This is the second part in a three-part series on making a game plan to apply to multiple undergraduate programs abroad as a high school senior. In Part I, we reviewed the importance of consolidating all of the important dates in one place and setting up calendar invites to help you stay on course. In Part II, we will offer some guidance on centralizing all of your critical details, and links in your “My Game Plan” document by conducting research about each of your target schools.
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After noting all of the key dates, the next most important pieces of information to bring into your game plan document are the critical program details and relevant links. But what does that mean, exactly?
Details & Links
To deeply understand your target programs and also to prepare some supporting information for the school-specific essays, you will want to research the programs and add relevant details and links to your game plan document for easy reference. Oftentimes, universities will include a “Checklist” on their admissions page. This is a great resource for keeping track of your critical details. That being said, creating a more detailed document for yourself will help you learn deeply about your target programs and create an easy-to-use resource that will support you throughout your application journey.
Here are some examples of details and links that your document should probably include:
- Prerequisites – Does the school have a minimum GPA requirement? Are standardized test scores mandatory or optional? Do you need to have relevant courses or AP test scores for certain majors? These are important details that you will want to be familiar with.
- Curriculum – Many schools will offer an overview of the curriculum for various majors or a sample four-year plan like this one; you’ll want to have that link handy.
- Admissions office contact information – Know how to get in touch with the admissions office when you have a question. Every school has a contact page like this where you can easily find the communication channel you need
- Blogs – Student and departmental blogs offer a great way to learn about the culture at your target school and can be useful when writing your essays or preparing for an interview.
- Student Clubs – When writing your essays, you may want to illustrate your intended contributions to your target school by taking a role in one or more student clubs. You can identify clubs that are related to your major or otherwise of personal interest to you and keep the links ready for when it’s time to write about them.
- Portfolio – Does your target school and major require a portfolio for your application? You will want to get this finalized early. Do they ask that you have any special files or additions for your application?
You need all of the relevant details and links for all of your target schools in one easy-to-access place. It’s a pain in the butt to search the Internet every time you want to look something up. So by centralizing all of the information now, you won’t have to open up five, ten, or fifteen different websites every time you need to check the application requirements for your dream schools. In the next installment in this series, we will focus on how to prepare for your essays, so stay tuned and keep building your game plan.