College rankings worth considering

Thursday, November 22, 2012



Dear Mr. Bradshaw — I am applying to 10 or more colleges, and I came across the latest college rankings published by U.S. News & World Report.


How important are these rankings in getting a job after graduation, and how should I evaluate them? — Applicant

College rankings worth considering

Dear Applicant —

College rankings can be important for several reasons.

The most obvious is, they indicate the quality of the faculty and student body. In a nutshell, the best colleges draw the best students and professors.

Competition among schools is fierce, and the rankings serve as a measure of their success.

For example, the 2012 U.S. News & World Report rankings show the following admission selectivity rates that can used by employers as a gauge in recruiting employees.

• Indiana University is ranked 82nd with a 72 percent admissions rate.
• Purdue is ranked 65th with a 68 percent admissions rate.
• Notre Dame is ranked 17th with a 24 percent admission rate.
• Harvard and Princeton are tied and rank first with a 6 percent and 8.5 percent admissions rate, respectively.

Translated into practical terms, if you are applying for a summer internship, the selectivity of your college is a huge advantage. Many companies use these rankings to decide where to recruit and know that top colleges already have done much of the work for them by vetting students through the competitive application process.

In fact, many students are offered full-time employment after completing summer internships.

Take, for example, a student who is interested a career in finance. Despite the recent calamity in the economy, Wall Street still attracts the cream of the crop of economics majors.

To get an internship at one of the top firms is not easy.

The profile of the successful candidate is heavily skewed toward students at schools that score well in the rankings.

Company officials know that he or she must be an outstanding person to be admitted to a top college. The student will have had high scores on entrance examinations and an exemplary extracurricular activity record.

The years of hard work and preparation that precede admission to a top college are considered when employers are considering new hires.

After all, these companies are putting their futures in the hands of these young people, and they will be competing for promotions and greater responsibility throughout their careers.

To be sure, magazine rankings are not perfect predictors of future employment success.

You need to make sure that your college choice is a “good fit” for your career aspirations, and that you dedicate yourself to making the most of your undergraduate experience.There are close to 3,000 colleges to choose from nationwide and admission to these colleges is complicated.

Bradshaw college consulting takes the pressure off ensuring that your college search experience is one to look forward to rather than dread.

Work with a college consultant that can assist guide you through the proper way to write your essay, conduct your interview, test, and apply for financial aid.

Get help choosing the right college or getting into the college you desire to attend. Call: Toll Free: 866-687-8129

Personal essay should set you apart

Tuesday, August 7, 2012


Nearly every college applicant must write a personal essay as part of the admissions process. This is often a daunting task because students are uncomfortable responding to the statement, “Tell me about yourself.”

Personal essay should set you apart

Many students ask if anyone in college admissions reads the essays. My answer is an emphatic “Yes!”

It is an essential element of an application. The admissions committee reads your essay, and how well you express yourself can make the difference in whether or not you are accepted when competition is intense.

Picture yourself in the admissions office with thousands of applications stacked around you. Soda cans and coffee cups are piling up, and members of the committee have grown glassy-eyed from looking at hundreds of applications.

The applications start to look alike — same grades, test scores and extracurricular activities. Top-tier colleges have limited openings, and each applicant must somehow separate himself or herself from the pack to be admitted.

For example, Harvard accepts 1,650 students out of 35,000 applicants. What will set you apart from the others?

In my opinion, a well-written essay will get the most attention from the admissions committee. A 250- to 500-word essay becomes increasingly important as the competition gets tougher each year.

The essay is a chance to show the committee a part of you that isn’t reflected in the formal rankings. It is a chance to talk about yourself — your traits and values, the experiences that helped shape your life, and the experiences that inspire you for the future. The personal essay is a chance to tell them about the person behind the grades and test scores.

When I wrote my personal essay, I knew the competition would be tough, and I wanted to stand out. I spent hours thinking about it before I started writing.

With my initial draft finished, I gave it to some friends to read. Most of them were polite and said positive things: It was well-written, this is the real you, etc.

But my best friend threw it back at me and said he didn’t like it. It wasn’t me. He said I looked like everyone else applying. In short, he said it was boring.

He was right.

My initial personal essay made me look vanilla. In no way did it represent me as a person, nor did it bring out the personal accomplishments I valued most — my military service with the 101st Airborne, my time stationed at West Point, my maverick high school education or my upbringing in the South.

These were the things that made me interesting to my friends. I got the message.

I wrote and rewrote the essay at least a dozen times. It took me three weeks and a lot of introspection before I got it right. I knew when I finished my final draft that this was the one. I didn’t need anyone else read to it because I recognized the sound of my own voice.

Do not look at the preparation of your college essay as a waste of time. It is your opportunity to blow the competition out of the water.

There are close to 3,000 colleges to choose from nationwide and admission to these colleges is complicated. Bradshaw college consulting takes the pressure off ensuring that your college search experience is one to look forward to rather than dread.

Work with a college consultant that can assist guide you through the proper way to write your essay, conduct your interview, test, and apply for financial aid.

Get help choosing the right college or getting into the college you desire to attend. Call: Toll Free: 866-687-8129

Competition grows for elite admissions

Dear Mr. Bradshaw — How do top colleges decide who gets admitted?

I plan to apply to Harvard, Yale, MIT and Stanford next year. I’m worried about the role of demographics. — Concerned student

Dear student — There is no question it is getting more difficult for all students to get admitted to an elite college or university. The admissions rate at all top colleges is tightening, approaching single digits.

First, let’s look at how things used to be. Ted Kennedy and George W. Bush made it into Harvard and Yale, respectively, mainly because their fathers were famous alumni. Although one might not call them the “best and the brightest” of their generations — to borrow a term — they were born into rich, famous families and were white males. It should be noted there were no diversity regulations in those days.

Many students are turned away from Harvard, Yale and Princeton, while less-qualified legacies are admitted. The number of admitted legacies is falling, and lawsuits are expected to put an end to this historic practice. Almost every student must now meet the same academic standards.

Other changes have made white males less dominant at top schools. Males must compete against female applicants, and most schools are at parity with male and female admissions.

Elite colleges steadfastly have refused to expand the freshman class to accommodate the growing number of qualified applicants. The faculty opposed Harvard’s past president, Larry Summers, when he wanted to increase freshman enrollment. Harvard’s new president has been mum on this issue.

Admission preference is given to under-represented demographic groups. Students typically admitted under this policy generally have lower academic qualifications than students admitted under regular standards. According to Harvard and other top schools, about 25 percent of the student body is in this category — about the same number that legacies used to be.

There are increasing numbers of well-qualified applicants in every admissions category. High schools do a good job of preparing students for top colleges. The number of students taking Advanced Placement classes and scoring in the top 5 percent on admission tests has increased two-fold over the 1980s, according to a recent issue of U.S. News and World Report.

No matter which demographic category you fall into, the competition is getting tougher.

So what is the defining factor? Top grades and test scores still count the most. Your extracurricular involvement is also important.

In my 15 years interviewing candidates for Harvard, I always found there was “something about” the students who got in that stood out, no matter what category in which they fell.

When the interviews were over and I wrote my evaluations, the one defining quality that set some students apart was, the high scorers seemed to have a grasp of the big picture and concrete career goals.

The top students wanted to succeed in the world, not just in a small community. This is what sets you apart and puts you at the head of the admissions list.

Performance more critical than ‘name’ school

Dear Mr. Bradshaw — I have been accepted by the University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, Notre Dame, California-Berkeley and Northwestern.

I have a big decision to make, and I had no idea it was going to be this difficult.

How do I choose the college that is best for me? Should I choose the most elite college based on rank? — Confused

Dear Confused

— Congratulations on being accepted by so many elite colleges.

It is important to choose a school that is right for you, but in offering my advice, I want to downplay the notion that selecting a college amounts to a defining moment in your life.

It does not.

Would you be better off at Penn than at Berkeley, or at Columbia rather than Chicago? College ranking or name recognition is not a predictor of the personal fulfillment you will gain at a school. It is the area of study you choose and your accomplishments (social and academic) at the college of your choice that matter.

Is there a measurable tool that can help you make a decision?

In my opinion there is not.

Each year, I have parents who use a spreadsheet to plot the value of attending a potential college to within a thousandth of a percentage point. Categories include a school’s place in the national rankings, the quality of the faculty, department name recognition, powerful alumni — the list is almost endless. I even have had clients rank the number of parking spaces set aside for students!

For geographical location, diversity and the number of Nobel Laureates, Chicago ranks third, while Cal-Berkeley is sixth. Does that mean Chicago is better than Berkeley? Not necessarily.

Adding to the pressure of students choosing colleges are parents who are obsessed with getting their children into specific schools.

Harvard ranks at the top of every list for the Ivy League. The aura surrounding Harvard and the perceived benefits afforded students are greatly exaggerated and, in particular, are unsubstantiated if comparing income differentials with other college graduates.

Notre Dame ranks near the top for sheer alumni loyalty in the Midwest, but is that a reason to go there?

Ultimately, no matter where you choose to go to college, a degree from an elite school will not put you ahead in life if you are lazy and unimaginative.

An outstanding performance at a lesser-known college will trump a lackluster effort from a top college, and this levels the playing field.

Keep this in mind as you weigh your options.

Your college choice will not define you; it only will make it possible for you to discover yourself and prepare for a fulfilling career.

Ivy schools more affordable

Thursday, March 29, 2012

BY GERALD M. BRADSHAW

gerald_bradshaw@post.harvard.edu

Bradshaw College Consulting

(219) 663-3041


Dear Mr. Bradshaw:--

I plan to apply to Harvard and several other Ivy League schools this fall. Is it true that they offer generous financial-aid packages? If I have to borrow thousands of dollars to attend, I will opt for a state school where I am sure to be admitted. —

Ivy schools more affordable

Dear Student: —

After the Ivy League got stung with bad publicity because many of their graduates ended up with more than $150,000 in debt, Harvard took the lead and revamped its financial-aid packages to replace student loans with grants.

Other colleges quickly followed suit.

Today, 70 percent of Harvard undergraduates receive some financial aid. This is typical at most of Ivy League schools.

Students from families with annual incomes below $65,000 are not required to contribute to their educations. And families with incomes up to $150,000 pay no more than 10 percent of their income.

At Harvard, the average financial-aid recipient’s family pays only $11,500 annually.

This new policy has resulted in greater economic diversity in the Ivy League. No longer the exclusive bastion of upper-class privilege, the financial-aid program has made the Ivy League more affordable to attend than many state colleges and universities.

As might be expected, the number of students applying to the Ivy League has increased because of the new policies. However, at Harvard, the number of applications this year started to level off. A total of 34,285 applications were received, down from last year’s record of 34,950.

Two years ago, 30,489 applied and, 10 years ago, there were 18,932 applications. One change worth noting is the modest (5 percent) increase in international applicants this year, compared to a 20 percent increase last year.

According to Harvard’s admissions office, outreach to international students by American colleges and universities normally has produced large annual gains, as relatively few international students had considered coming to the United States for college.

Today, an American college education is considered an option by more international students than in the past.

Along with the new generous financial-aid offerings, expect the admissions competition to show an increasing number of international students who have stellar academic credentials.

Although you can afford to attend if admitted, the competition will be tougher because international applicants are not considered separately for admission.

Schools now pick the best applicant, regardless of nationality.

College Admissions Consulting Articles - Scholarship or elite school?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011


BY GERALD M. BRADSHAW

gerald_bradshaw@post.harvard.edu

Bradshaw College Consulting

(219) 663-3041


Dear Mr. Bradshaw: I will apply to several top colleges next year, and I have a question that, so far, no one has answered to my satisfaction.

If I am offered a full scholarship to a state college, should I accept it? If I gain admittance to a top college like Harvard or MIT, is it worth the extra money and debt to attend one of them over a state college?

My parents are encouraging me to stay in state and apply for a full scholarship, which I probably will get. That sounds reasonable, but my concern is what I would give up if I turned down the chance to attend a top-tier college. --Student

Scholarship or elite school?



Dear Student

— Each year, some students turn down the chance to attend a top-tier college because they feel the academic pressure to perform or the financial burden would be too great. Others might prefer to attend a college closer to home.

Whatever your decision, there are tangible benefits if you attend Harvard or MIT. Keep in mind, these are my personal views and may not represent the majority of college advisers.

A recent article in The Harvard Crimson carried this headline: “Dropping out of Harvard: A standard to aspire to.”

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had returned to his alma mater for the first time since dropping out in 2005. He came back dressed in jeans and a sweat shirt to recruit students for his company. He also visited MIT on his trip in an effort to find more of the best and brightest students for his company — arguably the gold standard by which other companies measure their ability to attract the best candidates.

With Facebook starting salaries averaging $150,000 per year and a work environment built around brilliant and talented employees, Zuckerberg selects only the best. It doesn’t hurt that the popular movie “The Social Network” added to his celebrity.

Zuckerberg recruits at top colleges, he said, because he wants to have “the first crack at the stars before they graduate.” The Crimson added he was looking for “the next Bill Gates, who might be right in this room.” These comments often are not made about other universities.

In the tradition of other famous dropouts like Gates, Zuckerberg made no bones about being different. He encouraged students to take time off from their studies to explore what they really want to do. His talk was limited to only 200 students who were selected based on resume submissions.

Why did he stop at Harvard? Because Harvard is the most selective college in America. It accepted only 6.1 percent of all applicants last year. Harvard students ranked at the top of their classes in high school, and many turned down full scholarships at other schools to study there.

Gates and Zuckerberg charted a new course when they dropped out of college to become entrepreneurs. Their actions have influenced a generation of students to think differently about computer science.

Gates said computer programming lured him away from Harvard, but an early 1990s biography says he dropped out when Harvard objected to his use of university computers for private business.

I know my clients want to succeed and use what they learn in college to start businesses, and they write openly about their entrepreneurial goals in their applications. These are the students Zuckerberg wants for Facebook — before Google and Apple get there.

What would you give up if you turned down the chance to attend a top-tier school? Perhaps a chance to work at one of the greatest companies in the world, surrounded by the best and brightest students of your generation.

College Admissions Consulting Articles - Scholarship or elite school?

Advice for avoiding freshman jitters

Tuesday, September 13, 2011


BY GERALD M. BRADSHAW
gerald_bradshaw@post.harvard.edu
Bradshaw College Consulting
(219) 663-3041

As an adult it has always been difficult for me to understand why perfectly smart young people who are admitted to the very best colleges and universities fear their first experiences on campus.

These students talk intelligently, scored off the board on admissions tests and are ranked at the top of their high school classes.

Why then, do they freak out at being on their own for the first time?

Here is one way to avoid the freshman jitters and have fun doing it. I take as my guide the helpful experiences of a perfectly normal freshman at Harvard who wrote about her experience in an alumni newsletter. Let’s call her Carol.

Carol’s first weeks at Harvard were packed full of activities. Placement tests, proctor meetings, dorm socials, losing her cell phone and finding it, she says, picking classes and feeling lost, overwhelmed and homesick. These comments pretty much summarize the experiences that most freshmen have during their first weeks on campus.

To add to Carol’s stress, she ran around frantically auditioning for a number of different singing groups. She was accepted by several and then faced the “agonizing” decision of which one to choose. As fate and good fortune would have it something happened that made her selection obvious and easy. It was called a “sing-in.”

As Carol told it, one Sunday night, two students knocked on her door, blindfolded her and guided her down four flights of stairs and outside, where they removed her blindfold. In front of her were 60 students holding candles and singing Claude Goudimel’s “O Combien est Plaisant.” They then walked to a reception for more singing. Carol returned to her dorm that night knowing she would join the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum.

The “sing-in” was only the beginning. She met a wonderful group of friends and decided to live with some of them her sophomore year. She became involved with the Collegium Executive Committee and later auditioned for and joined the Chamber Singers, a 12-person subset of Collegium.

The point is that it is easy to get lost in the whirlwind of first-week college activities and intimidating, brilliant colleagues not to mention the universal difficulty of making a transition to college life.

To any incoming freshman Carol has this sound advice: “find something you love doing and can wholeheartedly devote yourself to.” Immersing herself so completely in Collegium provided relief from the stress of academic work, insights into the field of music administration and a possible career path. Most of all she met a wonderful group of friends and found her place at Harvard.

Second-tier colleges ‘The New Ivies’

Thursday, September 1, 2011


BY GERALD M. BRADSHAW
gerald_bradshaw@post.harvard.edu
Bradshaw College Consulting
(219) 663-3041

Dear Mr. Bradshaw:


I am putting together a list of colleges to apply to this fall and I have heard that I should consider a few backup college choices, in the event that I do not get admitted to one of my top choices. So far I have 20 top tier colleges on my list, but I plan to pare that down to 10 or 12. My concern is that all of them rank at or near the top in the college rankings. My guidance counselor tells me that even second-tier colleges are becoming more selective and suggested that I take that into consideration when I select my backup schools. I would like to hear your thoughts.

High school senior

Second-tier colleges ‘the new Ivies’

Dear High School Senior: arvard, Yale, Dartmouth and the other Ivy League colleges are considered first-tier schools and are very difficult to gain admission to even with an outstanding academic record. Admission rates range from 6.1 percent at Harvard to 13 percent at Dartmouth.

Many students fail to realize that second-tier colleges can be as admissions-competitve as first tier schools and that each year the gap in admissions percentages is narrowing. Northwestern and Notre Dame are generally considered second-tier colleges with admission rates of 27 percent and 29 percent, respectively, but many students who apply to these schools as backups are rejected even though they have records similar to those of students admitted to the Ivy League. With the huge increase in outstanding international applicants at top colleges, second-tier colleges are now considered “the new Ivies.”

Most estimates are that 30 to 40 universities like Northwestern and Notre Dame actually benefit by admitting students turned down from schools like Harvard and Princeton because the academic records of these students have helped them climb in the overall rankings.

Many students are shocked when they are rejected or waitlisted by a second-tier college. Students who may not get admitted to Northwestern, Notre Dame, NYU, Washington University in St. Louis, Rice, Emory or Georgetown are grateful that they picked backup colleges where admission is all but assured.

One of the reasons that admission to top tier schools is getting more difficult is simply one of supply and demand. The number of students graduating from high school has been increasing, and more students are interested in applying to top universities. Many high achieving students also are applying to more colleges than in the past — hedging their bets due to the uncertainty of admissions.

The overflow of students applying to second-tier colleges also has created its own spillover. Many state colleges and universities are seeing their rankings increase because students with higher grades and test scores are enrolling.

Listen to your high school counselor and think more broadly about the college application process. You need a good backup school to depend on.

College Admissions Consulting Articles - Second-tier colleges ‘the new Ivies’

College admission needs strategy

Dear Mr. Bradshaw:

I will be a senior this fall and I am in the process of selecting colleges. I’m in the top five percent of my class, and have scored 750 or higher on each section of the SAT.

I have taken three SAT II Subject Tests and scored 800 on math level 2, 780 in biology and 775 in literature. I know that even with these scores it will be hard to get into the Ivy League or other top colleges. Is there a strategy I should look into that might increase my chances of admission?

Signed: Student

College admission needs strategy

Dear Student: You have accumulated a great academic record, which means you will likely get a foot in the admissions door at a college of your choice.

After that you’ll be compared to all of the top students in the world because nearly 12 percent of all college students studying in America today are international. There will be several hundred applicants with similar grades and test scores and no matter what anyone tells you it is impossible to predict who will get in to the nation’s best colleges with any certainty.

Harvard and the other Ivies often reject applicants with perfect grades and test scores, so you are right in thinking that you need to have a strategy in mind if you want to apply to top schools.

This means that you should spread your bets among several colleges and have a backup school in mind in case you are rejected by all of them. Since you are from Indiana I would suggest Indiana University or Purdue as backups since both are good schools and admit about 75 percent of their in-state applicants.

At the Ivies the admission rate falls drastically to 6.1 percent at Harvard, nine percent at Brown and 10 percent at Columbia University

How do you increase the odds in your favor? I recommend that my clients, instead of applying to colleges only in the Midwest and on the east coast, also apply to a few top colleges on the west coast.

While Stanford and CalTech are as selective as Yale and MIT, they have fewer applicants’ from the Midwest than do the east coast schools. It is important for these schools to have geographical diversity so take advantage of this fact in your planning.

Students from Indiana are welcomed in west coast schools. The University of California at Berkeley and the entire University of California system is in dire financial straits and to help make up the shortfall each year they admit more students who are willing to pay full out-of-state tuition.

So by combining the advantages of applying from out-of-state and paying full tuition you gain a significant advantage.

Discuss this strategy with your parents. Applying to UC Berkeley, UCLA or other top college on the west coast may be your best move.

College Admissions Consulting Articles - College admission needs strategy

Advice for avoiding freshman jitters

As an adult it has always been difficult for me to understand why perfectly smart young people who are admitted to the very best colleges and universities fear their first experiences on campus. These students talk intelligently, scored off the board on admissions tests and are ranked at the top of their high school classes.

Why then, do they freak out at being on their own for the first time?

Here is one way to avoid the freshman jitters and have fun doing it. I take as my guide the helpful experiences of a perfectly normal freshman at Harvard who wrote about her experience in an alumni newsletter. Let’s call her Carol.

Carol’s first weeks at Harvard were packed full of activities. Placement tests, proctor meetings, dorm socials, losing her cell phone and finding it, she says, picking classes and feeling lost, overwhelmed and homesick. These comments pretty much summarize the experiences that most freshmen have during their first weeks on campus.

To add to Carol’s stress, she ran around frantically auditioning for a number of different singing groups. She was accepted by several and then faced the “agonizing” decision of which one to choose. As fate and good fortune would have it something happened that made her selection obvious and easy. It was called a “sing-in.”

As Carol told it, one Sunday night, two students knocked on her door, blindfolded her and guided her down four flights of stairs and outside, where they removed her blindfold. In front of her were 60 students holding candles and singing Claude Goudimel’s “O Combien est Plaisant.” They then walked to a reception for more singing. Carol returned to her dorm that night knowing she would join the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum.

The “sing-in” was only the beginning. She met a wonderful group of friends and decided to live with some of them her sophomore year. She became involved with the Collegium Executive Committee and later auditioned for and joined the Chamber Singers, a 12-person subset of Collegium.

The point is that it is easy to get lost in the whirlwind of first-week college activities and intimidating, brilliant colleagues not to mention the universal difficulty of making a transition to college life.

To any incoming freshman Carol has this sound advice: “find something you love doing and can wholeheartedly devote yourself to.” Immersing herself so completely in Collegium provided relief from the stress of academic work, insights into the field of music administration and a possible career path. Most of all she met a wonderful group of friends and found her place at Harvard.

International admissions increase at U.S. colleges

International admissions increase at U.S. colleges - Post-Tribune

Dear Mr. Bradshaw: I am a high school student from Singapore and intend to apply to a top American college. Our friends tell us that U. S. colleges are eager to admit international students. Is there any advice you can offer that will help me make a decision?

Signed: International Student

Dear Student: From Harvard and Yale to Indiana and Purdue, almost all U. S. colleges have increased the number of international students they have admitted in the past several years. There are no signs of any change in this trend in the near future so I suggest you consider applying to several colleges in America.

When I say this to international students they are surprised. The fact is that campus life in American colleges has been greatly enriched by the presence of international students. Harvard, for example, admitted a record 12 percent of its freshmen class this fall from countries outside the United Stated.

Do not limit yourself to only well-known colleges and universities. Part of the strength of American higher education is that it is possible to get a good education in every state and not just at the most elite and well-known institutions.

For example, my clients this year were admitted to more than 70 colleges and universities ranging from Amherst and Yale to the University of California Berkley and Notre Dame. A number of them were admitted to smaller colleges such as Valparaiso University, Wake Forest, Richmond, Pace and Carlton. In fact, many of the lesser known colleges tend to attract international students because they want to add to the intellectual diversity of their campus community.

International students tend to have higher test scores than regular applicants and that helps boost colleges in the rankings. In addition, they usually pay full tuition that helps offset costs for domestic admits.

Not all international students pay full tuition, however, and lacking financial means should not be a barrier to applying to an American college. There is financial aid available to international students from United World Colleges. UWC’s National Committees in nearly 130 countries award two-year scholarships to top students who want to study in the States.

Many international students already in college are not aware that they can transfer to the United States for academic reasons. Because many foreign colleges do not offer the broad range of majors and classes that are available in this country, students may need to transfer to complete their studies.

If you are an international student and want to transfer, be prepared to face considerable hurdles. You must take the SAT or ACT and that can be difficult to do in many foreign countries.

Don’t expect your counselors to know much more than you do about applying to colleges in the states. You will need to get teacher recommendations and learn about early decision applications and interview locations just like American students.

The best place to start is the Internet. Spend some time looking at the requirements for the schools of your choice.

College admissions standards vary, and there is no single qualification that will get you in to every school. In the end, if you do your research and prepare your application materials carefully, I am confident you will find a way to come to America for your education.

Homeless Teen Accepted to Harvard