For International Students, a College Admissions Checklist for March Higher Education The Choice on India Ink Guidance on American college applications for readers in India from The Times's admissions blog This week, The Choice introduced an occasional series called Counselor's Calendar, intended to keep students on track - month by month - as they go through the admissions process. This series will provide timely information for students about what they need to know and do, and when, to help prepare them for the college application process - and for college itself. Our first installment focused on juniors, who have a big year ahead of them. We asked two college counselors at independent schools - Amy Wintermeyer, the co-director of college counseling at The Athenian School in Danville, Calif., and Mark Moody, the co-director of college counseling at Colorado Academy in Denver - to advise juniors on what they should be doing in March to prepare for college. For this week's installment of The Choice on India Ink, we present an international version of our March checklist for juniors. We've asked Martin Bennett, the EducationUSA outreach coordinator at the Institute of International Education, to include some advice and resources specific to international students. You'll see international advice inserted as italicized comments below. - Tanya Caldwell Juniors, here is your international college admissions checklist for March: As you dig in to the "search" phase of your college process, begin by reflecting on who you are, how you learn and what you want out of the college experience. Be honest: how do you learn best? "As far as a checklist for high school juniors, I'd refer them to Step 1 of "Your Five Steps to U.S. Study" - Research Your Options. At this point, when you check this link out, you'll see we put the five core steps every international student has to go through to make it to the U.S. for post-secondary level study: Research Your Options, Complete Your Application, Finance Your Studies, Apply for Your Student Visa and Prepare for Your Departure. Central in our philosophy is for students, particularly at these early stages of the college search process, to do a self-assessment of what's important to them in their search. In reviewing the domestic version of the process you outlined for high school juniors, there is quite a bit of overlap at this stage, but the differences will come in the kinds of questions international students need to ask themselves. To that end, we developed a simple tool called "Define Your Priorities" that is a great exercise for students looking at the U.S. to complete before they begin diving into various college search engines to generate lists of schools that may be good matches for their interests and needs. This worksheet gets students to put pen to paper (or at least fingers to keyboards) with what is important. On this site, you'll see the other basic to-do items that mirror closely what U.S. students do." - Mr. Bennett Talk to your parents. As you're researching colleges, make use of the net price calculators required to post on their Web sites to get a ballpark picture. The EducationUSA Web site has a page dedicated to helping international students finance their studies, including a video with financial aid basics for international students. Katryna A. Swartwout Ryan, associate dean of admissions at Colgate University, recently wrote "Financial Aid Advice for Indian Students From Colgate University" for The Choice on India Ink. "There are very few schools in the United States who are need-blind for international students," she said, "so at most institutions an international student's aid status can be a factor in admission decisions." The one main caveat is that most all students outside the U.S. do not have college counselors. Hence, the role of our EducationUSA advisers is much like that of a college guidance counselor at a U.S. high school in terms of helping the individual student find the schools that are likely good fits for his or her needs. "As background on EducationUSA, we are a network of hundreds of advising centers in 170 countries designed to assist students in their countries interested in exploring the possibility of studying in the U.S. The network is supported by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs." - Mr. Bennett For initial research, it might help to spend some time with a guidebook with profiles of colleges; also, try the College Board's free "college matchmaker" service, or the college search tools on Naviance, if your school provides that resource. EducationUSA also just released this week our first Facebook app to assist students through the Five Steps in a 3-D environment. It's actually the world's first game-based adventure for international students to learn about study opportunities in the U.S. Interestingly, the lead developer we worked with on this app is a former international student from India who had actually used EducationUSA's services in Chennai when he was going through the process initially." - Mr. Bennett It's a good idea to have a standardized test under your belt by the time summer rolls around; both the SAT and the ACT have test dates in the spring months and in June. Don't wait until the last minute to register. You should prepare, but don't think that you have to enroll in an expensive prep course. Robin Mamlet, the former dean of admissions at Stanford University in California, and Christine VanDeVelde, a journalist, are the authors of "College Admission: From Application to Acceptance, Step by Step." They've also written "An Indian Student's Guide to the SAT and ACT Admissions Exams" for The Choice on India Ink. Here's an excerpt: Standardized tests are important when applying to American colleges and universities, but do not play the same decisive role in admission as they do in India. Admission to American institutions of higher education is not based solely on a student's performance on a single set of exams. The results of several standardized tests - the ACT or SAT, and SAT subject tests - are only a part of the evaluation of all students applying to American colleges, one element in a wide array of requirements, including letters of recommendation, essays, school reports and extracurricular activities. In the early stages, visiting any college can help you learn what matters to you and assist in refining your college search. But you may also want to consider visiting schools that vary in size, setting and personality to help you compare and to see what resonates with you. Again, keep an open mind, and don't let any one person you meet make or break a whole community for you. Lastly, go beyond the admission office's program: hanging out in a campus coffee shop or student center is a great way to take the pulse of a college. Don't be afraid to talk to current students you encounter. If making a campus visit is not on the agenda, looking into getting a student visa should be. Read the government Web site for more information about how to obtain the appropriate visa as an international student. Now it's your turn. As an international student, what has your college admissions process been like so far? The domestic version of post was prepared in consultation with the Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools, a membership organization.