We love working with international students. We get students every year who want to come to America. Other countries have their own higher education systems so we know when students choose to come to America for college, they are specifically driven and come with their unique reasons to want to go to school in America. However, when it comes to international students many think they need a counselor that lives in the same country as them and we always need to push against that. If you are an international student looking to come to school in America, you should be looking for an American counselor.
Trust the Locals:
Ok so we are a little biased, but imagine you are planning a vacation to Spain. Would you rather have a tour guide from your home country or someone from Barcelona? We would always choose the local.
When it comes to a vacation you might be hoping for restaurant recs that other tourists don’t go to or an invite to an exclusive locals-only beach. It is not that much different when it comes to a college counselor. We might not be taking you to an exclusive locals’ party, but we do come with all the local knowledge when it comes to navigating the college admissions process.
It’s all in the Nuances:
Some things don’t directly translate. If you have ever put something through Google translate a couple of times you have probably seen it. Getting into college in America takes some nuance.
For example, when writing essays, we see international students using phrases or wording that isn’t meant for an American audience. We flag it over and over again. In the translation industry, making sure writing can be understood easily by the intended audience is called localization. This is something we always do with our students. The person reading your essays will most likely be a young-ish American so your writing needs to make sense with an American audience. We take a lot of pride in being able to keep a student’s unique voice while still being able to make their essays work for an American audience.
It’s not just essays. There are so many nuanced moments in the application process. Being able to catch and understand those nuances is paramount to getting in.
American schools look for different things and we can help with that:
Universities outside of the US don’t have the same priorities as American colleges. International schools, especially those in countries that rely on the International Baccalaureate system, focus almost exclusively on scores. While having good grades and scores is important for the US as well, US-based schools also care a lot about extracurriculars.
We have seen time and time again that in many countries extracurriculars aren’t as big of a thing as they are in America. We help our international students build up their extracurriculars and write about what they do in the right ways to showcase this important part of an American application. Showcasing extracurriculars is important to make an international application competitive in America and it is something we do with every international student we have.
We love logistics:
We take a bespoke and individual approach to each client we have. That often means going the extra mile to make sure our students get the specific help they need. This can be extremely helpful when it comes to logistics. We pride ourselves on being able to help our international students schedule tours and testing.
We have often helped our students find when and where they can sign up to take tests like the SAT or ACT when those aren’t options in their home country. It can be hard to figure out how to see a school or take a test when you are an ocean away and we are here to help with that.
We work hard to make sure our international applicants have every advantage to be competitive applicants in the American system. As locals, we know the ins and outs of the US college system and understand the importance of nuances and logistics. We do this better than non-us based counselors and we are proud to be able to help students from all over the world come to school in America every year.
Want to learn more about coming to school in America? Reach out here!