National Universities are academic institutions which offer a full range of undergraduate majors, master's, and doctoral degrees.  There are 262 such universities, 164 are public and 98 are private.   Liberal arts colleges are primarily colleges with an emphasis upon undergraduate study in the liberal arts, and are aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities.  There are 265 liberal arts colleges, most are private institutions, but 27 are public.

Eight U.S. universities comprise the 'Ivy League' – a small group of private universities that enjoy a reputation for providing excellent education, and attract top students.  Having said that, there are many other universities ( in the top 25) that are as good if not better than some of the Ivy League Universities.  The Ivy League includes:  (1) Brown University; (2) Cornell University; (3) Columbia University; (4) Dartmouth College; (5) Harvard University; (6) University of Pennsylvania; (7) Princeton University and (8) Yale University.

Publicly supported schools are usually state colleges or universities. These institutions receive most of their funding from the states they are located in. Private schools, on the other hand, do not receive the same primary funding from the state and federal government but often receive financial support from benefactors in the private sector.

Yes, this is true.  Classes in public universities tend to run much larger than in the typical private university.  Private universities not only possess on the whole smaller classrooms but usually also offer a more compact campus.  Because of this smaller setup, students in private universities tend to have more contact with their professors and are able to foster deeper relationships with the professors. 

Conversely, a public university usually offers a larger selection of classes, majors, and even extracurricular activities than a average private university.  For this reason, if a student is undecided on his major, going to a larger public university might prove beneficial because more class offerings give you the chance to sample possible career choices.

In the case of most undergraduate business programs, students can only apply or transfer to the business school after their freshman or sophomore year.  This is the case with schools such as:  (i) Emory University Goizueta Business School, (ii) University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business; (ii) University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce; (iii) University of California-Berkeley Haas School of Business; and  (v) University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business    

Generally, no student who has received a bachelor's degree or other first university degrees from any other university, whether American or foreign, can be admitted to the US universities. Students interested in continuing their studies beyond the bachelor's degree might wish to consider attending graduate schools.

Teachers who know the applicant well and who have taught him or her in academic subjects (preferably in the final two years of high school) most often provide the most valuable insight into the student’s abilities.  In deciding who should write the recommendation, the student should focus on teachers who have had a lot of contact with the student rather than teachers who are simply more senior.  There is no point asking the principal to write the recommendation if he or she has little or no contact with the student. 

The TOEFL is the test required of applicants who have been educated outside the United States in non-native English speaking countries.  The TOEFL exam can be taken instead of the IELTS.  The IELTS is an international standardized test of English Language proficiency.    IELTS is accepted by most Australian, British, Canadian, Irish, New Zealand and South African academic institutions, and over 2,000 academic institutions in the United States, and various professional organizations.  Students can choose to take the IELTS instead of TOEFL. 

For the most competitive schools, universities expect students to obtain either a 7.0 on the IELTS or above 100 on the TOEFL IBT (Internet-Based Test).

The common application is an undergraduate college admission application that applicants may use to apply to any of the member colleges and universities in the United States.  Unfortunately, some schools do not participate in the program.  Currently, there are 416 member schools which use the common application.  Most public universities and some of the more competitive private universities, such as the University of Southern California, do not participate in the program.

Early Decision (ED) programs allow for students to apply early to their first choice school.  This method of application is ‘binding.’   'Binding' means that the applicant promises from the start that they will attend the school if their application is accepted. It is not an obligation to be taken lightly, since schools honor one another's binding decisions. If you renege on an early decision obligation to one school, it is unlikely that another competitive school will accept you. Students can seek release from an early decision obligation on the grounds of financial hardship, if the financial aid package they are offered is genuinely inadequate; however, the burden of proof in these cases is on the student. ED applicants are expected to submit only one early decision application to one school. They can submit applications to other schools under normal application procedures, but agree that they will withdraw all those applications if they are accepted to the early decision school.

Early Action Programs (EA) programs which do not ask applicants to commit to attending if they are accepted are generally known as Early Action (EA) programs. These are a better deal for most applicants. They give students the benefits of early notification without the obligations of early decision. Even if accepted, students are free to apply to other schools and to compare offers. Single choice early action (SCEA) programs specifically require students not to make EA applications to other schools, although they are free to apply elsewhere under the regular admissions round. In recent years, several of the country's most selective universities (including Yale and Stanford) have adopted non-binding early admissions programs.

No.  Early Decision programs allow for students to apply to their first-choice early and get notified early of their acceptance early in the application process, generally by December or January.  However, entry requirements are not lowered for Early Decision applicants.  This means that if the applicant is an applicant who does not have a chance under the regular admission program, he or she is not going to have a significantly higher chance should he or she choose to apply Early Decision.

Although universities do does not have required minimum scores; however, the majority of students admitted to the a particular university will score between a certain on each section of the SAT I as well as on the SAT II Subject Tests.  This range can be determined by looking at the SAT ranges from previous admitted classes.   Universities regard test results as helpful indicators of academic ability and achievement when considered thoughtfully among many other factors.

The SAT Subject Tests are a set of more than 20 different tests focusing on specific disciplines such as English, History and Social Sciences, Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Foreign Languages. Each Subject Test lasts one hour and consists entirely of multiple-choice questions, except for the Writing Test, which has a 20-minute essay section in addition to a 40-minute multiple-choice section.

Many colleges use the Subject Tests for admission, for course placement.  Some colleges specify the Subject Tests and the number of Subject Tests (usually 2 or 3) that they require for admission or placement; others allow applicants to choose which tests to take. These tests give you and colleges a very reliable measure of how prepared you are for college-level work in particular subjects. Used in combination with other background information (your high school record, SAT scores, teacher recommendations, etc.), they provide a dependable measure of your academic achievement and are a good predictor of future college performance in specific subject areas.

Although there is no universal requirement that holds true across the different schools, there are some guidelines which should be followed when choosing subject test.  Firstly, students should not take two subject tests in mathematics to meet this requirement.  Secondly, candidates whose first language is not English should not use a subject tests in their first language to meet the subject tests requirement,  Thirdly, to impress admissions committees of a student’s breadth of academic abilities, the student can take tests in a variety of subject, such as taking a math or a science subject test and another subject test in one of the humanities offerings.

Yes. US universities do value predicted A-level and IB results along with any high school information that helps them form a complete picture of an applicant's academic interests and strengths.  However, it must be noted that the results from these examinations cannot substitute for our required admissions testing.  If the university requires the results of the SAT I and that of SAT II Subject Tests, these test scores need to be submitted in order for the application to be considered.

Assuming that the applicant falls within the range of admitted students (in terms of grades, standardized test scores and extra-curricular activities) most applications are read by two or more members of the Admissions Committee and are considered very carefully in a series of committee meetings where a vote is required for admission. The entire process requires several months.

The wait-list includes the strongest applicants whom the university’s admissions committee is not able to admit but might still wish to consider for admission if spots in the entering class open later.  Generally, applicants who have been accepted of the wait-list will be notified of their acceptance between June and August.  In the case of some universities, they have wait-lists which are ranked.  Colleges sometimes rank waiting lists and the higher you rank on the list the better your chances of being accepted.  You can contact the admissions office to find out if it ranks wait-listed students or if it has a priority list.  Most admissions officers are willing to tell you your status.

If the school requires that the students which it is considering participate in an interview, it is most likely that the interview will be included in the application.  But this does not necessarily mean it will carry much weight.  For most schools however, the interview serves to affirm the rest of the application so unless something terribly wrong surfaces in the interview, it doesn’t help the application tremendously.

Determining if the interview is evaluated would be the biggest clue as to whether or not the school places weight on the interview, as opposed to it being used to affirm the rest of you application, in which case the interview will have a marginal positive influence over your candidacy.  Some schools do have a clear policy on the interview.  For example, some schools specify that interviews are only given to promised candidates and that these interviews are given a rating and count as much as a teacher’s recommendation.  This evaluation can take many forms and can be conducted by a host of different personnel.  So things to consider:

(a)    Is the interview assessment written up in text?

(b)    Is the interview evaluated on a numerical basis?

(c)    Is the interview evaluated by an admissions dean/officer, student or alumni?  Obviously here if the interview is being evaluated by the admissions officer, it would carry more weight.