看见大家最近都申请，写个申请学校过程概括 （多向美国）

i prefer use english, so u guys don't bother when some translation differ between awsome chinese and damn english (grammar error involved, but i would make the point clear that every one could get a straight sense).

Backgroud, i am not even close to a average student in china and first 1 year in US is bad as hell but 2 and half year after came US now ends up a good US unvisity (top 10 in my major).

Work really really hard. this is not the time to play and waste time, life is noramally 80yrs, but all depends on first 25yrs or so on. so get up! and study!  after u get admission, 想玩就玩！

Part 1, before application (year 1 or 2 earlier)

don't let u self screw up ur academic record so bad that no one can get back.

so, build up ur determination, consider admission very seriously (don't waste ur parent's tons of money, and  ur time) do all the homework, paper, and side study. the purpose here is to get a fairly good GPA or Average Score. if any "F" involved, talk to ur advisor or school conselor to try to fix those "F" back.

as we been told 1k times that GPA only part of so called "our" consideration regard to admission . WRONG!!!, GPA (in my case) place the first in every situation, if u don't have a good daily academic performance, don't give up, start now! i use one year and half to turn my 2.45 GPA to 3.3 (almost all A).

Part 2: sometimes between 1 year and 6 month priority to ur college deadline.

do the TOEFL (SAT in some case). First . TOEFL is really not that important, don't try to get youself overloaded. a fairly 5-10 above the standard is acceptable in most cases.

about the test, i want make one thing clear, the vocabulary is the key to get a high score. In TOEFL test, tricks or short-cut are not fun but painful, JJ in most case(i been in this forum years, rarely see some one says get 250+ with JJ). i use one month (240-300 per day)to finish 3k+ words, after that do the grammar and reading, duo lian! duo lian!.

Part 3 within 2-6 month

now in this period, u should get ur TOEFL done, coz it is such a distracation when u really go through the application.make sure u send ur TOEFL to university early enough.

start  ur personal statement AKA "PS", (search some google, lots of infor about writing a winning PS) u need to revise ur PS at least 3 time, and make sure 2(at least) other ppl see ur PS and give comments).

After PS, the recommandation letter, ask couple of professor (you should get a A or at least B to let him/her to write a good letter), and that's it.

Send ur 1. college trancript, or highschool, 2. TOEFL, or SAT, 3, PS, 4 BANK statement to prove ur financial backgroud. 5 any reward, make a copy and send.

Part 4: 2-0 month to deadline

Finsh all the paper work, some college has ON-LINE application, call them occasionally make sure everything is in their hand.

AFTER all the work, waiting is all we need to do, whatever good news or bad news, remember, good work would pay off ultimately. For me, the turning point is my TOEFL, i really did bad job on GPA, but after finish TOEFL, i do have the confidence to apply a good college and finish all the work.

This is a not a complete review about the application, if got question, just ask, i think i could help u most on US transfer question.

really wish this help, i come a long way to get this far, really don't want see some people have same probelm as i did before. work as a reminder.

hope this help.

Good job. Thanks a lot.

I am preparing for TOEFL and applying for a graduate program in US now.