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Choosing the right university is a complex decision, which needs to be personalized. There is no “one size fits all.” The best fit university will be different for each student, based on their academic history, personal preferences and hierarchy of values. These need to be matched to the university identity and profile to create the best fit. There are a number of factors that determine a good fit, including the academic program, location, school size, type of teaching and learning, extracurricular opportunities and of course cost. Matching these factors well, ensures a higher probability of student success and satisfaction from their university experience.

Depending on where you are applying to and how many universities you decide on, the process may take anywhere from a few weeks to a whole year. If a student knows exactly where they are applying to and what the admission requirements are, the process may be substantially shorter. Often, students start the journey long before their final year of high school, by researching where they want to apply, creating plans for extracurricular activities, taking external tests, or starting to draft application essays.

When applying to universities, striking a balance between having a reasonable selection of schools with potential backup plans to overdoing it by applying everywhere, is important. Some countries have centralized application systems or numerus fixus programs that allow you to only apply to a certain number of schools. Other students may be limited in application numbers by their school’s internal guidelines. Despite the fact that there is no golden number, I recommend anywhere from 5 to 10 universities as an application standard. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but keeping within these limits, allows students to have a balanced mix of aspirational, target, and safety schools. For very high-performing students, who are applying to the most selective institutions, this number may be higher.

As a university counselor, I can support the journey by helping students create balanced shortlists, meaning they will have aspiration, target, and safety schools, therefore maximizing their chances of acceptance. I will help them brainstorm their essays and then provide detailed feedback and help with necessary revisions. I can also help with all application documents and communicate with reference writers, to support them in providing the best referrals. If a student is invited to an interview, I help them prepare for these, including organizing mock interviews. I am also here to support any time management and stress issues, which are often intertwined in the process.

It is important to remember that I will do everything in my power, and within the legal and ethical bounds of the profession, to assist you in gaining admission to whichever colleges and universities you choose. That includes advising on best fit schools, supporting your essay writing process, and preparing for potential interviews. However, admission to any college or university is not and cannot be guaranteed by either your counselor or anyone else. Especially the most selective schools have high competition rates, so it is essential to create a balanced shortlist of schools to apply to.

There are three basic steps in the university planning and application process. The first is research and exploration. You need to get a sense of what’s out there, compare your options and also have insight into what your personal negotiables and non – negotiables are. There are a number of tools we can use for this part of the process, including psychometric assessments, career inventories and university databases. Through this process, we are able to create a list of potential universities for you to apply to. The second step is narrowing down the university choices to create a balanced shortlist and preparing the necessary application documents, writing essays, gathering evidence, taking external tests and requesting references. The final step is applying and preparing for potential interviews, as well as making the ultimate decision about which university to choose.