Deciding on a school to attend from the United States' more than 3,500 universities and colleges is a daunting experience. How does one sift through the myriad choices to find the right fit? Attending university fairs is one way to help prospective students discover this. Among the university fairs in Dubai last week was the Linden US University Fair where students had the opportunity to speak to representatives from almost 30 American universities.
What students want
Kathleen Harrington, executive director of the Linden educational services organisation, said the degrees students were most interested in pursuing are engineering, computer science and business.
"Those are the two strongest demands and I don't think that's changed over the years." Cost and housing were also foremost on student minds she added.
Harrington said savvy students had done their research beforehand and paid attention to the programmes offered. "You want to see if the university is a good fit, if the university is the best one for you," she said.
"The ones who come to the fair are the wise ones because they take the opportunity to talk to people and find out more. We all know about Ivy League schools but is that necessarily the best fit?" she asked Harrington continued that students needed to assess their needs – whether they wanted to be in a big city or a small town, a large campus or ones with smaller classes or universities with large international student populations.
Harrington advised students to visit university websites and "we encourage students to research them and have an idea of which ones they want to go to before coming to a fair". She added: "If they do, the experience at the fair is that much more valuable."
University feedback
Notes chatted with John Householder, director of admissions operations at Texas Christian University (TCU), who said most students enquired about degrees in business engineering and pre-health programmes.
Questions about scholarships were also common. "One of the things that should be apparent is that colleges from all over the United States are coming here to recruit students from other nations. We want them badly enough to want to give them scholarships – it adds diversity to our campuses so that's why we're over here."
Householder said it was difficult to answer questions about GPA (Grade Point Average) requirements as students submitted different transcripts from the British, Indian or American school systems.
"Every school has its own quality of academics but it's our responsibility to match you academically so you can be successful there and that's why we're as up front and honest as possible to make sure we're getting the kind of student who's going to do very well at our university."
Savvy students
Natasha Jaisinghani, a grade 12 student at Universal American School, said the majority of her applications are going to the United States.
"I'm here tonight to get a little more information than what I've already researched," she said. She said she has been to almost every university fair held in Dubai in the past year, adding she was having difficulty choosing between a business and architecture major. "My dream university is the University of Pennsylvania because I've heard it's got the best business course and I love the area," she said.
Tabish Dilshad of English College, Dubai, has already been accepted to Seattle University but decided to visit the fair to meet university representatives before he joins in January.
"I'm undecided about my major though. I want to do either business or marketing," he said.
Grade 12 student Tooba Dilshad at English College, Dubai, said fashion or interior design at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts, was the best fit for her. "It has everything I want and the person I spoke to was very informative," she said.
By Amelia Naidoo