UNDERGRADUATE  

 

Undergraduate Education in the United States can be pursued in 3500 accredited colleges and universities with over 15 million students. There are private, public and independent colleges and universities. Public institutions get funding from the State and tuition while private and independent schools  have endowments, private funds and tuition. Undergraduate students can study in four year colleges or universities and receive Bachelor's Degree on its completion. Two year Community Colleges are another option of beginning studies and they are sometimes called ‘a gate to US higher education’. They offer two years of Undergraduate Program after which students can transfer to third year of four year college or university and continue education till Bachelor's Degree.

 American colleges and universities start their academic year in the second half of August or in the beginning of September but there are schools that enroll students also for winter and summer semesters. Academic year is usually divided into two semesters, but we may get to school that has trimesters and quarters. Academic year lasts 10 months and terminates in May.

It is very practical to begin the application process from contacting Educational Advising Center and making appointment with educational adviser for individual or group advising session.

The offer of US universities/colleges is very rich. There are 3500 Undergraduate Programs and 600 fields of study to choose. Prospective students can find information on programs of study, schools and effective means of communication with US American schools and entry requirements, about tests and

appriopriate credentials and documents translated by certified translators required by US schools.

APPLICATION TO UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOL

Start search for schools about 18 months before planned beginning of your study in the USA. One can apply any criteria but it may be useful to look at:

·        programs offered

·        selectivity (how hard it is to be admitted to the school)

·        cost of education and financial aid offered

·        enrollment (a total number of students)

·        student/instructor ratio

·        location of the school

·        number of international students

Is is practical to choose at least 5 schools that meet your choice criteria and compare offered conditions of study. Visit useful websites:

www.educationusa.state.gov

www.colleboard.com

www.usjournal.com

www.petersons.com/educationusa

www.finaid.org

Information can be found at Undergraduate Admissions and International Students Application. If you have doubts or questions make a phone call, send and e-mail to. Educational Advising Center or make an appointment. Appointment eliminates lining up for your turn to be advised.

 

Undergraduate Application Calendar.

 

1. In June, a year before your planned studies enter the websites of schools of your choice and open Application Forms and read them carefully to check all schools entry requirements. The sooner you start completing documents the better

2. June/July. Register to American standardized tests: Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). Keep in mind schools entry requirements may vary. Some of them require both SAT I and SAT II. Note: You should register for SAT about two months before the test date. You can register at the website www.collegeboard.com/sat  for SAT I and SAT II and at www.ets.org/toefl for TOEFL.

Keep in mind that many students register for the tests and the test centers filled up very quickly.

Test practice materials  for SAT and TOEFL can be borrowed from the Educational Advising Center. One has to show ID documents (Student ID, Driving Licence, Passport) when borrowing materials and fill in the form. More detailed information on tests can be found below at "American Standardized Tests"

 3. July/August. Personal Essay. Start working on the very important part of your application early is should be well composed to introduce yourself in the best possible way to the selection committee that will be evaluating your educational potential and the way it can be applied on your coming back to Poland.

4. September/October. Apply to your Polish school for an official transcript, a list of all the courses you have taken with the grades you have got signed by a school official and stamped. English translation by sworn translator  is necessary. Official transcript should be sent directly to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions by your Polish school.

5. September/October. Ask for Letters of Recommendation - written by professors, teachers or instructors. They should be written in English or translated into English and sent directly to US school, Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Sometimes US schools provide forms of letters of recommendation to fill in by professors/instructors. If there are no forms the recommendation can be written on a normal sheet of paper.

6. Any other documents requested by the school - like medical or immunization certificates that can be issued by any physician basing on the earlier or current medical certificates or Child Health Book.

Application forms should be filled in and together with supporting documents sent  to the Office of Admissions. Letters of Recommendation and Official transcripts should be sent directly to school.

Incomplete applications or those sent after a deadline will not be considered by the school.

Non-refundable application fee should be paid. Do not wait for test scores. They will be sent to 4 schools of your choice by test administrator if you provide institutions codes before the test.

7. Certificate of Final Examination of  Secondary Education (Świadectwo Maturalne) should be sent to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions on receiving it with a sworn translation into English. Although this document is received after decision on admission it must be obligatorily delivered to the US school of our choice.

8. In a 4-5 weeks after application deadline the school will send an information on the decision on admission based on our application documents. Most of application deadlines terminate in the first quarter of the year (from January till April). The school asks for the bank certificate to confirm required amount of money to cover the cost of study (tuition fee, accommodation, food, incidentals) for the first academic year. Usually it is parents or sponsors money. Sometimes it may be grant or scholarship that will fund the studies.

9. On receiving financial statement or bank certificate or information on scholarship,  the school issues I-20 a document that will be required by the Consular Office before issuing student's Visa. Students who live in Malopolska and Silesia apply to the Consulate General in Cracow while students from Wielkopolska, Central and North-West and North-East apply to the US Embassy in Warsaw.

Students' visas are issued to all students who apply and can provide letter of admission and

I-20 form as well as financial documents and  fill in application forms and make administrative fee  for the issuance of visa and SEVIS.

10. Student's Visa issuance is the last step in application process. Detailed information on visa application can be found on the website of US Embassy in Warsaw: http://warsaw.usembassy.gov

Student must provide a valid passport with expiration date at least 6 month longer than planned stay in the USA.

11.  With US student's visa in your passport you may book your flight to the USA. Good luck!

If you like to ask about anything before departure call the Educational Advising Office. We shall be happy to clear any points of doubt.

 

GRADUATE APPLICATION

All graduates of Polish of institutions of higher education who will have Magister Diploma before enrolment and Bachelor's diploma from US institution can apply to Graduate Programs. In some cases graduates of 3 year Licencjat  degree are conditionally admitted to US universities.

There are Master of Art, Master of Science, LLM, MBA and PhD graduate programs.

1. 18 months before planned beginning of studies candidates should decide on the field of study. At least 5 Graduate Schools should be chosen using program, selectivity, financial aid (Teaching and Research Assistantships, fellowships, scholarships and grants) and price as well as localization  of  the school criteria. Private Schools have more financial aid for Graduate students. Before we choose the school we should check whether the school corresponds to our academic goals. It is advisable to contact professor in whose research we are interested in. He may support our application for  assistantship if he likes our application arguments and academic merit. 

2. After choosing programs and schools we enter the website and click at the Office of Graduate Admissions. We feel in application form and check all entry requirements and application deadline.

3. We read financial aid offer on the website of the school.

4. We print application forms from schools' websites and fill them in.

5. June/July of the year before planned beginning of the studies - subscribe to the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL- www.ets.org/toefl ) and Graduate Record Examination

(GRE - www.ets.org/gre )  LLM applicants take TOEFL only and MBA program prospective students must take GMAT - www.gmac.com 

6. September. Ask for Letters of Recommendation. They should be sent to the Office of Graduate Admissions by opinionating professors.

7. September-November - prepare a Statement of Purpose/Graduate Essay.

8. October/November. Double check whether Letters of Recommendation have been written and sent.

9.November. Official Transcript- official translation of our Student's Book with all grades received during your studies. Document should be either issued in English or translated into English by a sworn translator  and stamped by the Polish university.

10. Application forms and documents should be ready well before an Application Deadline. Double check and  send them to the Office of Admissions. Send your Dyplom Magistra translated by a sworn translator when you receive it.

11. In about 4-5 weeks after Application Deadline you will get school's decision on admission and request for financial ability confirmation. If we have not full amount of money to cover costs of study for one academic year you can apply for deferred admission and look for scholarships or grants to cover your studies the next academic year.

12. Visa application. I-20 or 2019 and financial ability documents should be provided together with all required documents . All information on student's visa application process can be found on the US Embassy website: http://warsaw.usembassy.gov. Then US Visa is issued and all you must do is booking your return flight and pack suitcases. Come to our center for pre-departure orientation – we shall answer all your questions.  Good luck!