<p>I am an international student and as the on person in my school applying to US colleges, I am finding very difficult to organise my test dates. Here's what I have so far:</p>
<p>November 2014- Take SATs I Test</p>
<p>May 2015- Re-Take SATs I Test + Write My Essays (will I have to submit these with my application and if so, how early will the essay topics be available because as you can see I might be applying the following year depending on how you guys answer my final question? Also, will I be able to find the essay topics on the common application? What will I do for the essay for MIT because that has its own application system) </p>
<p>December 2015- Take Subject Tests (Maths II & Physics) </p>
<p>I will be applying for economics at Cornell, Duke, MIT, Columbia, Stanford, Northwestern and Chicago and I am unsure how the deadlines work. I have read that everywhere has a deadline around November but then how am I going to put my Subject Test results in if I am still yet to do them? Is there a later deadline? Can someone please explain to me the 'rolling' system because it looks like that may be the likely solution. </p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>PS what kind of SATs + SATs II scores should I be aiming for realistically to be considered for any of the colleges that I have listen?)</p>
<p>I think it’s too early for you to be concerned about application dates,but I suggest that you take the SAT subject tests earlier.</p>
<p>Make an account on collegeboard.com,and pick the universities you want to apply to.
The site will post application dates for early decision,regular decision,and international students.</p>
<p>I’m very pragmatic I need everything to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle before I execute any of the actual steps. </p>
<p>I understand that I apply via the common app so how does college board come into this? Can I integrate them or will I have a candidate number that I can use for both? </p>
<p>Can it help me organise test dates? When you say early, how early are we talking being I only have one shot at it and I don’t want to ruin my chance!</p>
<p>Any chance you can elaborate on MiddKid86 's post from the other thread because I don’t get it. ED and EA mean nothing to me as I am not familiar with any technical application terms.</p>
<p>Many students take their subject tests right after they studied the subject, often in the Spring of their junior year. That’s probably what you should do. Plan to take 3 subjects so that you can send the 2 best scores. </p>
<p>You have your dream schools. Now, you need to find “match” schools and “safety” schools.
Read “the college solution” (blog), “colleges that change lives” (website), DIY college rankings (website/blog/spreadsheet maker). Buy one of these guides: Insider’s guide to the colleges, Fiske Guide, The Princeton Review’s best colleges. Read them carefully and pick match and safety schools.
Plan to take the SAT twice - most schools “superscore” (ie, count the best score for each part) so taking it only once is doing yourself a disservice. Taking it more than three times is not a good idea though :).</p>
<p>Rolling admissions is an admission system by which you can send your application whenever you want starting in September and even sometimes August, and you get your answer about 4-6 weeks later. It’s a good way to start the competitive season with at least one school you’re sure you’ll be admitted to. Or, if you’re NOT admitted to your rolling admission schools (which should be safeties/matches) then you know you need to recalibrate your list.</p>
<p>It is very unusual for someone in my school to apply to colleges in the US so I have had to do a lot of research in order for me to avoid messing up my application process. Thank god for CC and TSR!</p>
<p>I will need the summer of 2015 to self teach myself a lot of the Physics and Math II syllabuses which is why I am taking the tests so late. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can handle a third Subject Test because it will be incredibly difficult self teaching the first two anyway. By the way, you can sit two Subject Tests in one sitting right?</p>
<p>I appreciate your concern in my college choices however if you allow me to explain my situation:
The reason I picked seven or so dream schools is not because I think that I can get into all of them but because the US tuition fees are way too much for me to go to a mediocre university (I study in England where the fees are much cheaper -around $16,000). Basically what I’m trying to say is that if I don’t get into any of my college choices in the US (which is certainly possible), I will stay in the UK instead where it is much cheaper anyway. I will definitely adopt your ‘dream’, ‘match’ and ‘safety’ tactic in my UK university choices though :)</p>
<p>I don’t think any of the colleges that I am applying to have a rolling system but if I sit both my Subject Tests on December 7th, I should get my results just in time for the January 1st deadline (I’ll have the rest of my application ready I’ll just need to upload the scores).</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, do you Americans usually refer to them as colleges, schools or universities because sometimes I’m not sure which one to use :p</p>
<p>Colleges and universities both refer to places of higher education. While typically a university has more students than a college, it’s not always the case.
A “college” is not the same as a “community college”, which is similar to a British FE college.</p>