most likely requirements they’ll want:

Admission Requirements for American Colleges – Undergraduate programs

Scores for standardized tests such as the SAT or ACT
A personalized essay
Recommendations by your teachers, supervisors, coaches, etc.
Possible interview with alumni or staff
Grades or transcripts from your secondary school

Admission Requirements for American Colleges – Graduate programs

Scores for applicable entrance tests like the GRE, a general standardized test; the MCAT, a test for medical school; the LSAT, a test for law school; or other individual tests
A personalized essay
Recommendations by your undergraduate professors, supervisors, coaches, etc.
Possible interview with alumni or staff
Grades or transcripts from your undergraduate program
Law schools and other specialized graduate programs may require that applicants are licensed in their home countries.

For both undergraduate and graduate studies, your level of proficiency in English may also be taken into consideration; this is usually assessed by the TOEFL, a standardized test that evaluates the English-speaking abilities of non-native speakers.

Keep in mind that though it’s not officially part of the admissions process, a student visa is required for all international students to legally enter the USA for an academic program.

Evaluating your application

Your chances of getting into American colleges partially depend on the admission requirements above. Generally, the hardest colleges to get into have the most stringent criteria. In theory, then, your score of 1450/1600 on the SAT could secure admission for you into an elite school. But every university also has its own algorithm to assess eligibility, often based on the non-quantitative parts of your application like volunteer and extracurricular accomplishments; your essay, your general racial, cultural, and/or religious background; and a lot of other secret things we’ll never know about. So don’t worry too much about what your most-wanted school needs – a lower grade point average of 2.4 out of 4, for instance, might balance out with being an Olympic swimmer or a professional tuba player.

Although there are no official guiding principles to tell you if you’ll satisfy admission requirements, you can learn more about which specific prerequisites are essential at each school, and how much each part is weighted, by researching your ideal universities. You can also obtain answers to additional questions about the application procedure and other topics helpful to prospective foreign students in the USA by getting in touch with EducationUSA, a government advising center.

The application process is demanding and has a lot of requirements, some of which will compel you to study before you even attend university. But it will all be worth it the moment you get admitted into the school of your dreams and you commence on your path towards a successful future.