4 Common Mistakes Students Make In College Applications And How They Can Be Avoided

It is an understatement to claim that applications to universities abroad for undergraduate degrees are complex and extensive especially when contrasted with those to leading universities in India. Students have to submit a wide variety of documents and universities often tend to have varying and early deadlines.

Now whilst these processes differ from country to country (universities in the United States, for example, have a far more complex process as compared to those in the United Kingdom), the fact is that admissions to all of these countries require far more logistical efforts than admissions in India.

Why You Need To Apply Early On ?

Whilst university admissions processes in India take place after the completion of the Class 12, students who seek to apply for undergraduate education abroad must be ready to submit their applications between November to January, which is at least 3-4 months prior to processes for Indian universities. This is due to a plethora of reasons—

• Some universities abroad adopt more comprehensive methods to evaluate students which contributes to the higher requirements in terms of documents, essays, etc.
• Since these applications are made to a foreign country, they require more formalities due to incongruencies in the education system and network between two countries (India, United States, and the United Kingdom, for example, use completely different end-of-school examinations).
• These extensive requirements combined with busy schedules (due to preparation for entrance examinations, curricular academics, and the need to excel in extracurricular activities) characterise the lives of class 12 students.
• Moreover, applications for undergraduate degrees abroad are also more unfamiliar to Indian students. Whilst access to overseas education consultants and knowledge about processes is improving gradually, students still continue to be unaware of many intricacies of applications and deadlines.

All this contributes to students making several avoidable mistakes in their applications. Despite the competence of Indian students and the general strength of their applications, these errors deter acceptances into universities abroad, especially the most prestigious ones.

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Common Mistakes In Applications

In order to avoid mistakes, it is best to understand the most common errors and ensure that those are not repeated in one’s applications and understand simple solutions for avoiding the same.

Failure to Meet Document Deadlines

As stated before, universities abroad require far more documents for admissions than those in India. This includes test scores (SAT/ TOEFL / IELTS), essays and statements of purpose, letters of recommendation from school teachers, counsellors, and internship supervisors, and signed and sealed transcripts containing a summarised record of historic academic performance.

Then, specific universities and degrees might have additional requirements such as art portfolios. These documents need to be procured from diverse sources even beyond school teachers and the school administration. Students often miss out on producing one or more of these documents on time or forget about some of these application components altogether.

Universities Abroad Require More Documents For Admissions Than Those In India

Avoiding Errors In Documentation

Here is how you can avoid errors in documentation–

• To avoid such errors, it is best to maintain an excel tracker which marks the requirements for each application/university and records if those documents are obtained or produced on time.
• The conception of this sheet must be a thorough evaluation of application requirements for each university, which are fairly clearly reflected on university websites.
• Then, it is equally important to update this spreadsheet once each part of the application is fulfilled. This allows students to have real time visibility on how much work is required to be done at any point in time and how healthy the progress on application requirements is.

Sending Inaccurate Test Scores

Universities require students to submit scores of different standardised tests to admission offices so that applicants may be evaluated based on those records. These tests (such as the IELTS, TOEFL, ACT, SAT etc) are administered by international third-party agencies. These test scores are recorded by third-party institutions and sent to universities upon the requests of students.

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Avoiding Errors In Sending Scores

Here is how you can avoid making errors while sending your qualifying test scores to universities –

• To avoid errors in sending and receiving scores, third-party institutions assign codes to different universities and colleges. These codes are reflected in both the university’s website and the third-party institutions' database. However, students often send scores to the wrong university (due to typing errors or because of not interpreting instructions correctly).
• Whilst universities do send replies upon receiving scores, it is common to ignore these emails that usually come in a barrage. To prevent this from happening students should be extra careful—the correct code must be recorded (this is important because different schools/colleges within a university might have different codes), the score must be recorded correctly, and the recorded score must be typed in perfectly.

Inadequate Personal Statements And Essays

Personal statements/essays are some of the most important determinants of admissions. Their quality is carefully evaluated by admissions committees and these essays are intended to understand different facets of a student’s personality and achievements.

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Avoiding Errors In Essays And SOPs

Here is how you can avoid making errors in essays and SOPs–

• Essays are not standardised across different universities and most essays have a unique prompt. It is common for students to use the same essay in different university applications and ignore some of the intricacies of the prompt.
• Then, the lack of proofreading and validation of the essay also degrades their potential quality. All in all, not spending enough time on an essay and not undertaking a set of best practices that generally improve essay quality is a common error that many Indian students make whilst developing their college applications.
• Whilst the process of improving essay quality is quite extensive, students must develop a practice and habit to be more careful and attentive about application essays to improve their admission chances.

Missing Out On Application Deadlines

As detailed in the introduction, application deadlines to universities abroad are both early and diverse. Most universities in the United States and Canada for example have different deadlines even if they follow a similar process.

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Avoiding Errors In Tracking Deadlines

Here is how you can avoid making errors in tracking deadlines–

• Tracking these deadlines is a seemingly complex task, especially given the fairly hectic schedule of a high school student intending to study abroad. Students, hence, tend to miss different deadlines, the most common misses being deadlines on early applications, scholarship applications, and deadlines for applications to unique courses within universities.
• Then, students can also miss deadlines for submitting supplemental and additional materials that are imperative to application success but are required at a time different (before or after) as compared to the rest of the application. This includes things like arts portfolios, end-term transcripts, scholarship essays, and so on.
• A well-maintained and researched spreadsheet is the best way to solve this error as it allows students to understand what is required when and make necessary preparations for the same well in advance.

Whilst many of the errors described above are common they are also fairly avoidable. Students, on their end, can follow best practices surrounding starting processes off early, undertaking thorough research, tracking micro-application elements etc. to reduce errors and improve application outcomes.

Beyond this, it is important that students seek guidance and reviews from experts like counsellors and study abroad consultants, to ensure that their applications are made well in-time and accurately .

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Vijeeth Srinivas is a development consultant with more than extensive experience in the foreign education industry. With the Centre for Career Development and Essai Education he has helped hundreds of students secure positions in leading universities abroad. He is keen to make novel developments in education and skill development more accessible to students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.