Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Your Search for Pleasing Scholarship Programs to Apply

The cost of overseas education has increased dramatically over the last few years. With budget cuts to higher education and increased tuition, the burden of cost has increased for the average college student. While loans are an option, they have the drawback of needing to be repaid eventually. Another option for funding is scholarships, many of which are overlooked.
Most of the students studying abroad are worried about finding a right scholarship program to cover their education fee, consequently to reduce their financial burden. But many students are in an illusion that searching for a pleasing scholarship program is a timely process and is difficult to find. For the reason, many students are not applying for scholarship that could help in payment of university/college tuition fee.
This was true at one point of time when you had to search through volumes of books containing information on scholarships and cross reference them with various criteria. However, with the advent of personal computer and the internet and all of its functionality, the search for finding a right scholarship program is made as simple as filling out some information online.

Free Online Search for Finding Scholarship Programs:

Your search for finding free scholarship searches is made easy with the availability online. The only thing that students have to do is join one or several free scholarship programs by filling out an application online with all the relevant data concerning who you are, what you participate in and what your interests are. By signing up for any free scholarship search you are literally giving all of the necessary information in order to have appropriate scholarships found for you, free.
Honestly, if you pay for a scholarship search, you are being ripped-off since this is a service provided free of charge by various online scholarship search services. The database of scholarships is no different for a paid service than it is for a free service.

Advantages:

The benefit of participating in a free scholarship service is that all of the work is done for you. Your information is fed into a database and scholarships are chosen for you based on the information you provide. Potential scholarships are then sent to your email address and you simply have to apply for those you want to apply for. Here, you can potentially generate thousands of free money for college in the form of scholarships. In the long run free scholarship money could save you thousands in your loan costs.

An Essential Factor For Studying Abroad – Standardized Tests (GRE, TOEFL, IELTS, GMAT, SAT, OET)

If you are planning to study abroad, you will likely have to undergo the obligatory standardized test, which can be either or the combination of GRE, TOEFL, IELTS, GMAT, SAT, OET.

Standardized Test:
Standardized test is an essential tool required to evaluate the student’s proficiency in English, which is crucial to study abroad. It is the test administered and scored in a consistent manner. The tests are designed in such a way that the "questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent" and are "administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner. These tests are the utmost way to ensure you get the results you want from the standardized tests you take. It really helps to be as prepared as you possibly can be.
Usually in India, the Standardized tests that are often taken by the students to study abroad are:

GRE:
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is a commercially-run standardized test, which is required for obtaining admission to study higher education in the USA and in other English speaking countries. GRE was formed and administered by ETS (Educational Testing Service) in 1949. The test primarily focuses on testing abstract thinking skills in the areas of math, vocabulary, and analytical writing.
In the graduate school admissions process, the level of emphasis that is placed upon GRE scores varies widely between schools and even departments within schools. The importance of a GRE score can range from being an important selection factor to being a mere admission formality.

TOEFL:
Test Of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is a common standardized test, which is highly taken by many students in India. The test evaluates the potential success of the test-taker to utilize and analyze Standard American English at a college level. It is required for non-native applicants at many English-speaking colleges and universities. TOEFL is also required in various institutions such as government agencies, businesses, or scholarship programs. The test scores are valid up to two years from the test date and then is deleted from the official database.
TOEFL test is a registered trademark of ETS (Educational Testing Service) and is administered worldwide. The test was first administered in 1964 and has since been taken by nearly 20 million students.

IELTS:
International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is an international standardized test that evaluates the proficiency of the test-taker in English language. IELTS is established in the year 1989 and is jointly managed by British Council and IDP Education Australia. IELTS is accepted by several education providers of the world and recently even many US universities are accepting IELTS in their admission process. The test results of IELTS or Test Report Form (TRF) is valid for two years.
In 2007, IELTS tested over a million candidates in a single 12-month period for the first time ever, making it the world's most popular English language test for higher education and immigration.

GMAT:
The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is a computer adaptive standardized test conducted to evaluate the test-taker’s aptitude to succeed academically in graduate business studies. A high score in the GMAT exam is essential to get admission in top business schools. The test consists of three modules: GMAT Verbal, GMAT Math and Analytical Writing.
Business schools commonly use the test as one of many selection criteria for admission into an MBA program. It is given at various locations around the world. As of 2007, the fee to take the test is U.S. $250 worldwide.

SAT:
SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. It is formerly known as ‘Scholastic Aptitude Test’ and ‘Scholastic Assessment Test’. The test was introduced in 1901 which is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, and was once developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which is now administering the test. The test is classified into 3 sections viz, Math, Critical Reading, and Writing with 800 points in each, along with other subsections scored separately.

OET:
Occupational English Test (OET) is an English language proficiency test for overseas trained health professionals who want to work or study in Australia. The test is administered by The OET Centre. The test consists of four sub-tests: Listening, reading, writing, and speaking. OET is recognised by the Regulatory Authorities of 12 Australian health professions. Currently, one should obtain at least B for all four sub-tests to be eligible to work as a doctor in Australia.

Many students from different parts of the world wants transmit to UK to pursue their higher education in one of the good university. To apply for the admission in the UK universities, international students have to go through the centralized admissions body of UK called UCAS (Universities and Colleges Applications Service). This body acts as an impartial bridge between the prospective students and higher education institutions.

Presently, the UCAS scheme covers more than 400 government recognized universities and educational institutions, which offers more than 50,000 different undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

For postgraduate courses, part-time courses and distance education, you have to apply directly to the institutions. But for the students applying for UK undergraduate course has to submit their application online at the official website of UCAS. Students have to submit only one application form for up to six different courses or colleges. You can also track the status of your application from beginning to end. It requires the student’s information such as,

Selection of course/university

Educational background

Employment history (if any)

Personal details

Faculty’s reference and

A student’s personal statement

When to Apply:

While applying for the admission in the UK university, students have to give enough time for processing their application. They have to hopefully come out of it with a place at the UK university of your choice. Nevertheless, students have to be aware of different application routes, depending on the course and university that you’re applying. Usually in UK, the academic period starts in the months of September-October, thus you have to pre-plan for the intake and make out sufficient time for the application. The closing date of applying for the admission in UK will vary according to the chosen course and university. Whereas, students applying for Research courses can commence their study program at any point in the year with the agreement of a supervisor, and so therefore can apply at any stage, making life much simpler, with no particular deadlines to meet.

Entry Requirements:

The entry requirements for admission in UK university are also based on the choice of course and university. Every program of every education provider has its own requirements set by the concerned university/institution. Know about all the provisions and the requirements of the university before submitting your application. The entry requirements are described in terms of UK exams as grades or a Tariff point score.